in need of core i7 hyperthread explenation

So my new laptop has a core i7 with sandy bride & hyperthread support.

So actually that means I have 1 core with 4 CPU's which can get "hyperthread" to 8 CPU's (well 4 of them are virtually) ? That hyperthread gets only activated when all 4 CPU's are at 100% usage (or pretty much at their limits) ? Would everest home or hwinfo show the 4 virtual CPU's when hyperthread gets actived?
Additional to all that, everst home & hwinfo make it even more complicated

HWinfo says:
I have 4 physical cores and 4 logical processors?

Everest home says:
CPU #0 Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2760QM CPU @ 2.40GHz, 2394 MHz
CPU #1 Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2760QM CPU @ 2.40GHz, 2394 MHz
CPU #2 Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2760QM CPU @ 2.40GHz, 2394 MHz
CPU #3 Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2760QM CPU @ 2.40GHz, 2394 MHz

Current usage:
CPU #1 / Core #1 / HTT Unit #1 0 %
CPU #1 / Core #1 / HTT Unit #2 28 %
CPU #1 / Core #2 / HTT Unit #1 11 %
CPU #1 / Core #2 / HTT Unit #2 26 %


Intel turbo boost:
Now the Intel turbo boost is always disabled except 2 of the 4 CPU's are at full usage (and the other 2 CPU's are at 0% usage) or 1 CPU at 100% usage and the rest at 0% usage ? The less CPU's active, the higher the turbo boost (so I have 4 or 8 CPU's with each 2,4Ghz or 2 CPU's with ~3Ghz or 1 CPU with 3,5 Ghz) ? Basically I will never get the Intel turbo boost? I boot windows and 2 out of 4 CPU's are getting used (sometimes 3) with like 0%-15% usage. If I run an old game (which only supports single-core/cpu) then one CPU gets are 100% while the other 2-3 CPU's will have ~10% usage (so they are all in use and no turbo boost can be applied). When I play newer games (like crysis 2) then all 4 CPU's are at ~70%+ usage so no turbo boost again.

Thanks

 

If you have all cores and HTT enabled then you have 4 cores with 8 threads where each thread is seen as a logical CPU by the OS.

It can be hard to see what is going on with turbo as switching between cores and tasks can happen very quickly, that is unless your running 100% load.

 

so I have 4 cores with each of them having 1 CPU + 1 virtual CPU (gets created with hyperthread..so when the 4 CPU's are on full usage?). Thanks for making this clear to me

Looks like everest is doing some strange stuff then. it shows 4 times the CPU #1 being used which are twice on core1 and core2

Well I had the Intel Turbo Boost monitor running + everest home + hwmonitor + CPU-Z (all on my second screen) while having various programs on my main screen (3dmark06, single-core games which loaded cpu #1 to 100%, etc)... never had more than 2,4Ghz.

 

No, you have each core with 2 logical (virtual) cpus. Here's an example of a 6 core processor with HTT.

 

ye that's how I imagined it.. I have 4 cores and each of them has 2 CPU's. However, only 4 CPU's are active until windows needs more and actives HTT ?

 

that's not how windows works. It will distribute the work across all eight logical cores even for little tasks. You will rarely be in a situation where one core is at 100% usage while the others lay dormant.
As you can see in the pic, all 8 threads are working eventhough CPU is at 49% usage

 

My taskmanager only shows 4 CPU diagrams.. huh ?! What is wrong now?

I already had the situation of one CPU being at 100% while the others were at 0%-3% usage.. and turbo mode didn't get enabled.

I just did at 3dmark06 benchmark.
I had EVEREST home & HWiNFO running in the backround. HWINFO never shows turbo mode being enabled. EVEREST showed me that sometimes 2 CPU's were in use (50%-100%) while the others (the other 2 CPU's) were at 0% usage. Still no turbo mode. And then I had one CPU at 100% usage and two other CPU's were each at ~10% usage... why not moving those 2x 10% on one CPU (so only 2 CPU's are getting used) and enable turbo-mode so that the one CPU which is at 100% usage can get more Mhz ?

@edit: this is from the 3dmark06 results:
Processor speed: 2264Mhz
Psyical/logical processors: 1/4
Number of cores: 2

It actually should be minimum 2,4Ghz and actually 4 cores instead of 2 ?!

In "msconfig -> boot -> advanced options -> number of processors" I can select 4 ... in the past I could have selected 8 there.. what the hell?

@edit2: I just checked benchmarks of other P170HM users.. even with the lower CPU (2720) they have a CPU score of ~5800 with 3dmark06.. mine is at 2850

 

you have a core i7 2760?

Your 3dmark is saying you have a dual core...not quad.

Download a copy of CPUz...it will tell you what CPU you have.

 

That is very odd, that cpu has 8 threads?
Hmm go to msconfig and deselect all cpu's reboot then see what task manager says.

 

Yes I have the i7 2760.. and 3dmark06 also tells me that I have that CPU.

I just ran CPU-Z.. it tells me that I have 2 cores and 4 threads.

brb reboot with that "select number of processors" unchecked.


AHHH THANKS GUYS
Its working now I had 4 processor selected to boot with (in msconfig).. looks like it disabled the other 4 then.. now I had slected 8 and all 8 are working and showing up.. jesus I never had thunderbird & firefox start so fast Doing all those turbo boost tests again now

 

3dmark06: 16562 3DMarks
Processor speed: 3052Mhz
Psyical/logical processors: 1/8
Number of cores: 4
CPU score: 6005

I just fell in love with my new notebook .. and finally Intel turbo boost is getting activated now.. Actually I never dropped below 3,0Ghz during the 3dmark06 test.. mostly I was at 3,2Ghz or 3,4Ghz. Before that Intel Turbo Boost never was activated.. leaving me always at 2,4Ghz.. nice nice nice.. now all my problems and questions are solved

Thanks guys !

 

ha...that's better! Enjoy the computer

 

Here's how it works without hyperthreading
You have 4 physical cores
Each physical core has a logical thread, which is what processes information

Here's how it works with hyperthreading
You have 4 physical cores
Each physical core has two logical threads, which process information


Hyperthreaded 4 core vs physical 8 core?

8 cores will outperform. Hyperthreading works by... "splitting" the core (registers) to allocate work and it helps a lot in some situations but it'll never be as good as adding another 4 cores.

 

zakazak,

didn't have time to contribute anything before, but this should make it obvious that 'tweaking' a system is usually detrimental.

A clean install with just the needed drivers and programs is usually all Windows needs to perform at it's best - no tweaking needed.

 

@Hungry Man: Thanks but I knew that from the beginning.. just didn't know when hyperthread was actually active (and since I had some strange windows settings this whole hyprethread thingy was weird anyway). And yes, 8 physical cores will outperform 8 logical-hyperthreated cores.. but then it will also need more battery? And I'm fine with the hyperthread i7

@tilleroftheearth: was already wondering why after 10 seconds still no solution was posted by you ! I agree with you. There isn't much that has to be tweaked on Windows 7. All that I normally "tweak" is described in my tutorial (my signature). It was just a mistake I made :/

 

I know that feeling when everything just works the way you want it, enjoy.