Windows 7 Benefits from HyperThreading Better

[btarunr]

Intel's HyperThreading technology (HTT) was a nifty feature back in the Pentium 4 days, where the single-core processor could interact with the OS by providing two logical processors. The feature was known to enhance performance for applications that supported SMT. With the Core i7 and Atom series, HTT made a comeback, and software major Microsoft seems to be busy optimizing its newest OS, Windows 7, to make the make the most out of HTT, better than older versions of the OS could.

Speaking with InformationWeek, Microsoft's senior VP for Windows development Bill Veghte said "The work that we've done in Windows 7 in the scheduler and the core of the system to take full advantage of those [HyperThreading] capabilities, ultimately we think we can deliver a great and better experience for you." This could particularly come as good news for users with multi-threaded productivity applications, and newer 3D games. Intel's roadmaps show a rosy future for HTT, after entry-level Atom and enthusiast-level Core i7 featuring it, Intel has an entire lineup of CPUs under the Core i5 series that support HTT.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[h3llb3nd4]

shouldn't they release a SP to fix the problem in vista also?

 

[LittleLizard]

wow, that means that when i get my 3.2 p4 ht will run better than on xp

 

[newtekie1]

Great news, anything that can improve performance is a good thing for me. This is especially good news for us netbook and nettop users.

Waits for AMD fanboy to come in and quote "Real Men Use Real Cores"...

 

[PCpraiser100]

This will be "Hell Yeah!" performance with my i7.

 

[Assassin48]

REAL MEN USE REAL CORES!
LMAO
sometimes i want an i7 but i cant afford it

 

[mtosev]

cool. im going i7 anyway

 

[Katanai]

This is done to enable some multitasking power on the Atom. A very good move imo, that platform really needs it. As for i7, this is just another bonus...

 

[Error 404]

This would be nice for the Atom platform, I'm considering getting a Netbook for christmas (W7 should be out by then) and the more speed the better! I just hope they're packing larger SSDs by then, as 16 GB is a bit too cosy for W7 IMO...

 

[DaveK]

Yay, HT was the bomb on my P4, now all I need is an i7 processor I'll be going Core i7 hopefully in the summer. Intel FTW

 

[Nemesis881]

Hmm Intel lost me after the P4's...

Might give them a shot in my next system if this "optimization" really helps. Sounds like a marketing ploy TBH. Didn't intel just get fined a gajillion dollars?

 

[kid41212003]

Hmm Intel lost me after the P4's...

Might give them a shot in my next system if this "optimization" really helps. Sounds like a marketing ploy TBH. Didn't intel just get fined a gajillion dollars?

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93933

That should give you some idea .

 

[snakeoil]

microsoft would say anything to sell windows 7 aka windows vista sp2

 

[cooler]

good news for atom user I guess

I don't think i7 will get any boost out of this

 

[[I.R.A]_FBi]

microsoft would say anything to sell windows 7 aka windows vista sp2

nice name

 

[shiny_red_cobra]

If I'm not mistaken, even Windows XP recognized P4 HT CPUs as having 2 available processors, it showed 2 graphs in the task manager, right? So didn't it treat them both as equal threads? How exactly is Windows 7 "optimized" for HT any different that Windows XP was? They can only recognize individual threads and submit tasks to those threads. The CPU takes over from there and executes the tasks based on what the task requires of it, whether it can be executed on an HT thread or a regular core thread. This has nothing to do with the OS. I think this is just Microsoft and Intel making some under-the-table deals to sell their products.

 

[kid41212003]

You should read the link that I posted earlier, and you will see what I mean.

And another link:
http://www.pcformat.co.uk/node/967

 

[Binge]

shouldn't they release a SP to fix the problem in vista also?

It would take more than a SP to fix that issue

 

[snakeoil]

hyperthreading had problems before windows vista. some applications benefit from it some 15%, some load patterns are good for hyperthreading and some make it worst than not having hyperthreading. but this depends on the application load pattern, not windows
hyperthreading make the processor power hungry because the cpu has to maintain two pipelines always active, that's why core i7 is hot as a blast furnace.
thats why real man have real cores.

 

[hat]

Meh, I would rather disable hyper threading on today's processors anyway. Sure, it was a nice feature for the P4 and for the single core atom, but on multi-core processors, I feel it's mostly just a moot point.

 

[snakeoil]

Get real

 

[LiveOrDie]

thats why im using it runs like lighting on my i7 when crapy old vista runs like a snall.

 

[filip007]

Yes benefit it will be 10-15% in some cases but so little there is no point games will be generic for both AMD and Intel...mybe some Windows kernel speed up

Mybe will AMD copy this HT from Intel...

Intel has copy from AMD...
AMD64->EM64T
AMD HyperTransport->Intel QuickPath

Now its AMD turn

 

[btarunr]

Get real

http://forums.techpowerup.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=25843&stc=1&d=1242542609

Oh, Intel gives you real cores and virtual cores, also the option to disable the virtual ones. Double benefit. Cut the propaganda, if you don't have a legitimate argument.

 

[snakeoil]

http://roflrazzi.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/celebrity-pictures-terminator-honestly-teeth.jpg



Oh, Intel gives you real cores and virtual cores, also the option to disable the virtual ones. Double benefit. Cut the propaganda, if you don't have a legitimate argument.

if you have a multisocket server would you disable hyperthreading?
when you have multisocket servers hyperthreading dont scale well

see this

this is the web site test (anandtech)