Does SWTOR utilize 4 cores?

[iifetap]

Any tech savvy people know if SWTOR utilizes all 4 cores? I read somewhere that most of the time its just hitting the first core the hardest, whatever that means.

[MikeMonger]

Based on what I saw during Beta...it's usually only hitting one core hard.

[Targuran]

From what I could tell last night it seemed to be running pretty evenly across 2 cores for the most part. A quad core will help you if you are multitasking other apps while you are playing though. Edited December 15, 2011 by Targuran

[TheGawdfather]

No it uses your computer and internet, you silly girl.

 

 

 

 

Honestly, I think it's a dual core thing tbh.

[iifetap]

So, im trying to upgrade my desktop that can actually beat my laptop in gaming performance this is my laptop and my desktop uses a AMD Athlon II x2 Regor 250 attached to a 4770. Would upgrading the CPU actually make a difference after I upgrade my GPU since the game is apparently only optimized for 2 cores?

[dronepilot]

Ouch only two cores.. this is 2011 ?? people have 6 CORE CPUs these days.

[Targuran]

So, im trying to upgrade my desktop that can actually beat my laptop in gaming performance this is my laptop and my desktop uses a AMD Athlon II x2 Regor 250 attached to a 4770. Would upgrading the CPU actually make a difference after I upgrade my GPU since the game is apparently only optimized for 2 cores?

 

I have a 6870 and I am largely cpu-bound in most "non-trivial" areas with a intel Q9400 cpu. I haven't tried overclocking but it's clear that from the cpu and the gpu utilization the cpu's holding back the graphics card in most areas.

 

That said, I upgraded from a 3870 to the 6870 in early beta and that made a WORLD of difference (same cpu)

 

Hope that helps as a data point.

Edited December 15, 2011 by Targuran

[Divine-Shadow]

On my G15, all 4 of my CPU bars are going up and down, rarely does one go even above 50%.

[iifetap]

On my G15, all 4 of my CPU bars are going up and down, rarely does one go even above 50%.

 

When it spikes do they all spike at the same time? And what CPU are you using?

[Fifelaw]

I remember reading that it uses 2 cores the most, while the third is used less and forth even less. This is for now anyway. It'll change as they better optimize stuff.

[Asuka]

Turbo Core ftw.

[Targuran]

When it spikes do they all spike at the same time? And what CPU are you using?

 

His g15 is likely reporting an artifact of how his OS is handling the cpu affinity (or lack thereof). When the game is playing, there are only about 2 core's worth of work..the other 2 are mostly idle. That on Windows 7 ultimate 64-bit. Other OS's may do a worse job of affinity so the load gets bounced from core to core giving the illusion that all 4 are being utilized when viewed in low-resolution reporting tools.

 

From the task manager, you can start the Resource Monitor under the Performance tab and look real-time at the % cpu that each process is using and the rolling average over time...as well as the graphs.

[Divine-Shadow]

When it spikes do they all spike at the same time? And what CPU are you using?

 

I won't be home for a few hours to see for sure lol, but obviously they all don't get used exactly evenly, just going by what I can remember 1st then 2nd then 4th then 3rd get used a bit more then each other, and they all move at the same times basically for me. Don't recall CPU

[Glowrod]

I seem to recall having the load meter up during beta once and all for cores in my system were running 50%-75%, with the first core being a little higher than the rest.

[Divine-Shadow]

His g15 is likely reporting an artifact of how his OS is handling the cpu affinity (or lack thereof). When the game is playing, there are only about 2 core's worth of work..the other 2 are mostly idle. That on Windows 7 ultimate 64-bit. Other OS's may do a worse job of affinity so the load gets bounced from core to core giving the illusion that all 4 are being utilized when viewed in low-resolution reporting tools.

 

From the task manager, you can start the Resource Monitor under the Performance tab and look real-time at the % cpu that each process is using and the rolling average over time...as well as the graphs.

 

Got to love people who tell people who know what they're looking at right in front of there own eyes is wrong. lol.

[Targuran]

Got to love people who tell people who know what they're looking at right in front of there own eyes is wrong. lol.

 

Sorry if the truth hurts But looking at your G15 display is not nearly as accurate as looking at the performance tools that I mentioned for the OS (which roll up the total cpu utilization for each child process to a % that is independent of what core it has been bounced to via poor cpu affinity). I'm not blaming you..I'm blaming the tool you are using as being inadequate for the job. But yeah, since I actually spent about an hour doing this very research last night (in addition to gpu utilization under various settings and resolutions)...I obviously don't know what I'm talking about either

[Divine-Shadow]

Sorry if the truth hurts But looking at your G15 display is not nearly as accurate as looking at the performance tools that I mentioned for the OS (which roll up the total cpu utilization for each child process to a % that is independent of what core it has been bounced to via poor cpu affinity). I'm not blaming you..I'm blaming the tool you are using as being inadequate for the job. But yeah, since I actually spent about an hour doing this very research last night (in addition to gpu utilization under various settings and resolutions)...I obviously don't know what I'm talking about either

 

My other 2 cores are not idle. Period. Fact. Period. . . G'day.

[ghostpreacher]

Sorry if the truth hurts But looking at your G15 display is not nearly as accurate as looking at the performance tools that I mentioned for the OS (which roll up the total cpu utilization for each child process to a % that is independent of what core it has been bounced to via poor cpu affinity). I'm not blaming you..I'm blaming the tool you are using as being inadequate for the job. But yeah, since I actually spent about an hour doing this very research last night (in addition to gpu utilization under various settings and resolutions)...I obviously don't know what I'm talking about either

 

Did you look to see if the game is more CPU bound or GPU bound?

[timtty]

Ouch only two cores.. this is 2011 ?? people have 6 CORE CPUs these days.

 

Errmm. Try 8

[Targuran]

My other 2 cores are not idle. Period. Fact. Period. . . G'day.

 

Never said they would be "idle"...I'm saying that if your display is showing them all nearly utilized..that is erroneous output. Either that, or you have other applications running that are chewing up cpu too.

 

The fact of the matter is this: swtor, by itself, gains *very very little* benefit from more than two cores. From my own detailed analysis, at least 90% of the workload is performed by 2 large constituents. The most I saw the swtor forked processes using in aggregate at any point was 55% of a quad-core processor..meaning that the extra cores were supporting at most 10% of the game's load. And that is suspect due to the sampling rate provided by the Resource Monitor..it might have been less (which would mean that the 2 main processes are composed of light-weight threads that cannot be farmed out to other cores thus 2 cores is a hard limit anyway). Period. Fact. Period. If you want to run more stuff at the same time as playing the game...more cores will help. G'day

[Targuran]

Did you look to see if the game is more CPU bound or GPU bound?

 

for me it is mostly cpu bound except in very small areas (eg the starting room after the cinematic intro when you create your character). And as I mentioned before, I have a Q9400 (2.66Ghz) and an ati 6870 (stock clocks). I can provide more detailed information later if you like.

[iifetap]

I have a 6870 and I am largely cpu-bound in most "non-trivial" areas with a intel Q9400 cpu. I haven't tried overclocking but it's clear that from the cpu and the gpu utilization the cpu's holding back the graphics card in most areas.

 

That said, I upgraded from a 3870 to the 6870 in early beta and that made a WORLD of difference (same cpu)

 

Hope that helps as a data point.

 

Ok, so basically I should just pour more $$ into my GPU instead of upgrading my X2 Regor 250 as there would only be minimal gains?

[billiejackfu]

Honestly it all depends on how many threads the game requires. It ran well with my Quad core, but I have a memory bottleneck and my video card needs upgraded.

 

I was rocking 40 fps with mid-high settings in beta, but it was using 3.3GB of 4GB memory so I really couldn't do anything else.

[Targuran]

Ok, so basically I should just pour more $$ into my GPU instead of upgrading my X2 Regor 250 as there would only be minimal gains?

 

Well, ideally you'd do both. But if you are trying to get the most bang for your buck then I'd say yeah upgrading your gpu at this point would be the path to follow. Your cpu is roughly equivalent on a per-core basis with mine. You might have a bit lower overall performance than I have due to only 2 cores to handle the game plus other tasks..but unless you are doing media transcoding or something I don't think the effect will be noticeable unless you were doing detailed benchmarking.

 

For the record, as I run around Tython I'm seeing my average gpu utilization around 90% while my the utilization of the 2 swtor.exe processes runs right at the 55% I mentioned before. My overall cpu utilization with the game, task manager, and the catalyst control center runs about 80% (ie pretty much a total of 3-core's worth of work, but the added stuff is my fault for testing and not indicative of the game's needs).

 

So, I'd say based on some rough guestimation that if you were to put in a 6870 (or the nvidia equivalent) you'd be slightly cpu-bound but not so much that you felt you had wasted money. On the other hand you could get a very powerful card (for much more $$) and be severely cpu bound..with the plan to upgrade the cpu later to unlock the full potential of it.

[Jessina]

Ouch only two cores.. this is 2011 ?? people have 6 CORE CPUs these days.

 

6 cores probably will not get used by ANYTHING until 2020.