Test: Setting CPU Affinity

[blackbelter]

What processor do you have? That was only an issue with older Core2Quads, and I actually edited that part out because I did some further testing and I think my first conclusions were wrong... Core2Quad is like a dual-dual-core CPU. It's a very hard subject to get info on. Maybe some overclocker people know it though. If large memory transfer is going between dyes, then there will be a slowdown. I retested yesterday using an audio program (FL studio) with a special load scenario of transfering an audio stream through threads (in this case different tracks on the mixer via sidechaining) and 0,1 and 2,3 were faster. I think this is the way it works, hopefully, to avoid further confusion.

 

I have i5-3570K. Thanks for clarifying that. Will try again.

[SkateZilla]

Thanks for the quick reply @SkateZilla. I was doing it in task manager... I set it to cores 1 and 3 since I read in this thread that 1,3 or 0,2 are on the same die. Isn't that the case?

 

Thanks.

 

No,

0,1

2,3

4,5

6,7

 

Are AMD Modules

 

0, 1

2, 3

 

Are Intel Core w/ HyperThreading (1 and 3 being the HyperThreads)

[blackbelter]

No,

0,1

2,3

4,5

6,7

 

Are AMD Modules

 

0, 1

2, 3

 

Are Intel Core w/ HyperThreading (1 and 3 being the HyperThreads)

 

It's becoming more confusing to me... I have i5-3570K, which does not support hyper-threading, and which has 4 cores: 0, 1, 2, 3. I take it that since there is no hyper-threading, all cores are physical, each core occupies a single die, and it doesn't matter to which cores I set the affinity of DCS?

 

Sorry for my ignorance, and thanks again.

[L0op8ack]

Set CPU affinity automaticly while game starts .

Add following line to "C:\Users\[YOURNAME]\Saved Games\DCS\Config\autoexec.cfg":

affinity_mask = xxx

 

xxx = cpu bitmask (decimal )

ATTENTION: affinity_mask=0 means all cores, default

 

affinity_mask setting sample:

you have 8 cores(CPU0 - CPU7), you want CPU6 and CPU7 for DCS, bitmask:

(Flag define: 1=Enable, 0=Disable)

CPU: 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

Flag: 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 (binary) = 0xC0 (hexadecimal) = 192 (decimal )

 

so

affinity_mask=192

Edited January 1, 2014 by L0op8ack

[Wolf Rider]

1100000= 96

 

I think you might mean

 

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 physical cores (non HT)

1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 =192

Edited January 1, 2014 by Wolf Rider
forgot to carry the y

[theGozr]

This need to be fixed and not been a tweak. Thx

[doveman]

You can force your CPU clock to max speed anytime by accessing advanced options of your power management profile in Windows and setting minimal CPU state to 100% (the default is 5%). This way Windows will keep your CPU clock at maximum. I think it's a good idea to make new MAX profile and use it while flying. Then when you're done with DCS you can switch back to your normal profile and again allow Windows to throttle down when CPU power is not needed.

 

Windows already has a profile called "High performance" that sets the CPU to 100%, so I've been using a batch file to switch to this before launching DCS and back to "Balanced" afterwards.

 

I'm not sure if the GUID for the profiles varies on each system but you can find them by going to a command line and typing powercfg -list

 

For myself, I use the following to switch to High Performance:

 

powercfg -s 8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c

 

I haven't tried messing with Affinity yet though to see if that adds any benefit.

 

EDIT: Another tip is that Radeon Pro can set Affinity for particular games when launching (for DCS World using DCS.exe rather than Launcher.exe), so that's a possible free alternative to Process Lasso for AMD GPU users.

Edited January 1, 2014 by doveman

[hreich]

Can somebody explain how to set command line parameters on dcs shortcut for intel 2500 k quad core?

[doveman]

OK, I tried putting

 

affinity_mask = 24

 

in autoexec.cfg, which if I've calculated correctly should set it to cores 3 & 4 on my Phenom II X4 955. I also only ticked cores 3 & 4 in Radeon Pro for DCS.exe.

 

Neither seemed to work, as Task Manager still showed 99% on Core 1 and very little on the other three. It also made DCS much more stuttery.

 

Something's not right anyway as I'm only getting about 30fps and this drops to 22fps when taking off and flying along (on the KA-50 Georgian Oil War campaign, Mission title is ATO A.02.1), so I'll have to ask for some assistance tweaking in another thread but certainly those affinity tweaks caused stuttering which I don't see without them (running from SSD).

[Wolf Rider]

OK, I tried putting

 

affinity_mask = 24

 

in autoexec.cfg, which if I've calculated correctly should set it to cores 3 & 4 on my Phenom II X4 955. I also only ticked cores 3 & 4 in Radeon Pro for DCS.exe.

 

Neither seemed to work, as Task Manager still showed 99% on Core 1 and very little on the other three. It also made DCS much more stuttery.

 

Something's not right anyway as I'm only getting about 30fps and this drops to 22fps when taking off and flying along (on the KA-50 Georgian Oil War campaign, Mission title is ATO A.02.1), so I'll have to ask for some assistance tweaking in another thread but certainly those affinity tweaks caused stuttering which I don't see without them (running from SSD).

 

24 = Cores 4 and 5

 

 

 

Honestly, the"ProcessAffinityMask=n" used to work back in the days when 4 Core Processors, complete with non-shared cache and Vista first came out and did work for a certain sim, a sim which was designed from the start as multicore aware. In that case the mask being set to 14 ( Cores 4, 3 and 2 leaving the Op Sys to hog Core 1, was the most effective). Things have changed since... and to be even more honest, people trying the same now with is only people chasing a placebo

Edited January 1, 2014 by Wolf Rider

[SkateZilla]

Command Line Extension on the shortcut wont work as you're applying affinity to the launcher.exe and not DCS.exe

[SkateZilla]

You can force your CPU clock to max speed anytime by accessing advanced options of your power management profile in Windows and setting minimal CPU state to 100% (the default is 5%). This way Windows will keep your CPU clock at maximum. I think it's a good idea to make new MAX profile and use it while flying. Then when you're done with DCS you can switch back to your normal profile and again allow Windows to throttle down when CPU power is not needed.

 

My Power Profile is Maxed.

 

If you have CoolNQuiet, C1E and C56 States Enabled in your BIOS, your Processor cores will Downclock to 1.4GHz Regardless of Windows Power Settings.

 

And I have all the Windows 7 FX "Fixes" too.

[BIGNEWY]

 

And I have all the Windows 7 FX "Fixes" too.

 

Other than the one in this thread are there any other fx fixes ?

 

edit

just did a search and found two patches for fx are there any more ?

Edited January 1, 2014 by BIGNEWY

[SkateZilla]

Set CPU affinity automaticly while game starts .

Add this line to "C:\Users\[YOURNAME]\Saved Games\DCS\Config\autoexec.cfg":

affinity_mask = xxx

 

xxx = cpu bitmask (decimal )

ATTENTION: affinity_mask=0 means all cores, default

 

affinity_mask setting sample:

you have 8 cores(CPU0 - CPU7), you want CPU6 and CPU7 for DCS, bitmask:

CPU 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

Flag 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 (binary) = 0xC0 (hexadecimal) = 192 (decimal )

 

so

affinity_mask=192

 

Using the Autoexec.cfg?

was this sitting under my nose the whole time?

 

 

Using Hex (Decimal in () ):

1=Enable, 0=Disable.

 

For 8 Cores, AMD Modules
( 7,6,5,4,3,2,1,0 ), 1=Enable, 0=Disable.
C0 = 11000000 (192)
30 = 00110000 (48)
C  = 00001100 (12)
3  = 00000011 (3)

For 6 Core (No HT)
(5,4,3,2,1,0)
30 = 110000 (48)
c  = 001100 (12)
3  = 000011 ( 3)
21 = 100001 (33)
12 = 010010 (18)

For 6 Core (w/ HT) (1 set uses HT Cores 1 Uses Main Core)
(5,4,3,2,1,0) (0,2,4 are Primary Threads, 1,3,5 are Secondary)
28 = 101000 (40)
14 = 010100 (20) *Do Not use on AMD FX*
5  = 000101 ( 5) *Do Not use on AMD FX*
A  = 001010 (10)


For 4 Core (no HT)
(3,2,1,0)
C = 1100 (12)
3 = 0011 ( 3)
9 = 1001 ( 9) *Do Not use on AMD FX*
6 = 0110 ( 6) *Do Not use on AMD FX*

For 4 Core w/ HT (1 set uses HT Cores 1 Uses Main Core)
(3,2,1,0) (0,2 Are Primary, 1,3 are Secondary)
A = 1010 (10)
5 = 0101 ( 5) *Do Not use on AMD FX*

Edited January 1, 2014 by SkateZilla

[SkateZilla]

Other than the one in this thread are there any other fx fixes ?

 

edit

just did a search and found two patches for fx are there any more ?

 

 

TBH I think they are part of SP1 and stuff, they've been out for a while, I had them installed 2 weeks after I built my System with Bulldozer (8150) at launch.

[BIGNEWY]

thanks for the reply, just installed them, and it said they were already installed

[L0op8ack]

Using the Autoexec.cfg?

was this sitting under my nose the whole time?

 

 

Yes, you are right.

This trick comes with FC2, check FC2 install_dir/config/autoexec.cfg.

 

FC2 and DCSW use 2 cores only so far, one for calculation and the other for audio, they are different tasks for CPU.

You'd better bind these jobs to different main cores, NOT HT cores, or suffering cache miss, which means performance degrade.

 

I setup a 4-core server for FC2 AND DCSW, 2 cores for FC2 and 2 cores for DCSW.

It have run months without problems, except that 'Reconnect to Master' broke DCSW.

Edited January 1, 2014 by L0op8ack

[SkateZilla]

Edited my First post with Decimal and other info.

 

Also, other than Keeping Process from bouncing cores, it keeps the Process Addresses the same too :)

Edited January 1, 2014 by SkateZilla

[SkateZilla]

Yes, you are right. This trick comes with FC2, check FC2 install_dir/config/autoexec.cfg.

 

I setup a 4-core server for FC2 AND DCSW, 2 cores for FC2 and 2 cores for DCSW.

It have run months without problems, except that 'Reconnect to Master' broke DCSW.

 

I remember seeing it at one point, but dont remember where.. lol.

[SkateZilla]

thanks for the reply, just installed them, and it said they were already installed

 

they are more Windows Scheduler adjustments than "Power Profile" adjustments anyway.

[doveman]

24 = Cores 4 and 5

 

 

 

Honestly, the"ProcessAffinityMask=n" used to work back in the days when 4 Core Processors, complete with non-shared cache and Vista first came out and did work for a certain sim, a sim which was designed from the start as multicore aware. In that case the mask being set to 14 ( Cores 4, 3 and 2 leaving the Op Sys to hog Core 1, was the most effective). Things have changed since... and to be even more honest, people trying the same now with is only people chasing a placebo

 

OK thanks, I'll forget about that trying that then.

[doveman]

My Power Profile is Maxed.

 

If you have CoolNQuiet, C1E and C56 States Enabled in your BIOS, your Processor cores will Downclock to 1.4GHz Regardless of Windows Power Settings.

 

And I have all the Windows 7 FX "Fixes" too.

 

You're probably right. I use PhenomMSRTweaker and have Cool'n'Quiet disabled I think, so it stays at 3.5Ghz when I switch to the High Performance profile.

[Wolf Rider]

*just a bit of clarification...

 

in the real world, we don't recognise "0" as a number, we see 0 as meaning nothing, zip, zilch, zero. Whereas in the computer world "0" is a number.

 

So what we see as 1, 2, 3, 4 etc, the computer sees as 0, 1, 2, 3 etc

[SkateZilla]

You're probably right. I use PhenomMSRTweaker and have Cool'n'Quiet disabled I think, so it stays at 3.5Ghz when I switch to the High Performance profile.

 

Most people dont bother with disabling the features,

 

I leave them on to save my Chip's lifetime,

 

I run 5.15 GHz Stable when in use, but when not in use it downclocks to 1.4Ghz and drops the mV back down to sub 1000mV.

 

Saving Heat and Power, and Lifetime of the CPU.

 

*just a bit of clarification...

 

in the real world, we don't recognise "0" as a number, we see 0 as meaning nothing, zip, zilch, zero. Whereas in the computer world "0" is a number.

 

So what we see as 1, 2, 3, 4 etc, the computer sees as 0, 1, 2, 3 etc

 

Correct, Starts with 0.

Edited January 1, 2014 by SkateZilla

[doveman]

Most people dont bother with disabling the features,

 

I leave them on to save my Chip's lifetime,

 

I run 5.15 GHz Stable when in use, but when not in use it downclocks to 1.4Ghz and drops the mV back down to sub 1000mV.

 

Saving Heat and Power, and Lifetime of the CPU.

 

Yeah, when I'm not gaming the PC is in "Balanced" power mode and PhenomMSRTweaker is set so that idles at 800Mhz @0.9v :)