AMD or Windows XP problem?

  • Thread starter Thread starter luckyjack
  • Start date Start date
L

luckyjack

Hi all,

I am pretty sure this is going to end up being a MS problem but here it
goes. I just bought this new system:

Asus Abit KN8 Ultra nF4
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Dual-Core 1MB
2 GB RAM DDR 400
Mirrored 250GB Sata3 drives
Windows XP SP2

And for the life of me I cannot make the cpu top out. I tried using
WorldCommunityGrid and the most I see (using Task Manager) is 50% CPU
utilization.

Is there something on the motherboard or maybe inside windows which is
holding back the cpus from utilizing all the cpu?

Any help would be appreciated.

--LJ
 
luckyjack said:
Hi all,

I am pretty sure this is going to end up being a MS problem but here it
goes. I just bought this new system:

Asus Abit KN8 Ultra nF4
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Dual-Core 1MB
2 GB RAM DDR 400
Mirrored 250GB Sata3 drives
Windows XP SP2

And for the life of me I cannot make the cpu top out. I tried using
WorldCommunityGrid and the most I see (using Task Manager) is 50% CPU
utilization.

Is there something on the motherboard or maybe inside windows which is
holding back the cpus from utilizing all the cpu?

Any help would be appreciated.

--LJ
Click to expand...

You are used to thinking of the old world...With the new system architecture
supporting AMD Athlon64 processors (On-die memory controller, Direct Connect
Architecture, and the Hypertransport bus), it is much more difficult to "tap
out" the processor. The AMD processor is far more efficient than
Intel...able to execute more instructions per clock cycle. Add to that the
fact that your processor is a Dual core, and you can see that it would be
very difficult to tap out the processor. With PIII and P4 processors,
because of their design and the fact that they still use the Northbridge
chipset for all I/O, do not have hypertransport, etc...well they were easy
to tap out. Intel procs have higher latency and can execute fewer
instructions per clock cycle.

What you are experiencing is by design and intent. Sit back and enjoy your
new computer, safe in the knowledge that you have a great machine!

Bobby
 
luckyjack said:
Hi all,

I am pretty sure this is going to end up being a MS problem but here it
goes. I just bought this new system:

Asus Abit KN8 Ultra nF4
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Dual-Core 1MB
2 GB RAM DDR 400
Mirrored 250GB Sata3 drives
Windows XP SP2

And for the life of me I cannot make the cpu top out. I tried using
WorldCommunityGrid and the most I see (using Task Manager) is 50% CPU
utilization.

Is there something on the motherboard or maybe inside windows which is
holding back the cpus from utilizing all the cpu?

Any help would be appreciated.
Click to expand...


You are still thinking with a single core processor mindset :) Your X2
4400+ is a dual-core processor! A single thread of WorldCommunityGrid
will only run on and peg one core (so 50% total system load). Try
running a *second* separate installation of WorldCommunityGrid at the
same time and see what happens to the CPU utilization :)


--
 
You are used to thinking of the old world...With the new system architecture
supporting AMD Athlon64 processors (On-die memory controller, Direct Connect
Architecture, and the Hypertransport bus), it is much more difficult to "tap
out" the processor. The AMD processor is far more efficient than
Intel...able to execute more instructions per clock cycle. Add to that the
fact that your processor is a Dual core, and you can see that it would be
very difficult to tap out the processor. With PIII and P4 processors,
because of their design and the fact that they still use the Northbridge
chipset for all I/O, do not have hypertransport, etc...well they were easy
to tap out. Intel procs have higher latency and can execute fewer
instructions per clock cycle.

What you are experiencing is by design and intent. Sit back and enjoy your
new computer, safe in the knowledge that you have a great machine!

Bobby
Click to expand...

It has nothing to do with memory controllers, Hypertransport, or pipeline
efficiency, it's solely due to the fact that there are two processors in
an X2. One single threaded program can use at most 50% of the available
cpu resources because it can only run on one processor at a time. To use
more than 50% of the available cycles you would need to run at least two
single threaded programs or one multithreaded program.
 
Run more than just one program at a time.

--
Scotter
Tyan Thunder K8WE
Dual Opteron 252s (2.6ghz)
6 gig DDR400 RAM
XFX 7800 GTX 256 w/VGAsilencerV3
500 gig SATA2 Hitachi
160 gig SATA1 Seagate
Dual 24" Dell LCDs
550W power supply
X-Fi Platinum Soundblaster
-
 
See what happens when you disable Cool 'n' Quiet Control in CMOS (BIOS)
- Power Management Setup.
 
Gold Fingers said:
See what happens when you disable Cool 'n' Quiet Control in CMOS (BIOS)
- Power Management Setup.
Click to expand...

This would have no effect whatsoever...Cool n' Quiet is an on-demand
process, and does not cause any app to spike the CPU. Suggest you do a
little research on the subject...

Bobby
 
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