| How
Hyper-Threading Works
Faster clock speeds are an important way to deliver more computing
power. But clock speed is only half the story. The other route
to higher performance is to accomplish more work on each clock
cycle, and that's where Hyper-Threading Technology comes in.
A single processor supporting Hyper-Threading Technology presents
itself to modern operating systems and applications as two
virtual processors. The processor can work on two sets of
tasks simultaneously, use resources that otherwise would sit
idle, and get more work done in the same amount of time.
HT Technology takes advantage of the multithreading
capability that's built in to Windows XP and many advanced
applications. Multithreaded software divides its workloads
into processes and threads that can be independently scheduled
and dispatched. In a multiprocessor system, those threads
execute on different processors. HT Technology allows a single
Pentium 4 processor to function as two virtual or logical
processors. There's still just one physical Pentium 4 processor
in your PC — but the processor can execute two threads
simultaneously.
Greater resource utilization equals
greater performance and responsiveness.
In
high-performance workstations, Hyper-Threading Technology
enables thread-level parallelism (TLP) by duplicating the
architectural state on each processor while sharing one set
of processor execution resources. When scheduling threads,
the operating system treats the two distinct architectural
states as separate "logical" processors, which allows
multiprocessor capable software to run unmodified on twice
as many logical processors. Although Hyper-Threading Technology
will not provide the level of performance scaling achieved
by adding a second processor, benchmark tests show video capture
applications can experience up to a 30% gain in performance.
This technology will perform best with operating systems that
have been optimized for Hyper-Threading Technology, such as
Windows XP.
ViewCast
continues to increase the performance of our Niagara product
line with the latest enhancements available such as HT technology.
We optimize and test these configurations resulting with a
high-performing and reliable turnkey video capture system
at the best value possible.
|
