100% CPU usage

I'm using an AMD Athlon XP 2500+ CPU 512MB DDR RAM and Windows XP professional with SP1 with the newest DirectX version and I always have 100% CPU usage when I run SL, no matter what settings I use.

it is normal , every 3D "game like" application ALWAYS try to use 100% of the free resources.

It may be normal for some Kyrah, but Second Life never breaks 50% for me, and is sometimes as low as 38%. According to others this may because I am running a Pentium D, a Dual-Core processor, but I have seen it at times use less than half.

Your RAM is definately an issue Sibneft, 512MB is really the minimum just for the operating system (no matter what the box says). RAM is pretty cheap, going to at least 1GB would help some. You didn't list your graphics card, that too can make a big difference based on how much the GPU is able to offload.

Is there a reason you are not usng XP SP2? That shouldn't make a difference, but there are many other things about Windows affected by not using SP2.

It's normal for games to use as much CPU power as they actually need, not 100% by default which doesn't do the cpu lifetime any good either.



I actually don't need more right now (it's DDR not SDRAM) and SL shouldn't either. I won't upgrade just for SL which I just started out with and may eventually quit soon.



GeForce FX 5600 with 256MB DDR RAM



I don't see any benefits in doing it. It's mainly a security update that I don't need.

You have a HT processor (as I do), so you techincally have 1 CPU split into two CPUs (hyper threading)..So then 50% would be max, since that is 100% of one.

Which leave the second part of the CPU open for other things. I sometime set Photoshop, or Poser to use the second part of the CPU only and restrict all others to the first part of the CPU, It does seem to make a difference, but nothing that great.

So if you are at 50% with HT, then you are really at 100%. I turned off HT and I notice the slow down running other apps with SL, but with HT on, I can run PS, Poser, a browser and SL and all is fine (I have 2G of ram as well).

actually the pentium D isnt an HT processor, it has 2 full cores, same as having 2 real processors, not a fake processor like HT.

How are your graphics settings? I was advised in other games to "crank em up"..forces the load onto the graphics card.

I run like garbage 1024x768 or less...but at 1600x1200 or 1920x1200 its smooth, might not work for all systems, but its helped on my last few.

run doom3 and look at the cpu usage

3D games use as much power as they can ebcause they try to draw as many images as they can per second, you know, to obtain an illusion of movement.

Most newer 3d games rely on the graphics power for that, though cpu usage is still alot due to physics calculations, light calculations.. all the 'behind the sceens' stuff that you dont normaly see while playing the game.