Resolved 17" not using all 8 threads?

[GuitarG20]

So I have the new (early 2011) MBP 17" with the 2.2 GHz core i7 in it.

It's supposed to hyperthread, and have 8 threads, right?

I'm using the MenuMeters menubar applet to monitor the CPU, and it shows 8 threads for the CPU. However, only 4 of the threads (1,3,5, and 7) ever show any load at all. I have tried putting a fairly heavy load on the machine.

So my question is, is there something I need to do to enable hyperthreading? Am I doing anything wrong? Does anyone else have this problem?

Thanks!

 

[daneoni]

Try Handbrake.

 

[thermodynamic]

So I have the new (early 2011) MBP 17" with the 2.2 GHz core i7 in it.

It's supposed to hyperthread, and have 8 threads, right?

I'm using the MenuMeters menubar applet to monitor the CPU, and it shows 8 threads for the CPU. However, only 4 of the threads (1,3,5, and 7) ever show any load at all. I have tried putting a fairly heavy load on the machine.

So my question is, is there something I need to do to enable hyperthreading? Am I doing anything wrong? Does anyone else have this problem?

Thanks!

4 cores, 8 threads, yup.

Most apps and processes will use all the physical cores (4) first; only scalable multi-threaded apps will make use of every available virtual core (8). Some games, apps, and utilities only max out with 2 threads anyway... 3D rendering will use every core it can find, physical or virtual... YMMV - it really depends on the app. Apple's GCD will help as well, but ultimately it's still up to the app to recognize and make use of as many threads it can generate.