[village_i_diot]

thanks to you both for your replies, at the moment I am just browsing I have a few 'scraping' scripts running on my server and I host a few sites/customers on my box as shared hosting but I am thinking about switching to put them on their own VPS's, still on my box as well as moving mail/dns servers etc to their own VPS. I currently use have an mSP which is plenty for my current needs but thinking ahead and looking at options.

I have also browsed other providers @avizeke, online net does look tempting at some point.

[elcct]

As a not so tech person I am trying to get my head around comparing servers and I am not fully understanding cores and threads.

I see that SYS offer a server with 4 core/8 threads while ovh is offering a 6 core/6 thread server at twice the price. I appreciate there are other differences between the two that may influence the price but could someone please help me understand threads? ie wouldn't more threads be better? .

Thanks

In server usage scenario indeed more threads are better. Basically E3 processor in SYS range has 4 cores (read 4 cpus inside one chip), but each core is capable of executing two instructions at the same time. Not all instructions, but some of them. Because software is rarely optimized to make use of this capability Intel came up with an idea to create "virtual core". So now system sees one core as 2 cpus, but they share some resources between them, i.e. if two virtual cpus wants to execute instruction that can only be executed once at a time one has to wait until the other finishes.
AMD cores too share some resources, so some people say these are not really 6 core.
Anyway in terms of performance and price E3 is better CPU and i have no idea what's behind putting low-end AMD cpu in supposed to be professional range for such a high price.

[avizeke]

Your computer would see this CPU as having 8 cores - in reality, its 4 cores handling 8 threads. There are a number of factors to consider when looking at CPU usage and which runs faster. Post to use exactly what your using the system for and maybe we can provide a more solid idea as to whats right for you good sir.

the new ovh concept is glorified, check the sys website when its next updated. I wouldnt recommend buying with a install fee involved, go to other places like hetzner or online[dot[net some of there products dont have install fee at all, and in some cases out perform what ovh are doing for less the price.

[NeddySeagoon]

village_i_diot,

Hyper threading is an Intel sales gimic. Intel CPUs have comparatively long pipelines. Pipelines are a way of breaking instruction execution down into small steps, each step beihg executed sequentially by a different piece ot the pipeline. This is a way of having several instructions executing sequentially but overlapping. You can get several instructicns per clock cycle this way.

All goes well until the pipeline stalls because a result is needed from an instrucicon that has not emerged from the pipe yet. Apparently no new instructions can enter the pipe. Pipeline stalls are expensivie in terms of time. However, the pipe can process instructions unrealated to the stall. It starts working on another thread. The is a (simplified) description of Hyperthreading. Some Intel CPUs can process two threads this way.

In real world terms, it can improve performance by as much as 10%. It can also make performance 50% worse.
More cores are better. Hyperthreading is a mixed blessing.

AMD CPUs have shorter pipelines so the imperative to keep them work is not so high. This feature is not found on AMD CPUs.

[village_i_diot]

As a not so tech person I am trying to get my head around comparing servers and I am not fully understanding cores and threads.

I see that SYS offer a server with 4 core/8 threads while ovh is offering a 6 core/6 thread server at twice the price. I appreciate there are other differences between the two that may influence the price but could someone please help me understand threads? ie wouldn't more threads be better? .

Thanks