Quad (Multiple) Processors and Race 07 CPU Affinity

[Lee Downham]

Looking at my CPU usage when I am running race 07, it only seems to use one core of my quad core CPU ie. one of my four cpu cores is running at up to around 90-odd% utilisation , whilst the other 3 sit there relatively idle.

... which kinda sucks :Cry:

When I check the "affinity" of the Race process when it is running from within task manager, it shows all 4 cores as being selected, yet it is clearly only hammering one core.

So ... this would seem to me that despite being able to use any one of the four cores, Race 07 is not able to take any advantage of using multiple cores whilst running (ie it is given one core by the O/S and sticks with it until you quit the game)
Am I right here or can someone (Marcel, here's your chance :wink maybe tell me that there is a fantasticly simple fix for this? :wink:

 

[James Yates]

You can't assign it to more than 1 core without recoding the engine. You will be able to choose the core it runs on, but i leave my one alone. Its only really useful if you want to have Fraps or Xfire Video on one core, then photoshop on another and Race 07 on another one to that as by changing the affinity you can choose which program uses which core. The gmotor 2 engine (GTL, rFactor, Race 07/Evo, GTR2) is only coded to use 1 core i believe.

 

[Simon Bacon]

+1 (Sorry James, didn't see your reply)
I don't think Race07 is optimised to take advantage of multi-core cpus. Certainly that was the case with GTR, GTL and GTR2. With these, you can select all the cores you had in the 'Affinity' box yet it will still default to one core once the game starts.

Not many games are optimised. Crysis is reputedly one of the few that should take advantage of quad-core yet performance gains over dual-core are negligable.:ohwell:

Bit of a discussion here

List of PC Games that are Multithreaded - [H]ard|Forum

 

[Lee Downham]

So basically you both agreed with what I said ... Race 07 can only utilise one core of a multi core CPU ... and no there is no patch or similar that SimBin have developed (yet :wink to load balance across multiple core cpu's.

I know they are not unique in this, just a shame that the hardware has been kicking around for quite a while now, and very few software developers seem to be aware of this fact (OK ... haven't bothered :lol: to figure out how to optimise their code and load balance their applications :doh.

On the affinity side of things, I have recently been using SimViewer / SimAdapter to output tire temps and stuff on my second monitor ... they both have CPU affinity settings from within the interface that you can set on the fly ... so once Race is running, I have been setting those two to use different cores to that on which race is running, which is nice!

One more thing ... after digging around and testing a few things, I realised just how much Motec data collection is costing me in CPU usage - I would estimate as much as 20% or 30% CPU utilisation - ouch!

Anyhow ... thanks chaps :wink:

 

[Günthar Rowe]

I use Get & Set Affinity. You can set number of core to be used. Works great for rF, Race07 and GTR2... Auto loads at startup, and remembers what settings you have made...

 

[Günthar Rowe]

P.S. I only have a C2D but even if you can use 2 core is better than 1!!

 

[Lee Downham]

Thanks Günthar ... although this can´t help race run on multiple cores, it might be useful to save me having to change the affinity settings within SimAdapter/View every time I launch Race (ie by knowing which core Race will be running on up front) ... :thumb:

 

[Günthar Rowe]

all good mate

 

[Attila Domján]

I also tried to set to 1 core, 4 cores, no difference in performance for me. Default my game starts with using all 4 cores according to Task Manager Affinity settings, and also at the G15 keyboard display in performance monitor i see in game, it really uses the cores according to the Task Manager settings.

 

[Lee Downham]

I use Get & Set Affinity. You can set number of core to be used. Works great for rF, Race07 and GTR2... Auto loads at startup, and remembers what settings you have made...

Ahhh ... just tried installing your attachment and found out that is the dual core version (after the app crashed on launch a couple of times :lol ...
Below is a link where you can get the latest dual and quad core (affinity II) versions
Get and Set CPU Affinity - Set Affinity II - Edgemeal Software
:thumb:

 

[Attila Domján]

but why you need that? for me automatically starting the game with using all 4 cores.

 

[Oliver Amos]

but why you need that? for me automatically starting the game with using all 4 cores.

Yeh but it wont use them, so its all completely pointless

 

[Attila Domján]

According to the performance monitor on the G15 keyboard display, all 4 cores are used parallel, approx same amount...

 

[Lee Downham]

Interesting ... I just quickly tested it and found that with this utility, I can set it to use 2 x cores and it seems to load balance Race across the two core (not tested any more yet), without it, I seem to be locked into whichever one the OS assigns it until I quit Race.
Without it I get some quite high loads on whichever single core Race is assigned to, with it, I seem to have only 25%-30% utilisation spread across the two cores I assigned (that is with a 24 car AI race at Porto, all graphics at max).

I was thinking of assigning Race to one or two cores, then assign the other utils I run such as the simtools stuff onto the other cores, therefore pretty much dedicating the cores to Race and ensuring there is no interference from the other programs ...

I am only running Vista 32 though, so maybe the 64 bit architecture has better CPU load balancing???

More to investigate here than meets the eye maybe??

 

[Marcel Hulsbergen]

You can use the taskmanager for that.

Go to the Race07 process, right button, set affinity, and turn on the cores you want to.

 

[Lee Downham]

When I check the "affinity" of the Race process when it is running from within task manager, it shows all 4 cores as being selected, yet it is clearly only hammering one core.

Thanks Marcel but we moved on a bit from there :wink:

... the nice feature of the Set affinity util is you can autoassign the processes to user customiseable predefined cores ... so when you launch it you don't have to frig things with task manager ... just takes the legwork outta all this affinity setting and lets you get on with things quicker :thumb:

My real concern is that Attila seems to be getting quad core load balancing with Race in his 64 bit windows, whereas I don't ... he has a Q9xxx quad (from what I remember reading somewhere) and I have a Q6600 ... now that shouldn't make any difference should it?!!

I tested Set Affinity (and task manager) with 4 cores selected but only one core is actually utilised by Race like that...
But when I set 2 cores for Race, its seems to use them both (not fully tested, and not tested 3 cores either )

Oh I think I have had enough of all this for one day ... I just wanna to race ...

 

[Marcel Hulsbergen]

I have a Q6600 too and race uses all 4 cores, i can see it on my g15 display too, also taskmanager says 4 cores.

 

[Lee Downham]

Hey Marcel ... you running 64 bit Vista?
Like I said, I am only running 32bit Vista ... this may be the key as to why Race only utilises 1 x core on my machine when affinity is set to use all cores, but actually uses both cores when I set it just to use 2!!?
Can't see any other reason than that ... must be another one of Vista's "features" :der:

BTW ... keep reading the following in your threads, and without wanting to sound like a smart-ass, thought you might like correcting - its thermal "paste" not "pasta" (pasta is ermmm - spaghetti! ... which wouldn't do your CPU much good when it cames to cooling :wink

 

[Attila Domján]

i have QX6700, or is it the 6600, dunno... quad core extreme version of CPU, running at 2.67GHz.

 

[Marcel Hulsbergen]

Hey Marcel ... you running 64 bit Vista?
Like I said, I am only running 32bit Vista ... this may be the key as to why Race only utilises 1 x core on my machine when affinity is set to use all cores, but actually uses both cores when I set it just to use 2!!?
Can't see any other reason than that ... must be another one of Vista's "features" :der:

BTW ... keep reading the following in your threads, and without wanting to sound like a smart-ass, thought you might like correcting - its thermal "paste" not "pasta" (pasta is ermmm - spaghetti! ... which wouldn't do your CPU much good when it cames to cooling :wink

My CPU likes Pasta more, thanks it's ok my English is almost as good as my Chineese.

I run 32- and 64 bit in dual boot, i will check both versions to see if i notice any difference.