TECHNOLOGY EXPLAINED

What Is Hyper-Threading? [Technology

Explained]
By Matt Smith / November 19, 2010 19-11-2010 / 5 minutes

Matt Smith
665 articles

Matthew Smith is a freelance writer living

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@matt_on_tech. You can follow him on
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If you’ve thought about buying an Intel processor lately – or a computer with an Intel processor
installed – you may have heard the term “Hyper-Threading” launched at your eardrums. You
probably aren’t familiar with this term unless you stay up-to-date with the nitty-gritty
of computer hardware.

Understanding Hyper-Threading is important, however, because it’s a major feature on some Intel
processors. Like most major processor features, it can be twisted and turned by the sales reps you
meet. I’ve had a Fry’ store employee tell me that Hyper-Threading effectively doubles the number
of cores on a processor. Although true in a sense, it’s mostly an exaggeration.

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Let’s take a look at what Hyper-Threading really means.

A Brief History Of Hyper-Threading

Depending on when you last bought a computer, you may remember Hyper-Threading as a
feature that Intel introduced and then discontinued. This could understandably leave a sour taste
in your mouth – why would Intel discontinue it if it wasn’t trouble?

The truth isn’t so grim. Hyper-Threading was for a time made available on certain Intel Pentium 4
and Intel Xeon processors. It was discontinued not because the feature itself was bad, but rather
because the processor that used it turned out to be a bit of a misstep for other reasons. The
Pentium 4 architecture was a minor disaster for Intel because it was incapable of going the
direction Intel hoped (Intel wanted to have Pentium 4 processors with clock speeds of up to 10
GHz). As a result, Intel jumped back to designing processors based on the Pentium Pro family tree. Latest Giveaways!
Hyper-Threading was gone, but not forgotten. Intel eventually found the time and resources to UHANS Max 2 Has a
integrate it into another new processor architecture – Nehalem. This is the architecture that is the Ludicrously Big 6.44″
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basis for all current Intel Core i3, i5 and i7 processors.

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Nice Threads, Man

hyper threading

Despite all of the advancements we’ve made in the world of processors, they still have one major
limitation – an individual processor core can only execute one instruction at a time. Let’s say, for
example, that you have MS Of ce, Firefox and Skype all open at once. You feel like you’re multi-
tasking, but in processor terms you’re not. The processor core executing data related to these
programs executes one instruction at a time, but because it is so quick you don’t notice any delay.

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But there is a delay. That delay is due to how the data from each program is fed to the processor.
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Each stream of data – or thread- in to the processor must be scheduled and executed by the core
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individually. Hyper-threading, however, makes it possible for each processor core to schedule and Stories…
assign resources to two threads at once.
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Imagine a worker on an assembly line. There two types of widgets coming to her, and she needs
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to do different things with each widget. However, sometimes there is a delay because the Travel Deals, Destinations,
conveyor belt is too slow, or because the wrong widget was sent at the wrong time. Hyper- and Tips
Threading is like adding another conveyor belt so there is now one dedicated to each type of
widget. There is still only one worker, but now widgets can be brought to her more quickly and
ef ciently so she is waiting for work less often.

Not The Same As Doubling Cores

If you boot up a dual-core processor with Hyper-Threading and open Windows Task Manager you
will nd yourself staring at four graphs. This is where most of the confusion about Hyper-
Threading doubling the number of cores come into play. I’ve even spoken with one poor fellow
who thought he’d purchased a eight-core processor because he saw eight graphs in Windows Task
Manager. That’s what the sales rep told him, so when he went home and saw eight graphs, he was
hooked. Seeing was believing.
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Manager Modder Related Articles
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A Short Guide to the

Fantastic AMD Threadripper
CPU

Two graphs appear in Windows for each core on a Hyper-Threading processor because Windows is WINDOWS
detecting two logical processors for each core. The term “logical processor” sounds fancy, but a The 10 Best Free Benchmark
logical processor is by de nition a processor that has no physical existence. Windows can send Programs for Windows
threads to each logical processor, but there is still just one core doing the actual execution, so a
single core with Hyper-Threading is dramatically different from two seperate physical cores.
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The Bene t Of Hyper-Threading Core i5: Which CPU Should
You Buy?
Alright, enough with the technical mumbo-jumbo. Now let’s get down to the most important part
– how Hyper-Threading will impact the performance of the computer are thinking of building or
buying.

In terms of day-to-day tasks like web browsing, email and word processing, Hyper-Threading
won’t have much of an impact. Yes, Hyper-Threading is theoritically better at multi-tasking.
However, today’s processors are so fast that basic programs are rarely limited by the speed of your
processor. The way programs are coded can also be a limitation. You may sometimes nd that you
have numerous programs open, but only one of your processor cores is being put to much use.
That’s because the programs are, for whatever reason, not having their work divided among the
different cores available.

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When you’re trying to do some heavy lifting, however, Hyper-Threading can be more helpful. The
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applications most likely to bene t are 3D rendering programs, heavy-duty audio/video
transcoding apps, and scienti c applications built for maximum multi-threaded performance. But
you may also enjoy a performance boost when encoding audio les in iTunes, playing 3D games
and zipping/unzipping folders. The boost in performance can be up to 30%, although there will
also be situations where Hyper-Threading provides no boost at all.

Conclusion
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As the performance boost gure of only up to 30% indicates, Hyper-Threading is not the same as (706) (380)
doubling the number of cores on a processor. If a sales rep ever tells you that, be careful, because
they’re either ignorant or happy to lie to you if they think it will help push hardware.

With that said, Hyper-Threading is a cool feature, and it’s worth having. It’s particularly good if
you like to edit media often or you use your computer as a workstation for professional programs
like Photoshop or Maya.
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 TECHNOLOGY EXPLAINED

3 Reasons Your Wireless Dongle

Performance Sucks
By Joel Lee / December 8, 2017 08-12-2017 / 5 minutes

Joel Lee
1669 articles

Joel Lee has a BSc in Computer Science and

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Stumbleupon Email over a decade of personal game
development experience. He is the
A dongle is a small device, typically in the shape of a USB ash drive, that plugs into another technical copy editor for MakeUseOf and
spends his free time reading and writing
device and provides extra functionality. A wireless dongle, also called Wi-Fi adapter, is a thumb-
novels.
drive-looking device that provides Wi-Fi capabilities to a device that otherwise isn’t Wi-Fi-
capable, such as a desktop PC with no wireless network card.

Dongles are generally useful because they can be easily moved between devices, they don’t take
up much space, and the added functionality is convenient (e.g. a Roku Streaming Stick lets you
stream thousands of services directly to your TV).

But when using a wireless dongle, you may run into some issues — in particular, poor wireless
speeds that don’t live up to what your ISP plan can deliver. Here are some reasons why you may
have subpar wireless dongle performance and what you can do about it.

1. Wireless Interference
Wi-Fi devices can communicate using two different bands: the 2.4GHz band, which is older and
supported by most devices but slower, and the 5GHz band, which is newer and faster but has a Latest Giveaways!
shorter range and is only supported by devices from the past few years.
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While modern wireless dongles tend to support both bands, you can only utilize the 5GHz band if Ludicrously Big 6.44″
your router also transmits on the 5GHz band. If your router isn’t a dual-band router, then you’re Screen, for Only $150
stuck using the 2.4GHz band. This is why dual-band routers are essential.

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What’s so bad about the 2.4GHz band? Well, it’s extremely narrow. In the U.S., you only have 11
channels to choose between — and even that’s deceptive because each channel’s frequency
overlaps with the frequencies of neighboring channels. This means that channels 1, 6, and 11 are
the only non-overlapping channels.

Overlapping channels are bad because the wireless data waves can interfere with each other,
causing lost data packets that need to be resent. Resending data packets takes time, and this can
cause your wireless speed to drop. With a lot of interference, the drop can be signi cant.
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It gets worse. If you live in a densely populated building, such as an apartment complex in a The History of Windows: The
major city, then you have hundreds of devices all around you trying to transmit Wi-Fi data. Even if 15 Best (and Funniest)
you’re using a non-overlapping channel, transmissions on the same channel can interfere. A Stories…
wireless dongle on the 2.4GHz band simply has no chance to perform well.
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If you have to use 2.4GHz, make sure you’re using the newer N mode instead of “legacy” or 5 Sites for Last-Minute
“mixed” mode, which is limited to 7MB/sec for backward compatibility. Travel Deals, Destinations,
and Tips
The best solution? Switch to the 5GHz band.
This means you’ll need to upgrade your router to a dual-band model if your current router doesn’t
support it. You’ll also need a wireless dongle that’s capable of it. Fortunately, the 5GHz band has
23 non-overlapping channels and many devices still don’t support it, so interference is minimal.
Learn more about ways to solve wireless dongle interference.

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2. Internal Antenna WINDOWS

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Wireless dongles come in two forms: compact ones (which have internal antennas) and bulky Problem? Here’s How to Fix
ones (which have external antennas). It

Compact wireless dongles, sometimes called nano dongles or pico dongles, are preferred by most WINDOWS
users because they’re tiny, portable, and more aesthetically pleasing. Who wants a massive 7 Windows 10 Wi-Fi
antenna sticking out of their device? Nobody, that’s who! Plus, internal antennas are cheaper to Features You Might Have
produce so compact dongles are more affordable. Missed

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While internal antennas have come a long way and aren’t terrible anymore, external antennas
generally provide better performance. External antennas often have higher gain and therefore
better signal reception. You can point them towards the router for even better reception, and they
aren’t as close to internal electronics (which can cause interference).
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The best solution? Upgrade to a dongle with an external antenna.
To be fair, there’s nothing wrong with using a compact dongle with compact devices (e.g.
Raspberry Pi). Just be aware that you probably won’t get full Wi-Fi speeds. A dongle with an
external antenna may be ugly, but is often the more performant option.

3. Hardware Bottlenecks
There are at least three speci cations you need to pay attention to.

First, the dongle’s speci cations. A dongle labelled as 600Mbps probably doesn’t support that
much throughput per band. Instead, it might be 150Mbps on 2.4GHz and 450Mbps on 5GHz, for a
total of 600Mbps when both bands are used. Be sure to get a dongle that lives up to your ISP
plan’s max speed on the band you’re going to be using.

Second, the USB port you plug into. USB 2.0 ports have a theoretical max speed of 480Mbps, but
due to protocol overhead and hardware inef ciencies, the practical max speed is closer to
320Mbps. If you want greater data throughput, be sure to plug the dongle into a USB 3.0 port,
which has a theoretical max speed of 5Gbps (faster than any modern residential connection).

Third, your maximum internet speed. If you’re paying for 25Mbps/5Mbps, then no combination of
router and dongle will get you faster speeds. And most ISPs don’t actually provide your plan’s full
speed 100 percent of the time, so you may need to upgrade to a plan that’s even higher than what
you think you need.

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Other Ways to Boost Wi-Fi Performance

If you’ve tried all of the above tips but still experience Wi-Fi performance issues, we highly
recommend this article on common reasons why your Wi-Fi is slow and things that could be
slowing down your home network. It may not be your wireless dongle after all!

If your Wi-Fi issues stem from distance, such as your router being stuck at the other end of the
house, then you should consider increasing your wireless reach using a Wi-Fi extender or
powerline adapter. If your speed issues stem from too many users on the network, try using these
network-optimizing tips for home routers.

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What kind of wireless dongle are you using? Know of any other Wi-Fi performance tips we
missed? Share with us down in the comments below!

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