** POLL: P4 hyperthreading makes difference in multitasking? **

[UzairH]

Those of you who are using/have used a recent (3GHz +) P4 with hyperthreading, and maybe have some experience with similarly rated Athlon 64 processors: What do you think about the user experience with the P4? Does the HT actually help in everyday situation, such as when you have several heavy applications open, or maybe playing a game with a resource hog such as Norton Antivurs running in the background?

Right now apart from this feature the P4's can boast no advantage over the A64's, so lets see where this poll leads Those of you with strong opinions one way or the other please post your reasons why.

 

[Dman877]

I noticed more difference going from 512 to 1 gig ram then switching to a HT cpu. HT does seem to help a bit though like when I'm watching TV and surfing the net the tv doesn't stutter like it did on my A64.

 

[kini62]

HT was enough of a benefit for me to get rid of my 3500+ for my current system.

 

[Acanthus]

This has been beaten to death, please use search, there is a massive thread done by duvie on the subject where he went into great detail.

 

[UzairH]

Originally posted by: Acanthus
This has been beaten to death, please use search, there is a massive thread done by duvie on the subject where he went into great detail.

My bad! . Searching can a b!ch though
Will look that up now

 

[MDE]

I only notice the difference when doing two demanding tasks at once, but that's rare.

EDIT: This was using a Northwood 3.2 @ 3.6 on an Abit IS7 and a Winchester 3000+ @ 2.52 on an Epox 9NDA3+. Both had two 36GB Raptors in RAID0, 1GB RAM and a 6800GT.

 

[clarkey01]

HT does work. Any fool will know that. I think Duive did aload of tests, search or ask the man himself

 

[clarkey01]

Remember that Hyperthreading isn't a magic trick. It's an (admittedly elegant) crutch to overcome a design weakness in the P4 ... which the K8 doesn't have to begin with.

 

[clarkey01]

http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/cpu/hyperthreading.ars

 

[Duvie]

Anybody who picked the last one is a moron and I dare them to show their face....I picked some benefit....

MDE...yes in multiple CPU INTTENSIVE apps are where the difference is going to show itself...in multple non cpu intensive apps (or any amount of apps that do not add up to 100% cpu usage) will likely not be effected...be more dependent on Ram and IO subsystem...

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: clarkey01
Remember that Hyperthreading isn't a magic trick. It's an (admittedly elegant) crutch to overcome a design weakness in the P4 ... which the K8 doesn't have to begin with.

Agreed. HT make helps "fix" some problems with a CPU haveing that many pipelines.

I am running Dual Xeons with HT turned on. I also have had a P4 with HT and a Athlon64 (754)
There was not that much diff between the A64 and single P4. A little but again not much. Now the Dual Xeons But I rather have dual Opterons

 

[UzairH]

Wow thanks everyone, the great Duvie especially! I realize I may be a bit of a newbie here, forgive my n00bness

I am excited because tomorrow I'll be buying my first *real* system (see sig ) I hope it'll be the A64 3000+, but if I can't get any nForce4 mobo guess will have to go with P4 530. Anyways quantum leap both ways for me - to replace my Celeron 1.7 and GF4-MX440 with A64 3000+ (or 530) and 6600 GT :laugh:

Thanks to all the gurus here for putting up with n00b geeks like me! :thumbsup:

 

[Aenslead]

Hey Duvie...

If HT shows enrmous advantages, as you have shown in previous instances and have discussed a large... how come your personal rig is an A64?

For someone as knowleadgable as you on the HT theme, it would seem only obvious that your personal computer should also be a Pentium 4, no?

 

[Duvie]

Originally posted by: Aenslead
Hey Duvie...

If HT shows enrmous advantages, as you have shown in previous instances and have discussed a large... how come your personal rig is an A64?

For someone as knowleadgable as you on the HT theme, it would seem only obvious that your personal computer should also be a Pentium 4, no?

It is well documented in threads why I did...

1) position myself for dual core with the sckt 939. Intel will not HT on most all of it dual core (only uber expensive model), meaning HT will be done ofr the P4, and AMD will have the same if not better multitasking ability...

2) I had a northwood, wanted a bit of boost in CAD apps where AMD's are stronger...Prescott is a joke, IMO, so I decided to go elsewhere

3) I was also tired of 5 case fans to keep my northwood (cooler then a prescot) in the 66c range...I have a much quieter (half the fans) and much cooler running chip now.



I mss my p4 in certain areas and not so much in others. Intel has been stagnant and lackluster to say the least so I decided to try sometihng different....

 

[Aenslead]

I myself was considering a P4 as my next computer, due to HT; I thought, since my average computer use is having like 5 Explorer Windows, Winamp, Media Player, DVD Player, 5 Excel, 3 Nero, 14 Internet Explorer, 18 MSN Messenger, Corel, Power Point, 8 Word Docs, and Bit Defender Professional Plus and Outlook 2003 on the background, so I thought maybe HT could do a tad of a difference in my everyday use, yet, elsewhere in the forum, I was told that I would actually see a penalty, should I change to a P4, since the use of my computer didn't really stress out the CPU, rather it used mostly my RAM.

Not quite multitasking, huh? So I think I'll do the very same as many of you: wait for dual core Athlon.

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: Aenslead
I myself was considering a P4 as my next computer, due to HT; I thought, since my average computer use is having like 5 Explorer Windows, Winamp, Media Player, DVD Player, 5 Excel, 3 Nero, 14 Internet Explorer, 18 MSN Messenger, Corel, Power Point, 8 Word Docs, and Bit Defender Professional Plus and Outlook 2003 on the background, so I thought maybe HT could do a tad of a difference in my everyday use, yet, elsewhere in the forum, I was told that I would actually see a penalty, should I change to a P4, since the use of my computer didn't really stress out the CPU, rather it used mostly my RAM.

Not quite multitasking, huh? So I think I'll do the very same as many of you: wait for dual core Athlon.

Look what Duvie said above
Which ='s
Socket939 :thumbsup:

 

[ssvegeta1010]

I put some benefit. I helps to use 2 instances of DC efficently, and it also helps my computer stay a bit (that is a small bit), more responsive when running DC and other programs.

 

[carlosd]

As I said, HT could have some benefit (not so great) in very specific multitasking scenarios where the apps are extremely optimeized, one the cases is DIVX encoding while doing another demanding task, but the P4 behaivor under this situation is still absolutely unaceptable for me, so I use to do those kinds of heavy multitasking at job with dual opteron machines I manage. At home I am just waiting for AMD dual cores, to make the same demanding multitasking I do with dual opterons, in which both P4 and A64 behaivor is unaceptable. So I have to say at least for me HT is absolutely useless.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: MDE
I only notice the difference when doing two demanding tasks at once, but that's rare.

EDIT: This was using a Northwood 3.2 @ 3.6 on an Abit IS7 and a Winchester 3000+ @ 2.52 on an Epox 9NDA3+. Both had two 36GB Raptors in RAID0, 1GB RAM and a 6800GT.

See, not to criticize or anyting, but if it is rare that you put your computer through demanding tasks at once, why do you bother to overclock your system, whether its AMD or Intel? A 3.2 P4 and a Winchester 3000+ is fast enough to do anything quickly. Maybe its just me as I do not overclock or have any desire to. Hell, I don't even have a HT CPU but I'm trying to get one through the FS/FT forums. Nobody seems to want to let them go.