Dividing CPU cores between programs?

[AstroBenny]

I know that you can choose how many cores are supplied to an individual program in Windows but say you are running two programs: For example, Premiere pro and a game. If you had a 6 core cpu and wanted 3 cores for each application/program, how do you select which program uses which cores? If I select the game to run on 3 cores and premiere pro to run on 3 cores how do I get it so that the game uses cores 1,2,3 and premiere pro uses 4,5,6. Setting the amount of cores an application can use doesn't allow you to change which cores are used for what program..(right)..? So how would you use all 6 cores...?

[IMPERIUS]

i dont think thats possible, besides, the os automatically splits its resources between programs

[AstroBenny]

i dont think thats possible, besides, the os automatically splits its resources between programs

[IMPERIUS]

 

why would you want to manually choose that anyways?

[AstroBenny]

why would you want to manually choose that anyways?

Good question - 

Say I wanted to render a video in Premiere Pro while playing a game at the same time. Here is how I think of it: Disable GPU acceleration in Premiere pro so that the game can use all the gpu horsepower - Obviously rendering would be slower but it would still be useful. Set a limit of only 3 cores for the rendering (1,2,3) and 3 cores for gaming (4,5,6)

I want the applications to be totally independant of each other. Otherwise they slow each other down. You see what I mean? 

[samcool55]

What you can do is give premiere pro a low proirity in task manager and the game a high priority.

It won't limit the cores it will use, but it will limit how much of the cores it can use, sort of.

[Silyy097]

I know that you can choose how many cores are supplied to an individual program in Windows but say you are running two programs: For example, Premiere pro and a game. If you had a 6 core cpu and wanted 3 cores for each application/program, how do you select which program uses which cores? If I select the game to run on 3 cores and premiere pro to run on 3 cores how do I get it so that the game uses cores 1,2,3 and premiere pro uses 4,5,6. Setting the amount of cores an application can use doesn't allow you to change which cores are used for what program..(right)..? So how would you use all 6 cores...?

You can set affinity of the program in task manager.

 

[AstroBenny]

You can set affinity of the program in task manager.

 

Oh right, thanks!

But don't you have to manually change them after every reboot?

[miribus]

Yes, you do.  Another option to more easily do exactly what you want, but requires a 2nd Windows license (how you get that is up to you):

Oracle VirtualBox.

Basically, you use virtualbox to install a 2nd set of windows inside of your current windows.  A virtual machine, essentially a software application that thinks it is another separate PC.
From virtualbox you tell your 2nd Windows how much of your system resources to use, how many cores, how much ram, etc.  You split that from your hardware just as you wanted to.

Inside the vbox run Premier Pro (albeit slowly but depending on your system and how much resources...).  If you're able to give your virtual machine 3 cores and 4GB of ram it should run pretty well but I can't speak for Premier Pro w/o GPU acceleration.

 

Anyway, now you have one OS for premier pro inside of your normal Windows OS, play your game on your "host" system while vbox does its' thing in the background, or on a second screen if you have it.

 

All that said, if you can simply disable GPU support in premier pro (I assume it is a checkbox somewhere) and then fire up whatever game, I imagine you'll get what you want.  Windows itself will handle the task scheduling and will almost certainly give priority to the game running it about as well as it would have if you bothered with all that affinity.

 

The only benefit the VM gives you is that if something happens to the VM and the window inside it changes focus, it won't mess your game up or bring you out.  Hell the VM's OS could crash entirely with a blue screen and your system won't care.

 

I mention VirtualBox specifically because it is pretty user-friendly, and free (windows isn't, but whatever).  There are other VMs out there, though, each with its own pros and cons.

 

Intel and AMD spent a lot of time and money to make thing like setting affinity redundant, the CPU is supposed to do that job for you.

[miribus]

WRT to the VM though, it might prove to be better performance for Premier Pro when a game is running rather than having windows do it, what Windows will actually do in the background can vary and if PP crashes your whole system does.  A VM is fun to play around with either way, it is a good way around some compatibility issues with old software, you can play with other OSes, and if you use a VPN, like I do, you can use the VM to be on the VPN and leave the rest of your system alone.  Particularly useful if the VPN you're switching to is slower than your normal network.   A VM will run side-by-side at the cost of performance to both, but overall efficiency will probably prove better that way.