AMD X2 good for games?

[elrasho]

Having see how cheap the AMD X2 CPUs are, I was wondering if its worth buying one for games? All the graphical calculations are done my the GPU so a DUAL CORE cpu would affect the performance of the game that much would it?

Have there been any tests I could see on the net?

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

There aren't many games that support dual/dualcore CPUs.

 

[3ssence]

At present there are very few games that support dual core cpu's, as Pi says. For you to see any improvement in performance a game will need to support dual cores. Whilst few games support dual cores though, it will more than likely become an increasing trend for them to do so.

 

[Stigmata]

Isn't there a way to manually "load" processes to either core? Say I run BF2, could I have the BF2 process run exclusively on the second core, and then have all my other processes (Ventrilo, Xfire, Windows, mouse/kb drivers, etc) run on the first?

Either that or I've been grossly misinformed.

 

[Asus]

Not all games are Dual Core optimized but you will most likely get some benifit from them anyway if you are running other programs like Xfire, iTunes, Vent etc. Windows has a lot of programs running in the background too. Dual core will let you play your game without the other programs lagging your game performance. The min. frame rate can be higher as well. If you only play games that do not support dual core and don't have any other program open then you wouldn't get much out of it right now. Of course multiple core is the way they are heading so more and more games will take advantage.

Quake 4 supports dual core
The 3800+ on the bottom of the chart is single core. They turned SMP on and off for the X2s to show single thread and multiple thread performance.

Here is a list of other games.
That list was made back in 2005 so I'm sure there are others now.
Such as Oblivion.

Isn't there a way to manually "load" processes to either core? Say I run BF2, could I have the BF2 process run exclusively on the second core, and then have all my other processes (Ventrilo, Xfire, Windows, mouse/kb drivers, etc) run on the first?

Either that or I've been grossly misinformed.

Windows automatically handles that. If you had issues where the game was jerky then you could set it to one core but the AMD optimization patch fixes that. I never have set a program to a specific core and I've never had any issues. I game with xfire, aim, itunes, firefox, beyondtv (records tv shows) and nod32 (anti virus) running. Runs pretty smooth.

 

[MattJones2k6]

You should really do this if you are on Dual Core

I'd like to address a problem related to poor gaming performance ppl sometimes encounter when playing games with their new AMD dual core set-up.
This issue is almost always caused by an incorrectly edited AMD X2 hotfix registry and/or not correctly installing the AMD X2 drivers.
I feel now that these AMD X2 processors are coming down in price there maybe more and more people asking why there system struggles to play games smoothly with there new dc processor. We will not see this problem resolved until MS releases SP3. That means we will have to continue using this hotfix and separate X2 drivers until the new service pack is released, so why not make this a sticky and remove it when SP3 is released??

Note: It is also a common misnomer that these AMD drivers are used for Cool'n'Quiet only, this is not true.

OK, this is the correct method of installation for the HF and X2 drivers outlined by MS and AMD.

- It would be a good Idea to back up your registry before you continue.

1 - Install the amd drivers, download it from here

2 - read this website and download the hotfix....READ Here ........Download http://www.sendmefile.com/00213285

3 - Edit your registry to enable the HOTFIX, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
2. Right-click HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Session Manager, point to New, and then click Key.
3. Type Throttle for the new key name.
4. Right-click Throttle, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
5. Type PerfEnablePackageIdle for the value name.
6. Right-click PerfEnablePackageIdle, and then click Modify.
7. In the Edit DWORD Value box, type 1. In the Value data box, make sure that Hexadecimal is selected, and then click OK.
8. Quit Registry Editor.

4 - Make sure your BOOT.ini has this command in it, /usepmtimer to check, right click on My Computer go to properties, click on the ADVANCE tab, then under startup and recovery click on settings, then click on EDIT....make sure your boot.ini looks like this

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /usepmtimer

Finally your done!

How to remove the Hotfix and x2 drivers.

1 - Uninstall the Hotfix, go into ad/remove programs, click on show updates and remove update numbered KB896256

2 - Reverse the registry entry.

3 - Uninstall the AMD drivers.

4 - Go into your boot.ini and remove /usepmtimer, and your done.

The Affinity solution

If you continue to have game performance issues I recommend trying out the common affinity solution. It mostly relates to a combination of Cool'n'Quiet or games that have to have their affinity set to use one processor, but you may still have issues with CnQ disabled.

To set a program's affinity to a particular core:
1) Run the game you wish to play; then minimize the window
2) Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to access Windows Task Manager
3) Under the 'Applications' tab, Right Click the game's icon and select 'Go To
Process'
Doing so will take you to the 'Processes' tab.
4) You will notice that the game's process has been highlighted for you. Right
Click the process and select 'Set Affinity'
5) Assign the game's affinity to CPU0 as this is the default CPU core.
Doing so will allow windows to prioritise the game to a single core instead of
trying to distribute the load across both cores.

Hopefully this will help a lot of people struggling with their x2 systems.

 

[Asus]

Thats a good post.

I installed the AMD driver for X2's and then the new AMD Optimization instead of doing the MS hotfix since it's easier.
I've read on several forums that AMD's optimization fix accomplishes the same thing as MS's hotfix.

 

[MattJones2k6]

Like to do things the hardway , btw whats your PC run like? My friend is getting simular specs well actually they are the same.

 

[gweedodogg69]

I have a 4800+ and all my games run smooth. In Source I pull 150+ FPS at 1280x1024 res. I pushed it to 2.6Ghz from the 2.4 and my vid card is OCed a lil as well.

 

[Reaktor4]

Thats a good post.

I installed the AMD driver for X2's and then the new AMD Optimization instead of doing the MS hotfix since it's easier.
I've read on several forums that AMD's optimization fix accomplishes the same thing as MS's hotfix.

Is there any point installing the drivers etc if youre not having any problems? Also does cool n quiet mess with overclocks?

 

[Asus]

Is there any point installing the drivers etc if youre not having any problems? Also does cool n quiet mess with overclocks?

If you are not having issues then you don't need to install it. Although I would still grab the AMD driver that enables Cool&Quiet.

If you leave the CPU multiplyer alone then you can have Cool&Quiet enabled while it is OCed. If you change the multiplyer for your OC then Do Not Run Cool&Quiet.

Example. If you OC the bus to 300Mhz (from 200) and lower the CPU multiplier to 8 (from 10) so you get a stable high FSB OC. When C&Q turns on it will lower the multiplier and voltage since you don't need the performance. So far so good. But when you need the performance from launching a game or something it resumes the default multiplier (10) and default voltage which is not enough to handle a 10x300 setting so your PC crashes/locks from the OCed FSB you set.

 

[Reaktor4]

Well all i did was bump the fsb up to 220. I set the multiplier to 10 instead of auto and ht bus to 5 because it was lowering itself. Ocing these newer processors seems way more complicated than it used to be. I was having issues with it so i just decided to leave it at 2.2ghz, although i would like to go faster.. im just feeling too lazy to figure out how all this new hypertransport stuff etc works.

 

[MattJones2k6]

I just ordered an AMD 4800 x2 and another 1GB Ballistix PC4000 to go with my current 1GB so my games should be a bit better

 

[Asus]

The only reason you mess with hypertransport is so it won't limit how far you can OC. You shouldn't care what speed it is as long as it is above 600mhz. It doesn't have any real effect on performance.
Other than that it's the same OCing as it has always been. Up the FSB and then the voltage when needed til you hit your wall.

 

[bryanf445]

regardless of it being dualcore or not, any amd 64 is generally good for gaming

 

[MattJones2k6]

Yes it is. I don't personally believe this new conroe chip is that great for gmaing i still think AMD kicks ass.

 

[3ssence]

Would that not then make you deluded ?

I agree, the amd chips are still great chips, but the statement that the new conroe chips are not that great for gaming is a rather ignorant statement !! Especially when it has already been shown that on every price level the conroe can outdo its amd counterpart.....

 

[The Brick]

Conroe is the best choice on almost every front. You obviously didn't investigate whether it's a good choice or not. gg.

Just because I can't resist informing you,

 

[Ravioli]

I have Athlon AMD 3800+ X2, but to be honest, i cant really see how this is effecting my games or anything when i think about it. Everything run pretty good but its nothing special at all, maybe because nothing really has support for it yet.