Last Thursday, with the presentation of the Intel Core Ultra 200S, Confirmation of Intel’s farewell to Hyper-Threading arrived. This was not a surprise, in fact we had already told you about it at the beginning of the year, and since then there have been several sources, some of them official, that have not only confirmed this end of the cycle, but also the reason why The decision has been made to end a technology that has been present in the brand’s chips for decades.
This, of course, has raised many doubts and questionsranging from what this technology consists of to the reasons why Intel has decided to do without it, and what this translates to for this fifteenth generation and those that will arrive in the coming years. We will also ask ourselves if there is a possibility of going back and try to make an assessment as to whether the technology company has made a right or wrong decision with this model change.
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What is Hyper-Threading?
The year was 2002. We were all glued to MSN Messenger, chatting with friends as Windows XP became the favorite operating system on our computers. The Nokia 3310 reigned in the pockets of many, and Snake continued to be the star game on mobile phones. In that scenario, Intel launched one of its most revolutionary technologies: Hyper-Threading, which debuted in the Pentium 4 with the promise of improving the performance of its processors significantly.
Hyper-Threading quickly became a key technology in Intel processors. At its core, Hyper-Threading allowed a single physical processor core to work on two tasks at the same time, handling two simultaneous processing threads. This was a significant advance at a time when adding more physical cores to processors was not feasible from a cost or design standpoint.
The operation of Hyper-Threading was based on taking advantage of the moments in which the processor core was “idle”, waiting for new data or instructions to arrive. Instead of wasting time on those idle moments, the kernel could process another thread, using resources that would otherwise be untapped. This ability to run two threads in parallel offered a performance boost, especially in applications that could take advantage of multithreaded processing.
Over the years, Hyper-Threading It evolved and improved, adapting to new generations of processors. Although its performance did not double the power of the cores, it did represent a significant advance in the ability to handle more demanding workloads. This allowed users to perform multiple tasks efficiently, making Hyper-Threading an essential tool for those who needed to get the most out of their equipment.
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2024, goodbye to Hyper-Threading
The year was 2024. This time, we were all paying attention to social networks and streaming platforms, while smartphones dominated our lives and artificial intelligence was integrated into all types of devices. It was in this context when Intel decided to close an important stage in its technological history– The elimination of Hyper-Threading in its new Core Ultra 200 series processors.
Today, Intel has concluded that times have changed. With the evolution of processing architectures and the increase in the efficiency of physical cores, Hyper-Threading is no longer as necessary as in the past. Advances in the Skymont and Lion Cove architectures allow physical cores to deliver better performance per watt, outperforming the additional threads provided by Hyper-Threading.
Robert Hallock, vice president of technical marketing at Intel, explained in August, in a interview with Notebookcheckwhich at the time of its introduction, Hyper-Threading was a smart solution to increase performance without having to add more physical cores. However, energy efficiency is now the priority. Intel’s new designs focus on maximizing performance per watt, which is essential in a market where mobile and portable devices increasingly require more autonomy and lower consumption.
Additionally, Intel has detected that the simultaneous management of two threads on a single core introduces certain bottlenecks in modern applications. Eliminating Hyper-Threading has made it possible to simplify the architecture and reduce power consumption in its new processors, which translates into a significant improvement in efficiency. Physical cores now make better use of their resources, offering superior performance without the added complexity of managing multiple threads.
Eliminating Hyper-Threading has brought with it a series of changes that affect both performance and efficiency of Intel processors. In environments where multi-threaded performance was not critical, such as in many gaming and productivity tasks, the improved physical cores of Skymont and Lion Cove enable more consistent power and more efficient use of resources. In these cases, users will likely see an improvement in the stability and performance of their devices.
For applications that used to leverage multiple threads, such as 3D rendering or data-intensive processing, the impact will depend on How developers optimize their tools for physical coress. Although Hyper-Threading could offer an improvement in multi-threaded performance, Intel ensures that the new cores are powerful enough to handle these workloads without problems, compensating for the lack of additional threads with greater efficiency in the architecture.
For the server and workstation market, the transition poses challenges and opportunities. Simplifying thread management on a single core reduces power consumption, which is key in data centers where efficiency is critical. Nevertheless, Software adaptation will be crucial to make the most of these changes. The long-term implications will depend on how applications are adjusted to take advantage of more efficient physical cores.
Right or wrong?
Eliminating Hyper-Threading has generated divided opinionsalthough the majority point to success. From a technical point of view, Intel seems to have hit the nail on the head, as the new architectures allow for better performance per watt and greater energy efficiency, something crucial in the current context. However, some users and experts wonder if giving up this technology, which has been a mainstay for two decades, is the best option in all cases.
In sectors such as gaming, improvement of physical cores is welcomesince many applications do not require intensive multithreading. However, in professional environments where heavy processing tasks are executed or on servers, the absence of Hyper-Threading could be seen as a setback, unless developers optimize their tools to make the most of physical cores.
The success of this decision will largely depend on how the technological ecosystem adapts to this change. If developers and companies manage to optimize their applications, Intel could have a resounding success on its hands. If not, it could face greater resistance in some market niches.
Intel’s future prospects without Hyper-Threading
With the elimination of Hyper-Threading, Intel enters a new phase where Your focus will be completely focused on optimizing the physical cores. The Skymont and Lion Cove architectures are just the beginning of a strategy that seeks to maximize performance per watt, which will be essential to compete in a market that increasingly values energy efficiency, especially in mobile and portable devices, yes, but also in other types of systems ranging from the desktop at home to server racks in data centers.
Thus, we can understand that in the medium and long term Intel will continue to explore new ways to improve its processors through microarchitectural innovations. The trend towards heterogeneous computing, combining high-performance cores with low-power cores, is emerging as one of the key strategies to offer flexibility in different usage scenarios. This evolution promises to face both the competition from AMD and the ARM architectures that dominate mobile devices and that have already begun their assault on the PC world in a more than determined manner.
Finally, the future of Intel also involves its ability to integrate artificial intelligence and parallel processing more efficientlyand. Without Hyper-Threading, the enterprise will need to ensure that its physical cores can optimally handle the increasing demands of AI and machine learning, which require massive data processing. The success of this new stage will depend on how Intel continues to adapt to a constantly changing market.
Intel entry leaves Hyper-Threading behind: the end of an era. Because? was first published on MuyComputer.
Source: www.muycomputer.com
