# Hyperthreading... good or bad?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hyperthreading-good-or-bad/162837>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 20, 2003, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hyperthreading-good-or-bad/162837 "2003-03-20T16:55:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dre2xl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/34f0e0/32.png) [@dre2xl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dre2xl)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2003, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hyperthreading-good-or-bad/162837/1 "2003-03-20T16:55:53Z")

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I recently built a dual Xeon computer… is it worth it to enable hyperthreading using Win2K Advanced Server? I’ve heard good things and bad things about hyperthreading and I’m confused.

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**Author:** ![hansel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6bbea6/32.png) [@hansel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hansel)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2003, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hyperthreading-good-or-bad/162837/2 "2003-03-20T17:05:53Z")

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I’m curious to hear what bad things you’ve heard. I just built a dual Xeon, and having enabled hyperthreading, I’ve seen nothing wrong with it. I’ve seen no particular advantage yet, but I haven’t stress tested multi-tasking in my computer yet.

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**Author:** ![NetLord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90ced4/32.png) [@NetLord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NetLord)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2003, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hyperthreading-good-or-bad/162837/3 "2003-03-20T17:29:42Z")

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You are multitasking all the time. Take a look at the PerfMon, the system would be running a dozen of threads even when it’s idle.

As for the general impact of HT… It’s good because it’ll make folks switch to NT-based systems. It’s bad because there’s a class of program bugs only manifest themselves on multiprocessor computers.