Another note on CPUs – overclocking and hyperthreading

So as CPUs and applications have gotten more and more advanced, there is an aspect of being able to run very similar instructions at the same time. What CPU manufacturers have done is on one core, allow an instruction and then a very similar instruction to run almost immediately after it so it looks like they’re running together. this is essentially what hyperthreading is. It gives you double the capability on your CPU and your CPU runs about 30% faster. This is VERY useful in virtualization, where multiple virtual PC/Server are all running the same instructions. Hyperthreading can increase the CPU’s efficiency by over 40%.

On the original CPU post, I mentioned things around heat. Enthusiasts learned that if you increased the clock speed artificially, then you are also going to need to increase the voltage to the CPU slightly to handle the additional load. when you do this, you’re going to need to have increased cooling available for the CPU. This is what overclocking is. This can affect the stability of the CPU and some CPUs are better at this than others. Almost all the current processors from AMD and Intel allow for overclocking. Motherboard manufacturers like Gigabyte and ASUS have overclocking built into their BIOS settings.