Just a series of probably dumb questions...
1. Is Intel's SMT technology (hyperthreading) purely a software/firmware implementation or does it directly depend on CPU architecture/hardware as well?
2. If purely soft-based, is there a way for an end user to create a half-assed form of SMT on a non-hyperthreaded lowly Intel processor (lets say an Apolo Lake Celeron)? If OS matters, lets say on Linux (but I suspect OS doesn't really matter...). Or would it have to be Intel to release a CPU firmware/driver patch to enable the feature?
3. What exactly is the effect of SMT on a core's power consumption and heat (I've read conflicting information)?
Obviously, I want to understand how SMT is implemented. I see no reason why it ought to be hardware dependent, but I'm not entirely sure. If it were hardware-bound I could understand better why the feature isn't simply enabled on all processors, but I suspect that this is mostly a commercial decision. ummm...
Well, I'm sure that SMT implementation is a rather complicated thing. But I'm not afraid of being bombarded with technicalities. Be as detailed as you want.
I marked this as a question, but I'm more interested in an open discussion (do want answers to my questions, though). Any technical papers or pointers towards better venues for such questions/discussion are welcome.