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[Matlock]

Until I started digging through the new laptop, I was not aware of it being a dual processor job. The specs say it's a Pentium 4, 3 GHZ...And on the box, it says that it has hyperthreading technology.

BUT.

BUT.

Do dual processors cut down on the efficiency notably?

 

[Felidae_Khrall]

Until I started digging through the new laptop, I was not aware of it being a dual processor job. The specs say it's a Pentium 4, 3 GHZ...And on the box, it says that it has hyperthreading technology.

BUT.

BUT.

Do dual processors cut down on the efficiency notably?

You don't actually have dual processors. It's a processor that Runs as a dual processor for programs that can utilize Dual processing. (I have the same dealie) And it's sweet

http://www.intel.com/technology/hyperthread/

 

[ballhog]

Does that even make sence?

 

[Wellington]

Until I started digging through the new laptop, I was not aware of it being a dual processor job. The specs say it's a Pentium 4, 3 GHZ...And on the box, it says that it has hyperthreading technology.

BUT.

BUT.

Do dual processors cut down on the efficiency notably?

 

[Felidae_Khrall]

Until I started digging through the new laptop, I was not aware of it being a dual processor job. The specs say it's a Pentium 4, 3 GHZ...And on the box, it says that it has hyperthreading technology.

BUT.

BUT.

Do dual processors cut down on the efficiency notably?

Does having twice the processing power, cut down on effeciency? hmmmmmmmmmmm

 

[Lathentar]

Does having twice the processing power, cut down on effeciency? hmmmmmmmmmmm

In a lot of cases yes, because you most likely won't be using both processors at all times. Or have a task which can't be done in parallel.

 

[Felidae_Khrall]

In a lot of cases yes, because you most likely won't be using both processors at all times. Or have a task which can't be done in parallel.

Yesss, but this is a single processor with an option for giving programs access to a pseudo-dual.

 

[Shogmaster]

Here's the funny part. I'll bet that Hyperthreaded P4 is in a laptop that came with WinXP Home.

 

[Matlock]

Hey, I've got WinXP Pro...but when I try using that, it kills the dialup modem driver.

 

[Shogmaster]

Hey, I've got WinXP Pro...but when I try using that, it kills the dialup modem driver.

Why don't you do a clean install of that XP Pro, and find the damn modem driver from the source and then load it like a good PC owner should.

 

[Matlock]

Hi, my name is Shogmaster and I cannot read.

 

[Shogmaster]

Hi, my name is Shogmaster and I cannot read.

Then tell me what you are trying to do. You're the one who's bragging about having Hyperthreaded CPU while his XP Home doesn't know how to run more than a single thread.

 

[Matlock]

I'm saying that installing XP Pro does not fucking recognize the phone modem. Only the networking (cat 5, et al) interface.

 

[Shogmaster]

I'm saying that installing XP Pro does not fucking recognize the phone modem. Only the networking (cat 5, et al) interface.

Did you try manual installation?

 

[Matlock]

Yes.

 

[Shogmaster]

Did you track down the correct driver first? I don't see why XP Home works with it fine yet XP Pro does not..... Is there something about your Pro we should know about?

 

[Felidae_Khrall]

Did you track down the correct driver first? I don't see why XP Home works with it fine yet XP Pro does not..... Is there something about your Pro we should know about?

Why are you so fixated on Home? he never mentioned Home once. He doesn't use it.

 

[Shogmaster]

Why are you so fixated on Home? he never mentioned Home once. He doesn't use it.

That's what came with his "hyperthraded" laptop.

 

[maharg]

Um, ok, so anyways.

Multiprocessing can cut down on efficiency because getting a multiprocessor lock on some resource is a far more expensive operation than getting a singleprocessor one. While on a single cpu, you might simply have to use a single instruction check/swap operation, on a multiple cpu machine you probably also have to lock the system bus, which will block memory access for all processors.

Obviously you do get a gain, but it isn't even close to x2. These issues also tend to become bigger problems as you have more CPUs as well.

Hyperthreading is where one CPU that has multiple pipelines (the circuit path cpu instructions go down) available, and it can allow the system to run them in parallel rather than using them for branch prediction. It does not give you the full benefit of having 2 cpus.

 

[Bregor]

Both AMD and Intel have dual core CPU's on their road-map, BTW. So expect a big increase in software that takes advantage of multi-processor PC's.

 

[Shogmaster]

I'd love the OS to let me tweek the way that the multiple threads are handled, so that even if the application is not multi-thread aware/capable, I can put the second processor to work.

For intance, I noticed that Painter bogs down when you do dual monitor. I'd love to get each processor to render each monitor. That would be sweet.

 

[buck naked]

*sigh* I miss the days of my SMP Celeron 400mhz @ 600mhz with a TNT 2 and the Windows 2000 beta. The best bang-for-buck Q3A framerates around.

 

[CaptainABAB]

I'd love the OS to let me tweek the way that the multiple threads are handled, so that even if the application is not multi-thread aware/capable, I can put the second processor to work.

For intance, I noticed that Painter bogs down when you do dual monitor. I'd love to get each processor to render each monitor. That would be sweet.

But that depends on whether one thread does the entire display or multiple are used. If Painter uses only one, you'd still be stuck. The app would have to be written to know that there are two displays and to split the work into two threads.


The advantages with dual cpus is that you can split your processing needs among the cpus, those not getting bogged down if one of them is busy. This comes in handy in two scenarios: running one cpu intensive program that uses multiple threads (like certain filters in adobe) or running two cpu intensive programs at the same time (compiling code while playing a game)

The disadvantage is that you pay twice the cost for benefits that are not 2x but more like 1.5 to 1.75x of one cpu. Also, if you have a laptop with two cpus (vs. a hyperthreaded p4), you would be using more battery and generating more heat. Almost no laptops have duallies.

 

[CaptainABAB]

Also, with Windows XP, you can assign a program to use only certain CPUs in a multi-cpu setup - but this is at the program level, not at the individual thread level.

See "setting affinity"

 

[Matlock]

Did you track down the correct driver first? I don't see why XP Home works with it fine yet XP Pro does not..... Is there something about your Pro we should know about?

My Pro is legit, if that's what you're getting at.

 

[Shogmaster]

But that depends on whether one thread does the entire display or multiple are used. If Painter uses only one, you'd still be stuck. The app would have to be written to know that there are two displays and to split the work into two threads.

You are right obcourse. Don't know what I was thinking there.

The advantages with dual cpus is that you can split your processing needs among the cpus, those not getting bogged down if one of them is busy. This comes in handy in two scenarios: running one cpu intensive program that uses multiple threads (like certain filters in adobe) or running two cpu intensive programs at the same time (compiling code while playing a game)

The disadvantage is that you pay twice the cost for benefits that are not 2x but more like 1.5 to 1.75x of one cpu. Also, if you have a laptop with two cpus (vs. a hyperthreaded p4), you would be using more battery and generating more heat. Almost no laptops have duallies.

No, it's just that Win XP reports Hyperthreaded P4s as 2 CPUs. He listed the specs of the laptop in another thread. It's just a 3Ghz HT P4. The thing that gets me is that all these OEMs pimp the fact that the CPU is a HT P4, yet the OS they install in it is almost always XP Home. WTF?

 

[myzhi]

1) Seems like some people don't know that even though Win XP Home only supports 1 logical(hardware) cpu, it does in fact support 2 virtual cpu. Thus, since HT acts like 2 virtual cpu, Home edition does fully support it. Pro supports 2 logical and 4 virtual. Server supports 4 logical and 8 virtual.


2) HT is really not a true dual cpu setup because processes need to share the same resources. It's really design to try to make the cpu more efficient by using as much idle cpu power as possible. Thus, if a program is not coded correctly, peformance maybe worse when 2 or more threads tries to compete for same resources.

 

[Shogmaster]

Seems like some people don't know that even though Win XP Home only supports 1 logical(hardware) cpu, but it does in fact support 2 virtual cpu. Thus, since HT acts like 2 virtual cpu, Home edition does fully support it. Pro supports 2 logical and 4 virtual. Server supports 4 logical and 8 virtual.

Really?!? @_o

Learned something new!

 

[SyNapSe]

So far HT has been mostly a waste unless you run some very specific apps, but I think some of the new games are going to be supporting it.

Maybe someone can throw in some info, but I thought Doom III was going to support multiprocessing.

 

[myzhi]

So far HT has been mostly a waste unless you run some very specific apps, but I think some of the new games are going to be supporting it.

Maybe someone can throw in some info, but I thought Doom III was going to support multiprocessing.

How is it a waste? It's design to make cpu more efficient by using up more idle cpu power. If HT was not there, your cpu would still be wasting power idling. Also, HT works better when multitasking, ie running 2 or more programs at once. Try playing a intense 3D game and burning a DVD on a AMD setup. Not a smart thing.

 

[Bregor]

So far HT has been mostly a waste unless you run some very specific apps, but I think some of the new games are going to be supporting it.

Maybe someone can throw in some info, but I thought Doom III was going to support multiprocessing.

This is not true. I don't have the links handy, but tests have shown that there are performance gains even in most everyday apps. Small gains, but real ones.

 

[Blacklion]

I love my dual processor.

3D max and Maya Takes advantage of the extra computing power while rendering.