Hyper-Threading and XP

  • Thread starter Thread starter Gootch
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Gootch

I have heard conflicting stories about XP Home Edition
and HT technology...bottom line, does XP take advantage
of HT technology?
Thanx
 
Gootch said:

I have heard conflicting stories about XP Home Edition
and HT technology...bottom line, does XP take advantage
of HT technology?
Click to expand...

To quote the latest edition of Consumer Reports...

"The latest Pentium 4 chip...has been re-engineered to break through a
speed ceiling. The new processor is designed to appear to the computer as
if it were two chips working in tandem. That can shave time off demanding
applications, especially when the computer is running several programs
simutaneously (multitasking).

The catch is that for your computer to take full advantage of the new
technology , software makers have to update their applications.
Otherwise, you'll get the hardly-noticeable speed improvements that we saw
when we pitted the new-fangled Pentium against an oldfanged one for chores
such as editing a high-resolution digital photo, converting a VHS-style
video recording to a computer's compressed MPEG format, and running
routine office applications."
 
Jason said:
XP Home will take advantage of Hyperthreading.
Click to expand...

Might be more accurate to say that XP HE supports HT, which allows
apps that run under XP to take advantage of HT. I don't believe that
the components of XP itself actually gain much performance from HT in
typical SOHO uses.
 
Bob said:
Might be more accurate to say that XP HE supports HT, which allows
apps that run under XP to take advantage of HT.
Click to expand...

No, it wouldn't be more accurate to say that at all.
I don't believe that
the components of XP itself actually gain much performance from HT in
typical SOHO uses.
Click to expand...

But since the OS is threaded, it will take advantage of the additional
logical CPU, so the answer to the question is still yes. How much difference
it makes will depend on what you are doing, but there will be some benefit.
The key point is that the XP home kernel etc was designed from the ground up
to be multi-threaded so it's as "enabled" as any operating system is to
benefit from HT.
 
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