Hyper-Threading or not

[chris2112617]

I am looking to upgrade my cpu, i have 2.4 Intel, I have a soyo dragon ultra lite p4x400 motherboard nvida geforce fx5600 card. this site here.

http://www.soyousa.com/content/FAQ/47/?o_id=17

says it supports Hyper-Threading 3.06ghz. now what is the differcne in that and a regual 3.06ghz cpu and should i get the Hyper-Threading or stick with the regual one.

 

[DSF]

What's making you upgrade? Moving from 2.4 to 3.06 isn't likely to blow you away. If you're experiencing problems in games for example, a new video card or extra RAM might be a better use of your money.

 

[chris2112617]

well i just upgrade my ram from 512 to 2g. so i fiugre i just max out my cpu.

 

[chris2112617]

right i have a nvidia geforce fx 5600 256mb video card. i don't know what is the biggest i can go to.

 

[betasub]

Originally posted by: DSF
What's making you upgrade?

Important question for OP to answer. Simply "maxing out" is usually a poor use of resources.

With an old motherboard like yours, it's hard to advise spending money on upgrades. Your 2GB of DDR should keep it viable as an office/Vista/old games rig for some time yet, but a CPU upgrade will give only minimal benefits (unless there's a particular app forcing the upgrade). A new graphics card could boost performance in new games greatly, but getting a decent AGP card (HD 3850 AGP) at this stage isn't the best use of money that could be saved for building a system around a new motherboard (DDR2, PCI-express).

 

[chris2112617]

OK thank you for everyone's help.

 

[THUGSROOK]

HT on single core P4 is garbage, disable it for better performance.

 

[chris2112617]

OK i guess i will have to start saving some money to build one.

 

[TuxDave]

Originally posted by: THUGSROOK
HT on single core P4 is garbage, disable it for better performance.

wat

 

[THUGSROOK]

Originally posted by: TuxDave

Originally posted by: THUGSROOK
HT on single core P4 is garbage, disable it for better performance.

wat

unless youre an extreme multi-task monster, turn it off for better performance, a lot better.

 

[TuxDave]

Originally posted by: THUGSROOK

Originally posted by: TuxDave

Originally posted by: THUGSROOK
HT on single core P4 is garbage, disable it for better performance.

wat

unless youre an extreme multi-task monster, turn it off for better performance, a lot better.

Ok.. I want to make two points.

1) You don't need to be a multi-task monster to benefit from HT for single core processors. All you need to have some process go crazy (svchost anyone?) or outlook or mcafee create a 100% process and your single core becomes stalled unless there was some SMT available to help you still move forward.

2) http://accelenation.com/?ac.id.215.8 That's the first thing I could quickly find on google on HT on vs HT off. While not all applications may benefit from HT, I haven't seen much evidence that you can say on a general basis "turning off HT will boost performance tremendously"

 

[THUGSROOK]

you will not get single core performance if HT is on, this is old news. no need to google, its not exactly a secret.

yes HT can be helpful, but a nice boost in power can also be helpful on these older rigs.

 

[TuxDave]

Originally posted by: THUGSROOK
you will not get single core performance if HT is on, this is old news. no need to google, its not exactly a secret.

yes HT can be helpful, but a nice boost in power can also be helpful on these older rigs.

I agree that the OP upgrading his CPU from a P4 to another P4 is a waste of money seeing how ancient it is. However this is the first time I have heard arguments that HT degrade single core performance significantly.

 

[THUGSROOK]

Originally posted by: TuxDave

Originally posted by: THUGSROOK
you will not get single core performance if HT is on, this is old news. no need to google, its not exactly a secret.

yes HT can be helpful, but a nice boost in power can also be helpful on these older rigs.

I agree that the OP upgrading his CPU from a P4 to another P4 is a waste of money seeing how ancient it is. However this is the first time I have heard arguments that HT degrade single core performance significantly.

you musta missed a few threads in late 2003

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: TuxDave
1) You don't need to be a multi-task monster to benefit from HT for single core processors. All you need to have some process go crazy (svchost anyone?) or outlook or mcafee create a 100% process and your single core becomes stalled unless there was some SMT available to help you still move forward.

If you have a stalled (tight loop) thread on a HT P4, it will also stall out the other thread, since it won't give it time to run. HT provides no performance advantage here.

 

[TuxDave]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry

Originally posted by: TuxDave
1) You don't need to be a multi-task monster to benefit from HT for single core processors. All you need to have some process go crazy (svchost anyone?) or outlook or mcafee create a 100% process and your single core becomes stalled unless there was some SMT available to help you still move forward.

If you have a stalled (tight loop) thread on a HT P4, it will also stall out the other thread, since it won't give it time to run. HT provides no performance advantage here.

I experienced otherwise when outlook tanks my system trying to sync up. With a prescott at least I could continue surfing while it did its crap.

 

[Soulkeeper]

i wouldn't even bother upgrading the cpu unless someone gives you one, or you get a used one dirt cheap

better off just getting a new motherboard/cpu

the difference between P4 and c2d is over 4x in my experience

 

[secretanchitman]

wouldnt bother upgrading anything in that system except the memory (which you did) quite honestly...

just save the money for a system upgrade. asrock ddr1/ddr2 and agp/pci-e mobo (if you want to reuse your memory and video card), and a cheap c2d will get you a HELL of a lot better performance.

 

[THUGSROOK]

Originally posted by: TuxDave
...outlook...

that explains it.

wth do you use outlook?

 

[TuxDave]

Originally posted by: THUGSROOK

Originally posted by: TuxDave
...outlook...

that explains it.

wth do you use outlook?

Because that's what my old (and current) workplace made us use. /sigh

Same goes for why I'm stuck with McAfee Antivirus and so every morning Outlook and McAfee battles it out on my laptop to see who can stall my computer longer.