Number of processors? Number of cores per processor? How to choose them considering the CPU I have?

[MichaelIsGreat]

Spoiler

Hello users of VMware Workstation 17,


I have a high specification computer with an Intel i7 9700K CPU with 8 cores and 8 threads with basic frequency at 3.6 GHz and turbo at 4.9 GHz, 64 GB of RAM, two 2TB SSDs.

I installed a Windows 11 Virtual Machine into my VMware Workstation 17.

When I click on Edit virtual machine settings for Windows 11, I have the following.
I would like to get your feedback on two parameters in these settings.
---Number of processors? I chose 1.
---Number of cores per processor? How do I choose this number considering the fact that I have an Intel i7 9700K with 8 cores and 8 threads?
Are there any rational rule or formula to choose these two numbers?

Here are my settings:
---Memory: 16 GB
---Processors: 6
I selected
-Number of processors? I chose 1.
-Number of cores per processor? I chose 6. Not sure at all for this number.
---Hard disk (NVMe): 120 GB
---CD/DVD (SATA): Using file D:\---PROGRAMS\Windows 11 Image\Win11ISOImage\Win11_22H2_English_x64v1.iso
---Network adapter: NAT
---USB controller: Present
---Sound card: Auto detect
---Printer: Present
---Display: Auto detect
---Trusted Platform Module: Present

Thanks for any feedback on this matter.

Michael

[Technogeezer]

There are no hard and fast rules and formulas.  But there are some things to consider:

You need to consider the Windows edition you're running. Windows 11 Home edition only supports 1 processor "socket". So you need to choose 1 processor, and then an appropriate number of cores per processor. Windows 11 Professional supports 2 processors. Choose either 1 or 2 processors, and an appropriate number of cores per processor.

Don't fret over the number of processors and cores per processor. Virtual cores get mapped to operating system threads. You host OS will decide which physical CPU to run the virtual CPU on.

You don't want to starve the host for CPU resources as it is performing tasks on behalf of your virtual machine. For VMs that you expect to be CPU intensive, start with a total of N-2 virtual CPUs/cores to all running virtual machines, where N is the number of real cores (not Hyperthreaded cores/threads) you have in your PC. That means in your case with 8 physical cores you'd want to configure 6 virtual cores  - either 1 processor with 6 cores or 2 processors with 3 cores depending on the Windows edition you're running.

I'd start there and monitor CPU utilization and perceived performance. You may be able to assign more virtual CPUs to your VM depending on the CPU workload of the VM(s) you're running.