Hyper Threading Performance Drop

[pjf]

Board=Asus p4g8x deluxe
CPU= Intel p4 @3.06
OS=Windows xp sp1
Power Supply=Antec 550 watt
Graphics-ATI R 9700 pro

When I enable Hyper Threading in Bios, system performance drops dramatically. This is confirmed by benchmark tests.

Post and OS both report 2 CPU's.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[Mephistopheles]

really that dramatic and easily noticeable even when not benchmarking? Sounds strange...

What about benchmarks, how much slower are they?

 

[pjf]

Bench Marks are about 25/30% of normal.

 

[Mephistopheles]

wait a minute... you´re saying that you get a <i>70~75% decrease</i> in performance??? Something is terribly wrong there... Are you using XP Pro?

 

[MegaCharger]

That was quite amusing... The sites who tested HT with almost the exact same set up have little decrease in performance and an impressive improvement. Something is wrong here, did you updated all your drivers to the latest and all?

 

[pjf]

All drivers are the latest posted.

I'm wondering if the APIC (advanced program interupt controller) in the chipset is not working.

 

[pjf]

I'm using xp home edition

 

[LumberJack]

Do you have SP1?



To err is human... to really screw things up you need a computer!

 

[pjf]

yes I have xp sp1

 

[Unolocogringo]

Is that a real 3.06 or something overclocked to 3.06?????

Hyperthreading is dissabled on all chips below a real 3.06.

I aint signing nothing!!!

 

[VelocityPimp]

Hyper threading isn't built into chips below 3.06.


When i went to intel server training on the HT xeon processors, they're own benchmarks showed a performance decrease on the system i was running. Of course it was beta board, and beta .net server and a new bench mark that was being used. But HT does not equal a performance increase in all circumstances.

 

[Stoochie]

my guess is that the problem is caused by your windows xp home edition as it does not support multiple processors (hyperthreading acts like dual processors).

Asus A7N8X ND + Athlong XP 2700(2.17ghz)
Mine is 192fsb x 12 = 2304mhz @ 1.775v
Corsair PC 3500 512 @ 5-3-3-2T
Audigy 2, Western Digital 80GIG SE 8meg cache
and Some CocknBalls.

 

[Mephistopheles]

that was my point, and that´s why I asked this guy in a previous post if he was indeed using HE. I don´t know if Win XP HE actually <i>supports</i> the whole dual-processor thing. I don´t think it does. Maybe you should try changing to XP Pro or something...

<i>Edited: I just checked, and XP HE does <b>NOT</b> support multiprocessor configurations. Apparently, you <b>need </b>Win XP PRO for that! Sorry, but wrong OS, I guess... Getting XP Pro should avoid that ridiculous 75% performance drop and you should only see a very few percent decrease at the most, with an increase of up to 20-25% in certain apps... Hope that helps!</i><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Mephistopheles on 03/30/03 12:25 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[pjf]

Thanks for the input on xp pro vs he.

Im going to relate what has happen to my system in the last two hours.

ITS WIERD!

I was having trouble with my sound card. I removed the board and all drivers. Then connected to sound on Motherboard.

I rebooted my system. No Bios changes or changes of any other kind.

MY SYSTEM HEALED ITS SELF. System runs noticably faster.

Benchmarks show a more tha 80% improvement in performance. This with Hyper Threading enabled. Photoshop flys.

WIERD! wIERD!

 

[Mephistopheles]

That´s weird indeed...

I can´t get it exactly, but it must be a faulty sound card. What I don´t understand is how that relates to HT (?) being enabled... Maybe the defective soundcard had an I/O problem that (1) slowed down your system just a tad with HT diabled, and (2) interacted with the way HT works and, in that case, slowed down your system a LOT. Never heard of this, though... I wonder if HT has any compatibility issues? It wouldn´t hurt if those hardware companies (like the one who´s responsible for that sound card of yours - actually, what card is it after all?) worried a bit about that... (anyone out there has a better idea of what the hell happened? I don´t!)

That said, it´s good you solved your problem. One more thing, though... are you still using Win XP HE? How can it report 2 CPUs? Does HT enabled make a difference in HE?...
Microsoft actually says one of the advantages of XP Pro over HE is that it supports multiple processors, so... maybe sp1 has HT (not multiple-cpu) support in it??? I´m a bit puzzled...

 

[pjf]

Yes xp he shows 2 cpu's when it's enabled in bios.

My benchmarks now show about a 20/25% improvement with Hyper Threading enabled vs not enabled.

I use Photoshop alot (it is dual proccesor capable) really makes a difference.

Sound Card was a Creative SB live 5.1 Win XP drivers are not very good for this card.

Still have no idea how a sound card can affect Hyper Threading. Just hope the damn system won't revert!!! May ask Intel about problem. Could have something to do with the Intel Advanced Program Interupt Controller in Chipset.

Thanks for your help.

 

[VelocityPimp]

Perhaps the sound issues were occupying the processor? did you happy to see what your cpu usage was in your performance monitor?

HE doesn't support dual processers in the same way pro does, but you can still run it on a dual processor system...

 

[Mephistopheles]

I think maybe you should ask Intel indeed... and also the sound cards´ manufaturer. What sound card was that?

Anyway, I didn´t know HE had HT/dual-cpu support... Sorry if I told you that you had the wrong OS, that was a mistake, then... :frown: (I really read it on Microsoft´s site... oh, man, they <i>really</i> can´t be trusted, I guess...)

 

[Stoochie]

you cant plugin a sound card into a motherboard that has on-board sound without disabling the on-board sound through bios or a jumper first. If you havent done that then thats the source of all your trouble. Windows HE DOES NOT support hyperthreading so you wont see any benefits even when running apps that take advantage of it.

Asus A7N8X ND + Athlong XP 2700(2.17ghz)
Mine is 192fsb x 12 = 2304mhz @ 1.775v
Corsair PC 3500 512 @ 5-3-3-2T
Audigy 2, Western Digital 80GIG SE 8meg cache
and Some CocknBalls.

 

[Mephistopheles]

I thought so too, Stoochie, but why the hell is this guy saying that HE is reporting 2 CPUs and it actually makes a noticeable difference in photoshop???

Maybe HE now supports HT... It would actually make some sense, because HT should become mainstream and not only for power users, and HE is theoretically "mainstream" and XP Pro is "for power users", according to Microsoft...

I still am a bit puzzled, though... Microsoft <i>did</i> say that only XP Pro had support for multiple processors, like I said, on their own site... :tongue:

 

[pjf]

I had the onboard sound disabled in the Bios.

xp he sp1 does support Hyper Threading (dual proccesors)

2 proccesors are shown both in the post and inside windows (task manager) (system info) (device manager)

there is a definate performance boast, both in feel of system and benchmarks.

Still don't know why system "healed itself"

Thanks for the help!!