Weird Processor Functionality

How come when I have the power options set to Maximum Processor State = 100%, when playing something intensive, processor stays at max when not even using the intensive program anymore; but when I put it to 99% instead of 100%, processor's power gets reduced like it is supposed to when not using the intensive program anymore?

Also, when I put Maximum Processor State = 50%, emulator fps is severly crippled. But for highly intensive games like RE6 or Sleeping Dogs, it actually SPEEDS THE GAME UP! Putting AA on max in Sleeping dogs doesn't cripple fps anymore also and both games stay at 60c-ish instead of 90c (cpu temps).
WHY?

(P.S.: this is 2 questions...)

 

I don't have any idea on the throttling unless you're setting minimum processor state to 100 without meaning to.

As for the gaming question though, emulators are highly CPU dependent (they're translating foreign instructions to native x86 or x64 instructions and executing them while also re-creating the environment that the original console would have provided as much as possible and this takes an insane amount of processing power) while most games are not. Sleeping Dogs is not a CPU intensive game.

It sounds like something isn't right with your throttling settings overall. One of the many reasons I just let the CPU work as its designed to.

 

You need to use a program like XTU and monitor all assets of temps/behaviour to be assets be to draw any meaningful conclusions.

 

Minimum processor state is 50%.

I get 59 fps with sleeping dogs with AA maxed with half processor power. If I do the full processor power, I get like 35 to 40 something max fps with the same settings. When looking at xtu while playing the game, the throttling meter doesn't even budge. It's always empty. All of my settings are default/normal. My laptop just got back from RMA and getting a new mobo and things are still the same as before (don't think there is a problem with the hardware).

When I put the pp to 100 it's like the intel system forget's that it is supposed to go back down when the intensive program is off. 99%, it acts like it's supposed to. Really feels like some kind of intel bug.

 

Uninstall XTU, reboot the machine, set your power settings to maximum performance if they aren't there already, and test. If its still acting weird, I have no idea. I have never heard of this behavior before unless a system was throttling due to power constraints (because that's exactly what would happen with my M17x if I had the CPU overclocked and maxed out a game due to the limited power of the system, not to mention the catastrophic failure of the entire cooling system when I would overclock too high for the same reason (the cooling system would never kick in if I was pushing the power draw too far which would lead to the system shutting itself off)).

 

Reinstalling seemed to fix the always at max power issue.


50% processor state (57.3fps this time) still gives more fps (sleeping dogs) than the full 100 (53.1fps) though.

 

Well like I said without more info you will never know.

 

What more info do you need? I already told you what the temps were. I already told you what the throttling level in ixu was. I already told you the processor power state in windows. I already told you the game settings. I already gave a game. I already told you that the IXU was on default settings. The only thing I didn't tell you was the machine is a 9380-s, 780m, i7-4930mx, nvidia driver 337.50.

 

Honestly, 57.3 and 53.1 is within the margin of error... I don't really think you have an actual performance problem here, just a perceived one but I'm glad that you fixed your max power issue.

 

I don't want your interpretation of the data, i want the data itself:



A picture like this is a good place to START, you will see I put a note on there pointing to something, that's something I would expect from a more advanced user. Plus points go to those providing video feedback or pointing out specific places on the charts what the FPS was doing. Using a benchmark tool like the one in metro and syncing it to the data in the picture is even handier.

Telling me your average FPS and the odd temperature does not help.

 

Looks like I spoke too soon. Leaving the computer on idle results in the processor always going into the max laptop frequency after a little while. Even with speedstep on. What is watchdog and is the status of it supposed to look like this?: http://i61.tinypic.com/2czbj38.jpg

Edit: Or maybe not. I looked in the processes window of windows and saw that 'thunderbolt.exe' was using 13% CPU even though I've never used it and it is just on. So I closed it and the processor frequency is fluctuating again. So i guess the tiniest of processes can affect it. I wish there was some kind of blacklist or whitelist program I can use that lets me set what program can influence turboboost.

Maybe since the processor isn't being fully accessed by anything (including background processes) that the game has more room not to be disturbed or something. Shrugs. But I ran the benchmark in the game 3 times on each processor setting and I'm always getting the same numbers with 57.3 (50%) and 53.1 (100%).

 

That behaviour there basically looks like high performance mode. Could you also post a screenshot of the power settings you are changing.

White paper on the intel watchdog:

ftp://download.intel.com/design/chipsets/applnots/29227301.pdf

Having an average CPU utilisation at idle is always going to hurt efficiency though, you have a lot of background stuff open.

 

http://i62.tinypic.com/2a8rlf7.jpg

I edited previous post just in case it wasn't noticed.

 

What are your minimum values at?

 

Minimum Processor State:

On battery = 5%
Plugged in = 5%

 

Found out why the 50% thing happens. It's because of the PhysX configuration. Putting PhysX on GPU is just about the same as me reducing the processor to 50%. Putting PhysX on CPU is almost equivalent to using processor at 100%. I had it on Auto at first. So I guess setting it to GPU instead gives better results.

 

This is why when testing you need to change one value at a time.

PhysX is a very demanding option.

 

It's automatically on. It comes with the driver. It's impossible to turn it off unless you choose to not install it in the driver package. Defaultly it comes set to auto. Forgot all about it until I was just scrolling through the control panel and just managed to connect it to my question.

 

PhysX is an option within games. The setting simply chooses if the system attempts to use the CPU or GPU when you turn it on in games.

 

I don't have options like that inside of any pc game that I have unless it is in the steam program somewhere (haven't really explored the steam service though).

 

Not all games run it in which case that setting will do nothing.

 

Dude, the thread's over now. Stop being a .