When Will Games Utilize more Threads?

[MainStageNews]

I'm planning on getting the Pentium G3258 for an occasional LAN rig and mainly server machine. I was just kind of curious how long people will think it will take for Games to utilize more than 2 threads? I personally dont think it will be till a new set of consoles. But what is your guys's opinion.

[Kyuubixchidori]

I'm planning on getting the Pentium G3258 for an occasional LAN rig and mainly server machine. I was just kind of curious how long people will think it will take for Games to utilize more than 2 threads? I personally dont think it will be till a new set of consoles. But what is your guys's opinion.

games already are, I believe its far cry 4 will not launch on the g3258, and now its only a matter of time until more games follow suite. 

[dizmo]

Intel is constantly pushing for dev's to use more cores. They're going to start going with more cores instead of increased core clock.

So, as that levels off, dev's will hopefully decide to utilize more cores.

I have no idea why they don't already. They should at least push to fully use all 4 cores in all games, and more in the AAA titles.

[Archangel1994]

games already are, I believe its far cry 4 will not launch on the g3258

Which has nothing to do with utilization though. Not launching is simply the game being buggered and poorly built. Say a game uses 4 threads and you have 2 it will simply use those 2 threads more up to the point where they are capped with their usage.

[d3sl91]

It is for sure coming. and I believe that games such as Battlefield 4 do use more. 

 

One thing I will say, is that I just jumped from an i5 to an i7, and noticed a big difference. It's not so much the fact the game is using all cores, its the fact that there is more cores to handle the overhead from background programs and the OS.

 

For instance, Recording and streaming is MUCH better now with this i7 than it was with the i5.

[Neroxis]

We are at that time now. FC4 won't load on dual cores, more games are utilizing multiple physical cores. I would say a quad core is still just fine for gaming, as hyperthreading still isn't properly coded for by most production studios. It also really depends on the game. If you're getting a shitty console port then chances are there won't be a whole lot of utilization on more than 1 or 2 threads. We are seeing many more games that are now utilizing more cores, but they're far between. If this console life cycle is like the last one you definitely will have to upgrade before it's over. 

[Archangel1994]

I have no idea why they don't already. They should at least push to fully use all 4 cores in all games, and more in the AAA titles.

So true, this is why intel has not bothered pumping out cheaper/weaker 6/8 cores. There is simply no real market for this.

[Archangel1994]

It is for sure coming. and I believe that games such as Battlefield 4 do use more. 

BF4 uses 4 standard. You need a user.cfg file with a certain line to allow it to use more than 4 (So it's capable of using 8 but default is 4)

[Kyuubixchidori]

Which has nothing to do with utilization though. Not launching is simply the game being buggered and poorly built. Say a game uses 4 threads and you have 2 it will simply use those 2 threads more up to the point where they are capped with their usage.

right, sorry had a brain fart. thanks

 

probably its up to the game engine and what it supports. honestly though, games run smooth enough of the cpu side, we need gpu improvements

 

BF4 uses 4 standard. You need a user.cfg file with a certain line to allow it to use more than 4 (So it's capable of using 8 but default is 4)

 

seems like for just a text change like that, bf4 should be able to auto detect and change it to 8

[Archangel1994]

seems like for just a text change like that, bf4 should be able to auto detect and change it to 8

That's true up to a certain point but pc's tend to have a 4 threaded CPU. Also hyperthreading can be disabled so auto-detection might not be as easy without building in an entire hardware detection module that can tinker with settings.

[Neroxis]

BF4 uses 4 standard. You need a user.cfg file with a certain line to allow it to use more than 4 (So it's capable of using 8 but default is 4)

Do you have any sort of source for this? I am attempting to use my google-fu but it's only showing quad core utilization and not editing a config file

[Archangel1994]

Do you have any sort of source for this? I am attempting to use my google-fu but it's only showing quad core utilization and not editing a config file

Well my friend is sitting on an I7-2600 and my other friend (Lucky bastard) found an I7 920 and an X58 sabertooth board for €100 and both report only 4 threads being used

 

Edit: As for 8 core-utlization I saw it in a random BF4 thread. Cannot remember the command line though

 

Edit 2: http://battlelog.battlefield.com/bf4/forum/threadview/2979150493817431277/

[Kyuubixchidori]

That's true up to a certain point but pc's tend to have a 4 threaded CPU. Also hyperthreading can be disabled so auto-detection might not be as easy without building in an entire hardware detection module that can tinker with settings.

hum. Just curious because crash reports and such show your hardware, the drivers, and your OS. so figured they should be able to figure out the cores. why would anyone disable hyper threading?

[Archangel1994]

hum. Just curious because crash reports and such show your hardware, the drivers, and your OS. so figured they should be able to figure out the cores. why would anyone disable hyper threading?

Disabling hyperthreading decreases temperatures and power draw

[Neroxis]

Well my friend is sitting on an I7-2600 and my other friend (Lucky bastard) found an I7 920 and an X58 sabertooth board for €100 and both report only 4 threads being used

No, the edit to the config file. I would be interested in trying it out with my 4770k

 

hum. Just curious because crash reports and such show your hardware, the drivers, and your OS. so figured they should be able to figure out the cores. why would anyone disable hyper threading?

You disable hyperthreading usually to enhance the stability of an overclock. 

[Majestic]

When an API predominantly gets used that won't choke up the mainthread before the other cores get to do something. DX11 has reached it's limit in terms of drawcalls. 

That's why you see Core i3's beat AMD FX 8 cores in Far Cry 4 and AC:unity.

[MainStageNews]

So the general though it withing the coming years developers will definitely start to utilize more cores. So for what i'm doing I should consider an i5 maybe like an i5-4690s since it will be used in a server more than for gaming and it has a lower TDP than standard i5's

[i_build_nanosuits]

So the general though it withing the coming years developers will definitely start to utilize more cores. So for what i'm doing I should consider an i5 maybe like an i5-4690s since it will be used in a server more than for gaming and it has a lower TDP than standard i5's

exactly, modern games nowadays use anywhere from 4 to 12 threads, the games that came out recently ALL use more than 4 threads (Farcry4, Dead Rising 3, Watchdogs, CoD:AW, dragon age inquisition, shadow of mordor etc.)

and from this list already 3 of them won't even launch on the pentium (Farcry4, COD AW and dragon age) a core i5 is a MUCH better choice.

 

BUT i would not go with an ''s'' series chip...those are very efficient cpu's and haswell refresh ones have very good temps...i would go straight to a core i5-4590 if i was you.

 

Many older games also use more CPU threads (BF3, BF4, crysis...) and they run poorly on the pentium...here some gameplay footage i've recorded of many games (some of them are even old games) and they all use many CPU threads,

when you hear from people that games only use a couple threads, it's mostly false as only a handful of games are still developped on that patern, most of them being MMO's and RTS:

 

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/236946-who-said-games-used-only-a-couple-threads/