Hyperthreading not utilized? i7 users.

[Slurin 1]

I run a higher end rig with an i7 2600K. When ARMA 3 is loading (with the main menu not reached yet), CPU load indicated hyperthreading is working as intended as all 8 threads are running fast. After the game leaves the loading screen, and from here on out, hyperthreading apparently turns off and only the 4 cores are utilized. That the GPU/CPU usage is low has been reported, but I have not seen anyone mentioning this specific problem.

Does this happen for any of the other i7 users?

Also, playing around with -cpuCount and -exThreads does not enable the hyperthreading.

[Leon86 13]

Arma 3 only uses up to 3 cores effectively. That pretty much rules out any benefits from hyperthreading.

Anyway, only battlefield 3 benefits very slightly from hyperthreading. Although some say it causes stutter there.

[Slurin 1]

I am not talking about any benefits from hyperthreading. I am pointing out it is not even working, at least in my case. Sure, the engine likes 3 cores, but the -exThreads option allows for hyperthreading. When I use it, it see nothing.

[jiltedjock 10]

the -exthreads switch is not about hyperthreading, it tells the engine to use multiple threads on x number of cores. In Arma 2, the max was 3. And it's been unnecessary to do this for 2 years.

[Zyromkiru 10]

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?147533-Low-CPU-utilization-amp-Low-FPS

[BelgarionNL 10]

yup deal with it! I5 runs just as great as an i7 with hyperthreading off!

[kmossco 9]

It happened the same thing with ArmA2. Users with i5 2500K were getting only a marginal advantage over i3 and even Celeron G860 due to the engine not using hyper threading properly. In that case what really matters is clock speed per core and getting a dual or a quad-core with same speed they would be almost identical.

[Tankbuster 1747]

When ARMA 3 is loading (with the main menu not reached yet), CPU load indicated hyperthreading is working as intended as all 8 threads are running fast. After the game leaves the loading screen, and from here on out, [

Does this happen for any of the other i7 users?

Yes, I see exactly the same thing on my 2600K too.

[Slurin 1]

Thanks Tankbuster, it's good to see I'm not the only one with this specific issue. However, see below, some 2600K users see all 8 threads running (but still get bad performance).

Quoting Tintee from the sticked thread. He has the same processor and hyperthreading works for him. What is going on here?

"My overclocked 2600k is using all 8 threads in game with quite balanced peaks of 50% on each thread and hyperthreading is working fine.

What stuck out most was that gpuz was reporting that the game used a max of 3069MB of video memory in the short 10 minute test i did running at 1920x1080 and most things maxed, but not all. I have a 4GB GTX680. I`m guessing most people run with less than 3gb gpus so this will surely have some negative effect on them? Also gpu max usage was 84%. I started gpuz AFTER the game had loaded and while i was in the game playing. In game fps is not great with a best of probably 40 fps and a norm of about 25-30 and extreme dips to as low as 18 fps. The mission was CO 40 air cavalry 1.1. But i notice wild variations depending on what mission i`m running. Some run really well and some seem to run like crap.

All above was tested by me opening up a small server game. My performance is far better when on someone else`s hosted game, like when my friend runs it on his 5.1ghz, 6 core intel rig. He reports a similar experience to my own.

I`m on the latest beta drivers from nvidia (314.14)."

[cotton 1]

I am getting the same issue; also with my graphics card at times. For a next gen game and engine that is supposed to last for the next few years, it should then be able to fully use the highest end of hardware today and ask for more.

i7 950

gtx580 3gb

24gb ram

[Sephisto 1]

I'm seeing the same thing on my 920, Slurin. T'is strange o0

[antoineflemming 14]

I run a higher end rig with an i7 2600K. When ARMA 3 is loading (with the main menu not reached yet), CPU load indicated hyperthreading is working as intended as all 8 threads are running fast. After the game leaves the loading screen, and from here on out, hyperthreading apparently turns off and only the 4 cores are utilized. That the GPU/CPU usage is low has been reported, but I have not seen anyone mentioning this specific problem.

Does this happen for any of the other i7 users?

Also, playing around with -cpuCount and -exThreads does not enable the hyperthreading.

I've noticed that too. Definitely. However, it will always be two cores utilized, and occasionally 2 more will run and then will go back to being parked.

[das attorney 858]

In my experience, hyperthreading is only useful if you are running lots of programs at once, or using something like G2XPL (obscure program for X-Plane).

Clock speed is still king imo - HT seems a bit gimmicky.

I've never seen a game effectively utilise it. Switched 'off' on my machine.

[Leon86 13]

Generally games dont benefit from hyperthreading at all, if they do it's marginal, but impressive multithreading nontheless.

Arma uses 2-and a bit cores effectively, so on quadcores hyperthreading will not do a damn thing in this game.

[Fuse 1]

This is actually pretty common for games. There really aren't a lot of "next gen" engines in use right now.

[MavericK96 0]

Hyperthreading is not that useful in ArmA (in fact, in the past it has hurt performance, as well as for other games). However, you still won't see full usage across 4 physical cores, anyway, which is the main issue.

[LKS90 1]

It happened the same thing with ArmA2. Users with i5 2500K were getting only a marginal advantage over i3 and even Celeron G860 due to the engine not using hyper threading properly. In that case what really matters is clock speed per core and getting a dual or a quad-core with same speed they would be almost identical.

The i5 doesn't even have Hyperthreading. What the hell are you talking about? And only marginal better performance than an i3, which has a lower Cache? Someone's making up their facts, eh?

[Slurin 1]

Tested this on another rig with an i7 and it has the same problem. And to clarify again, I am not concerned if HT will or wil not improve performance, I am pointing out that it is not even enabling.

[stk2008 14]

Why would it use hyprthreading when it cant even use actual cores yet?

[Slurin 1]

Is this issue worth opening a feedback post on?

And, ugh...

Why would it use hyprthreading when it cant even use actual cores yet?

Should we not report any bugs with the engine? What is your point? Keep the low effort posting away please.

[jiltedjock 10]

-exthreads has got nothing to do with hyperthreading. It is about multi threading.

What it does is split out some rendering processing to extra threads, hence the name of the script. Those threads will run on cores outside of the main core, as per the table below:

-exthreads Geometry loading Texture loading File operations

0---------------0-----------------0-----------------0

1---------------0------------------0 ----------------1

3---------------0-----------------1 -----------------1

5---------------1-----------------0-----------------1

7---------------1-----------------1 -----------------1

The formatting is not helpful, but you can see from the table that at most you can specify 3 extra threads. I have not seen a table for Arma 3 that indicates more threads can be forced than this. Nor have I read anything to suggest that any of these threads benefit from being run on the same physical core ie hyper threading.

Since at least 2011 (or whenever 1.60 came out), it has not been necessary to use -cpucount to recognise a multi core processor, up to 4 cores. Nor has -exthreads been necessary unless you are trying to change what it defaults to eg use less threads on a quad core.

It may be possible to force core recognition with a -cpucount of 8, but if there are only 4 threads what is the point?

Are you using a -cpucount switch in your startup?

Edited March 14, 2013 by jiltedjock

[sethos 2]

I've never seen a game effectively utilise it. Switched 'off' on my machine.

http://maldotex.blogspot.dk/2013/02/hyperthreading-and-real-custom-graphics.html

Crysis 3 sees an almost 30% boost in performance by having good HT implementation.

[Leopardi 0]

What about -enableHT command? Does it make any difference?

[Greenfist 1863]

What about -enableHT command? Does it make any difference?

Supposedly it mostly improves performance on servers, on client the difference is negligible at best. I haven't seen any conclusive benchmarks though.