topic enabling hyperthreading in PCs & Accessories

enabling hyperthreading

ironfist241 — Tue, 24 Feb 2004 23:03:45 GMT

Hi all, ive been a vaio-owner for 2days now, im very impressed with it but ive noticed one thing thats prompted me to make my first post:
hyperthreading... or lack of
now i know there was a thread on this before:
http://www.club-vaio.sony-europe.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4236&highlight=hyperthreading
however in that discussion it was believed that the grt896hp's cpu didnt support it. After some nosing around with diagnostic tools it seems the heart of the 896hp is a "northwood" core p4 running at ~2.8ghz and according to intel this supports hyperthreading:
http://www.intel.com/products/notebook/processors/mobilepentium4/index.htm?iid=ipp_note+proc_p4p&
Obviously that alone wouldnt be enough however the sis648 does support hyperthreading, albeit with later bios updates. So overrall the 896hp should be capable of hyperthreading if there is a bios update to allow it.
Hopefully someone reading this could point me towards such a bios update and if it doesnt exist i wonder if sony would be kind enough to make it...
Anyway, thanks in advance for any help and sorry in advance for any typos (still not used to this vaio keyboard )

GR

enabling hyperthreading

GarethB — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 19:17:16 GMT

I was also wondering about this. I too have a vaio, grt715m, which uses the sis648 chipset and a 2.8ghz Pentium 4. I've also, like yourself, looked up information about the chipset and processor and learn both should support hyperthreading. Also two programs, namely Speedswitch and 3dMark2003 both report that the processor does support Hyperthreading, but as 3dmark2003 also reports, it is disabled.
It seems, like you've already stated, it's probably an issue with it not enable in the BIOS. Also, on a similar note, the chipset supports DDR333 RAM, instead of the DDR266 RAM that comes with the Notebook, but when DDR333 RAM is used, it still only runs at 266mhz. This, I feel, is also an issue with it not being enabled via the BIOS.

enabling hyperthreading

ironfist241 — Thu, 26 Feb 2004 17:47:32 GMT

ah so im not the only one. actually i was in the sony shop today (buying a carry-case) and i noticed a grt996vp (i think this is the model#) on display, only difference from mine being an "onyx-black" lcd screen and it was displayed as being "with ht" and it has *exactly* the same sis648 chipset and 2.8ghz "northwood" p4. in its current state this grt896's bios doesnt have a hyper threading option, the bios needs an update, is there someone at sony i can email to ask about this?

enabling hyperthreading

kee-lo_ — Thu, 26 Feb 2004 17:52:55 GMT

The only way you can get a BIOS update is to check www.vaio-link.com

enabling hyperthreading

ironfist241 — Fri, 27 Feb 2004 22:20:26 GMT

thanks kee-lo but ive looked there already and the only bios update available doesnt solve it, ah well its not as if ht is some miracle technolgy anyways =[ only effective in multi-threaded apps

enabling hyperthreading

kee-lo_ — Sat, 28 Feb 2004 13:58:42 GMT

Yeah but it would have been nice if the customer had the choice to enable HT

enabling hyperthreading

tellingd — Sat, 28 Feb 2004 15:39:10 GMT

HT is not miracle tech but . . .

it does let you have TWO little green lines for processor activity in TaskManager

Yes, I am easily pleased

enabling hyperthreading

kee-lo_ — Sat, 28 Feb 2004 18:26:28 GMT

LOL
Apparently it's good for DV and heavy processing.

hi,

JoeB. — Sun, 29 Feb 2004 08:41:50 GMT

what if a wizzy programmer would take the bios from an GRT916V or Z and modify it so it could be flashed onto a grt896sp, grt715m or grt816m.... if possible... because the chipsets appear to be the same. i would be interessted in this feature as well.

joe

enabling hyperthreading

GarethB — Sun, 29 Feb 2004 09:49:33 GMT

You can download a bios editor from Phoenix, supposedly Easy to use according to Phoenix. I'm not sure about other notebooks but you can download a newer bios for the 715m from Vaio Link, so if anybody is confident enough to give it a try, enabling all these settings people want, should be possible.

enabling hyperthreading

kee-lo_ — Sun, 29 Feb 2004 13:08:04 GMT

Be very careful with that editor, you could ruin your notebooks.
Only very skilled engineers should really use this tool.

enabling hyperthreading

GarethB — Sun, 29 Feb 2004 13:40:49 GMT

Yep, I agree. That's the reason I havn't tried it myself, Hyperthreading isn't important enough to me to risk knackin' it up by doing something wrong in the editor.
So like Kee-Lo say's, if you fancy trying it, be careful.

enabling hyperthreading

kee-lo_ — Sun, 29 Feb 2004 13:46:45 GMT

Yes, really I'd be tempted to leave well alone, as it's not going to boost your PC so much you can rip mp3's 30secs faster or anything like that, as the CPU is fast and will do it the same speed as with HT enabled.