Hyperthreading - Did you Know?

[Marc Harrington]

My computer is an 18 month old Dell Dimension 8400. A “BIG FEATURE” of this machine was “HYPERTHREADING”. I was having another problem and wound up in the "system bios" (Performance tab) where I found that by default it is “OFF”. I’m speechless or perhaps “mad as ****” or worse……why would it be off and nothing ever said about it anywhere ?????

After turning it on the computer is on fire. Final render appears to be about 4 times faster. This computer has been great as it was but it’s a lot faster with the “Hyperthreading ON”. Check your machine, it is sent from Dell with it “OFF”.

Access the “bios” by tapping F2 on a reboot

[Jorge Araya]

Mine is AMD and ever since I put this new motherboard and processor, I could hear the fan/processor going at full speed and it made the enclosure vibrate, you know a humming noise!

I thought it was normal since it's a faster processor and bigger fan on it, I put up with it for a while until two days ago, the humming was LOUD and I could feel it on my desk and even from the hallway!!

Wasted two days trying to find something loose (betwee opening, reopening, shutting off, reboot, etc. etc.) nothing, after trying and hitting my head against the desk a few times, I noticed that the moment I took one of the side panels out, the processor would idle back to normal (super smooth) and as I put it back it would start going up again!!!!

So last night I left the panel out, and I left the system on to see if it had anything to do, and it has worked fine since.

The tech guy thinks is a grounding issue! I don't know!

[Gunzzz]

I have a HT capable motherboard but only recently upgraded to a p4 3.0 from a celeron. I was under the impression you had to reinstall xp in order to get HT to operate. While i was resigned to this fate, I was also delaying because of this fact. When you do a ctrl-alt-del does it show 2 processors in the performance tab???
I was also going to use this as an excuse to reformat my harddrives after 5 years. Not much fun for me ahead.

Paul

[johnN]

My Dell shows 2 processors also-but Dell saya only one is on the board, which it right. I,ve bought my last Dell because of their tech support going downhill on a rollerskate.

[Marc Harrington]

My Dell shows 2 processors also-but Dell saya only one is on the board, which it right. I,ve bought my last Dell because of their tech support going downhill on a rollerskate.

My "post" concerned hyperthreading being turned off by default.

I find this a strange way to ship an advanced computer from the factory! The place to turn on this capability is in the “ system bios” which to my knowledge can only be accessed the way I described earlier. If there was another way or any indication of another place to control this I have not seen it in the 18 months I’ve had this rig. I’m no whiz….but my understanding is that “hyperthreading” is NOT 2 processors but similar to two pipelines going to the same processor. Please correct me on this if I’m wrong!

I posted this to the forum just in case anyone else might be in the same situation and not know it.

[Marc Harrington]

I have a HT capable motherboard but only recently upgraded to a p4 3.0 from a celeron. I was under the impression you had to reinstall xp in order to get HT to operate. While i was resigned to this fate, I was also delaying because of this fact. When you do a ctrl-alt-del does it show 2 processors in the performance tab???
I was also going to use this as an excuse to reformat my harddrives after 5 years. Not much fun for me ahead.

Paul

Paul,
I don't think it would work even if you reinstalled XP. Check the " system bios" PERFORMANCE (about 2/3 of the way down the list). I don't think it shows anywhere else. Let me tell you ...I was shocked!!!! All I had to do was turn it on. I hope that it will work for you. Reply if you have any questions. Marc

[Gunzzz]

My "post" concerned hyperthreading being turned off by default.
I’m no whiz….but my understanding is that “hyperthreading” is NOT 2 processors but similar to two pipelines going to the same processor. Please correct me on this if I’m wrong!

.

This is correct from what I understand as well. Some sort of alternating feed to the compressor.

Paul

[thorn]

xacto….what cpu is your AMD? Does it have a stock fan? Sounds to me like it may be a heat issue. More air to the cpu without the panel would mean the fan is slowing down? From my experience a grounding issue would stop the system immediately. You might look at the fans/coolers from Zalman. They are the quietest around in my opinion.

[Jorge Araya]

No, the fan is ok, the noise begins inmediately while putting the side cover on!

The fan is made for the AMD processor Athlon 64 3000 I think, is good enough for chief.

[Gunzzz]

I enabled ht in the bios settings but no luck. My motherboard manual clearly states that you have to reinstall xp to activate it. I doubt I'm going to do this soon since this type of procedure usually causes me days of grief and frustration. I'm not the most computer savy when it comes to problem solving.

Paul

[mcqueenhomes]

Windows XP seems bent on preventing one from rebuilding the hard drive from zero. XP Windows Setup probably has a way to accomplish the upgrade without losing the other data on your hard drive.

[Marc Harrington]

Windows XP seems bent on preventing one from rebuilding the hard drive from zero. XP Windows Setup probably has a way to accomplish the upgrade without losing the other data on your hard drive.

Jason,

You are correct! The on switch is located in “ XP Windows Setup” under Performance. I had called this the “system Bios” because my computer consultant called it that. If you expand “System” and go to Processor you will see a line “ HYPERTREADING CAPABLE”. This does NOT mean it’s ON. Go down the list and expand “PERFORMANCE”, you will see “ HYPERTHREADING”. By default on my Dell system it was off. Turn it on and I think you will see a great improvement in performance. This only applies to some processors built after approximately September 2004.

[sonjasnow]

Microsoft has some HAL (hardware abstraction layer) drivers that are not real compatible with hyperthreading. For example, some older video cards will crash Windows when running under hyperthreading or can cause Windows to lock up. Therefore, Dell shuts down hyperthreading to avoid support and warranty calls.

[Jimerb]

Also if you have a duel core system you can increase raytrace speed.

See this link.
http://www.chieftalk.com/showthread....light=raytrace