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Multiple Cores?
xdangerousx
Member Posts: 1
Does anyone know by any chance which MMORPGs definately support multiple cores? I heard Vanguard doesn't, so I was hoping there was a list somewhere.
Cheers guys.
Comments
A few do. I think Vanguard does, and EQ2 too. But multicores are best for multi-threaded programs, and that takes a total rebuild for most MMOs that exist right now. I'm betting LOTRO has some threading in it, and that other titles in the making will do so as well.
-- Brede
I've been playing EQ2 recently and it does not support duel core. I did a search a few weeks ago to answer this question, but couldn't find any that do (only looked at ones I was interested in).
If I remember right, SWG was supposed to support multi-processors (so maybe multi-core) but not certain if it ever did. Other than that, I'm not aware of any that do.
Edit: changed to multi-processor for SWG
Search the EQ2 forums for the AMD X2 patch, which they did, btw. And they had a similar patch for the Intel Core Duo.
WoW played fine on my dual core. I wager most incoming games will also support multiple core PCs
Torrential
Torrential: DAOC (Pendragon)
Awned: World of Warcraft (Lothar)
Torren: Warhammer Online (Praag)
Same here. In addition to WoW I've played CoH, Guild Wars and 9 Dragons on my dual core without problems.
The Moving Finger writes, and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
~Omar Khayyam
I own both dual and quad core systems and they are fantastic. Developers may not have optimized code for them but that doesn't mean they are not in use. If you go to your Windows Task Manager, you can see how many processes are concurrently running. Having an extra processor to handle the load is a nice thing.
Basically Windows XP and Vista will balance thread loads for the program across all processors. Intel has been working on this idea by developing the concept called the logical processor, what it entails is simply that it's a 'wrapper' around the multiple cores of your CPU, so the OS kernel only has to send each process and thread for execution through its own queues without being concerned with how the processor handles the momentary parsing of the processes and threads. So, that means a dual core processor will balance the threads of any program about evenly on both cores. Basically, this all comes under the SMP architecture, which is well understood at this point. Although, I'm still a geek for asymmetric processors myself.
-- Brede
WoW now takes advantage of multi core processors. Also note that just because a game does not take advantage of a multi core processor doesnt mean it wont work. PotBS for example uses only one core but runs perfectly fine and all slowdown issues are graphics related.
Basically Windows XP and Vista will balance thread loads for the program across all processors. Intel has been working on this idea by developing the concept called the logical processor, what it entails is simply that it's a 'wrapper' around the multiple cores of your CPU, so the OS kernel only has to send each process and thread for execution through its own queues without being concerned with how the processor handles the momentary parsing of the processes and threads. So, that means a dual core processor will balance the threads of any program about evenly on both cores. Basically, this all comes under the SMP architecture, which is well understood at this point. Although, I'm still a geek for asymmetric processors myself.
-- Brede
It might be well understood, but it might not be used to it's advantage.
You are wrong and right at the same time. Yes EQ2 supports the use of multi core processors in that the game will function and use one core but it is not a multi-thread application and so it won't take advantage of more then one processor core to off load work onto it. Again there is a big different between supporting multi cores and actually being designed to take advantage of more then one core. As for the multi core patches they were removed due to a speed bug that would make characters run really fast on the client.
The only MMO that I've heard of that's improved it's multi core functionality has been WoW. Blizzard had already patched in multi core improvements in the game engine a few months ago which mainly benefited Intel based CPU's but with this latest patch they put in improvements for AMD multi core cpu's as well.
P.S. Last I heard of Vanguard was that it had the ability to support multi-core processors but it had not yet been refined/optimized or fully tested out when the SOE buy out occurred. As of today I do not know if they have continued working in this area or are saving it for one of the their last performance updates.
WoW now takes advantage of multi core processors. Also note that just because a game does not take advantage of a multi core processor doesnt mean it wont work. PotBS for example uses only one core but runs perfectly fine and all slowdown issues are graphics related.
Actually Blizzard patched in multi-core support and functionality about a 1 ago. This latest patch is just added improvements and greater support for AMD multi core CPU's.
AoC was designed to take advantage of Duo Cores and its now being optimized for Quads.
SWG will run on dual cores, but it's not multi-threaded so can't make use of the extra cores.
Understand that the Windows kernel will balance a process's load across both cores, which is why some MMO clients had to be patched, because they were not operating properly under the SMP designs. To explain a symmetric multi-core processor balances its load across all processor cores equally regardless of whether the process starts in kernel mode or user mode, this is all handled by the processor mostly, but kernels take it further by abstracting the processor as a singular logical processor, which all processes can access through the kernel. Meaning, whether the process is multi-threaded or not, it will gain a marginal speed improvement since the load is divided among the processor cores. Remember, I stated marginal, because only multi-threaded processes can take full advantage of multi-core/processor systems properly because when you abstract out hardware into logical units via the kernel or the firmware (BIOS and what have you...) there is a degree of overhead, although it's too small for most users to notice, which will be part of the general overhead of the given process(es).
Sorry, for the OS and hardware lecture, but I think everyone isn't grasping that all cores are used even if a process is not multi-threaded. Or more properly to state, that even if it is multi-threaded, it's not optimized for a multi-core environment (in fact almost all programs are multi-thread since threads are more efficient to use in most OSes than dividing the work up between parent/child processes as they have done for years and still do in some programs...).
-- Brede
i have dual core
Here's what I know:
Using a CPU monitor that monitors my duel-core Intel CPUs and playing EQ2, 1 CPU maxes out. The second CPU remains at around 2% to 4% usage (basically taking on some of the normal OS overhead).
For EQ2 -
Does it work? - yes.
Does it take advantage of both CPU cores? - no
If WoW or another game takes advantage of both cores, I may switch games as right now it's my CPU that is the bottleneck for performance gains... Can someone confirm which games actually take advantage of multiple processors?
Well I am not sure I would switch to WoW just to see performance gains.....simply because WoW could probably run at full resolution on a 5+ year old PC so even if it takes advantage of both cores, you probably don't need it.
You do realize that anyone who can understand anything you just said already understands this, thus making this a pointless post on more than one level.
Serious. Not bashing, but if you are going to explain these processes, and expect anyone other than us computer geeks to understand it, you need to break it down into layman terms. Otherwise you're just flexing your epeen. Not everyone here is a total geek. (I am, but not everyone is, heh.)
D.
WoW takes advantage of multicore architecture since patch 2.3.
“The latest patch of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade shows a benefit on today's popular multicore processors like the Intel(r) Core(tm)2 Duo processor family. The enhanced patch has demonstrated higher frame rates by spreading the work across both processor cores.”
Source: http://www.wow-europe.com/en/patchnotes/patch-230.html
Try playing Supreme Commander on a single core. Then play on a dual core and watch your performance skyrocket. Then play on a quad core and watch your performance skyrocket some more. Then use Core Maximizer to better balance the threads amongst multiple cores and watch your performance go up some more.
And just because the application is multi threaded does not make it multi core aware.
Games, and especially mmo's, won't benefit much from multiple cores. It takes huge amount of parallel data to benefit from multiple threads. Most things in mmo's are linear.
When there's tons of entities in your game or multiple data flows you can spread that onto multiple cores, but that's hard to do for mmo's I think.
Try playing Supreme Commander on a single core. Then play on a dual core and watch your performance skyrocket. Then play on a quad core and watch your performance skyrocket some more. Then use Core Maximizer to better balance the threads amongst multiple cores and watch your performance go up some more.
And just because the application is multi threaded does not make it multi core aware.
There is no such things as “multi-processor aware”, there is only single threaded processes and multi-threaded processes. The OS handles all thread-core assignments, the only thing an application can do is ask the OS to put all the threads on a single core.
Only non-blocked separate threads can take advantage of separate processors and the . The heavy lifting of every current generation graphics engine, which is the major bottleneck in most games is still performed by a single thread or multiple-blocked threads. It is not possible to retrofit these engines to change that, it needs to be designed in from the ground up.
Try playing Supreme Commander on a single core. Then play on a dual core and watch your performance skyrocket. Then play on a quad core and watch your performance skyrocket some more. Then use Core Maximizer to better balance the threads amongst multiple cores and watch your performance go up some more.
And just because the application is multi threaded does not make it multi core aware.
There is no such things as multi-processor aware, there is only single threaded processes and multi-threaded processes. The OS handles all thread-core assignments, the only thing an application can do is ask the OS to put all the threads on a single core.
Only non-blocked separate threads can take advantage of separate processors and the . The heavy lifting of every current generation graphics engine, which is the major bottleneck in most games is still performed by a single thread or multiple-blocked threads. It is not possible to retrofit these engines to change that, it needs to be designed in from the ground up.
Bingo.