8 logical threads at 4 cores will at a maximum run 4 times faster in parallel?

Question

I\'m benchmarking software which executes 4x faster on Intel 2670QM then my serial version using all 8 of my \'logical\' threads. I would like some community feedback on my

Answer 1

Some actual numbers:

CPU-intensive task on my i7, (adding numbers from 1-1000000000 into an int var, 16 times), averaged over 8 tests:

Summary, threads/ticks:

1/26414
4/8923
8/6659
12/6592
16/6719
64/6811
128/6778

Note that in the 'using X threads' line in the reports below, X is one greater than the number of threads available to do the tasks - one thread submits the tasks and waits on a countdown-latch evnet for their completion - it processes none of the CPU-heavy tasks and used no CPU.

8 tests,
16 tasks,
counting to 1000000000,
using 2 threads:
Ticks: 26286
Ticks: 26380
Ticks: 26317
Ticks: 26474
Ticks: 26442
Ticks: 26426
Ticks: 26474
Ticks: 26520
Average: 26414 ms

8 tests,
16 tasks,
counting to 1000000000,
using 5 threads:
Ticks: 8799
Ticks: 9157
Ticks: 8829
Ticks: 9002
Ticks: 9173
Ticks: 8720
Ticks: 8830
Ticks: 8876
Average: 8923 ms

8 tests,
16 tasks,
counting to 1000000000,
using 9 threads:
Ticks: 6615
Ticks: 6583
Ticks: 6630
Ticks: 6599
Ticks: 6521
Ticks: 6895
Ticks: 6848
Ticks: 6583
Average: 6659 ms

8 tests,
16 tasks,
counting to 1000000000,
using 13 threads:
Ticks: 6661
Ticks: 6599
Ticks: 6552
Ticks: 6630
Ticks: 6583
Ticks: 6583
Ticks: 6568
Ticks: 6567
Average: 6592 ms

8 tests,
16 tasks,
counting to 1000000000,
using 17 threads:
Ticks: 6739
Ticks: 6864
Ticks: 6599
Ticks: 6693
Ticks: 6676
Ticks: 6864
Ticks: 6646
Ticks: 6677
Average: 6719 ms

8 tests,
16 tasks,
counting to 1000000000,
using 65 threads:
Ticks: 7223
Ticks: 6552
Ticks: 6879
Ticks: 6677
Ticks: 6833
Ticks: 6786
Ticks: 6739
Ticks: 6802
Average: 6811 ms

8 tests,
16 tasks,
counting to 1000000000,
using 129 threads:
Ticks: 6771
Ticks: 6677
Ticks: 6755
Ticks: 6692
Ticks: 6864
Ticks: 6817
Ticks: 6849
Ticks: 6801
Average: 6778 ms