Does HyperThreading help with Multi-Tasking?

[erazal]

bumped, sorry....

So NOBODY has every experienced multi-tasking with a single P4 /w hyperthreading?


I just need to find out cuz it can mean the difference between going Dual or staying single

thanks

[imashination]

It depends what the tasks are which need to be done.

If you render with a decent render engine, it will use both cpus, so they will still be tied up. Anything newer than your sub-GHz cpu will feel smoother and allow you to multitask.

I have a HT 3GHz p4 and often browse the web, do email, write webpages while rendering, but I also did that with my Athlon 2100+ with no trouble.

[matty429]

Hype-----Rthreading....

[nrgy]

I guess it would depend on what kind of multitasking your doing to realy notice the benifits. Browsing the web while playing winamp isnt going to show the benifits. The very first time that I experienced a benifit was when good old "EXPLORER" locked up. Sometimes you can hopefully get Task Manager to come up so you can kill the thread but with my 3ghz HT enabled I didnt even know it was while playing a game :D

[stephen2002]

Hyperthreading is actually quite an impressive feature. If you are using a rendering engine that takes advantage of multiple CPUs you will probably noticed a 10%-30% drop in your render times with it on as opposed to off.

Please do a search on this board as the benifits (and pitfalls) have been discussed before.

[GregHess]

Hyperthreading is not a replacement for a second physical cpu.

Remember if you were to go dual xeon's, you'd actually have 2 physical, and two logical processors.

I'd always push for the budget of a dual processor system for a cg workstation. There is just no going back once you've tasted it.

Depending on the type of work you do...hyperthreading can have some effect, zero effect, or a massive effect on performance.

[erazal]

Thanks guys for the responses.

I'm still sticking with my original plan of getting a dual. Just wanted to know if a single P4 would benefit me in case i wanted to just go for the cheaper solution.

[3Dfx_Sage]

yeah, once you go dual you will never ever want to go back.

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