Intel’s HT technology (hyperthreading) was introduced to enhance processing capabilities but has faced criticism from some technology experts for causing issues during server operations.
When simultaneously installing SQL Server and Citrix Terminal Server, motherboards utilizing Intel’s hyperthreading technology experience significant performance degradation, especially under heavy data processing loads. Disabling HT restores the server’s original capabilities.
“Our company’s customers continuously complain about the execution speed being far slower than expected whenever running Citrix Terminal Server alongside our software on the same system,” said Peter Ibbotson, Technical Director at Lakeview Computers, a UK-based accounting software provider. “During our testing of HT technology, we noticed that the motherboards started having issues. Turning off hyperthreading returned operations to normal.”
Recently, Slave Ocks, a SQL Server 2005 developer at Microsoft, reported similar issues on his blog. “Our customers have observed very noticeable symptoms with high-end HT hardware. In some cases, when the data input to SQL Server is large, the CPU operates significantly faster, but SQL Server performance deteriorates,” Ocks wrote. “Multiple threads approach different parts of memory but are synchronized by HT, leading to common cache issues that cannot keep up with the sequence of commands, resulting in operational difficulties.”
The hyperthreading method allows multiple components within a processor to run different codes simultaneously. Intel asserts that this technology enhances chip performance and enables CPUs to process nearly twice the amount of information compared to non-HT products.
“In reality, I have never witnessed any improvements in SQL Server software whenever HT is activated. Customers should disable HT if they want to run Citrix and our software on the same server,” Ocks advised.
Intel representatives did not comment on the issue.
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