Thread Checker for Windows

Create Threads Faster. Intel Thread Checker reduces time to market for threaded applications by speeding up the development process. Now supporting Intel® 64 architecture and Microsoft Visual Studio* 2005 environments. [Intel] Thread Checker helped us find non-thread safe functions that allowed two threads to modify the same memory without paper synchronization. We couldn't have gotten the networking up and running as quickly and as efficiently without Thread Checker. Thread Checker is simply an awesome tool and we are not going to develop multi-threaded code without it. §"

Intel Threading Analysis Tools

Essential Tools for Threading

There is a better way to develop threaded software. Intel® Thread Checker, Intel® Thread Profiler and Intel® Threading Building Blocks are the fastest way to thread your application correctly and unleash its true performance on Intel® multi-core processor systems.


Microsoft Visual Studio* Developers: Intel® Threading Analysis tools are compatible with Microsoft Visual Studio* 2003, 2005 and 2008.


Webcast - The Process of Threading: Multithreading a Sequential Application for a Multi-core World
Learn how to analyze and thread a sequential application for performance. This webcast features demonstrations of how to use Intel® Thread Checker and Intel® Thread Profiler.

Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology

Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology (Intel® HT Technology) is available on laptop, desktop, server, and workstation systems. Look for systems with the HT Technology logo which your system vendor has verified utilize HT Technology. HT Technology requires a computer system with:

	A processor that supports HT Technology
	HT Technology enabled chipset
	HT Technology enabled system BIOS HT Technology enabled/optimized operating system Performance will vary depending on the specific hardware and software you use. See your system manufacturer for details on specific system configurations and performance.

Hyper-Threading Technology

Enterprise, online business, and gaming software applications continue to place higher demands on processors. To improve performance in the past, threading was enabled in software by splitting instructions into multiple streams. With today's Hyper-Threading Technology (HT Technology)¹ you get thread-level parallelism on each processor resulting in more efficient use of processor resources–higher processing throughput–and improved performance on today's multithreaded software.

An Intel processor and chipset used with an OS and BIOS supporting HT Technology allows you to:

• Run demanding desktop applications simultaneously while maintaining system responsiveness
• Keep systems more secure, efficient, and manageable, while minimizing impact on productivity
• Provide headroom for future business growth and new solution capabilities

Better gaming and multimedia

HT Technology enables gaming enthusiasts to play the latest titles and experience ultra-realistic effects and game play. And multimedia enthusiasts can create, edit, and encode graphically intensive files while running background applications such as virus scan in the background–all without slowing down.

Improving enterprise environments and online business

With HT Technology, multithreaded server software applications can execute threads in parallel within each processor in a server platform. And with HT Technology in enterprise and e-business environments, businesses can:

• Improve business productivity by doing more at once without slowing down
• Provide faster response times for Internet and e-Business applications, enhancing customer experiences
• Increase the number of transactions that can be processed simultaneously
• Utilize existing technologies while maintaining future readiness with compatibility for existing 32-bit applications and OSs while being prepared for the future of 64-bit

Intel® QuickPath Technology

Unleashing performance with interconnect system architecture

Providing point-to-point high-speed links to distributed shared memory, Intel® QuickPath technology unleashes the parallel processing performance of next-generation Intel® 45nm microarchitectures (codenamed Nehalem and Tukwila). These microarchitectures, built from the ground up, will be the first to use the Intel QuickPath interconnect system and can see significant improvements in overall performance.

With new Intel QuickPath technology built into future Nehalem and Tukwila microarchitectures, each processor core will feature an integrated memory controller and high-speed interconnect, linking processors and other components to deliver:

• Dynamically scalable interconnect bandwidth designed to set loose the full performance of Nehalem, Tukwila, and future generations of Intel® multi-core processors
• Outstanding memory performance and flexibility to support leading memory technologies
• Tightly integrated interconnect reliability, availability, and serviceability (RAS) with design-scalable configurations for optimal balance of price, performance, and energy efficiency

Multi-Core questions and answers

Why are the CPU graphs in Windows* Task Manager not identical?
This is not unusual if you have a multi-core processor. Each box represents one of the cores in the processor. There will be 2 graphs for dual-cores processors and 4 graphs for quad-core processors etc. The graphs are not identical because very few applications can spread their processing load completely evenly across the cores. More advanced programs (ex. Games) are written to take advantage of multiple cores and will do a better job of spreading the processing load across the cores.

How can I disable a core on my multi-core processor?
Intel® Desktop Boards have BIOS options for disabling secondary cores. For Intel Desktop Boards, the BIOS option is generally called "Core Multiplexing Technology". If you have a non-Intel motherboard, you will need to check with your system vendor to determine if your system has a similar setting.

How can I tell if all the cores are working on my multi-core processor?
Open Windows* Task Manager and look at the Performance tab. You should see a graph for each core. If you do not see a graph for each core check the following:

• Make sure Task Manager is configured to show multiple graphs:
  • Open Task Manager
  • Click View/CPU History/One Graph Per CPU
• Make sure that you have the proper BIOS options in your system and processor
• Check the BIOS settings to make sure all cores are enabled
• Make sure that you have the latest updates for your operating system
• Run the Intel® Processor Identification Utility to ensure that you have a genuine Intel® processor and that it is being identified by your system.
  
  
  

Can I set a program to work with a specific core on my multi-core processor?
Yes, you can use the Set Affinity option in Windows* Task Manager to select which cores (or just one core) to work with the program. The Set Affinity option is available when you right click on a process in the Processes tab in Task Manager.

Note: There are also third party applications available for automatically setting processor affinity.

Intel® Turbo Boost Technology

Intel® Turbo Boost Technology is one of the many exciting new features that Intel has built into latest-generation . It automatically allows processor cores to run faster than the base operating frequency if it's operating below power, current, and temperature specification limits.

Dynamically increasing performance

As an independent and complimentary feature, (Intel® HT Technology) along with Intel Turbo Boost Technology increases performance of both multi-threaded and single threaded workloads. Intel Turbo Boost Technology is activated when the Operating System (OS) requests the highest processor performance state (P0).

The maximum frequency of Intel® Turbo Boost Technology is dependent on the number of active cores. The amount of time the processor spends in the Intel Turbo Boost Technology state depends on the workload and operating environment, providing the performance you need, when and where you need it.

Any of the following can set the upper limit of Intel Turbo Boost Technology on a given workload:

• Number of active cores
• Estimated current consumption
• Estimated power consumption
• Processor temperature

When the processor is operating below these limits and the user's workload demands additional performance, the processor frequency will dynamically increase by 133 MHz on short and regular intervals until the upper limit is met or the maximum possible upside for the number of active cores is reached. Conversely, when any of the limits are reached or exceeded, the processor frequency will automatically decrease by 133 MHz until the processor is again operating within its limits.

Features and benefits

Go to the next level of multi-core performance.

Intel Core i7 processors deliver an incredible breakthrough in quad-core performance and feature the latest innovations in processor technologies:

Intel turbo shoot technology maximizes speed for demanding applications, dynamically accelerating performance to match your workload—more performance when you need it the most.²

Intel® Hyper-Threading technology enables highly threaded applications to get more work done in parallel. With 8 threads available to the operating system, multi-tasking becomes even easier.³

Intel® Smart Cache provides a higher-performance, more efficient cache subsystem. Optimized for industry leading multi-threaded games.

Intel® QuickPath Interconnect is designed for increased bandwidth and low latency. It can achieve data transfer speeds as high as 25.6 GB/sec with the Extreme Edition processor.

Integrated memory controller enables three channels of DDR3 1066 MHz memory, resulting in up to 25.6 GB/sec memory bandwidth. This memory controller's lower latency and higher memory bandwidth delivers amazing performance for data-intensive applications.

Intel® HD Boost significantly improves a broad range of multimedia and compute-intensive applications. The 128-bit SSE instructions are issued at a throughput rate of one per clock cycle, allowing a new level of processing efficiency with SSE4 optimized applications.

Intel® Core™i7-940 processor and Intel® Core™ i7-920 processor(2)

With faster, intelligent multi-core technology that applies processing power where it's needed most, new Intel® Core™ i7 processors deliver an incredible breakthrough in PC performance. They're the best desktop processors on the planet.^Δ You'll multitask applications faster and unleash incredible digital media creation. And you'll experience maximum performance for everything you do, thanks to the combination of Intel® Turbo Boost technology and Intel® Hyper-Threading technology, which maximizes performance to match your workload.

Δ "Best performing processor on the planet" is based on SPECint_rate_base2006* scores. Any difference in system hardware or software design or configuration may affect actual performance.

Φ SPECint*_rate_base2006 and SPECfp*_rate_base2006 are capacity-based metrics used to measure throughput of a computer that is performing a number of tasks. This is achieved by running multiple copies of each benchmark simultaneously with the number of copies set to set to the number of logical hardware cores seen by the operating system. SPEC* CPU2006 provides a comparative measure of compute intensive performance across the widest practical range of hardware. The product consists of source code benchmarks that are developed from real user applications. These benchmarks depend on the processor, memory and compiler on the tested system.

SPEC, SPECint, SPECfp, SPECrate are trademarks of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation. For more information go to:

∇ Photodex ProShow Gold* 3.2 allows the user to combine photos, videos and music to create spectacular slide shows. The workload takes 29 high resolution jpeg photos and converts them to an mpeg2 DVD quality slideshow video file. The photos are in 3872x2592 resolution and total about 170MB. The output slideshow file is about 3 minutes and 9 seconds long.

λ Blender* workload consists of a ~6.9 MB character model of a flying squirrel.

§ CyberLink PowerDirector* 7 workload consists of a one minute high-definition AVC-HD 1080P video clip from a HD camcorder where the second pencil sketch effect is applied over the duration of the movie as the movie is exported out to an HD MPEG-2 1080i video file.

± Adobe Premiere Pro* CS3 is a video editing tool for professionals with features like color correction and specials effects creation. In this test the project "F1 Demo 3wayCC.prproj" contains two 30-second segments HDV 1080p25 footage with a cross-dissolve transition applied across the entire 60s. The first 30s also has the effect "Three-Way Color Corrector" applied, independently adjusting the scene's shadows, highlights, and midtones. Additionally the 25fps input clip is converted to 29.7fps. The performance test measures the time to render a non-realtime preview of the first 7s (210 frames). This involves reading the two HDV source streams, applying the cross-dissolve, the Three-Way Color Corrector, and then encoding the result to a HDV file that is stored by Adobe Premiere Pro for later use when a preview of the rendered region is requested. Extrapolation of Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 rendering the first 7 seconds sed to calculate how long to render a 2-minute video based on the original 7 second workload.

µ Adobe After Effects* CS3 is a comprehensive set of tools to efficiently produce motion graphics and visual effects for film, video, multimedia, and the web. Based on Adobe After Effects* 7, this test applies filters and effects to a variety of input file types including Adobe Photoshop* PSD, Adobe Illustrator* AI and EPS, TIF, and Apple* QuickTime* MOV files. Filters and effects include: blur, bulge, color key, frame blending, glow, motion blurring, fading, 2D and 3D manipulation, shadows, echo, median, radial blur, and invert. After each filter is applied, the composition is rendered to an uncompressed AVI movie file of the same resolution as the input files.

Σ Adobe Photoshop* CS3 workload applies filters to 5 tiff images ranging from 11.3MB to 14.4MB. The photos were taken with a 5 megapixel Canon Powershot* S50 and have a resolution of 2592x1944. Filters are applied to the picture and then undone except for one final filter applied to each of the images. A web photo gallery is created with the 5 pictures after edits have been completed.

ø ImTOO* YouTube* to iPod* Converter and Adobe Premiere Elements* 4.0 - The Adobe Premiere Elements input file is a 1 minute, ~190MB 1440x1080 HD video imported from an HD camcorder. The output is a ~9.7MB 320x240 video in FLV format intended for YouTube. The ImTOO input consists of eight 5 minute, ~40MB 640x480 FLV files similar to those available via YouTube. The output is eight 5 minute 320x240 MPEG4 files ready for playback on an Apple iPod.

þ WinRAR* 3.71 workload consists of five high-resolution, 48-bit TIFF images whose file sizes are around 70MB each which are then compressed into a single ~297MB file for archiving.

θ Lost Planet* is a third-person shooter video game, created by Capcom that takes place in the past and future of the planet E. D. N. III. We use the Lost Planet DX10 Demo-Cave Test is used to measure game performance. For more information visit

π Enemy Territory Quake Wars* 1.5 is a multiplayer, team-based first-person shooter set in the futuristic Quake universe. Using a variety of weapons and vehicles, one team (either the invading alien Strogg or the human Global Defense Force) attempts to complete a series of objectives while the other defends. For more information visit

σ Crysis* 1.2.1 is a science fiction first-person shooter computer game based in a fictional future where an ancient alien spacecraft has been discovered beneath the Earth on an island near the coast of Korea. For more information visit

Warning: Altering clock frequency and/or voltage may: (i) reduce system stability and useful life of the system, processor and other system components; (ii) cause the processor and other system components to fail; (iii) cause reductions in system performance; (iv) cause additional heat or other damage; and (v) affect system data integrity. Intel has not tested, and does not warranty, the operation of the processor beyond its specifications. Intel has not tested, and does not warranty, the operation of other system components beyond their industry standard specifications. Intel assumes no responsibility that the processor and other system components, including if used with altered clock frequencies and/or voltages, will be fit for any particular purpose.

Performance tests and ratings are measured using specific computer systems and/or components and reflect the approximate performance of Intel® products as measured by those tests. Any difference in system hardware or software design or configuration may affect actual performance. Buyers should consult other sources of information to evaluate the performance of systems or components they are considering purchasing. For more information on performance tests and on the performance of Intel products, visit

Relative performance for each benchmark is calculated by taking the actual benchmark result for the first platform tested and assigning it a value of 1.0 as a baseline. Relative performance for the remaining platforms tested was calculated by dividing the actual benchmark result for the baseline platform into each of the specific benchmark results of each of the other platforms and assigning them a relative performance number that correlates with the performance improvements reported.

Product information

• 2.93 GHz and 2.66 GHz core speed
• 8 processing threads with Intel® HT technology
• 8 MB of Intel® Smart Cache
• 3 Channels of DDR3 1066 MHz memory

Intel® Core™ i7 Processor

Intel® Core™ i7 Processor The best desktop processors on the planet¹

Brilliantly fast

With faster, intelligent, multi-core technology that applies processing power where it's needed most, new Intel® Core™ i7 processors deliver an incredible breakthrough in PC performance. They are the best desktop processors on the planet.¹

You'll multitask applications faster and unleash incredible digital media creation. And you'll experience maximum performance for everything you do, thanks to the combination of Intel® Turbo Boost technology² and Intel® Hyper-Threading technology (Intel® HT technology)³, which maximizes performance to match your workload.