CPU Core parking/performance concerns

Ocman76 · 03 Aug 2014

I was running Unigine Valley Benchmark today and when looking at the results noticed there is a x4 next to my CPU:

This concerned me because my CPU is an FX-8320 and is supposed to have 8 cores.

I did some research online and was reading about logical versus physical cores and about how all 8 don't actually show up.

I also was reading about core parking, and checked Performance Monitor to see this:

After I finished Overclocking my CPU a couple weeks ago I turned C1E back on in the BIOS. Does that have anything to do with this?

I want the maximum performance out my my CPU possible. Should I be concerned about its current state? If yes, what can I do to fix it?

Any help is appreciated.

Mellon Head · 07 Aug 2014

It should show all 8 cores. My FX-8350 does all the time. My cores don't park.

It might have something to do with the C1E. If you're overclocking, you should turn it off for best results. It's mostly a power saving feature that will interfere with your OC.

Have a look in your BIOS at the "Core On/Off" function, and make sure it is set to auto. Or, you can set it to manual and force the cores to be on.

Ocman76 · 08 Aug 2014

Mellon Head said:

It should show all 8 cores. My FX-8350 does all the time. My cores don't park.

It might have something to do with the C1E. If you're overclocking, you should turn it off for best results. It's mostly a power saving feature that will interfere with your OC.

Have a look in your BIOS at the "Core On/Off" function, and make sure it is set to auto. Or, you can set it to manual and force the cores to be on.

I turned C1E back on because I want the power savings, it has not affected my overclock at all. Still stable in both Prime 95 and intensive games. You aren't saying that is causing the problem with my cores are you?

The real question I want answered is should I be worried that Windows is parking some of my cores. Does windows automatically unpark them when they are needed? If so I don't think I have a problem.

I have my "Core On/Off" function set to auto right now, do I need to set it to manual?

AddRAM · 08 Aug 2014

Yep, they only get used when they are needed.

Ocman76 · 08 Aug 2014

AddRAM said:

Yep, they only get used when they are needed.

So the reality is I shouldn't worry about the automatic core parking and I won't notice a performance difference from forcing all the cores to run all the time?

Mellon Head · 09 Aug 2014

AddRAM said:

Yep, they only get used when they are needed.

Weird. My cores never park. They run all the time. At least as far as I can tell by all of the monitoring software I've tried.

AddRAM · 09 Aug 2014

Ya, the temps always fluctuate on all my cores.

If you open Resource Monitor you can see which cores are parked.

But I think you would have to turn off hyperthreading to get a true reading

NoN · 09 Aug 2014

Ocman76 said:

AddRAM said:

Yep, they only get used when they are needed.

So the reality is I shouldn't worry about the automatic core parking and I won't notice a performance difference from forcing all the cores to run all the time?

You can also give a try this article about core parking using the windows powercfg command:

CPU Parking revisited: How to enable or disable CPU Parking yourself without registry edits

Microsoft had at the time did provide a hotfix for AMD users...i do not use an Amd processor so i do not know if it had been on windows update since its first review:

An update that selectively disables the Core Parking feature in Windows 7 or in Windows Server 2008 R2 is available

Mellon Head · 09 Aug 2014

AddRAM said:

Ya, the temps always fluctuate on all my cores.

If you open Resource Monitor you can see which cores are parked.

But I think you would have to turn off hyperthreading to get a true reading

AHA! I stand corrected. Four of them are parked. I wonder why that never shows up on anything else?

NoN said:

You can also give a try this article about core parking using the windows powercfg command:

CPU Parking revisited: How to enable or disable CPU Parking yourself without registry edits

Microsoft had at the time did provide a hotfix for AMD users...i do not use an Amd processor so i do not know if it had been on windows update since its first review:

An update that selectively disables the Core Parking feature in Windows 7 or in Windows Server 2008 R2 is available

Interesting links, thanks. I'll have to try that hotfix.

I don't have the problem that the OP does, though, where software only reports four cores, even though some are parked. I wonder why?

smarteyeball · 11 Aug 2014

Ocman76 said:

So the reality is I shouldn't worry about the automatic core parking and I won't notice a performance difference from forcing all the cores to run all the time?

No you shouldn't worry.

In reality, you would not notice any difference whatsoever in performance in Automatic vs manual parking.

With the 8 core AMD chips, there is a common misunderstanding that they are actually 8 different physical cores whereas in reality there are still only 4. It's different from intels Hyperthreading, but they're still not a true 8 core processor.

In games, parked vs unparked simply does not make a difference.

The hotfix is what matters.

(If Windows was based on fully using the true potential of AMD 8 core CPU's - they'd be much more powerful. unfortunately they aren't and a lot of their potential is wasted.)