100% cpu use?

Hello,

I am new to prime95/mersenne searching. When I started the program, it immediately used 100% of my cpu (an Intel core2duo E8500). I recall reading somewhere that it would only use leftover clock cycles. How do I set it to not use so many system resources? Thanks!

[science_man_88]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hello,

I am new to prime95/mersenne searching. When I started the program, it immediately used 100% of my cpu (an Intel core2duo E8500). I recall reading somewhere that it would only use leftover clock cycles. How do I set it to not use so many system resources? Thanks!

I believe if I remember correct that it's a line added to local.txt Throttle=95 or some other percent.

I added the throttle command but to no avail. Any other suggestions? When I try to access the program's help menu, it just says "Failed to launch help." Thanks!

[Christenson]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hello,

I am new to prime95/mersenne searching. When I started the program, it immediately used 100% of my cpu (an Intel core2duo E8500). I recall reading somewhere that it would only use leftover clock cycles. How do I set it to not use so many system resources? Thanks!

As SM88 says, add the line
"Throttle=95"
to prime.txt for 95% CPU usage. This is documented in undoc.txt, in the Prime95 directory, which you should read. You might also want to look under the Options/Workers menu, as you have a dual-core system and you can certainly restrict P95 to only one core.

Another way to look at the situation is that your CPU is 100% of the processing resources on your system, so if P95 uses all spare cycles, then total usage goes to 100%. Now, when you notice only 5-10% of your system's CPU time in use when P95 is not running, that is the statement that your machine has 10-20 times more CPU speed than absolutely needed to do the daily work you purchased it for. The vast majority of the time, your computer is waiting for you to make the next mouse movement or keypress.

It is also worth testing to see if P95 actually slows your systems response to your actions, which in the vast majority of cases it will not, so the main effect of using 100% of your CPU will be an increase in your electricity consumption and the internal temperature of your computer.

[Dubslow]

Originally Posted by Christenson

As SM88 says, add the line
"Throttle=95"
to prime.txt for 95% CPU usage. This is documented in undoc.txt, in the Prime95 directory, which you should read. You might also want to look under the Options/Workers menu, as you have a dual-core system and you can certainly restrict P95 to only one core.

Another way to look at the situation is that your CPU is 100% of the processing resources on your system, so if P95 uses all spare cycles, then total usage goes to 100%. Now, when you notice only 5-10% of your system's CPU time in use when P95 is not running, that is the statement that your machine has 10-20 times more CPU speed than absolutely needed to do the daily work you purchased it for. The vast majority of the time, your computer is waiting for you to make the next mouse movement or keypress.

It is also worth testing to see if P95 actually slows your systems response to your actions, which in the vast majority of cases it will not, so the main effect of using 100% of your CPU will be an increase in your electricity consumption and the internal temperature of your computer.

A shorter version of the middle paragraph: if you're not doing anything with the computer, 100% is just leftover cycles. Even running a web browser will take up 5% at most of the available cycles, meaning that P95 will be at 95% usage. Like Christensen said, trying doing what you'd normally do on the computer and tell us if you notice a difference like the computer being slow.

[Uncwilly]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

When I started the program, it immediately used 100% of my cpu (an Intel core2duo E8500). I recall reading somewhere that it would only use leftover clock cycles. How do I set it to not use so many system resources?

Originally Posted by Dubslow

A shorter version of the middle paragraph: if you're not doing anything with the computer, 100% is just leftover cycles. Even running a web browser will take up 5% at most of the available cycles, meaning that P95 will be at 95% usage. Like Christensen said, trying doing what you'd normally do on the computer and tell us if you notice a difference like the computer being slow.

I run Prime95 all of the time and it does not effect what I am doing. It runs at the lowest priority of all processes. So, it won't take away processing power from other programs. 100% usage is normal. If you stop Prime95 and look how much of the CPU is used, you will see that most of the CPU time is wasted.

[science_man_88]

Originally Posted by Christenson

As SM88 says, add the line
"Throttle=95"
to prime.txt for 95% CPU usage. This is documented in undoc.txt, in the Prime95 directory, which you should read. You might also want to look under the Options/Workers menu, as you have a dual-core system and you can certainly restrict P95 to only one core.

Another way to look at the situation is that your CPU is 100% of the processing resources on your system, so if P95 uses all spare cycles, then total usage goes to 100%. Now, when you notice only 5-10% of your system's CPU time in use when P95 is not running, that is the statement that your machine has 10-20 times more CPU speed than absolutely needed to do the daily work you purchased it for. The vast majority of the time, your computer is waiting for you to make the next mouse movement or keypress.

It is also worth testing to see if P95 actually slows your systems response to your actions, which in the vast majority of cases it will not, so the main effect of using 100% of your CPU will be an increase in your electricity consumption and the internal temperature of your computer.

yeah but I messed up I thought it was local.txt so I gave the wrong one to add the line to.

[Christenson]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I added the throttle command but to no avail. Any other suggestions? When I try to access the program's help menu, it just says "Failed to launch help." Thanks!

You probably missed my correction to add it to "prime.txt" and not "local.txt".

Please read "undoc.txt" and the other text files in your P95 directory. As for options/CPU and such, just play..they are pretty self-explanatory.

Thank you for all the help! You're right, it doesn't slow the computer down while I'm doing ordinary things (listening to music, browsing the web, using office software). It does slow the computer down when I start to game though. I guess I'll just pause the computation before I start my games from now on.

But I still can't get the throttle command to work. I have added Throttle=95 to local.txt and prime.txt, but neither have worked. It doesn't bug me as much now that the cpu is at 100% usage, but it would be cool if I could get that to work.

Thanks again!

Also, I did read undoc.txt. I won't need most of those features just yet, but it was helpful to know that those options existed.

They are all .txt file driven though, so I'm not sure if I could get them to work right now anyway. I'll add a command to the file, save it, and restart prime95, but it still won't affect it.

[Christenson]

What are you using to check CPU loading? When I run 95% CPU on P95, I see little periodic dips in the CPU usage graph under task manager, as P95 seems to run in "hiccup" mode. Why don't you try 50%, restart P95, and see if that works???

PauseWhileRunning=game sounds like the command for you...