Set affinity option does not show (in Vista)

Hello,

I would like to assign both cores to a game (GTR2) , but for some reason the option "set affinity" does not show when I right click the process exe file in task manager.


My laptop is a Clevo 570RU-U (same as Sager) with Intel Core2 Duo CPU T7700 2.4 GHz. The OS is Vista Home Premium 32bit with all updates installed.

Since I could not see the option others can(?) I reinstalled Vista last night. Before I reinstalled Vista I tried making new accounts both with and without UAC to make the option "set affinity" visible with no success.

However directly after the reinstallation of Vista I could see the option "set affinity"! Heureka!

But after the Vista updates and some OEM driver installation (such as fingerprint reader) the option was gone again. Through all installation I have used the same and only account with admin rights. UAC is activated.

How can I make the "set affinity" option visible? Why and what does Vista do to me and my rights? Am I not the admin even though there is only one account from the start? Could it be any of the updates or drivers fault? They are all from windows update or included from the OEM.

 

Have you checked device manager to see if both cores show up? All processes have both cores assigned by default (In XP anyway) so there's nothing you can really do to boost performance other than close background applications.

Grand Admiral

 

Yes there are two cores in the device manager, or more exactly two rows with the same processor info.

Intel Core2 Duo T7700 @ 2.4 GHz
Intel Core2 Duo T7700 @ 2.4 GHz

Well the mystery is that other people get the option "set affinity" and I myself finally got a brief moment of glory. But it is now missing again.

Others that play GTR2 report a substantial gain in fps when assigning both cores manually. Why exactly I don't know, but it seems to work well.

 

But I don't understand how you can set them manually when both cores are already checked by default.

 

Others are blowing smoke. If the program can use multiple cores, Windows will schedule it. All programs are automatically assigned to be able to run on either core, which is what you're trying to have happen. You can only limit the process to a single core, not assign it to both. Basically, you never want to try to manually assign an application to a core. Windows knows better than you do how to balance the load.

 

Fair enough...I don't have first person knowledge about this.

But I will lay sleepless for weeks if I don't know why Vista disqualifies me from seeing what others can see. I have only had Vista for a couple of days and don't like the way it is acting regarding this issue. Is there more stuff hiding from me? Yes probably.

And I did see the option for a brief period, until I automatically installed windows updates and OEM drivers. What happened? What did Vista do with my rights? Or was it something else?

I had a suggestion that it could be the finger print reader software, anyone know about this? I removed it and nothing seemed to change about "set affinity".

 

I doubt it was the fingerprint reader, if it were to be anything it would more likely be the chipset or processor driver (As far as I know intel doesn't have a special processor driver, only AMD). I wouldn't stress too much about this option, I use it often but never to boost performance, only to isolate programs which chew processor (like DVD Shrink) so I can keep working without my system locking up.

Grand Admiral

 

true that :!!

 

Problem solved.

I reinstalled Vista (again), third time is the charm. Now I have the option "set affinity" like others.

I am not sure what went wrong the first two times? The computer store installed Vista the first time and I did the second attempt. The one thing I did different this time was more restarts between driver installations, even though they seemed to have nothing in common.

 

Glad you got it figured out. And as Pita said, you should never set affinity unless you have to. Its purpose is to fix apps that *can't* handle being run on multiple cores. (To keep them from crashing, or other bad behavior)
For best performance, you should leave it alone and let Windows schedule the app.

 

GTR2 is by default assigned to one core. I did a quick test with a full grid (according to our race rules) at the start of Hockenheim. All graphics maxed at 1920x1200 and vertical sync.

One core assigned (default):
min 32 fps, avg 40 fps

Two cores assigned (manually with the option "set affinity"):
min 48 fps, avg 57 fps

A subsantial difference I think? Clearly affecting game performance, especially on other more demanding tracks.