Many Intel processors include modules with support for Hyper-Threading Technology, which, in accordance with the idea of the developers, should help increase the performance of the chip and speed up the PC as a whole. What is the specificity of this solution from an American corporation? How can I take advantage of Hyper-Threading?
Technology Highlights
Consider the key information about Hyper-Threading. What is this technology? It was developed by Intel and first introduced to the public in 2001. The purpose of its creation was to increase server performance. The basic principle implemented in Hyper-Threading is the distribution of processor computing across multiple threads. Moreover, this is possible even if only one core is installed on the corresponding type of chip (in turn, if there are 2 or more of them, and the threads in the processor are already distributed - the technology successfully complements this mechanism).
Ensuring the operation of the main PC microchip within several streams is carried out by creating copies of the architectural states during the calculations. This involves the same set of resources on the chip. If the application uses the appropriate feature, then practically significant operations are carried out much faster. It is also important that the technology in question is supported by the computer's I / O system - the BIOS.
Enabling Hyper-Threading
If the processor installed in the PC supports the corresponding standard, then it is usually activated automatically. But in some cases it is necessary to carry out manually the necessary actions in order for Hyper-Threading technology to work. How to turn it on? Very simple.
You must enter the main BIOS interface. To do this, you must press DEL at the very beginning of the computer’s boot, sometimes press F2, F10, less often other keys, but the desired one always appears in one of the lines of text displayed on the screen immediately after turning on the PC. In the BIOS interface, you need to find the Hyper-Threading item: in the versions of the I / O system supporting it, it is usually located in a prominent place. After selecting the appropriate option, press Enter and activate it, marking it as Enabled. If this mode is already set, then Hyper-Threading Technology is working. You can use all its advantages. Having activated the technology in the settings, you should save all entries in the BIOS by selecting Save and Exit Setup. After that, the computer will restart in the mode when the processor is working with Hyper-Theading support. Disabling Hyper-Threading is similarly done. To do this, select in the appropriate paragraph another option - Disabled and save the settings.
Having studied how to enable Hyper-Threading and deactivate this technology, we consider its features in more detail.
Hyper Threading Processors
The first processor on which the concept of the company was implemented, according to some sources, is Intel Xeon MP, also known as Foster MP. This chip in a number of architectural components is similar to Pentium 4, which also subsequently implemented the technology in question. Subsequently, the multi-threaded computing function was implemented on Xeon server processors with the Prestonia core.
If we talk about the current prevalence of Hyper-Threading - what "prots" support it? Among the most popular chips of this type are those that belong to the Core and Xeon families. There is also evidence that similar algorithms are implemented in processors such as Itanium and Atom.
Having studied the basic information about Hyper-Threading, processors with its support, we will consider the most remarkable facts regarding the history of technology development.
Development history
As we noted above, Intel showed the concept in question to the public in 2001. But the first steps in creating technology were made back in the early 90s. The engineers of the American company noted that the resources of PC processors are not fully utilized in a number of operations.
As Intel experts calculated, during a user’s work on a PC, a chip within significant intervals - almost the main part of the time - is not used very actively - by about 30%. The opinions of experts regarding this figure are very different - some consider it to be clearly underestimated, while others completely agree with the thesis of American developers.
However, most IT-specialists agreed that even if not 70% of the processor’s capacities are idle, their volume is very significant.
The main task of developers
Intel decided to rectify this state of affairs through a qualitatively new approach to ensuring the efficiency of the main PC chips. It was proposed to create a technology that would contribute to a more active use of the capabilities of processors. In 1996, Intel specialists began its practical development.
According to the concept of the American corporation, the processor, processing data from one program, could direct idle resources to work with another application (or a component of the current one, but having a different structure and requiring the use of additional resources). The corresponding algorithm also assumed effective interaction with other hardware components of the PC - RAM, chipset, as well as programs.
Intel managed to solve the problem. Initially, the technology was called Willamette. In 1999, it was introduced into the architecture of some processors, and testing began. Soon, the technology received its modern name - Hyper-Threading. It is hard to say what exactly it was - simple rebranding or cardinal adjustments to the platform. Further facts regarding the appearance of technology in public and its implementation in various models of Intel processors are already known to us. Among the common development names today is Hyper-Threading Technology.
Technology Compatibility Issues
How well is Hyper-Threading technology implemented in operating systems? It can be noted that if we are talking about modern versions of Windows, then there will not be any problems for the user to fully utilize the advantages of Intel Hyper-Threading Technology. Of course, it is also very important that the I / O system supports the technology - we said this above.
Software and hardware factors
Regarding older versions of the OS - Windows 98, NT and relatively outdated XP, the necessary condition for compatibility with Hyper-Threading is ACPI support. If it is not implemented in the OS, then not all streams of calculations that are formed by the corresponding modules will be recognized by the computer. Note that Windows XP as a whole provides the benefits of this technology. It is also highly desirable that multithreading algorithms be implemented in applications used by the PC owner.
Sometimes it may be necessary to replace the PC motherboard - in the case of installing processors with Hyper-Threading support on it instead of those that stood on it initially and were not compatible with the technology. However, as in the case of operating systems, there will be no particular problems if the user has at their disposal a modern PC or at least the first Intel Core i5 processors corresponding in hardware components . Hyper Threading, as we noted above, is implemented in the Core line, and the chipsets on the motherboards adapted to it fully support the corresponding functions of the chip.
Acceleration Criteria
If a computer at the level of hardware and software components is not compatible with Hyper-Threading, then this technology, in theory, may even slow down its work. This state of affairs made some IT-specialists doubt the prospects of Intel solutions. They decided that it was not a technological leap, but a marketing ploy that lay at the heart of the Hyper Threading concept, that it was an algorithm that, by virtue of its architecture, was not able to significantly speed up the PC. But critics' doubts were quickly dispelled by Intel engineers.
So, the basic conditions for the technology to be successfully involved:
- Support for Hyper-Threading I / O;
- compatibility of the motherboard with the processor of the corresponding type;
- Support for technology by the operating system and the specific application running in it.
If the first two points should not cause any special problems, then in the aspect of compatibility of programs with Hyper-Threading, some overlays may still occur. But it can be noted that if the application supports, for example, working with dual-core processors, then it will be compatible, almost guaranteed, with Intel technology.
At least there are studies that confirm the performance growth of programs adapted to dual-core chips by about 15-18% if Intel Hyper Threading modules are running in the processor. How to disable them - we already know (in case the user has doubts about the advisability of using the technology). But there are probably very few tangible reasons for their appearance.
The practical utility of hyper-threading
Has the technology in question given Intel tangible competitive advantages ? There are different opinions on this. But many people say: Hyper-Threading technology has become so popular that this solution has become indispensable for many server systems manufacturers, and it was also welcomed by ordinary PC users.
Hardware data processing
The main advantage of the technology is that it is implemented in hardware format. That is, the bulk of the calculations will be performed inside the processor on special modules, and not in the form of software algorithms transmitted to the level of the main core of the microcircuit - which would imply a decrease in the overall performance of the PC. In general, as IT experts note, Intel engineers were able to solve the problem that they identified at the beginning of the development of the technology - to make the processor function more efficiently. Indeed, as tests have shown, in solving many tasks of practical importance to the user, the use of Hyper-Threading has significantly accelerated the work.
It can be noted that among the Pentium 4 processors, those microcircuits that were equipped with support modules for the technology under consideration worked significantly more efficiently than the first modifications. In many respects, this was expressed in the PC’s ability to function in real multitasking mode - when several different types of Windows applications are open, and it is highly undesirable for one of them to slow down the work of others due to increased consumption of system resources.
The simultaneous solution of different tasks
Thus, processors with support for Hyper-Threading are better adapted than microchips incompatible with it to simultaneously launch, for example, a browser, play music and work with documents. Of course, all these advantages are felt by the user in practice, only if the software and hardware components of the PC are characterized by sufficient compatibility with this mode of operation.
Similar developments
Hyper-Threading is not the only technology designed to improve PC performance through multi-threaded computing. She has analogues.
For example, IBM's POWER5 processors also support multithreading. That is, each of the processor cores (in total, 2 corresponding elements are installed on it) can perform tasks within 2 threads. Thus, the microcircuit processes 4 streams of calculations simultaneously.
AMD also has excellent results in multithreading concepts. So, it is known that in the architecture of Bulldozer, algorithms similar to Hyper-Threading are involved. The peculiarity of the solution from AMD is that each of the threads processes individual processor units. At the same time, the second level cache remains shared. Similar concepts are implemented in AMD's Bobcat architecture, which is adapted for laptops and small PCs.
Of course, direct analogues of the concept from AMD, IBM and Intel can be considered very conditional. As well as approaches to the design of processor architecture as a whole. But the principles implemented in the corresponding technologies can be considered quite similar, and the goals set by the developers in terms of increasing the efficiency of the functioning of microchips are very close in essence, if not identical.
These are the key facts about Intel’s most interesting technology. What it is, how to enable Hyper-Threading or, conversely, deactivate, we have determined. The point is probably in the practical use of its advantages, which can be utilized by making sure that the PC in the hardware and software components supports the technology.