AMD FX wont run all cores for games

dudesam182 · **AMD FX wont run all cores for games -** 02-25-2012, 02:21 | posts: 12

Hey, i currently got myself a AMD FX-4100 and i've tried playing serious sam 3 and Deus Ex. I've noticed i don't get the best out of the game because only one core is running the games, i have checked the Affinity and all cores are selected. This is strange because my step dad has a AMD Phenom II X6 1100T and runs these games totally fine. it just seems to be my FX =/ any ideas why this is doing this, every other game is running smoothly like GTA IV and crysis 2... =/

thanks,
Sam

sykozis · 02-25-2012, 03:39 | posts: 13,489 | Location: US East Coast

Your processor is slower than his.

The AMD FX series processors are a step backwards from the PhenomII X6 processors. The core efficiency of the AMD FX series processors is, for lack of a better term, horrendous....

dudesam182 · 02-25-2012, 03:54 | posts: 12

i still don't see why the game is only running on one core though. :S

Neo Cyrus · **Memory**: 6GB DDR3-2000 9-9-9-24-1T

Are those games even dual threaded? I don't remember. If they're single threaded you're essentially screwed. A LOT of things are still single threaded, getting an FX is just not a good idea, it's a downgrade from the previous generation of AMD chips as far as I'm concerned.

I even disable Hyper Threading to slightly improve single threaded performance.

PhazeDelta1 · 02-25-2012, 04:41 | posts: 9,317 | Location: 90° N

cpu bottleneck. scaling for that processor is poo. given its a dual core with half assed version of hyper threadingl. open up task manager to the performance tab and then play dues ex for a min or 2. post a screen shot of task manager so we can see your cpu usage.

dudesam182 · 02-25-2012, 05:27 | posts: 12

http://imageshack.us/f/824/taskmanger.jpg/
heres the image

Neo Cyrus · **Memory**: 6GB DDR3-2000 9-9-9-24-1T

Uh... no, it doesn't have half assed Hyper Threading, it has a superior version of it. It's 4 half assed cores.

I just assumed he actually checked the task manager to confirm the games are actually running on a single core. Even on two cores he'd probably still be bottlenecked.

Edit: Looks like my post is a minute too late.

What it looks like is that whatever you were running is dual threaded... the first core is maxed out and the time slices for the remaining amount are distributed among the other 3 cores but that means it's still limited to the maximum of 2 cores.

Or so it seems, post a screenshot of the task manager when the CPU usage isn't dropping to 0%. A little late for an edit but either that or just it's plain single threaded with the usage in the other 3 cores being from other stuff.

fr33k · 02-25-2012, 05:35 | posts: 1,784 | Location: USA

Quote:

Originally Posted by dudesam182

http://imageshack.us/f/824/taskmanger.jpg/
heres the image

looks fine here, I see all cores being used and one maxing out like it's supposed to on the new FX chips.
Thats the tech. It will only utilize the other cores if it needs to. This is not optimized in windows7/vista. It will be in 8.

dudesam182 · 02-25-2012, 05:44 | posts: 12

but when i play games like Cod black ops, on 1080p and everything on high... it shares it between all my cores... :S

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/26/81087508.jpg/

Neo Cyrus · **Memory**: 6GB DDR3-2000 9-9-9-24-1T

Quote:

Originally Posted by fr33k

looks fine here, I see all cores being used and one maxing out like it's supposed to on the new FX chips.
Thats the tech. It will only utilize the other cores if it needs to. This is not optimized in windows7/vista. It will be in 8.

I seriously doubt it has such severe scheduling problems. Read what I wrote above.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dudesam182

but when i play games like Cod black ops, on 1080p and everything on high... it shares it between all my cores... :S

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/26/81087508.jpg/

Now that looks like what I was describing more. 2 threaded application dividing it's time slices amongst 4 cores.

styka · 02-25-2012, 05:49 | posts: 286 | Location: Jakarta, Indonesia

neo is right.
deus ex is a single threaded game mate, you have to oc, no other way i guess.

dudesam182 · 02-25-2012, 05:55 | posts: 12

well that sucks, i still dont understand how my step dad's running better.my cores are running at 4.2ghz (his is at 3.3ghz)
My temp is only 27degrees apparently, i dont trust the readings so i dont want to overclock anymore

Neo Cyrus · **Memory**: 6GB DDR3-2000 9-9-9-24-1T

The amount of instructions per clock cycle Bulldozer has is far inferior to what the old architecture had. I didn't think it was that dramatic though (I don't remember benchmarks comparing them).

styka · 02-25-2012, 06:00 | posts: 286 | Location: Jakarta, Indonesia

wow, that's a huge difference..
it shouldn't be that high.

maybe it's just the game engine not able to utilize the new FX architecture ? if that is even possible..

dudesam182 · 02-25-2012, 06:09 | posts: 12

the thing is its the Unreal 3 Engine. Every other game with that engine, the likes of Unreal tournament 3 and Batman: Arkham City run perfectly fine, spreading between all cores. just serious sam and ****ty Deus Ex Human Revolution.

Pill Monster · 02-25-2012, 06:53 | posts: 20,464 | Location: NZ

Quote:

All cores are loaded from what I can see, but you've almost run out of RAM - and what's up with the 73 processes...up from 53 in the first screenshot?

If those are time lapse pics then you've got a memory leak or malware infection or something...73 processes is a lot.
I'll bet you have something else hogging the CPU besides your game...

dudesam182 · 02-25-2012, 07:03 | posts: 12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pill Monster

All cores are loaded from what I can see, but you've almost run out of RAM - and what's up with the 73 processes...up from 53 in the first screenshot?

If those are time lapse pics then you've got a memory leak or malware infection or something...73 processes is a lot.
I'll bet you have something else hogging the CPU besides your game...

its google chrome, i have like 20 tabs opened

i took the screenshot after i loaded it back up. when i close the program it loads my last tabs

just me being lazy. - also i have a game running - cod black ops taking up most my memory

Pill Monster · 02-25-2012, 07:20 | posts: 20,464 | Location: NZ

Well how do you expect people to solve your problem based on your screenshots when there's 20 other programs running?

dudesam182 · 02-25-2012, 07:26 | posts: 12

the second screenshot was only to prove that the game was shared with all cores. as for the first screenshot nothing else was running but from the game and steam.....

Pill Monster · 02-25-2012, 07:34 | posts: 20,464 | Location: NZ

Aye?
You said it was only using one core, which is the whole point of your thread...

dudesam182 · 02-25-2012, 07:36 | posts: 12

yes, games > serious sam 3 and Deus Ex Human Revolution only run on one core, while i was proving that games like black ops dont which is odd...

Pill Monster · 02-25-2012, 07:45 | posts: 20,464 | Location: NZ

^It would be more helpful to post a screenie of the problem, not one of a normal working system.....

dudesam182 · 02-25-2012, 07:52 | posts: 12

Quote:

Originally Posted by dudesam182

http://imageshack.us/f/824/taskmanger.jpg/
heres the image

omg. i did...

deltatux · 02-25-2012, 07:56 | posts: 18,773 | Location: Toronto, Canada

Quote:

Originally Posted by dudesam182

the thing is its the Unreal 3 Engine. Every other game with that engine, the likes of Unreal tournament 3 and Batman: Arkham City run perfectly fine, spreading between all cores. just serious sam and ****ty Deus Ex Human Revolution.

Did you apply the latest patch from Microsoft for the AMD FX CPUs?

deltatux

dudesam182 · 02-25-2012, 07:58 | posts: 12

im guessing not? whats the patch?