RE: Hyperthreading & 8.0

On 23 Sep 2002, Ryan wrote:
> What does hyperthreading provide?

Hype.

To elaborate: their were multiple Linux kernel hackers present at the
USENIX 2002 Technical Conference (back in 2002-06).  I won't name
names, but one of the kernel hackers who was present described it as
"a hack Intel created for marketing purposes".

On 23 Sep 2002, Ryan wrote:
> from the benchmarks I have seen, they have reported a ~20-30%
> performance increase.

Non-independent benchmarks are simply marketing hype (no pun
intended); they're completely worthless for any objective comparative
purposes.

My $0.02: wait until independent benchmarks of hyperthreaded P4 chips
v. non-hyperthreaded P4 chips come out before making any purchasing
decisions based on the technology.

-- 
James Ralston, Information Technology
Software Engineering Institute
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA