Kenneth wrote:
> still trying to understand the difference between 'cores' and 'threads' and how
> they impact Pov-Ray performance.

A "hyperthread" is basically an ALU, registers, etc, but not the logic to do 
memory access.  So three cores with two "hyperthreads" each has three ways 
to get to memory but six ALUs.  The advantage is that while one of the ALUs 
is waiting for data to come in from memory, the other can be doing 
computation.  Obviously having more cores is better than having more 
hyperthreads, but two hyperthreads are cheaper than two complete cores.

A 'thread" in POV-ray is a software construct that basically consumes one 
ALU, so one POV-ray thread would match one "hyperthread" core in your CPU.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   Serving Suggestion:
     "Don't serve this any more. It's awful."

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