Dual Core Gaming Fix Guide

swetmore said:
Aren't these fixes only needed if you are using cool and quiet? I have cool and quiet disabled in the bios.

As for me, I installed my X2 on Sat and have not had a problem with slowdown in any games, UT2004, Doom3, or HL2. I have not installed any patches, drivers or hotfixes.

I never had a problem with slowdowns till now with the fix but its fixed with th setting at 0
and the problem is some games simply wont work

the funny thing is i built an identicle system and it worked fine in the same game 0.0 so im confused
 
Are these fixes necessary for dual core opteron cpu's also? I have a opty coming in and was wondering if it's needed. Also, does the X2 Fix #1 driver work for Opterons also or is there a seperate Opteron driver. I can't find one on the AMD website. Thanks
 
swetmore said:
Aren't these fixes only needed if you are using cool and quiet? I have cool and quiet disabled in the bios.

As for me, I installed my X2 on Sat and have not had a problem with slowdown in any games, UT2004, Doom3, or HL2. I have not installed any patches, drivers or hotfixes.

When you installed your X2, did you also enable multi-processing CPU's in Windows? I needed to use these fixes (#2 mostly) and I've never even tried using cool n quiet.
 
pinktri said:
Are these fixes necessary for dual core opteron cpu's also? I have a opty coming in and was wondering if it's needed. Also, does the X2 Fix #1 driver work for Opterons also or is there a seperate Opteron driver. I can't find one on the AMD website. Thanks

The driver will work for Opterons also (since they are essentially X2's ;) ).

yes, these fixes are needed with Opterons also.
 
kirbyrj said:
The HLT command is a simple instruction that tells the CPU to 'sleep'. This way, it consumes less power and hence generate less heat. For those of you keeping score at home ;). I didn't know so I looked it up :p

(I also see that I am now supremely [H]ard) ;).
Yeah I knew what HLT did, but he confuses me (not kirb but ken) because the "BUG" he speaks of happens it Win2k with the sp4 rollup patch and it causes the cpu to idle at pretty much the same temp as it would under load. If HLT was NOT working on my cpu (with Windows XP) - It wouldn't be idling below 35 degrees C. (anyone remember the CPUIDLE program back in the day that would magically "cool" your cpu? :) )
 
kirbyrj said:
When you installed your X2, did you also enable multi-processing CPU's in Windows? I needed to use these fixes (#2 mostly) and I've never even tried using cool n quiet.

I installed a new bios to enable dual core, and Windows recognized the second proc after reboot. I have MB monitor installed for temps and CPU usage. Now I have CPU usage for both cores in my system tray.

Is there something else in Windows that I need to enable? My 3800 X2 runs rock stable at 2600 and I am going to try for 2700 after my 2x1G Gskill gets here tomorrow. I played around with my FSB and I have no problem with 300. :D

I heard some corn holes where removing the IHS for better overclocking up to 3ghz on water.
 
swetmore said:
I installed a new bios to enable dual core, and Windows recognized the second proc after reboot. I have MB monitor installed for temps and CPU usage. Now I have CPU usage for both cores in my system tray.

Is there something else in Windows that I need to enable? My 3800 X2 runs rock stable at 2600 and I am going to try for 2700 after my 2x1G Gskill gets here tomorrow. I played around with my FSB and I have no problem with 300. :D

I heard some corn holes where removing the IHS for better overclocking up to 3ghz on water.

So Windows shows you two separate cpu's under the task manager? That's interesting. Everytime I try it, it only shows me one unless I repair install.
 
kirbyrj said:
So Windows shows you two separate cpu's under the task manager? That's interesting. Everytime I try it, it only shows me one unless I repair install.

No, only shows two cores with Motherboard Monitor, Task Manager only one. But, I do have two processors in Device Manager. CPU-Z shows two cores. All my games work fine with no stuttering and I did not install any patches, or hot fixes.

Did I miss anything? What is a good Multithreaded Program that will test 2 cores?
 
swetmore said:
No, only shows two cores with Motherboard Monitor, Task Manager only one. But, I do have two processors in Device Manager. CPU-Z shows two cores. All my games work fine with no stuttering and I did not install any patches, or hot fixes.

Did I miss anything? What is a good Multithreaded Program that will test 2 cores?

Maybe run 2 instances of Prime95 on each core to see if it is running right. In my experience, when this happens it didn't find the 2nd core right. It's not sharing the load properly (and when it does, especially in games, you'll need the hotfix).
 
kirbyrj said:
Maybe run 2 instances of Prime95 on each core to see if it is running right. In my experience, when this happens it didn't find the 2nd core right. It's not sharing the load properly (and when it does, especially in games, you'll need the hotfix).

Yeah, I am definately running dual core. 1 instance of Prime 95 yields about ~50% CPU utilization split. 2 instances results in 100%.

Wonder why I am not getting the issues described in this thread? I have no patches installed, and no hotfixes. My games play great. BTW, I am running on an Epox NF4 Ultra non SLI board with and ATI X800XL. :D
 
Well, I guess as long as it is sharing the load properly...I'm not sure why it doesn't show you two CPU's in the task manager though. Plus, the fact that you're not having any problems with games (depends on what they are though)...it's kind of like your computer thinks its still single core, but at the same time uses both of them :).
 
seanmcd said:
Yeah I knew what HLT did, but he confuses me (not kirb but ken) because the "BUG" he speaks of happens it Win2k with the sp4 rollup patch and it causes the cpu to idle at pretty much the same temp as it would under load. If HLT was NOT working on my cpu (with Windows XP) - It wouldn't be idling below 35 degrees C. (anyone remember the CPUIDLE program back in the day that would magically "cool" your cpu? :) )

HLT working with Windows XP, but when one of the core is in HLT (Idle) mode while the program call for TSC value, the X2 will give out a wrong value, that make games which use TSC value as their speed controller become shuttering. The 896256 hotfix is to let windows itself use the APIC value instead of the TSC value, so all the programs which use the windows' clock service as their speed controller can be fixed by this hotfix. But for those programs which directly request for the TSC value from the CPU, this hotfix can't do anything on them.
 
ken328 said:
HLT working with Windows XP, but when one of the core is in HLT (Idle) mode while the program call for TSC value, the X2 will give out a wrong value, that make games which use TSC value as their speed controller become shuttering.

Well, the hotfix does synchronize the TSC registers across processors when using the ACPI Power Management timer on multiprocessor systems, but what you're saying makes sense :).
 
Running 2 instances of Prime 95 after 10 minutes is a little too much for my water cooling rig. I am overclocked to 2.6 @ 1.55v, but my water cooling rig is only an Aquarius 2 AND I have my XL 800 in the loop as well. LOL. This setup worked fine for single core, but I am generating more heat now.


Think it's time to shop for a second radiator:

2 Cores
2 Gig
2 Radiators

Non SLI here, so no on the 2 video cards.

Everything X2! :D
 
theres an option in task manager whether to show seperate graphs per CPU, or one graph for average load...performance tab, under view menu. Works with hyperthreading (guess how I know that) too.
 
GLSauron said:
theres an option in task manager whether to show seperate graphs per CPU, or one graph for average load...performance tab, under view menu. Works with hyperthreading (guess how I know that) too.

I'll bet it's greyed out for him and he can't select it. That's what happened to me when I went from single to dual core without a reinstall.
 
kirbyrj said:
bump for 1st page ;).

Bump for "Dang it, the machine threw a rod!" or something. UT Original running in "January Molasses" mode again, five days after reboot.

Yeah, some of us are a leetle bit funny about stability and uptime. :rolleyes:

 
well CS:S updated tonight and the update breakes it if you try to use fix 2 or 3. If you use fix 2 all the other players go all stuttery and number 3 BSODs me. I used both methods before 2 fixed it along with the new drivers. Now they break it so I guess this latest update was a Dual Core Source engine fix.
 
to repeat what someone asked earlier and no one answered... these fixes are only needed if you're using Cool N' Quiet, correct?

(i'm not, oc'd my 4400+ to 2.607ghz)
 
I don't use C&Q and I needed the fix. I only installed microsoft's hotfix, I left amd's driver alone
 
Smallies said:
to repeat what someone asked earlier and no one answered... these fixes are only needed if you're using Cool N' Quiet, correct?

(i'm not, oc'd my 4400+ to 2.607ghz)

No, I don't use Cool N' Quiet and I still need them.
 
kirbyrj said:
No, I don't use Cool N' Quiet and I still need them.

The X2 driver fix is needed. Single core dual processor systems don't need anything. Unless you need CnQ. Single core Athlon 64's don't need anything either.
 
kirbyrj said:
No, I don't use Cool N' Quiet and I still need them.

The key is the /usepmtimer added to the boot.ini. The rest of the driver is just for CnQ. If you feel comfortable adding the /usepmtimer switch to your boot.ini, you can just do that.
 
wtiger said:
well CS:S updated tonight and the update breakes it if you try to use fix 2 or 3. If you use fix 2 all the other players go all stuttery and number 3 BSODs me. I used both methods before 2 fixed it along with the new drivers. Now they break it so I guess this latest update was a Dual Core Source engine fix.

I just tried DOD:S and had no problems with the latest update (I have the X2 driver and hotfix enabled). I'll try CS:S later.
 
Also, to set the affinity permanently you can use "imagecfg.exe"

Google it and you'll find it for download, this link should still have it too:

http://www.robpol86.com/Pages/imagecfg.php


Pretty handy tool for me. I went and set the affinity of my games to the 2nd and anything else I use while gaming to the 1st core. My thinking behind this is that XP will probably use the 1st core more for its services, so put all the other stuff there and use the 2nd for gaming as it should be the only thing really using that core. And if you need to set the affinity for a fix, this way its a 1 time deal, and you dont need to load another program.

Imagecfg has a problem with some directories with spaces in them, so its easiest to stick it in the folder with the *.exe file you want to change. Then use the command you need:

imagecfg -a 0x1 game.exe for core 1
imagecfg -a 0x2 game.exe for core 2

If imagecfg.exe is not in the same folder as the *.exe you want to change then you need to add the full file path to the *.exe
 
YARDofSTUF said:
Also, to set the affinity permanently you can use "imagecfg.exe"

Google it and you'll find it for download, this link should still have it too:

http://www.robpol86.com/Pages/imagecfg.php


Pretty handy tool for me. I went and set the affinity of my games to the 2nd and anything else I use while gaming to the 1st core. My thinking behind this is that XP will probably use the 1st core more for its services, so put all the other stuff there and use the 2nd for gaming as it should be the only thing really using that core. And if you need to set the affinity for a fix, this way its a 1 time deal, and you dont need to load another program.

Imagecfg has a problem with some directories with spaces in them, so its easiest to stick it in the folder with the *.exe file you want to change. Then use the command you need:

imagecfg -a 0x1 game.exe for core 1
imagecfg -a 0x2 game.exe for core 2

If imagecfg.exe is not in the same folder as the *.exe you want to change then you need to add the full file path to the *.exe

Added it in the Affinity section ;)...thanks.
 
wtiger said:
well CS:S updated tonight and the update breakes it if you try to use fix 2 or 3. If you use fix 2 all the other players go all stuttery and number 3 BSODs me. I used both methods before 2 fixed it along with the new drivers. Now they break it so I guess this latest update was a Dual Core Source engine fix.

CS:S works fine for me also with hotfix enabled.
 
Does this imagecfg program physically alter the .exe files at all? If so, you might want to mention in the affinity section to make a backup of the .exe file before running this program, just in case a future patch, etc. might not like the altered file. Also, do these issues affect Windows XP Pro x64 at all?
 
ir0nw0lf said:
Does this imagecfg program physically alter the .exe files at all? If so, you might want to mention in the affinity section to make a backup of the .exe file before running this program, just in case a future patch, etc. might not like the altered file. Also, do these issues affect Windows XP Pro x64 at all?

I've patched BF2 this way. I'm kinda leaning on it being a registery setting, not sure.
 
The timing could not have been any better for me, SUCKERS :p I'm getting my X2 in a few days for my new rig. Fortunately for me, I don't have to worry about the gaming dilemma. THANKS! STICKY so I can find it easier in a few days.
 
ir0nw0lf said:
Does this imagecfg program physically alter the .exe files at all? If so, you might want to mention in the affinity section to make a backup of the .exe file before running this program, just in case a future patch, etc. might not like the altered file. Also, do these issues affect Windows XP Pro x64 at all?

No, I think it's kind of like one of those launching programs but without the program to launch it (if that makes sense).
 
(come on - we still like you even though your thread isn't a sticky)

INTERESTING NOTE:

(before you read this - please note that I installed my Dual core cpu originally without reinstalling windows, although it recognized it and installled the proper ACPI Multiprocessor PC driver at that time. I then had problems with at least one game (Need for speed MW) that was in turn fixed by the hotfixes )

I just reinstalled Windows XP SP2 (bought a new harddrive) and set everything up like i normally do. I did not apply any of the "hotfixes" or amd driver. This time around, I had zero issues playing Need For Speed MW. The game was unplayable without the fixes applied before, but this time it plays fine without them.
 
I'm not 100% sure the imagecfg program was to blame but last night I ran the program on a .exe file for a game that I am beta testing (rather not mention it, NDA issues...), to see if it made any difference (running a X2 4400). Tried to launch the game, crash-o-rama. Can't remember the message text but it wouldn't run at all. Had to restore a backup of the .exe file that I made beforehand. I didn't think to do a compare on the two files to see if it was indeed altered or if it was a registry only change. If it is a registry change, anyone know where in the registry these settings would be?

I would certainly add to the OP that if you run imagecfg you make a backup of the original file first!
 
ir0nw0lf said:
I'm not 100% sure the imagecfg program was to blame but last night I ran the program on a .exe file for a game that I am beta testing (rather not mention it, NDA issues...), to see if it made any difference (running a X2 4400). Tried to launch the game, crash-o-rama. Can't remember the message text but it wouldn't run at all. Had to restore a backup of the .exe file that I made beforehand. I didn't think to do a compare on the two files to see if it was indeed altered or if it was a registry only change. If it is a registry change, anyone know where in the registry these settings would be?

I would certainly add to the OP that if you run imagecfg you make a backup of the original file first!

Will do...thanks for the headsup.
 
seanmcd said:
(come on - we still like you even though your thread isn't a sticky)

INTERESTING NOTE:

(before you read this - please note that I installed my Dual core cpu originally without reinstalling windows, although it recognized it and installled the proper ACPI Multiprocessor PC driver at that time. I then had problems with at least one game (Need for speed MW) that was in turn fixed by the hotfixes )

I just reinstalled Windows XP SP2 (bought a new harddrive) and set everything up like i normally do. I did not apply any of the "hotfixes" or amd driver. This time around, I had zero issues playing Need For Speed MW. The game was unplayable without the fixes applied before, but this time it plays fine without them.

I had a fresh install with my dual core from day 1, and I at first did not have any issues.. however, eventually I got the "benny hill effect" in NFS:MW demo.. then I installed Microsoft's hotfix and the problems went away. I have been unable to try HL 2 or CS:S because I have to use dial-up to connect to Steam (only broadband in my room is wireless, and all of the ports Steam and all of my other games need are blocked).
 
ir0nw0lf said:
I'm not 100% sure the imagecfg program was to blame but last night I ran the program on a .exe file for a game that I am beta testing (rather not mention it, NDA issues...), to see if it made any difference (running a X2 4400). Tried to launch the game, crash-o-rama. Can't remember the message text but it wouldn't run at all. Had to restore a backup of the .exe file that I made beforehand. I didn't think to do a compare on the two files to see if it was indeed altered or if it was a registry only change. If it is a registry change, anyone know where in the registry these settings would be?

I would certainly add to the OP that if you run imagecfg you make a backup of the original file first!

I havent had a problem, but when the NDA is clear please share the name. If the game is set to use multithreading, it may have a problem with that, dunno. I never thought to make a backup beforehand, thanks for the warning.

BF42, BF2, NFS U2, Dungeon Siege 2, Fable, Freelancer, Rise of Nations, and Unreal Tournament haveall worked for me.
 
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