HyperTransport and hyperthreading are two completely different technologies that are used for two completely different purposes. However, a lot of users still get confused about it and mix them up.
In This Article
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Hyperthreading technology refers to an emulated dual core concept that expedites data processing with multiple threads or virtual cores but HyperTransport is a type of Front Side Bus or FSB on board.
- HyperTransport technology is a concept created by AMD while hyperthreading technology belongs to Intel.
- Both these technologies are good and help things to be done faster but in a completely different way and hyperthreading will be more helpful for users doing a lot of multitasking.
- HyperTransport bus links the memory controller integrated in the CPU and the RAM or PCI bank of the computer system which eliminates the need for the Northbridge to communicate.
- Hyperthreading adds more threads to the CPU allowing it to run in parallel and produce the data processing results more quickly.
HyperTransport vs Hyperthreading – The 6 Differences
1. Ownership
HyperTransport is a technology developed by AMD or Advanced Micro Devices Inc but hyperthreading is a technology developed by Intel and is the marketing name for Simultaneous Multithreading or SMT.
2. Meaning
HyperTransport simply signifies a link or a serial bus with high speed while hyperthreading is a technology that allows a Central Processing Unit or CPU to perform like multiple processors.
3. Functions
HyperTransport technology allows getting the necessary data much faster to the CPU of the computer for processing purposes.
The Hyperthreading technology, on the other hand, simply ensures that the instructions get through the CPU more efficiently.
4. Multitasking Support
The hyperthreading technology in the processors allows them to do multiple tasks at the same time and therefore helps quite a lot in multitasking.
With HyperTransport technology, on the other hand, this is not the case. It is just an interconnection that carries the necessary data quickly and has nothing to do with multitasking.
5. Active Participation
HyperTransport technology does not allow the system to take part in the processing of data actively. Its service and functions are limited to carrying data to and from quickly.
On the other hand, the hyperthreading technology affects the overall performance of the CPU as well as the computer system on the whole with its active participation in data processing.
6. Utility
HyperTransport technology is transparent to the system and can be used by any and every program, app and software of a computer system.
On the other hand, hyperthreading technology is invisible to the platform and creates an illusion of presence of a higher number of processors to the operating system.
It is useful only when you run more CPU intensive tasks at the same time and even while video editing and gaming.
Which is More Useful – HyperTransport or Hyperthreading?
Typically, both hyperthreading and HyperTransport have a direct effect on the overall performance of the computer system and therefore both are equally useful.
Ideally, these two are complementary technologies and certainly not competing ones.
Moreover, it is not possible to compare these two technologies directly and therefore it can be safely said that both these technologies are very helpful to the respective platforms.
Nevertheless, hyperthreading is only useful if the CPU has multiple cores in the system. It will increase the number of threads and therefore allow it to run more of them at once.
This technology of Intel allows the CPU to do two things at a time by creating virtual processors within a processor which will speed things up and help the users in multitasking.
Therefore, the CPU will always have additional processors on standby as and when required to process any data or instruction quickly.
It uses the additional registers of the CPU for that. These are actually the chips inside the system that help in managing data and instructions but are not used all the time.
It helps in improving resource management without needing any additional computational power from anywhere else.
This actually creates an illusion to the operating system, programmer and user thinking that everything went in and emerged in an orderly manner and in a sequential stream.
In the modern processors the out-of-order architectures actually do not execute any instruction or code sequentially or in the order these are written. These are called OOE or Out-of-Order Execution architectures.
They take in the codes altogether and, if possible, reschedule them in a proper order of instructions.
This helps in using minimum resources of the processor to execute them. Everything is then arranged back in the original order while writing the results out to the memory.
The actual order of execution of the instruction of the program is known only to the CPU.
This novel concept of hyperthreading technology of Intel delivers faster response times by enabling the processor to use the on-die resources that would have gone wasted or would have remained idle otherwise.
On the other hand, the significance of the HyperTransport technology is that it performs more like a bus for the CPU. It can be said that this is the specific technology found in a few CPUs that acts as an interconnect.
Typically, if a CPU has multiple cores and memory it will also have multiple memory controllers.
Therefore, when a particular core or CPU needs to access the memory which is controlled by a dedicated controller, the HyperTransport interconnect will be more useful for that matter.
In theory, it will enhance the memory functions and offer more accessibility with larger bandwidth in comparison to situations when it has to be done through a bus with limited bandwidth thereby resulting in significant bottlenecks.
This particular AMD technology actually reduces the number of buses for the processor to use in a system.
This expedites and improves the data transfer process and communication between the CPU and different components on the motherboard of the computer system.
It also increases the overall system performance this way indirectly by reducing bottlenecks.
This high speed, point-to-point link offers 48 times faster communication speed between the integrated circuits than most of the current technologies. This optimized architecture at the board level offers several benefits such as:
- Lowest latency possible
- Highest bandwidth
- Scalability in performance
- Flexibility in design and
- PCI or Peripheral Component Interconnect compatibility.
All of these can be achieved within a single framework or system architecture that does not result in any performance burdens or constraints.
With the bottlenecks reduced due to lower number of buses in the system, this helps in designing much faster microprocessors that can be used easily in the high-end systems.
Most importantly, the HyperTransport technology is extensible to the Systems Network Architecture or SNA buses which help it in maintaining compatibility with the legacy buses that are more extensively used in the computer systems.
Therefore, if you simply consider the usefulness of these two technologies, it can be said that:
- HyperTransport technology is useful for any type of software or programs running on the computer because it is transparent to the system and
- Hyperthreading technology is useful only while running CPU or GPU intensive tasks on the computer and during multitasking.
Ideally, considering the computing needs of the users these days, it is much better and more productive to use a processor that comes with both hyperthreading as well as HyperTransport technology.
However, the final decision and choice is yours and should be based on your computing needs, the type of tasks performed and your convenience and preferences.
Conclusion
Both hyperthreading and HyperTransport are very useful technologies to have in a processor that will enable it to enhance its performance level by a significant margin by acting in perfect tandem.
It will be very useful for especially those users who do a lot of multitasking using a high-end computer system.