Unparking CPU cores

[unfish]

What are the risks? Does that increase performance? Any suggested program?

Is it even possible with my rig?

Intel i5 2300 2.8GHz

Gigabyte H67MA D2H B3

GTX970

8 gb ram

Windows 10

[79wjd]

It's not possible.

 

The risks are an unstable system, and it increases performance when the extra cores would be beneficial. 

[Exploded117]

If it's possible with your rig, then do it.

 

I did it and holy WOW, performance increased.

 

Performance increases do vary, however, I hit the jackpot.

[iamdarkyoshi]

Can someone please explain what unparking CPU cores does?

[79wjd]

Can someone please explain what unparking CPU cores does?

It activates locked (disabled) cores. 

[iamdarkyoshi]

It activates locked (disabled) cores. 

Where are these disabled cores? Sorry if I sound like a n00b, it is because this is literally the first time I have heard about this. If I have a quad core i5, are there any more cores under the cap? I dont really understand

[dragoon20005]

i dont know why you need to unpark cores

 

but Unparking cores is usually done on AMD FX cpus

 

you got a quad core CPU

 

it wont magically get more cores from unparking

[Kc7vwc]

Unparking is a Windows power saving function. Windows 'parks' one or more cores of the cpu when it isn't needed. This saves power and generates less heat. Soon as a program need the extra power, Windows unlocks the parked cores and the system goes to full power.

There are registry settings to permanently unpark cores, but it's not worth the effort. We're talking about one millisecond to unpark a core. And once done, your system is idling using every core abd your heat abd power use go up.

Now for Hardware, th here were some amd chips (phenom) that were physically 6 core chips, but had two cores disabled due to faulty circuitry, abd were sold as quad cores. There were flash updates that could 'unlock' these disabled cores, but at great risk. sometimes it worked if the system wasn't overclocked. but usually it wasn't worth it for the instability.

hope that answers whichever you meant.

[Analog]

Unparking is a Windows power saving function. Windows 'parks' one or more cores of the cpu when it isn't needed. This saves power and generates less heat. Soon as a program need the extra power, Windows unlocks the parked cores and the system goes to full power.

There are registry settings to permanently unpark cores, but it's not worth the effort. We're talking about one millisecond to unpark a core. And once done, your system is idling using every core abd your heat abd power use go up.

 

^This! The more cores you have the more you will gain from unparking the cores extra cores. 

[unfish]

So I cant do it and if I magically do it wont help me?

Alright thanks

[Analog]

So I cant do it and if I magically do it wont help me?

Alright thanks

 

Basically, yes. It just gives you the ability to use all of the resources of your process even at idle, when it is not really needed. It is not going to add extra cores to your processor or something like that.

[Kc7vwc]

So I cant do it and if I magically do it wont help me?

Alright thanks

 

Your system automatically does it anyway.

Your i5 2300 has 4 cores. When you're sitting in Windows and not doing anything strenuous, your system is probably only using 2 cores right then. But the instant you launch a new program, the other cores kick in to boost loading time. If the program needs the power, they stay on. If you just opened Solitare, they go back to sleep, or 'parked.'

When you launch a game, again Windows automatically wakes those cores up and since it's a program that needs the power, they stay awake & your system is using all the power it can.

 

On older hardware, back in the first or second generation of 64bit chips & the start of multi-core processors, a user really in tune with his system might (MIGHT!) have been able to notice the difference in loading speed between Windows unparking cores & having them always unparked.

Today's hardware already does it so fast that we wouldn't notice the difference.

 

TL;DR - Parking is basically the same as your CPU's Turbo boost - it ramps up when needed & throttles back when not. Only it does it with the cores themselves instead of their clock speed.