**100% CPU Usage on some games**

[fastz28camaro81]

I have an issue with a few games lately...

Some games work fine, I can run World at War maxed out at 1280x1024, and it runs fairly smooth, I get about 40-60 fps on average, and it doesn't seem to be using too much cpu.

BUT...

Then I try and play Batman Arkham Asylum, and turn ALL the settings to LOW, and resolution to 1024x768, and the game gets 8 fps.. I have reinstalled the game twice already, and reinstalled my drivers for my video card, I have defragged my hard drive using PerfectDisk, and scanned for viruses, and disabled my virus scanner while in game. turned off Vsync, and I get the same performance as if I had everything set to high.

I CTRL ALT DEL to open task manager and the game is taking up nearly 100% CPU, I set it to Low Priority, and it's still taking up about 85-90% CPU.

I have had it with other games, and I get it quite bad on Red Faction - Guerrilla as well. It runs a bit better, I get about 20 fps, but still, it shouldn't run this slow, I don't expect to get like 200 fps, I know my system is a little old, but still, I think that I should get DECENT fps. like 30-40, and then with setting everything to LOW and OFF, it should be easily playable, the frame rate should at least go up, and not stay the same.....



So why am I getting this? the main problem is that it's taking up nearly 100% cpu, and I'm not sure why.


NOTE: Had the same issue on Vista as well





SPECS

Windows 7 Build 7600 RTM
AMD Athlon FX-57 (Worlds Fastest Single Core)
EVGA GTX 260 Superclocked (at stock settings)
2 GB's DDR Ram
OCZ Modstream 550 Watt Power Supply

[RockmasteR]

hello fastz28camaro81,
first of all, I think it's a very bad idea to run a GTX 260 on a single Core CPU, it seems that the CPU is not able to handle that card
you need at least a AMD X2 or a Core 2 Duo
also even if the OCZ is good PSU brand but the 550 W is not enough,
you need at least a 750 W

[Tiber Septim]

I'll just echo what Rockmatser has said and also add that the FX-57 is hardly the 'Worlds' fastest single core'.
It may have been back in 2005 but it's quite outdated now.

Also, a lot of the games you are now trying to play (Arkham Asylum, Red Faction) make heavy use of the GPU to do physics processing as well as rendering, so your single core CPU is very likely creating a huge bottleneck.
2GB of RAM is now also pretty much a bare minimum, 4GB recommended.

[Lord Sirian]

Hi fastz28camaro81. I hate to say it, but I agree with Tiber and RockmasteR. Single core CPU's are really out-dated, especially when you consider that most of the higher end CPU's have 4+ cores. You really just need to get a good CPU and motherboard, and also get more RAM as Tiber suggested.

What RockmasteR said about the PSU is very important as well, low wattage PSU's are very bad if you want to power a new series card like the GTX 260.

[fastz28camaro81]

Thanks for replying :-)

BUT, I still don't get why these games run so slow, I don't consider Batman Arkham Asylum to be like the next best thing in graphics, and when I lower the graphics, it's still very high in the CPU usage department.

even just doing nothing and staring at the wall I get like 20 fps... when I do that in World at War, it instantly goes to 60 fps (My cap - refresh rate)

would a bad power supply make my cpu use almost 100% for some games?

I would expect AT LEAST the frame rate to go up even 1 fps, when I have everything set to High, and then put it to Low, it just doesn't make sense, I know that my CPU isn't that great now, but when I bought it, it wasn't a low end single core, it was the fastest one they had.

I do want to upgrade anyways, but I was hoping that it was some simple configuration problem I could tweak.

I really think the game companies got a deal with Intel & AMD, to make it run bad on single core, so people have to upgrade, lol, it's a conspiracy I tell you! :-)

[fastz28camaro81]

Even the browser I'm using A SIMPLE WEB BROWSER, "Safari" takes up almost 100% cpu, which I think is just absurd, considering only a few short years ago, this cpu was meant for high end gaming, maybe it can't handle the games that are coming out now, but 3 years ago it was easier to process a game than a browser?

I just don't think it's my CPU. I'm leaning more towards it being the Power Supply.

I'm not sure tho, I appreciate your input, and anymore information would be great!

[Tiber Septim]

Yes, you're right, as RockmasteR has said the PSU is a problem there.
What temperatures is your CPU running at (idle and under load)? You can use the SIW link in my signature to find out.

However, the CPU is still going to be a problem for newer games. Red Faction Guerrilla requires a 2Ghz Dual Core as a minimum requirement. It's just the way games are made now, they rely on the CPU a lot more than they used to.

It is odd that Safari would put that much load on your system though, so that does indicate another problem.

[ebackhus]

I'm running Arkham Asylum (an awesome game) with the specs listed under My System and it is great! Moving up to dual-core and a stronger PSU will help.

[fastz28camaro81]

Originally Posted by Tiber Septim

Yes, you're right, as RockmasteR has said the PSU is a problem there.
What temperatures is your CPU running at (idle and under load)? You can use the SIW link in my signature to find out.

However, the CPU is still going to be a problem for newer games. Red Faction Guerrilla requires a 2Ghz Dual Core as a minimum requirement. It's just the way games are made now, they rely on the CPU a lot more than they used to.

It is odd that Safari would put that much load on your system though, so that does indicate another problem.

Thanks for replying, I do think it's the PSU.

the past couple of days my computer has been acting weird, I even tried reinstalling Windows 7 twice today, but I still have this other issue, and it's barely noticeable, but it's like when you play games with Vsync Off, and you get screen tearing... but it's vertical. (On my desktop) and my screens don't seem to pop up as fast, my PC was working just fine the other day

it's like a line that goes through as I refresh a window, sometimes I don't see it, but sometimes I do, I don't see it when my wallpaper transitions.

everything was really fast before, it's not horrible, but it tells me that somethings wrong...

my drivers have been installed a few times already, and used Driver Sweeper too.

[fastz28camaro81]

Originally Posted by Tiber Septim

Yes, you're right, as RockmasteR has said the PSU is a problem there.
What temperatures is your CPU running at (idle and under load)? You can use the SIW link in my signature to find out.

However, the CPU is still going to be a problem for newer games. Red Faction Guerrilla requires a 2Ghz Dual Core as a minimum requirement. It's just the way games are made now, they rely on the CPU a lot more than they used to.

It is odd that Safari would put that much load on your system though, so that does indicate another problem.

Here you go.


http://img3.imageshack.us/i/speedfani.jpg/

[5NIPER_WOLF]

One thing I noticed is you have DDR ram, if your mobo is old enough to have DDR ram it should not have a PCI-E slot and only use either PCI or AGP. If this is the case, you probably have a PCI-E x1 slot and are not getting the full potential of the videocard

Also, 2 GB of DDR ram is not that much as DDR ram is old and slow.

My feelings on this: old DDR ram + Single Core CPU + weak PSU = your problem. My solution: Buy a new mobo with DDR2 RAM capability and a dual core CPU, also get a good PSU like a Corsair 800W.

I also want to mention, if you set programs and games to high priority then you should see an increase in performance (make sure you try to set others to low priority though)

[fastz28camaro81]

Originally Posted by 5NIPER_WOLF

One thing I noticed is you have DDR ram, if your mobo is old enough to have DDR ram it should not have a PCI-E slot and only use either PCI or AGP. If this is the case, you probably have a PCI-E x1 slot and are not getting the full potential of the videocard

Also, 2 GB of DDR ram is not that much as DDR ram is old and slow.

My feelings on this: old DDR ram + Single Core CPU + weak PSU = your problem. My solution: Buy a new mobo with DDR2 RAM capability and a dual core CPU, also get a good PSU like a Corsair 800W.

I also want to mention, if you set programs and games to high priority then you should see an increase in performance (make sure you try to set others to low priority though)

Thanks for the info :-)

I was thinking of these specs for my next build...


Case - Coolermaster Centurion 590 ATX Tower Case Black 9X5.25 1X3.5 4X3.5INT No PSU - $77

Video Card - ALREADY OWN (GTX 260 Superclocked)


Motherboard - Gigabyte EX58-UD4P ATX LGA1366 X58 DDR3 3PCI-E SATA2 Sound GLAN 3-WAY CrossFireX SLI Motherboard $272


Power Supply - Corsair TX850W 850W CMPSU-850TX 12V 70A 24PIN ATX Active PFC 140M Fan Power Supply $185


Processor - Intel Core I7 920 D0 Stepping Quad Core $338


Memory - G.SKILL F3-16000CL9T-6GBTD Trident PC3-16000 6GB 3X2GB DDR3-2000 CL9-9-9-24 Core i7 Memory Kit $174



Hard Drive - Western Digital WD1001FALS Caviar Black 1TB SATA2 7200RPM 4.2MS 32MB 3.5IN Dual Proc Hard Drive OEM $105



Solid State Drive - OCZ Vertex 120GB 2.5IN SATA2 Solid State Disk Flash Drive SSD $422


Monitor - Samsung 2233RZ 22IN 120HZ 3D Ready Widescreen LCD Monitor Black 1680X1050 20000:1DC DVI-D $368


3D Glasses - NVIDIA GeForce 3D Vision Stereoscopic 3D Shutter Glasses Kit USB $250




DVD Burner - Generic $50





TOTAL $2,241


QUESTION - Will I need to SLI my GTX 260 if I'm going with 3D Vision?

and is there anything on this list that I can change to something less expensive?

[Lord Sirian]

Hi again.

I think that you can swap the SSD out for any SATA Hard Drive you want. I really don't think they are worth the money at the moment. Sure they're fast but they are really expensive and don't really improve your performance a great deal. I'd just get a normal hard drive and stay away from SSD's until they drop in price a bit.

[5NIPER_WOLF]

You don't get the 3-d glasses for one reason: you need a special 3-d monitor.
Everything else is fine.

[fastz28camaro81]

Originally Posted by 5NIPER_WOLF

You don't get the 3-d glasses for one reason: you need a special 3-d monitor.
Everything else is fine.

Well the 3D is worth it, I have gotten a taste of it...

really, the monitor isn't all that expensive, $250 CDN, and it's more than a 3D monitor, it's great for gaming in general because of how fast it refreshes.

I think 3D Gaming is HIGHLY underrated. it's the one thing people usually judge before even trying.

[fastz28camaro81]

Originally Posted by Lord Sirian

Hi again.

I think that you can swap the SSD out for any SATA Hard Drive you want. I really don't think they are worth the money at the moment. Sure they're fast but they are really expensive and don't really improve your performance a great deal. I'd just get a normal hard drive and stay away from SSD's until they drop in price a bit.

Yeah I probably wont get the SSD right away, it's just one of those things I might get after my system is already built, just for the hell of it.

[Aus_Karlos]

Another note. Batman uses PhysX for physics calculations. Make sure PhysX is enabled on your graphics card. You can enable it for single card use (Disabled by default) you will loose some functionality like Ambient Occlusion and Screen rotation why PhysX is enabled on the card.
To enable PhysX go to C:/Windows/System32 (SysWOW64 for 64-bit)/PhysXCplUI.exe
Click the Tab "Settings" check the box Geforce PhsyX and then select your card.

For Red Faction it uses the Havok Physics engine this only runs on the CPU. So playing this game on a single core is no good. Dual core with 3.2ghz is recommended.

[fastz28camaro81]

Originally Posted by Aus_Karlos

Another note. Batman uses PhysX for physics calculations. Make sure PhysX is enabled on your graphics card. You can enable it for single card use (Disabled by default) you will loose some functionality like Ambient Occlusion and Screen rotation why PhysX is enabled on the card.
To enable PhysX go to C:/Windows/System32 (SysWOW64 for 64-bit)/PhysXCplUI.exe
Click the Tab "Settings" check the box Geforce PhsyX and then select your card.

For Red Faction it uses the Havok Physics engine this only runs on the CPU. So playing this game on a single core is no good. Dual core with 3.2ghz is recommended.

Ok Cool, didn't know about that in the system folder, I had Physx enabled in Nvidia's Control Panel, and it showed as enabled on there as well.

I will probably be getting a Quad Core next