Adjust SL CPU Usage????

I am trying to run SecondLife while still running other applications to get work done. Unfortunately it appears SL is a CPU hog. Someone once mentioned a way of tweaking the Environment Variables located at Control Panels/System/Advanced/Environment Variables. Anyone know how to make this tweak? Also, if anyone knows any other way to tweak SL so that it doesn't use so much CPU, that would be sweet!

Damn..., I guess it's time to shell out the bucks for a dual-core Athlon!

Thanks in advance,
Thumdar

I sell dual core systems and individual part upgrades (including dual cores and SLI mobos) through my store. Contact me directly for more information. I do all my trades in Lindens if possible so you may not end up paying a dime out of pocket! Any difference between Lindens spent and total price can be handled via PayPal or Certified Funds (moneygram, Western Union, money orders (though mailing those is dangerous), and cashiers checks).

Unfortunately I've seen no way to tweak CPU usage. With so many different sims and an entire specialized coding engine, on top of normal OpenGL load, you're going to get your CPU chewed to pieces.

I can tell you that dual core systems tend to get a nice 30% or more increase in average performance, dependant on bandwidth, RAM, and video card(s).

Dont buy the dual core, SL doesnt depend on Dual core, it doesnt help a ****. and also Dual-Core helps on a very few games, it is mainly for editing and photoshop etc.
Suggestion: NOT buy it, instead buy a AMD FX-55/57 or a 3900+ which you can OC , atleast better then Dual-Core

I'll try to give an answer with an advertisement to buy a new system, hehehe.

Right click your task bar and go to TASK MANAGER.

Click the PROCESSES tab.

Find SecondLife.exe in the list, right click it, and then go to SET PRIORITY and lower the priority on it. This should help give other applications more "think" time.

Regards,

-Flip

I'm sorry but I have to strongly disagree, I have a duel core AMD 4400+ and it roxxors! It is ideal for SL because it allows you to run SL and other apps without slowing either one. It is true it doesn't affect SL directly buuut it means you can run SL and Photoshop at the same time at full speed. That is a big bonus for most folks. The 4400+ is roughly equivelent to the FX-53 and is about the same price but you get a whole nuther processor thrown in. Duel core is also the future as AMD's top chip is the FX-60 and its duel core as well plus more and more programs will take advantage as the duel cores take hold in the market. True, if you are looking for top performance then the single FX chips are the way to go but most SL people need to multi task rather than squeeze that extra 5 fps to go shopping or ride pose balls...

Err, what Flipper said...

Also, you'll notice that AMD single cores are going up in price. This is AMD phasing out old technology while dropping prices on the dual cores.

Newer games on their way out have special features for Dual Core processors, and games like F.E.A.R. already use it. They also have PPU archetecture so if LL starts passing physics onto a separate programming thread, you'll see TREMENDOUS performance increases. SL will only use 50% of each core, so you'll be able to run messengers and editors at the same time with no lag. nVidia's newest drivers also have special optimizations for dual core processors that will help with SL performance.

The FX series of Athlon64s referred to earlier are higher performance processors, yes, but if you're going to sink that much cash, you might as well get the FX-60....also dual core.

These days, buying a single core processor is a waste of money.

Also, last I checked, minimizing SL halves it's processor usage (and I think might drop it's priority too).

All good stuff, thanks! Yeah, my thought regarding dual core was exactly that: SL & Photoshop at the same time. Another thing I want to be able to do is to run multiple SL apps at the same time. Even though I can do that now, it just won't do it smoothly.., it ends up crashing one of the SL apps. I hope the AMD 4400+ drops in price soon..........

God , All the crap about games is just theory, just read all the frigging reviews and see that it does like 1% more performance on games which even support it, And no way the FX-53 is as powerfull as the 4000+

* Attempts Sign Language *

Your not understanding what we are saying..
We don't care if it increases performance in the game... But that we can run other things at the same time without it decreasing the performance of SecondLife... So Yes it Helps... We don't Fullscreen SL man... That's so 2005... Gawd... LOL... Lata...

Heratiki

EDIT: Oh yes I forgot... Dual Core = 2 Cores... Now that's not as fast as having two seperate processors or is it??? Just thought I would ask...

Depends what you're doing, but generally I believe it's not. IIRC the two cores share the same cache you see.

Depends on which Dual Core chip you are talking about too.

Some share cache some have seprate cache for each core. Generaly share the cache wont impact performance because the cache is usaly doubbled. Take the CoreDuo from Intel, they doubbled the cache and shared it. Some like the Athlon X2 use 2 seperate caches.

There is also some debate about shared cache being afster as it can give both CPU's access to the same data siting in cache without haveing to store it twice. I supose we will have to wait and see how it plays out.

Now I just need to make some cash so I can get double cache

All the X2s have a seperate cache for each core. Same for the Opterons.

The 3800+, 4200+, abd 4600+ all have 2x512kb L2 Cache

4400+, 4800+, and FX-60 all have 2x1MB L2 Cache.

AMD doesn't make gimpgear. Well, at least not since the Duron, and even it wasn't bad.

Intel, however, does. Their dual core chips share one cache. Intel fanboys have been complaining about its crappy general performance compared to the AMD versions, too.

Dual cores DO increase the performance of the game though. If something is running at 100% load, it's doing the absolute most it can do. If I have one core at 52% and the other at 56% when running SL on my X2, and someone running a single core at the same frequency from the same manufacturer is at 100%, I know I'm outperforming them.

Ok, I found neccesary to put this here, helped me a little and I think it'll help many of you too.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/11/07/single/

Single core processors are not dead yet, and if you think dual core processors are the mecca of computing, they might be, but not yet.
I run SL windowed while also running photoshop (when trying to learn it), a few IE windows, mIRC, winamp, YIM, and sometimes a few java applications from work.
My sig has my rig and still want to tinker with the video settings.

Remember not all of us can jump from single core to dual core, we gotta squeeze all the juice our current rigs can give.

You have some information mixed up. Only the Intel Core Duo has shared cache, and it runs extremely well. The dual core Xeons (besides the new Core Duo Based low power Xeon) and Pentium-Ds do NOT have shared cache, they are 2 complete seperate cores with their own cache. The Pentium-Ds stink. A Core Duo 2GHz is faster than a Pentium-D 3.2GHz and get very close in performance to an Athlon 64 X2 2GHz (real 2GHz not performance rating model numbers) which isnt bad comparing a chip designed for laptops vs one designed for desktops.
http://anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2648

Except, you won't. Physics in SL is completely server side, so you can have as many cores as you want in your client computer and it won't run any faster.

Nice sales pitch