Running the game with a six-core CPU?

[Sydite]

So I know the game has troubles with quad-cores, and I don't have a quad so I didn't really look for ways around it.

However, I now have a six-core CPU: the AMD Phenom II X6 1055T @2.8Ghz (stock clocking speed).

 

I figured that Oblivion would have even more trouble with this six-core, so I turned it down to single-core. Needless to say I crash often (I am not sure if it's because of it, though) and I was wondering if I could enable more cores but still have it work fine. I don't want to overclock my CPU, though.

 

So yeah, anyway to get a six-core working fine with AMD? Does the iNumHWThreads along with bUseThreadedAI trick from Fallout 3 work in Oblivion? I looked in Oblivion's INI and noticed that it doesn't have these lines, so I don't want to risk Oblivion exploding on me.

 

Also, if a six-core is like impossible to get working with Oblivion, what's the next best choice? 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5?

 

NOTE: I plan on heavily modding Oblivion, of course. Don't know if this changes anything much, however.

 

Thanks in advance!

[eric31415]

You shouldn't need to limit the number of cores used. Even though Oblivion can't make use of the extra processing power, those extra cores will handle background processes, easing the strain on the core the game does use. There are some things you can move to a second core via ini tweaks (like you mention from Fallout 3). Check out this page of the Tweakguides for more info. Note that i had poor results with the memory tweaks, but the loading tweaks and the multithreading ones do help somewhat. I recommend loooking over this entire guide.

[rinoaff33]

So I know the game has troubles with quad-cores, and I don't have a quad so I didn't really look for ways around it.

However, I now have a six-core CPU: the AMD Phenom II X6 1055T @2.8Ghz (stock clocking speed).

 

I figured that Oblivion would have even more trouble with this six-core, so I turned it down to single-core. Needless to say I crash often (I am not sure if it's because of it, though) and I was wondering if I could enable more cores but still have it work fine. I don't want to overclock my CPU, though.

 

So yeah, anyway to get a six-core working fine with AMD? Does the iNumHWThreads along with bUseThreadedAI trick from Fallout 3 work in Oblivion? I looked in Oblivion's INI and noticed that it doesn't have these lines, so I don't want to risk Oblivion exploding on me.

 

Also, if a six-core is like impossible to get working with Oblivion, what's the next best choice? 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5?

 

NOTE: I plan on heavily modding Oblivion, of course. Don't know if this changes anything much, however.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Unfortunately, the best kind of processor to have for Oblivion is a very powerful single-core, which are being phased out in favor of multi-core. This means that an older computer can probably run it better.

Edited August 1, 2011 by rinoaff33

[Roguespear]

I don/t think the number of cores or threads make an unusual difference. I am running Oblivion with 146 mods beside all the DLC content on the folowing:

 

EVGA SR-2 Motherboard

two 6 core e5645 Xeons

 

12 gigs Patriot XMP DDR3 1333 ram

 

two GTS 450 nVidia cards

 

X-fi Fatal1ty Sound card

 

4 HP 22" HDMI W2207h monitors

 

With 24 cores total, I have no crashes, once in a great while I will have a CTD, but normally I play for 3 or 4 hours without a problem. The only problem, and it is not really a problem, my character is really fast.

[Roguespear]

I am going to add an additional post here about hardware. I am a computer tech with about 24 years experience. I retired 2 years ago and my wife introduced me to Oblivion when I retired and have been playing it ever since. When it comes to playing Oblivion, there are a couple of things you can't do without.

 

OSR_4-1-23208

 

OblivionRamBoost

 

both available on the nexus and the tweak guide mentioned in an earlier post. As for multiple cores, I have 6 computers in my house and we play Oblivion on 4 of these.

 

#1) i7 920 8 cores with hyperthreading

 

Asus P6X58D 1366socket motherboard

 

6 gigs Patriot XMP DDR3 1333 ram

 

nVidia GTX 275 by EVGA

 

#2) i7 950 water cooled 8 cores with hyperthreading

 

Asus Rampage III Formula socket 1366 gaming board.

 

nVidia GTX 550 Ti

 

12 gigs Patriot XMP DDR3 1333 ram

 

Soundblaster X-fi extreme gamer sound

 

#3)e6500 Dual Core

 

GTX 9500 nVidia

 

8 gigs DDR 2 800 ram

 

Gigabyte motherboard

 

#4) EVGA Classified SR-2

 

2 water cooled e5645 6 core Xeon cpu's, 24 cores withhyperthreading

 

12 gigs Patriot DDR3 1333 XMP ram

 

2 nVidia GTS 450 video cards

 

X-fi Fatal1ty sound card

 

 

 

Oblivion plays very well on all those cores. 2 of the computers are my wife's and 2 are mine and we have been playing Oblivion for some time. What I have found that causes the most problems, in no particular order is,overclocked systems, ambient temperature in the room where the game is played, incompatible mods, Video cards that are surrounded by other cards, poor ventilation in the computer case, Windows XP, if you have scratchy sound make sure the sound card is not next to the video card, and last but not least, LOADORDER.

 

I do not profess to be an expert on Oblivion, although I hate crashes, but I do know hardware, and to get a system to really play Oblivion well, is going to take time and tweaking. Whether you have lots of cash or not much, the big thing is, pay attention to your computer, it will tell you what's up. For instance, if you have 2 monitors, set up a temperature sensor on the monitor you are not playing Oblivion on and watch as the temps skyrocket. when the temp gets to high you will see instability and crashing, remember, Oblivion hates overclocked systems. Look on the nexus for TES4LODGen.exe and test your configuration before starting the game or after modding. It will catch a lot of load order mistakes for you. If your case will take them, put more fans in it. and for god's sake get Windows 7 64 bit, it will see all the ram you can get into your computer up to144 gigs. One caveat is your cpu must support the amd64 standard.

 

Use OblivionRamBoost, it modifies your Oblivion EXE file and you can set it to use more than 2 gigs of ram, if you have it. BUT BE SURE TO MAKE A BACKUP OF THE FILE FIRST!!!! the other program I recommended is OSR_4-1-23208, this program or should I say plug in helps with Oblivion's famous stuttering. Lots of players like Wrye Bash to keep your mods in order but I believe in the keep it simple stupid mind set and use OBMM (oblivion modmanager). whichever one you use don't forget to test your load order with TES4LODGen.exe. One other thing, be sure to set Oblivion's video setting to your monitors native resolution or it has a heart attack and crashes. If I have used a wrong assumption about this stuff, send me a PM and let me know, one never stops learning.

 

 

Edited August 2, 2011 by Roguespear