Dual Core Gaming Fix Guide

dbaldus said:
So, just in general, if a game is actually "using" both cores, what will the CPU Usage look like in the Task Manager? One core maxed, the other one at or near zero? Both cores around 50%?

I'm wondering because Company of Heroes and Quake 4 (who are both supposed to take advantage of dual core procs) both show the CPU Usage at 50% for each core. However, STALKER and FEAR, who also are supposed to take advantage of dual cores, show one CPU at 100% and the other around 0. The games run okay, but I'm wondering if it is just because my proc is at 2.7Ghz with 2 gigs of RAM and not because it is actually using both cores...
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I'm not sure what the usage looks like, but I would see what kind of benchmark results you're getting with one core enabled or both cores. I never really thought about the usage, I was always more concerned with the raw performance.

fairlane said:
When I installed the optimizer and double-clicked the icon from the programs folder, nothing happened. They state in the readme that there's supposed to be an AMD logo in the system tray to toggle game mode "on/off". I don't get that at all. Double-clicking the icon does nothing. I don't have the MS hotfix installed, just the AMD driver set (dated July 2006) and this optimizer.
The only game I'm concerned with is CS:S. I'm getting what most posters are describing as 'slowdowns' and choppy moving bots across the screen. Putting less bots in the game doesn't help and even setting the affinity to only use CPU 0 doesn't help much either.

Am I doing something wrong? Should I only be using ONE fix and not two?

System specs:

ASUS A8V-Deluxe
AMD opteron dual core 180
1GB Corsair PC3200XL 2-2-2-5
ATI X1600XT
WD Raptor 74GB set at RAID 0

I'm not OC'ing any hardware component and I have the most updated drivers for my BIOS, (no beta, just official release) video card (latest post is March 28th).

Any help would be appreciated.....Sorry in advance if I left something out.
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I would use the MS hotfix if you're experiencing slowdowns (or at least try that also).
 
SolZer said:
I just upgraded to vista ultimate on my dual core machine. Are there fixes needed to optimize dual core in Windows Vista?
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Not AFAIK, but I don't really know for sure as I haven't tested a whole lot in Vista for games. The fixes described in the OP aren't necessarily geared toward Vista, but I have yet to hear of any game related problems with Vista other than compatibility issues.
 
Sorry for the dumb question, but how do you recommend that I "benchmark" my games? Record in FRAPS? Or what is common to do to test that?

And do you mean just go in and manually set the affinity to use one core, benchmark it, then leave it "normal" (presumably both cores), and benchmark again to compare results?
 
dbaldus said:
Sorry for the dumb question, but how do you recommend that I "benchmark" my games? Record in FRAPS? Or what is common to do to test that?

And do you mean just go in and manually set the affinity to use one core, benchmark it, then leave it "normal" (presumably both cores), and benchmark again to compare results?
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Yes, I'd say either fraps or sometimes games will have a command line where you can type in a command to see the FPS in real time. Or they'll have a time demo...it really depends on the game.

Yes, I'd run one with the regular dual core then set the affinity manually on one core and do the same test.
 
I'm running 64-bit Vista on a new computer I built for my father. He still loves to play the original Unreal Tournament. However, that game is exhibiting the Benny Effect.

I've tried the Dual Core Optimizer, which doesn't appear to be working in Vista, none of those hotfixes apply to Vista, I cant determine where boot.ini moved in the new OS, and changing the affinity of the game after loading it doesn't seem to have any effect.

Anyone have any ideas? As UT is his favorite game, he's going to consider this computer a downgrade until I get this figured out.
 
Madcow256 said:
I'm running 64-bit Vista on a new computer I built for my father. He still loves to play the original Unreal Tournament. However, that game is exhibiting the Benny Effect.

I've tried the Dual Core Optimizer, which doesn't appear to be working in Vista, none of those hotfixes apply to Vista, I cant determine where boot.ini moved in the new OS, and changing the affinity of the game after loading it doesn't seem to have any effect.

Anyone have any ideas? As UT is his favorite game, he's going to consider this computer a downgrade until I get this figured out.
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Try running in XP compatibility mode maybe.
 
Madcow256 said:
Unfortunately I've tried that with no success (older Windows versions too).
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Oh well...I guess it was worth a try. I've heard of some people having success with it. Might just be a video card driver issue. I know I've heard bad things about Nvidia's Vista drivers (may or may not have been fixed yet). I've had problems with ATI's Vista drivers (new video cards not supported in newest driver releases :mad: ).
 
kirbyrj said:
Oh well...I guess it was worth a try. I've heard of some people having success with it. Might just be a video card driver issue. I know I've heard bad things about Nvidia's Vista drivers (may or may not have been fixed yet). I've had problems with ATI's Vista drivers (new video cards not supported in newest driver releases :mad: ).
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Yeah, I guess I'll keep checking nVidia's site for some new (hopefully functional) drivers.

Maybe this will give my dad a chance to take his gaming into the new millennium.
 
Found some new info online and added it to the OP in the form of some links from AMD and Microsoft. Maybe you've seen them before, maybe not.
 
Well, the good news is that setting the affinity to cpu 0 fixed my bots in CS:S when setting the Steam.exe file. Unfortunately, it makes my FPS drop even more, which is a separate issue IMO than this thread, hopefully you'll all forgive me for ranting on this. What's frustrating is that in order to not get a migraine from using both cpu's you have to set the affinity to use one. That takes care of the dizzying effect of the bots in the game, but slows everything else down quite a bit. I mean, FPS drops between 15-20 when theres a firefight going on. Mind you this is with 20 bots and all the eye candy turned on (except AA and AS, I never turn them on because it never made any visual difference to me in the game). But, even when I use half the amount of bots, say 10 (5 for each team) and set the eye candy to low or off, my fps is still a paltry 30-40. Maybe on a couple of maps like dust, that'll work, but a highly graphical map like Militia? Forget it, unplayable, and any less bots is well, what's the point?:rolleyes:
I guess I want to know what hardware requirements I would need to be able to play offline with as many bots as I'm allowed (for me 20 at least, the max I believe is 32) and be able to have all the in game settings all turned up without any loss in performance.
Everyone I've asked on any server I've played on comes back with the first recommendation that I definitely need to upgrade my motherboard with a PCIe board. They say that the bots are very cpu intensive and not only that, but the video bus and even integrated sound can have an effect. I do have a dual-core opteron 180 and they say that that should be enough power for all those bots, but is that true? Others have said the huge drop in FPS is not a hardware issue at all but a Valve issue, as a lot of people have been complaining in the Steampowered forums, people with varied systems, from low-medium, to the high end.
I'd like to know what folks here on these forums have to say and what recommendations if any. I'll repost my specs.

ASUS A8V-Deluxe
AMD Opteron Dual-Core 180
Corsair 3GB PC3200pro
Visiontek X1600XT Radeon 512MB <----doing some research, this card got a mediocre review
PC Power&Cooling 420w PSU

Thanks in advance, and my apologies to the moderators and readers for posting out of the appropriate thread? I am just a little bit frustrated and after reading this great post I thought I'd share my issues to see if anyone else has also.

Phil
 
Just looking at your specs, it seems like the X1600 is the weak link. I can see it dropping down in the 15-20 FPS range with eye candy and bots in a game running on one core. Maybe you can get a good deal on a X1950 Pro AGP and see if that helps you out or get a new PCIe motherboard/video card.
 
has anyone gone from single core to dual core and ended up getting a ton of popping, static, and crackling in their audio afterwards?

Applied all patches at beginning of thread and updated sound card drivers. It was actually worse before the sound card drivers. It's most noticeable in WoW but it actually happens in all sound related situations albeit usually not noticeable at all unless I really crank up the volume or use headphones. In WoW, it gets louder and louder the longer I play.

Asus A8V
3800+ X2
Audigy 2 value
XP Pro
Logitech z-560
 
Luda said:
has anyone gone from single core to dual core and ended up getting a ton of popping, static, and crackling in their audio afterwards?

Applied all patches at beginning of thread and updated sound card drivers. It was actually worse before the sound card drivers. It's most noticeable in WoW but it actually happens in all sound related situations albeit usually not noticeable at all unless I really crank up the volume or use headphones. In WoW, it gets louder and louder the longer I play.

Asus A8V
3800+ X2
Audigy 2 value
XP Pro
Logitech z-560
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My first guess would be to blame the Audigy. What happens in your sound if you remove it and just use the onboard?
 
I have tried all 4 fixes, but noone of them isn't able to fix stuttering in Far Cry. I have tried various ForceWare versions - no possitive effect. My system is:
X2 3800+ s939 (OC 2.4Ghz)
DFI LanParty Ultra-D
Club 3D 7900 GT (stock)
X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS.

Any suggestions? I'm embarrassed...
 
Aelfgeft said:
Why was this unstickied? :confused:
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It happens every few months :). No worries. If you search in google for "Dual core gaming fix" it's the number 1 thing that comes up so you can always find it that way.
 
Matas said:
I have tried all 4 fixes, but noone of them isn't able to fix stuttering in Far Cry. I have tried various ForceWare versions - no possitive effect. My system is:
X2 3800+ s939 (OC 2.4Ghz)
DFI LanParty Ultra-D
Club 3D 7900 GT (stock)
X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS.

Any suggestions? I'm embarrassed...
Click to expand...

Well, if you run with only 1 core by changing the affinity, you would have to see positive effects or else there's a different problem. Are you working with a fresh install of Windows?
 
Where is no possitive effect even with setting affinity to 0 ir 1. Yeh, OS is fresh.
 
kirbyrj said:
My first guess would be to blame the Audigy. What happens in your sound if you remove it and just use the onboard?
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I actually figured it out. It wasn't the change to dual core at all. It was a fan that was blowing air onto the audigy that was causing it, oddly enough. Removed the fan and the crackling is gone.
 
Under Vista x32 in Quake 3, I get a lag spike every 300ms or so. If I set the affinity to one core, it goes away and everything is perfectly normal. If anyone knows a fix for this let me know. Its just a pain having to set affinity everytime I launch the game.
 
Luda said:
I actually figured it out. It wasn't the change to dual core at all. It was a fan that was blowing air onto the audigy that was causing it, oddly enough. Removed the fan and the crackling is gone.
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Lol :).
 
w1retap said:
Under Vista x32 in Quake 3, I get a lag spike every 300ms or so. If I set the affinity to one core, it goes away and everything is perfectly normal. If anyone knows a fix for this let me know. Its just a pain having to set affinity everytime I launch the game.
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You know...I actually randomly tried Q3 in Vista (which is completely random because I NEVER played Q3 before the other day :eek: ). I had the same problem. I haven't come across a fix for it though :(.
 
Have we figured out what's causing these problems for some systems and not others?

A friend of mine has an Athlon 64 X2 and Windows Vista 32-bit, and he's having many of the issues mentioned in this thread. I've loaded up some of the same games on my laptop (Turion 64 X2 and Windows Vista 32-bit) and I don't experience any of the issues he is...

Might be better to fix the cause, rather than treat the symptoms.
 
well i got a new dual core 64bit and my HL2 and other source game seems to run EXTREMLY fast,i tried using Vsync but it dosent work,like the dudes runs at the speed of light.....lol any help ???
i've tried everything on the first page(all the fixes)but nothing seems to work, it also dose this in Farcry and GTR 2




MY specs:

Windows Xp pro X64

AMD Althlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+

1gig of DDR2 240pin Ram

Geforce 7300LE with 512Mb memory
 
Well, the hotfix and AMD optimizer aren't for XP 64 AFAIK. If setting the affinity to 1 core doesn't work, I'd think you're having a different problem.
 
yeah should i just use XP 32bit....?? or something esle cuz i got both Xps :confused:
 
yeah i tried that b4 didnt work at all, is there ANYTHING for xp 64...??:rolleyes:
 
RWTF said:
yeah i tried that b4 didnt work at all, is there ANYTHING for xp 64...??:rolleyes:
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I just want to confirm again that you tried using only 1 core and you still had problems. If you're still having problems when the affinity is set to only 1 core, then you're not talking about a dual core problem, you're talking about a XP64 problem (at least that's my take on it ;) ).
 
right now i got a dual core cpu with only xp64 installed, so should i use 32xp instead? or switch back to my old AMD athlon64 ,and i tried the CPU 1 thing still didnt do anything at all and i told it to set to lowest priority and still nuttin, yeah i'm thinking the same for 64xp
 
I would try XP 32 and see if that makes any difference. Obviously a pain to reinstall an OS, but at least you'd know if it's the OS causing the problem.
 
well, i got 32 bit windows installed and still the same problem i'm getting really mad,about to beat the Cpu with a hammer lol seriously....i just dont know what to do....i tried playing CS:S and it runs fast as hell like you can unload a clip from AK-47 lest than a half of second and everthings exrtemely fast,and i tried Farcry and SAME exact thing....i just dont know its getting me depressed knowing i cant play my games b/c of this crap:(
 
System 1:

amd64 x2 3800+ oc 2500Mhz.
windows xp 32bit
No optimizer
No msfix
works.

System 2:

amd64 x2 3800+ oc 2500Mhz.
windows xp 32bit
optimizer -> Freezes and corrupts my SATAI on board controller asrock s939 uli sataII
No msfix
not work.

System 3:

amd64 x2 3800+ oc 2500Mhz.
Vista ultimate 64bit
No Optimizer
No msfix
works.

Games that do not use the 2nd core or tries to run it self again on the 2nd core that I know is.

Deus EX invisiable wars freeze at start menu. -> fix is to run it on one of the core.
Unreal 2 causes lag delays like its runing twice -> fix is to run it on one of the core.
Old game X cause to delay-flash back lag/ freeze -> fix affinity to one core.

Games that works well with dual core.
Oblivion no problem in fact running with disabled multitrend nvidia driver makes controls and movement, sound, ai, feel, more responsive works well with dual cores.
C&C3 works well
Guildwars works well.
Newer games works well.

moral of story is run new games and set affinity for old games.
 
Mega2 said:
System 1:

amd64 x2 3800+ oc 2500Mhz.
windows xp 32bit
No optimizer
No msfix
works.
Click to expand...

hmm how dose it work for you but not me...have you tried playing any of the source games? or FarCry?
 
yes I have played it on modified enchanced source engine Might & Magic Dark Messiah. Works fine.
 
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