Upgraded from SQL Server Express to standard but CPU usage is maximum 50% on dual core I have upgraded SQL Server Express 2008 r2 to SQL Standard Edition on amazon EC2 with a Intel Xeon E5-2670 v2 (Ivy Bridge) Processors with 2 vCPU.

I have verified the edition by running this:

SELECT  SERVERPROPERTY('productversion'), SERVERPROPERTY ('productlevel'), SERVERPROPERTY ('edition') 


and getting

10.50.2500.0    SP1 Standard Edition (64-bit)


Also in the Windows Logs -> Application I'm seeing this MSSQLSERVER log:

Detected 2 CPUs. This is an informational message; no user action is required.


I am running the below SQL Query:

SELECT SUM(CONVERT(BIGINT, o1.object_id) + CONVERT(BIGINT, o2.object_id) + CONVERT(BIGINT, o3.object_id) + CONVERT(BIGINT, o4.object_id))
FROM sys.objects o1
CROSS JOIN sys.objects o2
CROSS JOIN sys.objects o3
CROSS JOIN sys.objects o4 


and seeing this on Windows Task Manager -> Performance:
 

and seeing this on windows Task Manager -> Applications:


I'm thinking that the SQL Server Express CPU limitation of 1 CPU is not removed.


Does anybody knows why? Does it have to be something with the query? 
And how to fix it?
If you want to see pain points of a query capture the actual execution plan via SSMS when you run it. Viewing this within SQLSentry Plan Explorer (free!!) is a bit more easy on the eyes than what SSMS will show. There are some good blog post and articles scattered around the Internet on how to read an execution plan if you need it.

Capture Actual Execution Plan: