Utilizing "processor affinity"

[cole4722]

Hello, I have a quad-core and I was wondering if there are any benefits to using processor affinity.

 

[jsc]

I don't think so - at least, no practical benefits.

 

[cjl]

There can be if you're running multiple high-demand, multithreaded programs. I've noticed that running two programs each requesting 100% CPU utilization goes faster if you set each one's affinity to a pair of dedicated cores. However, that's a fairly rare situation, and I certainly wouldn't say that there's much of a benefit the vast majority of the time.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

particular games may run better (mainly older games) when affinity for that program is set to 2 cores. I hear Oblivion has issues with quad cores sometimes.

 

[cbrunnem]

i use it when rendering to take a thread off the rendering program so that everything else i have going will run smooth

 

[cjl]

i use it when rendering to take a thread off the rendering program so that everything else i have going will run smooth

That's another thing I've used it for, when smooth operation of other tasks matters more to me than maximum speed task completion.

 

[Wisecracker]

The AMD Fusion Utility might help you.

Not sure if they have advanced as far as processor core affinity (folks have talked about it) but some customized profiles may be just what you are looking for ....

 

[cjl]

The AMD Fusion Utility might help you.

Not sure if they have advanced as far as processor core affinity (folks have talked about it) but some customized profiles may be just what you are looking for ....

Why not just do it in task manager?

 

[cjl]

That analogy doesn't really explain anything, even when repeated 3 times. Windows CPU affinity works just fine. There's a direct, 1:1 mapping between the threads in task manager and the threads the CPU can process, so it's not even remotely similar to an air traffic situation with no knowledge of the runway layout.

 

[Wisecracker]

Why not just do it in task manager?

I have yet to try the latest version of the AMD Fusion utility. It's a 'single-click' solution that would allow for differing system configurations dependent upon your tasks: An encoding profile, a gaming profile, a multimedia profile, low-power profile, over-clocked profile, etc. It works pretty dang good :lol: (I suspect it uses the 'programmable BIOS' options but don't really know)

You don't have to reset the entire profile every time you log into your OS --- just 'click' the profile you want and off you go. That's the killer for adjusting core affinity -- you have to reset it every time.

If someone comes up with a utility that lets you 'set and forget' core affinity, count me in!