What is Hyper-Threading Technology (HTT)

HTT is the specialized form of simultaneous multi-threading (SMT) was first used in Intel’s Pentium 4 microprocessors. This technology improves the performance of microprocessors by providing useful work to idle execution units and allowing multiple threads to run simultaneously.

Processors using the hyper-threading technology appear to the operating system as two processors.

If the operating system supports symmetrical multiprocessing (SMP), it can take advantage of this technology by scheduling separate processes on the same HTT-capable microprocessor.

Hyper-Threading is best applied to operations and applications where multiple tasks can be intelligently scheduled so there's no idle time on your processor. Tasks like video editing, 3D rendering, and heavy multi-tasking are great examples. Similarly, Hyper Threading can help a CPU push light tasks like background applications or browser windows to one processor, while heavy applications like games or full-screen video goes to another.

Whether you have a single core or a quad core, Hyper-Threading can optimize tasks that can be conducted in parallel so the whole operation is faster—but it's not the same as or even similar to increasing your number of processing cores.