Do multi-core games benefit from Hyperthreading?(i7)

So say theres 2 CPUs with same frequency, both dualcores but one has no HT and the other has HT.

If the game supported up to 4cores like BFBC2, would there be any performance difference between the two processors? and how little or big will the difference be?

The reason why i wonder is I'm gonna choose between a SandyBridge 2500K or 2600K and the latter has HT and I'm wondering about the benefits of it. I mostly just game on my PC.

Hyperthreading is beneficial more often than not. Some things still suffer in performance when it's enabled but this isn't so much of a problem nowadays.

Bad Company 2 likes quad cores, so there probably would be a small difference

This year especially i have found games like Just Cause 2, Black Ops and Metro 2033 using all 8 threads. However last year i have a 2-4 threads doing enxt to nothing. I would say now is the time for i7 HT in gaming.

Well, from the various benchmarks I have seen on the net, i5 and i7 processors seem to get the same fps at the same clockspeed. For now, not really.

I just played Just Cause 2 for about an hour and my average cpu usage on my dual core E8500 was about 60-70%. I have also ran my cpu at 2.4 and the framerate was the same as at 3.8. there is no way the game would make any use of 8 threads as even 4 threads would do nothing more with any single gpu. maybe if you were running gtx580 sli would having 4 threads help.

HT certainly helps on dual cores for many games but on the quads there are probably only about 4-5 games that are any better. GTA 4 is one of the most cpu intensive games out there but unfortunately that game does use more than 4 cores.

the 2600K would probably be the better purchase if you dont want to upgrade the cpu for 2 or 3 years. HT and the additional 2mb L3 cache will probably help in some current games as well as those down the road. the 2500K will likely be the much better bang for buck cpu though.

cannondale06 said:

I just played Just Cause 2 for about an hour and my average cpu usage on my dual core E8500 was about 60-70%. I have also ran my cpu at 2.4 and the framerate was the same as at 3.8. there is no way the game would make any use of 8 threads as even 4 threads would do nothing more with any single gpu. maybe if you were running gtx580 sli would having 4 threads help.

HT certainly helps on dual cores for many games but on the quads there are probably only about 4-5 games that are any better. GTA 4 is one of the most cpu intensive games out there but unfortunately the game does use more than 4 cores.

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I'd say get the 2600K even though not a lot uses 8 threads yet, but games will sooner than later.

Mr. Bluntman said:

I'd say get the 2600K even though not a lot uses 8 threads yet, but games will sooner than later.

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yeah I sort of agree and I was still editing my post to reflect that. you must have quoted me right before I finished my edit.

I find HT helps quite a bit when you least expect it. I remember reading it depends on threading, and if the internal CPU cache does not need constant swapping to fill the request of the "extra" threads which would slow it down, as seen in some applications.

Having 8 threads on the i7 is nice though, ie: Dragon Age seems to use 50% - 60% of 5 "cores" + all my other background apps running with no slowdown & games maxed out completely (and I mean completely) at 1920x1080. Not sure it adds any FPS, but there's plenty of headroom left over for other background apps..

I've tried loading up all 8 threads, and aside of distributing applications like Rossetta which can use all 8 threads at 100%, I end up filling my RAM before the 4 cores.


Y.

I read HT cores help quite a bit for a smoother gameplay when you have other things running in the background. I have Steam, my G19 logitech software, temp software, msi afterburner, printer software, and Microsoft security essentials. I run in Nvidia surround portrait mode and have been gaming happily on my I7.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Yea I plan to use it pretty long term (in [H] standards, look at my sig) so I should just shell out the extra $100 for it. Extra 0.1 ghz and 2MB more cache can contribule to my e-peen.

Had a bash at some video converting, just to see the differences between the Core2Duo and the i7. HUGE difference.

Day to day usage you find more and more things that benefit from it.

After some reading in some of the other HardOCP forums (Intel CPUs, Intel Mobos, Memory, etc) it seems that hyperthreading is extremely beneficial for folding and some other non-gaming uses, but for just gaming, some have found better performance when turning HT off (at least on the i7 series).

So it looks like the i5 2500K will be the gamer's CPU for awhile. I've got an E6600, and the 2500K is my plan.