Differences between physical and logical cores (smt or hyperthreading) in cpu

Cores, cores, threads, sockets, logical core and virtual core are terms related to processors that many users do not quite understand. That is why we have prepared this post to try to explain it in a simple and understandable way for all users.

Differences between core and threads of execution (SMT or HyperThreading) in CPU

First of all, we have to think about the Pentium era when processors were made up of a single core, the processor is installed in a special slot on the motherboard that serves to communicate with other components, This slot is the socket or socket. Normally, motherboards only have one socket, but some business-oriented models have multiple sockets, allowing multiple processors to be mounted. As for the nucleus, this is the part of the processor in which all the calculations are made, let's say it is the brain that makes our computer work. Each of the cores can handle a data thread.

Over the years, he appreciated Intel's HyperThreading technology that consists of duplicating some elements within the processor such as registers or top-level caches, this allows the processor core to be able to handle two tasks at the same time (2 threads or threads) and results in the appearance of logical kernels. Something that improves performance significantly since, if a process needs to wait for an operation or some data, another process can continue to use the processor without it being stopped, a stopped processor means loss of performance so that we must prevent it from happening.

HyperThreading Technology Explained

This HyperThreading technology "tricks" the operating system into believing that there are two cores when in reality there is only one, the one that really exists is the physical core and the one that appears as the result of HyperThreading is the virtual one. The virtual core has much less processing capacity than the physical core, so the performance is not equivalent to having two physical cores, far from it, but it provides a good extra.

The next step in the evolution of processors was to make the leap to the appearance of processors with two physical cores, this was possible thanks to the miniaturization of all the elements that are inside the processor, that is, they become smaller and by so much we can fit many more in the same space. Essentially a dual-core processor is like having two processors working together, but with much faster and more efficient communication between them, making performance far superior to systems with two sockets and two processors.

Example of a dual-core processor

Unlike HyperThreading, in dual-core processors each one has all the necessary elements to be able to perform all kinds of tasks, so a dual-core processor is much superior in performance to a single-core processor with HyperThreading. The next step was to achieve more core processors, something possible to an ever-larger miniaturization of its components. Today there are processors with up to 18 physical cores.

We recommend reading our guide to the best processors on the market

In addition, we can combine the use of multiple cores with HyperThreading technology so we can achieve processors with a huge number of logical cores, so a physical 18-core processor with HyperThreading has a total of 36 logical cores (18 physical cores + 18 cores virtual).