hyper-threading and yade

Hyperthreading *generally* does not improve or hinder performance on single Linux workstations [1]. Some authors tested the effect of hyperthreading on an OpenMP (shared memory) molecular dynamics code (similar to Yade) and found that hyperthreading slightly improved performance [2]. However, the same authors found that applications using a distributed memory model (MPI) exhibted significantly degraded performance when hyperthreading was active. So if you are running Yade normally with OpenMP then I would say you won't see much of a difference with hyperthreading on or off.

[1]https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/hpc/Hyper-Threading-may-be-Killing-your-Parallel-Performance-578/
[2]https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/44e2/8882125c8960788564563363ba35ead9d4f0.pdf

In terms of historical feedback, we had a presentation by A. Eulitz about that during the 1st YADE workshop (2014 !).

See p. 462 onwards of https://yade-dem.org/publi/1stWorkshop/booklet.pdf if you're curious about details.
I can not recollect myself what the exact conclusion was, though...

It's worth pointing out that those results are all based on two discrete CPUs on a single motherboard working on the same problem. I am not sure if that is closer to distributed or shared memory TBH.

If you have N physical cores and 2xN threads, then most likely the performance will decrease or stagnate if you try to use yade with more than N threads. In other words, having hyperthreading activated in the bios is not a problem as long as you don't use it.
Better run your own tests though, better than trusting me...
B

Dear Robert, Jerome and Bruno,

Thank you very much for your answers. With this information at hand, we will think about a strategy to test, if hyperthreading should be active or not.

Thanks, and regards,
Bettina