Xeon owners, I need your help!

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maplesyrupghost

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Greetings, [H]ard|Forum! I can't remember the password to my other account, so forgive me that this is a freshie, my main acct dates back to 2006.

I built a system at Christmas 2015 using the following specs:

24-core Xeon (2x 12-core Xeon E5-2685 v3)
Asus Z10PE-D16 WS
2x 16GB DDR4 ECC (single channel 'till I get a couple more sticks)
AMD Radeon R9 290 4GB reference cooler

I just wanted the most powerful computer I could afford. I got both CPUs in a matching pair auction for $750ish so it wasn't even really expensive in the grand scheme of things.

Doing virtually anything is mindblowingly fast. But the problem is that there is a horrible flaw in the Unity gaming engine where it spikes all 24 cores to 100% usage and makes it unplayable. Normally I would not be so upset at this type of a problem, but more than half of games in existence use Unity. Upwards of 5-10 games per day are launching and almost all of them have the problem. If I can get Unity to fix this mess, I would still need to contact the developers of like 1000+ games to get them to implement the new fix. I just don't want any MORE games to release with the flaw.

My cry for help thread is here: http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/unity-games-consume-100-cpu-on-many-titles.380442/

If you own a 24-core system and could test it out that would be great. If you have one with less or more cores that's great, too, just so we know where the problem lies. Maybe a single 12 core CPU has the problem, maybe a dual 6-core, could even be in dual 4-core systems. No one seems to know and they initially looked at me like a crazy person. I think it's fairly clear at this point that I'm right and I need more people to test it out.

Let me know what you guys think. If I can get a few people with different configurations to show the problem I think it would be more encouragement to the engineers to find a solution for it. Or maybe there's something else I'm unaware of in my computer, somehow that would only affect unity games?
 
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You didn't mention if your CPUs are engineering samples or full retail... which are they?

Also, gaming on that 2P setup is rather ridiculous especially since your video could have been upgraded to much higher-end unit and improved performance over what those CPUs will provide you in a game.
 
ToddW2 said:
You didn't mention if your CPUs are engineering samples or full retail... which are they?

Also, gaming on that 2P setup is rather ridiculous especially since your video could have been upgraded to much higher-end unit and improved performance over what those CPUs will provide you in a game.
Click to expand...

Engineering samples

But I render videos for YouTube, and I didn't like the 10-20 hour render times I was getting, it's not worth the effort. But since I can render a video out in 20-30 minutes now, I can continuously be productive.
 
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If I remember, I have a single 14 core unit ES, I'll try to test it out
 
I got the Asus Z10PE-D8 with 2 E5-2699v3.

I can help, but is there something I can download to test Unity?

Is Unigine Heaven Benchmark what you want me to test?
 
SpeedyVV said:
I got the Asus Z10PE-D8 with 2 E5-2699v3.

I can help, but is there something I can download to test Unity?

Is Unigine Heaven Benchmark what you want me to test?
Click to expand...

Hey! You are my hero!!

I've never heard of that benchmark but it would probably 100% the cpu by design, not by flaw. The flaw exists in 1000s of games, but the easiest way is if you download the Unity engine itself ( free version ) https://unity3d.com/get-unity

and make sure you check off to include the sample/example project. then open it, go

file -> build settings -> car scene should be checked by default -> check off windows build type -> x86_64 arch -> build

it'll compile it to a folder. please note that it installs visual studio community version during install and that took me at least an hour. the fastest way to do it would be to take my compiled version (40MB) off the unity thread there and you could have it tested in a moment.

It will pin all cores to 100%, if so just close the app, the point will be proven. Thanks in advance! I owe you a coke and btw nice procs!!
 
by the way the flaw exists in both windows 7 x64 and windows 10 x64, tried both from fresh installs.

and if you could hit that printscreen button it would be gold!! if the flaw is there. because your system is crazier than mine, if it doesn't go all 100% on you then it's something with 24 cores. if it does, then it's in the range of 24-36 core systems, and we will have to move downwards from there to see when the flaw starts. maybe it's just dual xeons in general.
 
im going to go with the idea the problem is not a bug with the unity games...why? because i seriously doubt any of those games are designed to use more than 4 threads...and you getting 24 threads 100% usage? i think your pc has some very odd issue...possibly a driver issue for your card? but there again the display driver bugs i have never hear of one like this

Heres what i want you to do..take a screenshot of the task manager showing what ever game or app using all 24 of these threads to 100% cause i dont believe it at all and you maybe unintentionally trolling us lol
 
ToddW2 said:
You didn't mention if your CPUs are engineering samples or full retail... which are they?

Also, gaming on that 2P setup is rather ridiculous especially since your video could have been upgraded to much higher-end unit and improved performance over what those CPUs will provide you in a game.
Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more. It seems silly to play games on a machine like that when that cash could have been used to grab a pair of 980Ti's.

maplesyrupghost said:
Engineering samples

But I render videos for YouTube, and I didn't like the 10-20 hour render times I was getting, it's not worth the effort. But since I can render a video out in 20-30 minutes now, I can continuously be productive.
Click to expand...

What were you using to render these videos before? I doubt a Core i7 5960X @ 4.5GHz with 8c/16t would have been a slouch at rendering those. It would have cost $500 less than your CPUs and been a full retail product that would have worked on any X99 chipset based motherboard. You would also have been able to leverage some fast DDR4 memory.

Dual socket systems are no doubt cool, but they are not always the right choice.
 
primetime said:
im going to go with the idea the problem is not a bug with the unity games...why? because i seriously doubt any of those games are designed to use more than 4 threads...and you getting 24 threads 100% usage? i think your pc has some very odd issue...possibly a driver issue for your card? but there again the display driver bugs i have never hear of one like this

Heres what i want you to do..take a screenshot of the task manager showing what ever game or app using all 24 of these threads to 100% cause i dont believe it at all and you maybe unintentionally trolling us lol
Click to expand...

Take a look at my Unity3D thread in the OP. I am able to reproduce this bug from scratch on a 1 hour old install of Windows. I posted about 10 screenshots at least showing various setups, and I would be happy to produce as many as possible, whatever is necessary to help the case.
 
Dan_D said:
I couldn't agree more. It seems silly to play games on a machine like that when that cash could have been used to grab a pair of 980Ti's.

What were you using to render these videos before? I doubt a Core i7 5960X @ 4.5GHz with 8c/16t would have been a slouch at rendering those. It would have cost $500 less than your CPUs and been a full retail product that would have worked on any X99 chipset based motherboard. You would also have been able to leverage some fast DDR4 memory.

Dual socket systems are no doubt cool, but they are not always the right choice.
Click to expand...
Look what I paid, though. http://www.ebay.ca/itm/272043441907

I was using (and still have beside me, for Unity gaming) an AMD 8-core FX-8320. Cost like $150 for that proc awhile ago. At first I had a 4-core AMD AM3+ Phenom II X4 but upgraded to a 6-core Phenom II X6 1055T because Grand Theft Auto 5 was too demanding. The 6 core was perfect but I upgraded to the 8 core because it was affordable and I sold the 6-core for like 80% of the cost of the 8. Then I started to plan out the big rig. It was only because I bought the Xeons at auction that I actually went forward and bought the rest of the components. I wouldn't pay retail price or anything for something like this. But I camped out on ebay for a long time to snipe out a great deal.
 
none of your screenshots show whats actually using all that cpu usage...i bet your trying to convert a video or something while playing the game (which in itself is not a horrible idea to multitask) but whatever program your converting with is using all the cpu i think. post a better screenshot that actually shows whats using what....i can throw up a task manager screenshot with handbrake running in the background but i doesn't mean my unity game is using 24 threads..IT means somthing is yes..but doesn't even remotely mean the unity game is. the screen shot just like all you others doesnt give the info i asked for. http://i.imgur.com/rBxcKYi.jpg
 
primetime said:
none of your screenshots show whats actually using all that cpu usage...i bet your trying to convert a video or something while playing the game (which in itself is not a horrible idea to multitask) but whatever program your converting with is using all the cpu i think. post a better screenshot that actually shows whats using what....i can throw up a task manager screenshot with handbrake running in the background but i doesn't mean my unity game is using 24 threads..IT means somthing is yes..but doesn't even remotely mean the unity game is. the screen shot just like all you others doesnt give the info i asked for. http://i.imgur.com/rBxcKYi.jpg
Click to expand...

Trust me, I want this fixed more than anything, and this is done without rendering stuff in the background.

http://i.imgur.com/7iJpDUo.jpg
 
primetime said:
which unity game is that x64 that is shown running?
Click to expand...

The default scene that the Unity engine comes with.

And the odd thing is that it doesn't have the bug every time. I recompiled it again with the name primetime and it worked fine. That's the oddness of the default scene, it has the flaw in like 80% of times it is compiled but not every time. Stuff like Square Brawl, Feed and Grow Fish, or that PewDiePie game are more consistent in the problem.
 
See like this is Square Brawl having a blast on the 24: http://i.imgur.com/A93Uy5t.png
and vector strain http://i.imgur.com/4REe4ZB.jpg
and even made a proof image for primetime called primetimeproof.exe http://i.imgur.com/glIa0WU.png

But I had to recompile the thing like 4 times before I could get a build with the bug in it. changing absolutely nothing in the scene. I just changed it from 64 bit to 32 bit and it's having the issue now. But clearly earlier in the 64 bit build it was having the problem.

Sometimes it's weird, like the PewDiePie game the problem is only on the world map. So to show you I have to run through level 1 again to get there. But I'm really hoping the flaw exists on your first attempt so you can see what i'm talking about. If not, recompile it a few times, eventually I hope it shows.
 
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SpeedyVV said:
Wow, sure takes a while to get Unity setup and going
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yea it looks over 10gb download as well lol..is there not a full finished actual free game we could try? for example BSG online uses the Unity3d engine which is also free btw...just wondering...is it only the demo games giving you issues?
 
primetime said:
yea it looks over 10gb download as well lol..is there not a full finished actual free game we could try? for example BSG online uses the Unity3d engine which is also free btw...just wondering...is it only the demo games giving you issues?
Click to expand...

Demos!!! Genius!! No, I've been using full versions. I'm willing to buy you a copy of a game as there are some in the $1 range I could get you, but a demo is genius. I'll see what's out there, there are 1000's of unity games.
 
Sometimes I would get like 4-5 games in a row with the bug and I didn't even write the names down. Now skimming through the library to see if there are any with the bug to example.
 
i think that might be a better idea....this unity download is taking forever lol
 
SpeedyVV I PM'd you a psychocat key. Primetime, do you have a xeon setup too?

I'll give these keys to anyone who can help. They are like 30 cents I'll give out a dozen if need be.
 
i have only a single cpu xeon (hexa core) setup...so may not be entirely relevant i guess. Are you looking for dual xeon processor only?
 
primetime said:
i have only a single cpu xeon (hexa core) setup...so may not be entirely relevant i guess. Are you looking for dual xeon processor only?
Click to expand...

at this point, i'm willing to try anything. xeon = ECC memory, so maybe it's something with the ram? worth trying, go ahead
 
Man, that car handles like crap....

Oh well, here are the results:
- VM with 4 Cores:
Windowed, 1080p, max quality: 19% CPU

VM%204%20Cores_zpsfjyz20yn.png



- On Host with 36 Cores and 72 Threads:
Windowed, 1080p, max quality: 34%

VM%2036%20C%2072%20T_zpseiduanks.jpg
 
I don't know nuthin about nuthin, but is it possible that the problem exists in the Windows scheduler? Is it possible to load a Linux distro and one of the Unity games that exhibit the problem? I know Unity on Linux is still a bit experimental. Just a thought. 24 cores on a gaming platform is certainly a bit outside the norm, but don't be discouraged. Once you get this sorted drop in some tri-fire to truly complete your little super computer.
 
I see a lot of cores there at 100%, that's indicating to me that there's a problem. But it's not system-wide 100%, which is different than me. I'd still try that psychocat though, it does it instantly at the menu

imgur link of just his task manager: http://i.imgur.com/ciQjGDN.png

18 cores at 100% is a lot!

also I find it weird that the entire second bank of CPUs is not even touched. 18 x 2 and you got 18 cores @ 100%..
 
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Methos said:
I don't know nuthin about nuthin, but is it possible that the problem exists in the Windows scheduler? Is it possible to load a Linux distro and one of the Unity games that exhibit the problem? I know Unity on Linux is still a bit experimental. Just a thought. 24 cores on a gaming platform is certainly a bit outside the norm, but don't be discouraged. Once you get this sorted drop in some tri-fire to truly complete your little super computer.
Click to expand...

Awh yeah, definitely going to be upgrading the GPUs when pascal launches, if that's what you meant by tri-fire. :)

The linux idea is a good one but I think the support is too small for it. Like if 100 games have the problem, all 100 won't have linux builds.

But this VM idea is stellar. Maybe I can just run the games in a VM, problems solved!
 
Troubleshooting CPU problems with an Engineering Sample early stage CPU is ridiculous.
 
maplesyrupghost said:
But this VM idea is stellar. Maybe I can just run the games in a VM, problems solved!
Click to expand...

BTW, I am in the process of trying out ESXi (free) and using GPU passthrough to game in VMs, and Other shit in other VMs.

I just find that my gaming setups, change just too often to make them usable as a general purpose machine.
 
ToddW2 said:
Troubleshooting CPU problems with an Engineering Sample early stage CPU is ridiculous.
Click to expand...

Yes, it is ridiculous. That's why I'm hoping to find users with other CPUs, maybe retail boxed ones that have the problem. It's not just games in general, name any game known to man that's not Unity based and it will run fine.
 
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