Athlon64 X2 and gaming

[Continuity28]

Sounds like a game programming issue to me. When these games were made, only hyperthreading and dual processors were in mind, not dual-core processors. They likely used some code that depended on the fact you're dealing with single discrete processors. You can't really call it "bad" or "lazy" programming because that would call every program in existance into question... someone from 1984 shouldn't have to account for the PCs that would be around in 2195, for example. But it does seem like this particular issue only hovers around certain game manufacturers.... like SOE and a few others... I think all their games are affected, EQ2, SWG, Planetside...etc.

 

[Markfw]

Originally posted by: Continuity28
Sounds like a game programming issue to me. When these games were made, only hyperthreading and dual processors were in mind, not dual-core processors. They likely used some code that depended on the fact you're dealing with single discrete processors. You can't really call it "bad" or "lazy" programming because that would call every program in existance into question... someone from 1984 shouldn't have to account for the PCs that would be around in 2195, for example. But it does seem like this particular issue only hovers around certain game manufacturers.... like SOE and a few others... I think all their games are affected, EQ2, SWG, Planetside...etc.

Exactly !!!!

 

[Dough1397]

who woulda thought to games would start running to fast.....

 

[MichaelD]

I'm really hoping that I don't experience any issues. I just spent a fortune on this rig today:

Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Toledo (1MB L2)
2GB PC3200
EVGA 7800GTX
EVGA NF4 SLI MB
2x250 (7200rpm) SATA drives

It never occured to me to check to see if this new CPU's been having problems; all the professional reviews I've read on the X2's have been 100% positive, just raving about the damn things.

I'll find out on Friday.

/Crosses fingers

 

[Continuity28]

Originally posted by: MichaelD
I'm really hoping that I don't experience any issues. I just spent a fortune on this rig today:

Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Toledo (1MB L2)
2GB PC3200
EVGA 7800GTX
EVGA NF4 SLI MB
2x250 (7200rpm) SATA drives

It never occured to me to check to see if this new CPU's been having problems; all the professional reviews I've read on the X2's have been 100% positive, just raving about the damn things.

I'll find out on Friday.

/Crosses fingers

Well games are very complex, moreso than most other programs, especially those most professionals use. There is a higher chance of using specific optimizations in games and that's why they end up producing the most errors when using hundreds of styles of hardware.

 

[ElTorrente]

I haven't crashed once in any game I've tried: HL2, BF2, WW2online, Highway to the Reich, FarCry, and Hearts of Iron 2.

I play BF2 at 1920x1200 with all the eye candy turned up, and it never has any issues at all after hours and hours of play. As I said, my comp has NEVER CRASHED - not even once!

The only time I've had troubles was when I was playing with my overclock settings - but those don't count.

 

[klah]

Originally posted by: BikeDude

Originally posted by: IamTHEsnake
Yes, it is also my understanding from what I've gathered that single-threaded games can mess up witrh the X2's with this "fast-forward" problem.

That would surprise me. I suspect you'll find that the games in question are actually multi-threaded, but just not well constructed to handle the synchronisation issues that follows when multithreaded apps run on multi-CPU systems. (very common mistakes)

There are plenty of threads about this problem in the official AMD forums. These games are only experiencing this problem with the X2; dual Opteron/Xeon and Pentium-D all work fine with these games (NFSU2, Painkiller, Lineage...).

 

[Markfw]

Its only SOME games, and its the games programmers lack of insight, not the fault of the CPU ! AND THERE IS A WORKAROUND, SET THE AFFINITY !

CHILL !!!!

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: Markfw900
Its only SOME games, and its the games programmers lack of insight, not the fault of the CPU ! AND THERE IS A WORKAROUND, SET THE AFFINITY !

CHILL !!!!

So, as long as you go to the game's .exe in Task Mangler and do the set affinity thing, the game will run flawlessly?

 

[klah]

Originally posted by: MichaelD

Originally posted by: Markfw900
Its only SOME games, and its the games programmers lack of insight, not the fault of the CPU ! AND THERE IS A WORKAROUND, SET THE AFFINITY !

CHILL !!!!

So, as long as you go to the game's .exe in Task Mangler and do the set affinity thing, the game will run flawlessly?

Not always.
Lineage 2 for example: http://forums.amd.com/index.php?showtopic=53288

 

[n7]

Originally posted by: klah
Not always.
Lineage 2 for example: http://forums.amd.com/index.php?showtopic=53288

Oh crappy...
Unreal Engine games have issues with X2s

I think i'll be putting my X2 ideas on hold, since i play UT2k4 almost daily, & the thought of having issues with it would make me very annoyed...

 

[lytalbayre]

Originally posted by: MichaelD

Originally posted by: Markfw900
Its only SOME games, and its the games programmers lack of insight, not the fault of the CPU ! AND THERE IS A WORKAROUND, SET THE AFFINITY !

CHILL !!!!

So, as long as you go to the game's .exe in Task Mangler and do the set affinity thing, the game will run flawlessly?

I set the affinity and the game still ran fast... had to restart computer...

Also, how do you make the task manager remember to set the affinity. After restarting the game, I seem to have to set the affinity again and again.. is there a way to have this happen automatically??

Playing sands of time... thanks.

 

[Continuity28]

Originally posted by: lytalbayre

Originally posted by: MichaelD

Originally posted by: Markfw900
Its only SOME games, and its the games programmers lack of insight, not the fault of the CPU ! AND THERE IS A WORKAROUND, SET THE AFFINITY !

CHILL !!!!

So, as long as you go to the game's .exe in Task Mangler and do the set affinity thing, the game will run flawlessly?

I set the affinity and the game still ran fast... had to restart computer...

Also, how do you make the task manager remember to set the affinity. After restarting the game, I seem to have to set the affinity again and again.. is there a way to have this happen automatically??

Playing sands of time... thanks.

In this thread in General Hardware, c0ncept writes that he fixed his Lineage II issues, might as well give it a shot before giving up on it.

 

[Markfw]

Check that thread^^^. I read the accomanying article, and it looks like it is a permanent fix to the "set affinity" problem where you set it once and forget it !!

 

[Gogar]

Seems like games get the time samples from different processors and get slightly different times.. making it seem more time has passed.. and the game advances the physics too much.

 

[Furen]

Does anyone know if the games that screw up support HT? I was thinking that maybe it has to do with AMD's decision to enable the hyperthreading bit on its dual-cores, since I havent heard of any problems on intel dual cores.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: Furen
Does anyone know if the games that screw up support HT? I was thinking that maybe it has to do with AMD's decision to enable the hyperthreading bit on its dual-cores, since I havent heard of any problems on intel dual cores.

A "hyperthreading bit?" I've never heard of that. If by hyperthreading you mean SMP, then ok... I understand. But hyperthreading is actually "SMT," not SMP, which is what dual cores are.

 

[CraKaJaX]

Originally posted by: MichaelD
I'm really hoping that I don't experience any issues. I just spent a fortune on this rig today:

Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Toledo (1MB L2)
2GB PC3200
EVGA 7800GTX
EVGA NF4 SLI MB
2x250 (7200rpm) SATA drives

It never occured to me to check to see if this new CPU's been having problems; all the professional reviews I've read on the X2's have been 100% positive, just raving about the damn things.

I'll find out on Friday.

/Crosses fingers

I'm in the same boat, except I ordered the Athlon 64 X2 4800+ and A8N-Sli Premium.... /crosses fingers?

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: CraKaJaX

Originally posted by: MichaelD
I'm really hoping that I don't experience any issues. I just spent a fortune on this rig today:

Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Toledo (1MB L2)
2GB PC3200
EVGA 7800GTX
EVGA NF4 SLI MB
2x250 (7200rpm) SATA drives

It never occured to me to check to see if this new CPU's been having problems; all the professional reviews I've read on the X2's have been 100% positive, just raving about the damn things.

I'll find out on Friday.

/Crosses fingers

I'm in the same boat, except I ordered the Athlon 64 X2 4800+ and A8N-Sli Premium.... /crosses fingers?

Call me stupid, but I'm hoping that the fact the EVGA MB supports X2's right out of the box will somehow keep me from having probs.

OK..I'm stupid. I've just been thinking about this constantly:

$300 budget AMD rig = no problems in past two years, runs 24/7
$1600 killer AMD rig = problems and I don't even have the parts yet

 

[ElTorrente]

Originally posted by: MichaelD

Originally posted by: CraKaJaX

Originally posted by: MichaelD
I'm really hoping that I don't experience any issues. I just spent a fortune on this rig today:

Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Toledo (1MB L2)
2GB PC3200
EVGA 7800GTX
EVGA NF4 SLI MB
2x250 (7200rpm) SATA drives

It never occured to me to check to see if this new CPU's been having problems; all the professional reviews I've read on the X2's have been 100% positive, just raving about the damn things.

I'll find out on Friday.

/Crosses fingers

I'm in the same boat, except I ordered the Athlon 64 X2 4800+ and A8N-Sli Premium.... /crosses fingers?

Call me stupid, but I'm hoping that the fact the EVGA MB supports X2's right out of the box will somehow keep me from having probs.

OK..I'm stupid. I've just been thinking about this constantly:

$300 budget AMD rig = no problems in past two years, runs 24/7
$1600 killer AMD rig = problems and I don't even have the parts yet

What problems?!?!

All this stuff is blown way out of proportion. I've never had any problems with any games so far, and I've never crashed- not even once. Don't worry about it.

 

[CraKaJaX]

Well that makes me feel a bit better, since you've got the same board I ordered. By the way, how is the PC P&C PSU Working with that setup? Any problems? I'm still debating on what PSU to get, didn't order that yet.

 

[mooncancook]

I haven't noticed this problem till I played Sid Meier's Pirates! Ppl has ff-liked jerking motions. Would this be a software issue that can be fixed by patch since my other games don't have this problem?

 

[Markfw]

Originally posted by: mooncancook
I haven't noticed this problem till I played Sid Meier's Pirates! Ppl has ff-liked jerking motions. Would this be a software issue that can be fixed by patch since my other games don't have this problem?

For the zillionth time YES, there is a program linked somewhere here in this thread that permanently fixes the affinity of a program, and so far I have not heard anybody say it is a problem !!!

And Zebo, Duvie, I and many others have NO problems, even OC'ed to 5200+ or better level, with games stability or compatability.

 

[ElTorrente]

Originally posted by: CraKaJaX
Well that makes me feel a bit better, since you've got the same board I ordered. By the way, how is the PC P&C PSU Working with that setup? Any problems? I'm still debating on what PSU to get, didn't order that yet.

It's awesome - buy one and you won't regret it.

I stress tested my PSU a few times - running defrags, HDtach, SiSandra benches, a couple instances of Prime95, etc.. all at the same time in order to push the PSU.. and it doesn't flinch. My system is totally stable and I can thank my PSU for much of that.

 

[chinkgai]

warcraft III gave me problems

set affinity worked for me