Intel's Hyper-Threading
 

Has anyone here gone the extra mile to get one of the newer Hyper-Threading supported chips? How do they perform?

The app has to specifically support HT for you to really get the advantages. For general gaming and desktop use, you'll never see the difference.

Sort of...
 

All of the apps in Windows XP Pro are HT enabled

From backup to media player, they will all take advantage of it. I have a feeling that HT will become the next MMX...

aka Intel says HEY LOOK THIS IS COOL! and no1 supports it.....
2 years later EVERYONE and there great great great uncle has it, and support for it.

As for me i just got my 3Ghz/800Mhz HT Proc, and love it :D

Some of the apps in XP are capable of multithreading. However, that doesn't mean smooth sailing with HT. It's a different beast and can even degrade performance:

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...,793526,00.asp

Yeah, that's why I'm hesitant to get one so soon. I may just stick with Athlon for another year or two...

I find that is is very similar to the story with graphics cards. nVidia, ATi, and formerly 3dfx would introduce really cool features on their card but no games supported these features. I remember when the Gefore256 came out the only thing that benefited from the Harware T&L were the tech demos that came with the card. Nothing else was coded yet to take advantage of these features.

I think it is the same way with Intel and HT. THey introduce HT so that it looks like there is more than one processor. But few programs take advantage of multiple processors anyways. So it will be a while before we see an advantage in owning a HT processor for the average Joe.

I would have to disagree with you there darkure. Most programs, games etc use it but some don't and it causes errors. I think its just a marketting gimmick more than anything else.

marketing gimmick? you're kidding right?

the hyper-threading technology almost ran AMD into the ground (permanently)....

there is a HUGE increase in performance between HT P4s and non-HT P4s, guys!!!!

it's anything BUT a marketing gimmick, jesus! we're talking about serious technology here

The huge difference isn't always consistent in every HT P4 though.

I remember reading somewhere that as the clock speed goes up, the advantages of HT start to get lower and lower. I should try this out since I do have a 3.0GHz HT P4...

I will admit that the difference in some HTs are marginal at best, but it is definitely not a "marketing gimmick"

we're talking about some serious powah here

I have a P4 3.4 w/ HT. Just finished building the PC last night and haven't really had a chance to use it yet. All of the schwag I read when spec'ing the system out indicated that the Hyperthreading didn't really kick in unless you were multi-tasking. I will post more as I start using the system though.
Redjake: I agree. This setup is UBER power.

That sounds awesome, post us some 3dmark2003, sisoft sandra and maybe some aquamark scores and let's see what that pup's made of.

I got some pretty surprising results when I ran PCMark2002

Seems the CPU score went down a bit but the memory and the HDD score both went up some.

yeah, I'm not sure how much PCMark utilizes Hyper-Threading technology (if at all). all I know is that everyone I've talked to say they are fast as hell. I know that games run a hell of a lot better :)

Yeah, my next chip is definitely gonna be a "C"-Core P4, because all the scores from P4 "E" chips suck, either that, or whenever Intel releases a desktop-based 64-bit chip that costs less than 800 bucks.

Considering HT technology will be nullified within 2 years as Intel moves toward their dream of a multi-core processor, they are basically testing the idea and the market it will come to bear.

HT rules so much. I have noticed such a hugre difference in every app i run, be it games or winamp. definitely worth it.