What does Hyper threading help with?

[xanderlane]

I'm rebuilding my computer completely to be used solely for gaming. I was told by a Toms user that getting an i7 would be pointless since gaming doesn't use the extra cache and hyper threading technology.

So I wanted to ask would hyper threading help with recording gameplay, streaming, or Skype calling?

 

[iceclock]

well hyper threading is more useful in applications that use alot of threads, and cores.

if ur gaming u barely use all 4 cores of ur intel cpu, games are barely designed for 4, theyre just starting to be utilized the 4cores, next would be working on 6cores, but programming games to use all 4 cores and to be optimized fully is still in its infancy

mostly used for lets say video encoding, streaming video and audio, 4d auto-cad, graphic design, not really useful for gaming.

if u want a full description here:

http://www.overclock.net/a/hyperthreading-explained

also if u need help for building a new pc, private message me, and ill help u

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Hyperthreading allows you to do several things at once. Single threaded applications, like most games use just 1 CPU core tho that is changing .....Multithreaded applications like CAD Software, Video editing use multiple cores.

If you "multi box" ... that is running several instances of an MMO at the same time so that you can run yo0ur own little army, then yu can assign one core to each instance. With an i5, you could still run 3 toons like this and assign the 4th core to Venrillo

 

[diablo24life]

I'm rebuilding my computer completely to be used solely for gaming. I was told by a Toms user that getting an i7 would be pointless since gaming doesn't use the extra cache and hyper threading technology.

So I wanted to ask would hyper threading help with recording gameplay, streaming, or Skype calling?

HT will only help with video editing, photshop, anything paralel threading, fraps, encoding videos anything work shop relted, and ur right gaming will not benefit from HT at all

 

[iceclock]

yep the above we posted covers that but thanks diablo for ur incite

 

[diablo24life]

yep the above we posted covers that but thanks diablo for ur incite

thanks for the update : )

 

[iceclock]

lawl, no problem

 

[diablo24life]

lawl, no problem

dont feel like i stole ur thunder with my reply im just trying to give him a quick easier answer. urs was ok thou

 

[iceclock]

im not, coolio as a fatcat in the freezer

 

[Pinhedd]

I'm rebuilding my computer completely to be used solely for gaming. I was told by a Toms user that getting an i7 would be pointless since gaming doesn't use the extra cache and hyper threading technology.

So I wanted to ask would hyper threading help with recording gameplay, streaming, or Skype calling?

X86 processors are of a "superscalar" architectural design. This means that in each clock cycle the processor is able to perform a number of independent operations. It can generate several addresses, perform several memory accesses, perform several integer operations, and perform several floating point operations. The naturally sequential and suboptimal nature of most program code means that at any given time it is extremely unlikely that all of these different resources will be used effectively. Hyperthreading makes use of this by running two program threads on each processor core simultaneously. The execution resources will be balanced dynamically between both threads in order to hit the point of greatest utilization.

The benefits of Hyperthreading are most realized when threads that use different classes of instructions are co-scheduled on the same processor. For example, a thread that operates purely on whole number / integer arithmetic can run along side a thread that operates purely on real / floating point numbers. Since the resources used by each thread are almost completely disjoint, the performance gain will be enormous when compared to a non-hyperthreaded processor which can only run one thread at a time per core.

In practice, Hyperthreading tends to benefit heavily threaded applications the most, this is by design. Applications such as physics simulations, video editing, rendering, and AI simulation will benefit the most. Some games do benefit heavily from hyperthreading, but only those that are strongly threaded and well written.

Overall, Hyperthreading adds about 10%-15% to total performance across a large spectrum of benchmarks.

 

[iceclock]

yes except in his case wouldnt be that useful, not many games are hyper threading optimized so its pretty useless unless u use apps that are heavily cpu intensive, such as autocad, 3d studio-max, video and audio streaming, encoding, running server apps etc.

so mostly professionals and business people would benefit more from an i7 processor than a typical gamer.

 

[Pinhedd]

yes except in his case wouldnt be that useful, not many games are hyper threading optimized so its pretty useless unless u use apps that are heavily cpu intensive, such as autocad, 3d studio-max, video and audio streaming, encoding, running server apps etc.

so mostly professionals and business people would benefit more from an i7 processor than a typical gamer.

It doesn't matter if a game is "hyperthreading optimized" because games have very little control over their own scheduling. All that matters is whether or not they are heavily multithreaded and whether or not the instruction classes of those threads are disjoint enough to allow for them to be scheduled efficiently on the same hardware.

Battlefield 3 for example shows quite a large jump in performance when Hyperthreading is enabled.

Some professional applications like 3DSMax barely benefit from Hyperthreading, if at all.

 

[iceclock]

well it really comes down to if the programs optimized for hyper-threading, if it aint wont see any performance gain,

where both agreeing both in different terminology of expressing are idea.