Windows XP SP2 Dual Core Performance Fix

mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
edited October 2005 in Science & Tech
There is a possible decrease in performance during demand based switching while gaming. Cool 'n Quiet must be enabled for the fix to work.
Possible decrease in performance during demand-based switching
Demand-based switching refers to the changing of ACPI processor performance states in response to system workloads. For example, demand-based switching can change voltage and frequency in response to system workloads. Windows XP processor power management implements demand-based switching through the Adaptive processor throttling policy. The Adaptive processor throttling policy dynamically and automatically adjusts the processor current performance state in response to the computers CPU use. The Adaptive processor throttling policy works without user intervention.

If you run Windows XP on a computer that has multiple processors, single-threaded workloads may move across available CPUs. This migration behavior is a natural artifact of how Windows schedules work across available CPU resources. However, if a computer is running with the Adaptive processor throttling policy, this thread migration may cause problems. For example, the Windows kernel power manager may not be able to correctly calculate the optimal target performance state for the processor. This problem occurs because the individual logical or physical processor core may appear to be less busy than the processor package actually is. On performance benchmarks that use single-threaded workloads, this artifact may become evident in the following ways:
• Decreased performance
• A high degree of variance between successive runs of the same benchmark tests
The hotfix that is described in this article includes changes to the kernel power manager. These changes make it possible to track CPU use across the processor package. This tracking helps calculate an increased target performance state.

Note This solution favors performance gains over power savings. Although benchmark performance scores may improve, battery life could be negatively affected. Therefore, this kernel policy change must be enabled in the registry to allow for maximum flexibility.
Source: AMDZone

Comments

  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited October 2005
    I wonder if dual instances of F@H would also take care of this problem. Nobody likes to see slacker CPU's - put those guys to work. :D
  • csimoncsimon Acadiana Icrontian
    edited October 2005
    interesting ... :thumbsup:
    Although it doesn't apply to me now it might soon.\

    can this hotfix get hosted on the server somehow?
  • csimoncsimon Acadiana Icrontian
    edited October 2005
    here is an interesting thread at dfi http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22682
    and they say you have to call and beg m$ for the fix?
    omg I've never wanted another os more than now.
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited October 2005
    It seems to be kinda rare, not all people have had this problem. I dont think anyone here would be allowed to host such a file.
  • rapturerapture
    edited October 2005
    It seems to be kinda rare, not all people have had this problem.
    Exactly. There was some sort of performance fix pre service pack 1 which I cant remember any useful details about at all (guess thats how important it was) same thing then, you had to call Microsoft to get the fix.

    Everybody was unhappy about it and it started to appear all over websites usually reserved for pirated software and games.

    In the end it was something and nothing. If there was a real issue which most people would be able to replicate then it would be released over Windows Update.

    Course, any reason to hate MS is all it takes to set some people off!
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