Intel's Atom CPU flexes multithreading muscle

george_ou@lanarchitect.net — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 23:19:00 GMT

Intel's new sub-2.5 watt Atom CPU (codenamed Silverthorne) is showing it can run two process threads at the same time better than competing processors. The Atom's hyperthreading feature (in-order SMT) allows the single-core processor to be seen as two logical processors by an operating system. When both processors are used whenever more than one task is being performed in the computer, substantial gains in performance can be made.

According to these slides presented at IDF on page 17, the Atom is showing an whopping 39% performance gain on SPECint_rate2000 when running two process threads at a mere 17% increase in power consumption.

George Ou's technology blog

Intel's Atom CPU flexes multithreading muscle