Using dualcore?

[Smartazz]

Do I need to set some programs to run on core 1 and the game on core 2, or is it automatic? I'm new to dual core.

 

[akshayt]

Try amd x2 dual core optimisation drivers, that might help.

 

[akshayt]

btw get 1900xt 512mb instead of that 7900GT

 

[m21s]

Originally posted by: akshayt
btw get 1900xt 512mb instead of that 7900GT

If this guy's not the poster child for that damn 1900xt I do not know who is!

 

[akshayt]

i saw his build in progress and he mentioned 7900GT over there.

 

[TheStu]

I have played with dual cores, but dont have one yet (few more days...) but i do know that if you are running windows, you can select the affinity for each program. So if you want all your commonly run programs on one core and then your games on another, you can do that.

For me, I would have all my left screen programs on one core, and all the right side apps on another. That would be with a few exceptions of course, but generally that is how i would do it... and i am not saying that is correct, or even the best course of action.. it is more the fact that I get OCD on random stuff like that

 

[buck]

Originally posted by: m21s

Originally posted by: akshayt
btw get 1900xt 512mb instead of that 7900GT

If this guy's not the poster child for that damn 1900xt I do not know who is!

Its a suggestion, its a forum, its a good video card.... Anything else?

 

[akshayt]

If you leave all your apps on one core and games on the other then effectively you have amd 64 3200 playing your games when there are no other apps running on the amd 64 3200. I don't think that is enough for games like Oblivion, GRAW, Pacific Fighters etc.

Or oc it to 2.4ghz or higher.

 

[neutralizer]

I usually don't set affinities unless the program has clock sync problems due to the existence of the second core, but that should be fixed since the AMD Optimization Drivers.

 

[JM Aggie08]

i dont think it really matters...i had my single core Athlon 64 at the same 2.5ghz, and now i can minimize large games like HL2 like they are ff windows. The optimizer drivers did help.

 

[m21s]

Originally posted by: buck

Originally posted by: m21s

Originally posted by: akshayt
btw get 1900xt 512mb instead of that 7900GT

If this guy's not the poster child for that damn 1900xt I do not know who is!

Its a suggestion, its a forum, its a good video card.... Anything else?

You obviously don't know how many times he tries to push this card on someone who wants to buy anything but!

 

[shamans]

Originally posted by: Smartazz
Do I need to set some programs to run on core 1 and the game on core 2, or is it automatic? I'm new to dual core.

You guys should try to answer his question.

(Assuming you run any major OS)
And the answer is...No, it's automatic. But you can set a process to run on a specific core using the task manager (in windows) if you so wanted...I think. By default, it will run on any (random) core (or both if it's a multi-threaded process).

In other words, don't worry about it. The process/thread scheduler manages it for you.

Cheers.

 

[ZerthX]

Originally posted by: shamans
In other words, don't worry about it. The process/thread scheduler manages it for you.

But it's still recommended to install optimizer in a correct way:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=81429


BTW, I would never go back to single core processors, no matter what! Right now I'm coding xvid, watching TV in one window and writing this in the other...

 

[Smartazz]

Originally posted by: akshayt
i saw his build in progress and he mentioned 7900GT over there.

Yeah, I just finished my build last night and I need to change that to "current build." I would have gotten the X1900XT if it was on sale, but I decided $110 less was a sweet deal.

edit: I noticed that some games like GTA 3 are running too fast, is this because of optimizing both cores?

 

[eelw]

Originally posted by: ZerthX
BTW, I would never go back to single core processors, no matter what! Right now I'm coding xvid, watching TV in one window and writing this in the other...

That's nothing. With my 3.4c, I always had running FF, Agent, ATI MMC, MyTheatre and encoding with QT7 h.264 videos. Never experienced any slowdowns. And now with my Conroe, it's just even sweeter. Realtime encoding baby!!!!!

 

[Smartazz]

Originally posted by: eelw

Originally posted by: ZerthX
BTW, I would never go back to single core processors, no matter what! Right now I'm coding xvid, watching TV in one window and writing this in the other...

That's nothing. With my 3.4c, I always had running FF, Agent, ATI MMC, MyTheatre and encoding with QT7 h.264 videos. Never experienced any slowdowns. And now with my Conroe, it's just even sweeter. Realtime encoding baby!!!!!

A big step up from your last cpu?

 

[eelw]

Usability, minimal difference. My Northwood is still a very capable CPU. It's the horsepower during encoding that I see the biggest difference. What took hours to encode, only takes 1/5th the time now. So yeah, a big step up.

The one odd thing that I find is memory usage. During my encoding with my 3.4c, a 500MB MPEG2 file normally used 200-300MB during encoding. Those same files only use 50MB during encoding with the Conroe.

 

[Smartazz]

Originally posted by: eelw
Usability, minimal difference. My Northwood is still a very capable CPU. It's the horsepower during encoding that I see the biggest difference. What took hours to encode, only takes 1/5th the time now. So yeah, a big step up.

The one odd thing that I find is memory usage. During my encoding with my 3.4c, a 500MB MPEG2 file normally used 200-300MB during encoding. Those same files only use 50MB during encoding with the Conroe.

So with gaming, the diffrence would probobly be minimal, just intense work would see a diffrence.