Multi Thread usage in ATI Tray Tools and FS9? Why only 1 core being used?

[mgray1982]

I came across a tip to get FS9 to use both of my processor cores. Basically go into Task Manager, find FS9.exe, right click, choose "Set Affinity", notice both cores are checked, uncheck one, click ok. Go back in and re-check it. Now it should be using both cores properly.

I didn't really notice any improvement.

Now in ATI Tray Tools, in the Advanced Tweaks section, there is a section for "Multi Threading". User guide says to experiment with it, starting with a thread maximum of 2, and working your way up(don't recall an upper limit tho). I used 2.

Now if you look at the screen shot I took just after closing FS9, you'll see one processor is maxed out, while the other is barely doing anything. The spikes near the end are probably when I was exiting out of FS9. But as you can see to the far left(while running FS9) one processor is doing all the work.

Can anyone shed some light on this or offer suggestions?

Thanks

[loki]

What you did is the opposite of what you are trying to do. You have limited FS9 to only using the one core you left selected.

A bigger point is that FS9, and any other single threaded app, cannot make use of multiple cores themselves. There is no way to get around this without re-writing the program. Windows will use the other core for background tasks, video driver work (with recent drivers from ATI and nVidia) and other miscellaneous tasks. ATI and nVidia have added multi-core support to their drivers, which is probably what the ATI Tray Tools is referring to (though someone else may know better).

[mgray1982]

What you did is the opposite of what you are trying to do. You have limited FS9 to only using the one core you left selected.

What I meant to say is that after unchecking one processor, I go back in and check it, so both are checked. I didn't leave one unchecked if that's what you thought I did. According to the tweak guide, that is what is needed to reset and force FS to use both cores.

[JSkorna]

Hi,

You can't force a program that was designed for a single core to use both cores. All you can do is chose which core to run it on.

[loki]

Sorry, misread your post. But my second point still stands that there is no way to make FS9 use multiple cores.