Unpark CPU cores for more performance.

[Boomstick777]

First, how come nobody ever told me you can do this?!

BF4, stuttery mess... Fps in triple digits, yes triple digits, even more than 60fps Yet stuttery mess...

Googled it, disable core parking for fix, thought surely not..

Yet it's only gone and fixed it, nice n smooth now. Thought I would share here, I had never heard of this before.. Big difference..

Anyway I followed this vid, shows you how to do it with handy little prog..

Awesome.

 

[Boomstick777]

Seems one of them things were it is to good to be true.

The way it helps with BF4 is, when parked cores are called into action it causes lag, as they need to start from a parked state, (I had 3 parked cores).

When all cores are enabled, there is 0 wait time, so 0 lag. The difference is literally night and day.

Got a nice boost in 3DMARK 11 as well.

Unparking the CPU cores gained me over 100 more points.

3DMARK 11 Score - P19641

Spoiler

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/7894161

 

[Boomstick777]

It is definitely interesting, would it result in running your CPU at its max 24/7? And would it cause a increase in heat at idle.

I.E if you have a 4.4ghz OC at idle would it run 4.4ghz

No it doesn't mean they will run at max turbo or anything. All enabled (Non parked) cores will still under-volt and clock down if that's how your PC is setup. I.e my CPU during Idle go to 1600mhz @ 0.840v.



When you un-park cores it just means that Windows has all cores pre-enabled ready to be used when called upon. When a parked core is called upon during desktop program for example, lag wouldn't be noticeable, a heavy threaded game like BF4 calling on a parked core during intense action causes stutter. When cores are all unparked there is 0 stutter.

If you run the Program linked in the OP video, it will tell you if you have any 'parked' cores. If you un-park them you can always re-enable them with the program later on. Def worth trying, night and day difference for me in BF4.

 

[Boomstick777]

known about it for quite sometime, in fact an easier way is just to use the app http://www.coderbag.com/Programming-C/Disable-CPU-Core-Parking-Utility

remember to run as administrator.

for anyone else dubious Vista implimented core parking, it was useless, isn't needed on 7 or above, just disable it and get free performance. (core parking = semi useful feature for laptop but NOT desktop's so unpark them cores)

That's the page the video in OP links to. I never knew about this, so was a shocker for me lol, free performance boost always welcome. Can't believe the difference it has made in game .

 

[Boomstick777]

Do you need to do this every time you log on/play or just once??

If you run the program linked in the video, it will tell you if you have parked cores. Un-park them, reboot your PC (Won't take effect until you reboot).

That's it, done forever unless you want to reverse it with the program later on..

 

[Boomstick777]

I've tested this with 2 systems (as per sig) in BF4 and previously posted results.

Makes absolutely no difference in fps.

That's correct, this fix is if you are experiencing stutter, but fps are ok. The issue is Windows calling on parked cores, it introduces stutter. When you unpark the cores it's no longer an issue..

Parked - Stutter.
Un-Parked - 0 Stutter.

 

[Boomstick777]

Yes quick and simple and may improve overall experience. I wasn't getting stutter but have just left the cores unparked anyway. Parking/stutter should be a far less common issue on Win8 vs Win7.

Yeah, I read that W8 has a different way of managing the cores. So you're right, out of the box W8 does it better. Once you switch off parking in W7 it's smooth, with a capital Smoo.

-----------------------------------------

Some links,

http://battlelog.battlefield.com/bf4/forum/threadview/2955065218806027068/
http://pcrepairaugustaga.com/bf4-parked-multi-core-cpu-fix/
http://www.reddit.com/r/battlefield...tting_cpu_lag_in_battlefield_4_i_found_a_fix/

Hopefully gonna get some time to sit down and play BF4 tonight

 

[Boomstick777]

Worth mentioning that if you've disabled some power states in bios the program can wrongly tell you you've got cores that may be parked.

It's irrelevant what the bios settings are, i.e if Windows determines x amount of cores are parked, it will not use them or will attempt to un-park them during duress i.e gaming etc. Could still cause stuttering. So it's def worth un-parking whatever cores the program reports as parked. As well as making sure bios settings are ok.

I've noticed all games seem smoother to me now (COD Ghosts would stutter in weird places,def not GPU related) now it's butter. Starting to wonder if what I thought was GPU stuttering in the past was in fact parked-core syndrome lol. So much better now, night and day.

 

[Boomstick777]

That's it?

gonna go home now and see if my 3770k has this on and our i3 lappy, can't say no to extra performance.

Just been reading, someone who had a 3770K with heavy overclock, stuttering like mad in BF4, he un-parked the cores and now uses his 3770K @ stock and it's butter smooth lol. Can't believe I didn't know about this up until now

 

[Boomstick777]

Just borrowed this from an OC.net thread, sure user EnterName won't mind.

It shows just how much parked cores has an impact, you can see the stutter in graph form lol. From what I've read the un-park core fix is even more effective on Intel, this is on an FX 8350. Metro LL test.

Much less stutter, high fps lower, but min fps higher, average fps higher. Much more smooth experience.

 

[Boomstick777]

Been mentioned in the CPU forum for a while.. maybe needs sharing more.

Yeah, for me and a just a few of the others who posted in the thread, and I'm sure more who won't post had no idea about this. This should def be more known. This is a must fix for W7 imho.

 

[Boomstick777]

The only thing that gets me is every video/picture you see of it always has 3 cores (0,1,2), same for me when I rand check status.

**either way unparking them did work**

Glad it worked for you

Just did this with my new 4820K and it certainly made a difference to the overall smoothness. I did it via the registry myself by searching for the key "0cc5b647-c1df-4637-891a-dec35c318583" and changing "Attributes" from 1 to 0 which enables the core parking option in the advanced power management section in control panel. It means i can control the percentage of cores un-parked from the default of 10%. (it also works without needing to restart)

Just a quick metro LL bench to illustrate the change.

Nice one mate, yeah it's literally night and day on my PC. All games are smoother.

This is the best free upgrade I've ever had

 

[Boomstick777]

^^

Games that have had night and day difference for me are, Battlefield 4, COD: Ghosts and Crysis 3. It's like paying different games lol, so much smoother, fluid.

 

[Boomstick777]

If you're playing BF4 under W7 you're doing it wrong, W8.1 is the OS to be running, unparking cores not required.

Eeeew blatant miss information. Windows 7 is every bit as capable for gaming as W8, no crappy tablet interface to worry about either

Read lot's of people who have un-parked cores on W8 as well. With improvements by un-parking them, Can't make a blanket statement based purely on your own experience..

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=unpark+cores+windows+8

 

[Boomstick777]

Have tried this myself, and indeed it does seem to work well,but I did notice that when your machine is idling and the core voltage steps down the overclock stayed at max.This is ok, but as the voltage has stepped right down,it might lead to instability when only browsing or something, as voltage may not be enough to sustain the overclock if you see what I mean.

Not tested much yet - so will see how it goes.

I'm not sure what method you're using but the CPU should down-clock and lower voltage as normal if you're using the program in OP. Here's what my unparked CPU looks like during idle state.

 

[Boomstick777]

Boomstick, you're a star

Unparking my cores solved the random stuttering I was getting in Assetto Corsa.

Just glad I tried it before I did a reformat.

Glad it worked for you mate

I still can't believe how smooth everything is now, even with SLI. I think when I've had stutter problems in the past with SLI and Crossfire it was actually CPU spiking I was seeing, cores being un-parked on the fly. So much better with them fully un-parked.

Placebo, hell windows even tells you when cores are parked in the resource monitor, even when idle on desktop my i7 does not park cores so yeah no core parking in W8.

I've got no doubt that you're right about your particular setup, but if you read other people's experiences, quite a few have said un-parking helps on W7,W8 and W8.1. For me on W7 it's night and day.

 

[Boomstick777]

I thought unparking cores wasn't necessary in Windows 8.1?

When I use the app in the OP, it's still finds 2 parked cores even with BF4 open.

It seems for some people cores are still parked in W8, it's seems to be individual, i.e dependent on more than just the OS, what CPU you have etc. I would recommend un-parking any cores that appear parked in W7, W8 and W8.1.

Playing bf4 earlier post new patch. With cores unparked it definitely feels much better now. I noticed it moreso in bf3 as 4 was a bit iffy with cores parked or unparked.

Yeah the difference in BF4 for me was massive, as well as COD Ghosts and Crysis 3. Those games play completely differently now. Like slick smooth. I'm not sure if my lower clock speed (Locked CPU) would have made un-parking more noticeable, perhaps those with higher over-clocked CPU's aren't using the parked cores as frequently, thus making it not stutter as much? There is def variation to peoples experiences. I will always un-park any PC I use or build for others now.

 

[Boomstick777]

Hang on a minute. It was on here people were slating AMD cpu's for having more cores means no great performance over raw IPC.

Now your implying at a lower clock speed but having your cores 'unparked' has yielded the games playing smoother "slick smooth".

Hey man, I can't be held responsible for what other people say about AMD

I'm using locked cores, but they are Intel cores

Yeah for me, slick smooth @ stock runs about 3.5Ghz - 3.7Ghz., but it's basically a 3770K, so even at stock it's not low end.. I can't comment on AMD CPU Un-parked because I don't have one.

Def feels smoother now in bf4 and crysis 3.

Glad it's worked for you

 

[Boomstick777]

Unparking my Q9650@4Ghz cores has made substantial improvement to my gaming experience!!

I am getting 10-15FPS more on average while playing BF3!!

E.g on bandar desert around flags A,B,C where usually most of the action is concentrated; before unparking I was getting around 45-48FPS on average. After unparking cores, I am getting 55-57FPS on average

Amazing!!

Just another thank you for this I had no idea and had 3 cores parked.

Nice one guys

 

[Boomstick777]

Did this yesterday, seemed to speed up my computer slightly.

since unparking cores on i7 micro stutter has gone,surprised it works but does!

Glad it's worked for you guys.