SMT (simultaneous multithreading)

[Sam F]

I have a Ryzen 5 3600 and I overclocked it to 4.1 GHz. Is there any benefit to keeping SMT on or should I turn it off?

[Lurick]

Why would you want to turn it off and lose performance in applications that can utilize the threads?

[Sam F]

2 minutes ago, Lurick said:

Why would you want to turn it off and lose performance in applications that can utilize the threads?

But isn't using all threads all the time better than some threads or all sometimes?

[porina]

Is that even an overclock? Depending on the workload I've seen to around 3.9-4.2 all cores at stock on mine.

 

Generally speaking you want to leave SMT on, unless you have a workload you know can get confused by it. Thankfully rare occurrence these days.

[Lurick]

Just now, Sam F said:

But isn't using all threads all the time better than some threads or all sometimes?

No.

If an application can use the threads and is coded to do so, it will utilize them. Having them unused for a single application doesn't do anything for performance (either to help or hurt) and other programs to utilize those extra threads in the background if they are available. If nothing is using any of the threads or cores then they basically sit idle or are "parked".

[BruceWayneofLosSanto]

Disabling smt should allow you to overclock a bit further, the max safe voltage would be slightly higher too with smt disabled.  If your games you play perform better with smt disabled there is a benefit.