P4 and Hyperthreading.

[Guest sb55mv]

Hi All.I am going to up-grade yet again, this time to an Intel based board and a Intel P4 3.0GHz CPU with Hyperthreading,all 800MHz Front Side Bus. I am looking forward to the general performance increases, but I am slightly optomistic as to any issues I will have with some of the posts that I have read about problems with Hyperthreading and FS9, some have issues while some say they don't have any problems and have found FS9 to run great!thanks for any feedback you give,and may I take this oportunity to wish everyone a fantastic Xmas and a Great New Year for 2004.Steve,

[michal]

There are NO problems with hyperthreading if you turn it OFF. Use search and read more posts on the subject. Michael J.http://www.reality-xp.com/community/nr/rsc/rxp-higher.jpg

[Tavers]

I haven't noticed a difference with it on or off to be honest. :)

[Guest sb55mv]

>There are NO problems with hyperthreading if you turn it OFF.>Use search and read more posts on the subject. >>Michael J.>http://www.reality-xp.com/community/nr/rsc/rxp-higher.jpgHi Guy'sThanks for the reply John, and Michael. I did say at the begining that ALL the posts were somewhat confusing with a good deal of others posting without even having HT,!thats why I made my initial statement in the first place.Steve,

[greggerm]

Here's the skinny - or at least what I think went on.For most computers, Flight Simulator will not run any better with HT turned on or off. The simulator, we have found, does NOT benefit from HT. Personally, I run FS2004 and myriad of addon aircraft and utilities. Testing with HT on and HT off, while using all these goodies, I was unable to detect any difference. Frame rates and perceived smoothness remained the same. Some users have reported that turning HT off gave them performance help. This has been documented to be the case if you were using specific addon software. A third party gauge set, I believe it was the FlightMax set, had some issues with HT. Turning off HT made the systems effected perform like their HT-enabled brothers.In the end, just like most Intel innovations other than raw speed, the Hyperthreading system does not positively or negatively effect the use of Flight Simulator 2004.-Greg

[michal]

>This has been documented to be the case if>you were using specific addon software. This addon happens to be Flight1's Piper Merdian.Michael J.http://www.reality-xp.com/community/nr/rsc/rxp-higher.jpg

[Guest C17SimGuy]

I beg to differ. . .HT allows for the use of a second virtual processor. Since FS doesn't utilize two processors one might ask, why bother having HT on at al? If you are just flying around with FS, you shouldn't notice a difference with it on or off, so it doesn't matter what you do. When you WILL notice a difference is when you have other programs running in the background (ie Roger Wilco, VATSIM, weather programs, etc. . .) Since those background tasks will use the second "processor," FS will not notice that they are there and will utilize the main processor to it's full capabilities. I was running an XP2000+ and stepped up to a P4 2.4G 800FSB with HT. I have noticed a HUGE difference when I alt+tab out of FS with my new computer. There is absolutely no lag time. . .this is REALLY helpful if you are creating AFCADS or such while keeping the sim up and running, it's like FS is running on it's own computer regardless of what is really happening in the OS. I guess another big help for me is that I don't have to turn all the programs off that are running in the background to help FS performance. I'm going to burn some money in a few weeks when the P4 3.2 EEs become available. . .I am really curious to see if the 2MB L3 will help out any. If not, at least I'll have a killer rig for LOMAC and Halflife2!Regards,DrewKLGB

[michal]

>I beg to differ. . .Drew, and I beg to differ too. I am not sure you actually understood what Greg was saying. Greg's post was very focused and factually correct - there **ARE** some FS-related products that cause serious performance degradation when HT is enabled. *IF* you are a user of one of those products then things will be different for you.Michael J.

[Guest ChkSix]

I personally have seen no difference with HT on or off, and have many addon products like Ultimate Traffic, FSGenesis, Lago Mesh Scenery, Simflyers airports, FlightOne aircraft, etc. I am not saying degradation doesn't exist as I am sure it does, however in my personal experience I haven't seen any on my system running FS9.MikeP4 2.4C @3.44 285FSBAsus P4C800 Deluxe1gb Corsair XMS PC3500 Asus V9950 FX5900 Ultra 256mb 500/950SB Audigy2 Platinum ExWatercooled baby!!!Pics: http://community.webshots.com/user/chksix2002

[greggerm]

It is also worth noting that a HT-enabled processor, motherboard, and operating system do not a HT application make. (yodaspeak)Programs need to be specifically written to take advantage of the HT features. Because HT is essentially a multi-processor system, it needs specially written software to use it. FS2004 was not writting to this specification, nor have any of the addons to date. WinXP cannot dynamically allocate applications thread usage. This leads to the documented overwhelming performance neutrality with having HT on or HT off.Programs such as Adobe Photoshop and other high end graphics, audio, and video design tools HAVE been written with this specification in mind, and they do make a difference. So to answer the original poster's question, HT should not weigh into your purchase for FS2004. It may be useful in the future, and you would probably want to steer towards it, but don't BASE your purchase on it. Those who have HT on are doing just as well as those who have it off or don't have it at all.-GregMore info:http://www.tomshardware.com/game/20021228/

[Guest sb55mv]

Hi All.Thank you all for you're time and replies to my question.I now feel that I have a general idea and can now get on with my purchases and know what roughly to expect or correct,Steve,and may I wish ALL of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for 2004