Hyper-Threading Hype?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Johnny Asia
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Johnny Asia

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6603_7-5021352-1.html


News.com recently reported that several manufacturers, such as Dell
and HP, have been shipping their Xeon-based workstations with
Hyper-Threading disabled because there aren't enough applications on
the market to take advantage of the technology. This makes industry
wonks wonder if system vendors will ship their 3GHz P4 desktops to
customers with Hyper-Threading disabled as well.

Should you care?

Consistent and significant performance benefits from Hyper-Threading
might not be seen for some time. It all depends on when and if
mainstream apps start showing up with multithreaded support. In fact,
Intel states that while applications optimized for multithreading will
reap a performance benefit from Hyper-Threading, apps that are
specifically optimized for Hyper-Threading will benefit even more. So
does that make Hyper-Threading the chicken or the egg? For the most
part, you will see either no or modest performance gains, depending on
how much true multitasking your applications are doing. Should you
disable Hyper-Threading if your system supports it?
+

Johnny Asia, Guitarist from the Future
http://johnnyasia.info

"When a man describes himself as a "guitarist from
the future" the warning bells go off,
.... But Johnny Asia really sounds like he's doing
something new. .....Check the mans' music out
and hear something different."
- Nick Dedina, Staff Writer, Listen.com
 
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6603_7-5021352-1.html


News.com recently reported that several manufacturers, such as Dell
and HP, have been shipping their Xeon-based workstations with
Hyper-Threading disabled because there aren't enough applications on
the market to take advantage of the technology. This makes industry
wonks wonder if system vendors will ship their 3GHz P4 desktops to
customers with Hyper-Threading disabled as well.

Should you care?

Consistent and significant performance benefits from Hyper-Threading
might not be seen for some time. It all depends on when and if
mainstream apps start showing up with multithreaded support. In fact,
Intel states that while applications optimized for multithreading will
reap a performance benefit from Hyper-Threading, apps that are
specifically optimized for Hyper-Threading will benefit even more. So
does that make Hyper-Threading the chicken or the egg? For the most
part, you will see either no or modest performance gains, depending on
how much true multitasking your applications are doing. Should you
disable Hyper-Threading if your system supports it?
+

Johnny Asia, Guitarist from the Future
http://johnnyasia.info

"When a man describes himself as a "guitarist from
the future" the warning bells go off,
... But Johnny Asia really sounds like he's doing
something new. .....Check the mans' music out
and hear something different."
- Nick Dedina, Staff Writer, Listen.com
Click to expand...

And why do we care about an article from almost 2 years ago?
Hyper-Threading has actually panned out to be a good thing. Do some
more research.
 
And why do we care about an article from almost 2 years ago?
Hyper-Threading has actually panned out to be a good thing. Do some
more research.
Click to expand...

3GHz P4's were out 2 years ago?

This makes industry
wonks wonder if system vendors will ship their 3GHz P4 desktops to
customers with Hyper-Threading disabled as well.
Click to expand...
+

Johnny Asia, Guitarist from the Future
http://johnnyasia.info

"When a man describes himself as a "guitarist from
the future" the warning bells go off,
.... But Johnny Asia really sounds like he's doing
something new. .....Check the mans' music out
and hear something different."
- Nick Dedina, Staff Writer, Listen.com
 
Or, you could just read the date on the articles byline.

Regardless, Hyperthreading is a good thing. While it's nowhere near as
effective as having 2 CPUs in a system, it definitely provides a noticeable
performance advantage. Even if your applications are not written with
multithreading in mind, assuming that you are running Windows 2000, XP, or
one of the current Linux distros then your operating system WAS written with
multithreading in mind. This means that when you run more than one program
at a time (and I don't know anybody who doesn't) the OS will take advantage
of the hyperthreading capability. Even if it only results in less lag when
task-switching, there will be a noticeable improvement.
 
Or, you could just read the date on the articles byline.

Regardless, Hyperthreading is a good thing. While it's nowhere near as
effective as having 2 CPUs in a system, it definitely provides a noticeable
performance advantage. Even if your applications are not written with
multithreading in mind, assuming that you are running Windows 2000, XP, or
one of the current Linux distros then your operating system WAS written with
multithreading in mind.
Click to expand...

But only Windows 2000 Server, right? That's what I read.

I have 2000 Professional. Asus says only XP supports HT.

Who to believe?
+

"The power of accurate observation is called cynicism
by those who have not got it." - G. B. Shaw


Want to know what's REALLY going on in Iraq?
http://www.angelfire.com/co/COMMONSENSE/wakeup.html
 
Regardless, Hyperthreading is a good thing. While it's nowhere near as
effective as having 2 CPUs in a system, it definitely provides a noticeable
performance advantage.
Click to expand...

I have many Windows 2000 boxes with HT CPU's, I have many Windows 2003
Servers with HT CPU's, and even XP Prof with HT CPU's (even a laptop
with HT).

With Windows 2000 Professional you need to have Service Pack 4, I think
- it does not fully support all of the features, but it does provide a
performance boost.

With Windows 2000 Server, you still need to have a Service Pack update,
but I "think" it better supports HT technology. It seems to, but there
is no clear test to determine if it's better than 2000 Prof.

With Windows 2003 Server, full and great support out of the box.

With Windows XP Prof - support out of the box, but I'm not sure how well
XP benefits from it. I notice a difference between the XP non HT systems
and the HT system, but it's hard to tell since they don't have the exact
same hardware in each.

What I've seen in servers is a clear indicator to me:

Compaq Quad Xeon Windows 2000 Server running MS SQL Server 2000. With HT
enabled or disabled we get the same level of performance on any query,
no noticeable difference.

Compaq Dual Xeon Windows 2000 Server running MS SQL Server 2000. With
HT enabled or disabled we get the about the same level of performance
(maybe +10%) on any query.

ASUS PC-DL, Dual Xeon, Windows 2003, Running MS SQL 2000 - HT Enabled
sometimes provides 40% more performance for queries, but it's not
consistent.

The best I've ever seen is under 2003 Server where we see 20%~40%
improvement. Under 2000 Prof it's only about 10%, and 2000 Server is
only about 15%.
 
With Windows 2000 Professional you need to have Service Pack 4, I think
- it does not fully support all of the features, but it does provide a
performance boost.
Click to expand...

I have downloaded Service Pack 4, I'll give Windows 2000 Professional
a try with my new P4P800-E Deluxe & P4 Prescott 2.8E
+

"The power of accurate observation is called cynicism
by those who have not got it." - G. B. Shaw


Want to know what's REALLY going on in Iraq?
http://www.angelfire.com/co/COMMONSENSE/wakeup.html
 
With Windows 2000 Professional you need to have Service Pack 4, I think
- it does not fully support all of the features, but it does provide a
performance boost.
Click to expand...


Support has been implemented in Windows operating systems to take
advantage of this new technology. The goal of this paper is to
describe that support and to focus on areas of interest to OEM system
manufacturers and multithreaded application developers. The Windows
operating systems that are supported for logo qualification on
HT-enabled systems include:

All versions of Windows 2000
All 32-bit versions of Windows XP and Windows .NET Server


4.1 Operating Systems That Are Not Hyper-Threading Aware (Windows
2000)

All versions of the Windows 2000 operating system are fully compliant
with HT and should run without error on HT-enabled systems. However,
neither Windows 2000 nor any of its service packs support the
identification of HT processors. The type of modifications that are
required for HT processor identification and support are not typically
supported in a service pack. There are no plans to introduce this
support in any future Windows 2000 service pack.

As a result, Windows 2000 treats each logical processor as if it were
an individual physical processor.

http://216.239.41.104/search?q=cach...+pack+4,+hyper-threading,+2000&hl=en&start=19
+

Johnny Asia, Guitarist from the Future
http://johnnyasia.info

"When a man describes himself as a "guitarist from
the future" the warning bells go off,
.... But Johnny Asia really sounds like he's doing
something new. .....Check the mans' music out
and hear something different."
- Nick Dedina, Staff Writer, Listen.com
 
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