GilbertsGrape

i have a Dell P4 2.4 gh box. is it hyper threaded, if not can it be hyper threaded, do i want to have a hyper threaded box, and what exactly is hyper treading

Devhux

The only Hyperthreaded-enabled processor at the moment is the P4 3.06GHz chip -- although expect the technology to trickle down to the 2.4GHz processors within a few months or so. In other words, your current P4 2.4GHz chip is not hyperthread-capable.

In addition, the motherboard chipset and BIOS have to support HT, which I believe is currently limited to the i845PE or Granite Bay chipsets (I know that the i845E chipset won't work).

Hyperthreading basically treats one physical processor as two chips -- in other words, it functions fairly similar to a dual-CPU setup (Symmetric MultiProcessing -- SMP).

Finally, as for whether you "want" an HT chip, it all comes down to the types of applications you use most. If you are mainly surfing the web or playing games, then you won't gain any benefit from Hyperthreading. On the other hand, if you often edit photos/videos or work with a 3D modelling application (3D Studio MAX, for instance), then you'll gain a fair amount of performance from Hyperthreading.

Hope this helps.

GilbertsGrape

Cool Beans !! :-)

Thank you

Grape

now: Dam# if i had only wated a few more mo. to get a new pc i may have been able to have aforded a HTed PC

Jeffbx

Very good information, but one clarification - the entire Xeon line of processors (2.0GHz & up) also include hyperthread technology. So if this is something you're looking for, you can get a slower Xeon for less $$ than the 3GHz P4.

These things rock, BUT - keep in mind licensing limitations! If you have a dual hyperthread system, the OS will see 4 processors. Many OSs will not support this, and certain applications (such as Oracle and SQL Server) require a license for every processor. I'm still wondering how companies are going to work around this...

Devhux

Yeah, I guess I kinda forgot about the Xeon chips -- but then again, you need a special motherboard for them, and I doubt the boards are cheap.

LPMiller

Actually, the 2.4's and up are hyper thread capable, but it's not enabled for whatever reason. I don't know if anyone has figured out yet how to turn that on, but it is there. Might want to try a google search to see.

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