The effect of HT on folding performance

[Nathan_P]

As none of you really like going to foldingforum I thought I'd copy this over.

The debate on the benefits of hyper threading for F@H has raged back and forth as long as I have been folding and I saw it mentioned yet again recently but I have never seen anyone test it out. As I have just had to rebuild my 3rd rig I thought it would be the ideal time to do a couple of tests.

The rig consists of dual E5-2670 retail xeons, Asus Z9PE-D16 mobo, 18gb of ram, corsair AX760 psu, a usb2 flash drive running the [H] folding appliance v9 with the kraken. The WU used is P8823, R0, C3,G254

HT on.

Idle power 87w
Folding power 312w
tpf 2:31
PPD 139k

HT off.

Idle power:- 83w
Folding power:- 260w
tpf 3:46
PPD 73k

So that's a tpf that's 50% quicker, 90% more PPD and only 20% more power. Looks like using HT is definitely a must to max performance.
I know its only one wu but I'm not about to start dumping WU just to run tests, i'll run another test in a few days and see if a different WU shows any difference.

 

[jebo_4jc]

I thought we settled this debate once and for all back when we were running P4 Northwoods

 

[plext0r]

Just an FYI, the opposite is true on many BOINC projects which appear to use much more of the CPU (drawing more power as well). Hyperthreading is detrimental to BOINC throughput (especially "llr" like PrimeGrid) and I've slowly moved my 64-hyperthreaded-core machines to 32-straight-cores. Points have increased significantly.

 

[Nathan_P]

I thought we settled this debate once and for all back when we were running P4 Northwoods

Well, AFAIK no one has actually got a WU and actually tested it. Someone was also asking the other day over on FF

 

[402blownstroker]

Just an FYI, the opposite is true on many BOINC projects which appear to use much more of the CPU (drawing more power as well). Hyperthreading is detrimental to BOINC throughput (especially "llr" like PrimeGrid) and I've slowly moved my 64-hyperthreaded-core machines to 32-straight-cores. Points have increased significantly.

I saw the same thing with both 16c 2Ps and the 32c 4P I have.

 

[Grandpa_01]

I saw the same thing with both 16c 2Ps and the 32c 4P I have.

Some boinc projects do better with HT on, some do the same HT on or off and some do better HT off. You should test each project to determine how it preforms. It is kind of a pita but can be worth the effort in your daily rock collection.