Windows 7 - tweak may improve performance

[Aoikani]

This tweak is only for Windows 7 x64 and x32, and has 2 or more cores, "logical" or "physical". It specifically balances core parking through registry values.

I'm not some pc guru, but I am a certified pc tech. I have found a tweak that significantly allowed my "laptop" i7 to run games without shutting down from overheating due to the fact that I have a dedicated 1gb video ram built in for my laptop. Not only did it reduce my heat, but it improved my capability to process higher definition textures smoothly and quicker. I tested this in Skyrim and Mass Effect 1-3.

Windows 7 has a built in power saving feature that dynamically selects a set of processors to run threads based on the current power configurations you have set. These settings will try to honor your settings and choose which processors to run, allowing or forcing the remaining cores to idle in low consumption states. If you are maximizing your game performance and quality, in other words pushing it to the max, Windows 7 is likely still parking some of your cores or at least is not balancing the load sharing between them. Especially for the i7 machines. I've executed perfomance tests and visibly seen my core parking go from an average of 3-4 cores (parking on) directly up to a full load balance and reduction of all 8 cores Blogs - Technet


How to Tweak

First, back up your registry (Ccleaner works well) AND create a restore point. It's easy to make a mistake, either way if the risk is too much for you and you don't know much about computers then DO NOT take the risk. This registry tweak only modifies the "Valuemax" in the registry which are used by Core Parking.

Step 1
a. click on "Start" ---> type in [search programs and files] Regedit
b. In Regedit, Select Edit > Find (Ctrl + F > Find what: > and type "0cc5b647-c1df-4637-891a-dec35c318583" - no quotation marks
c. In the right pane, under Name column, you will see the Description "Specify the minimum number of unparked cores/packages allowed (in percentage)." This shows you what you are modifying.
d. Highlight by clicking on "ValueMax", right click and "Modify", change the Value data: to "0" to equal "ValueMin" and apply/OK.

Step 2
a. You must repeat Step 1 (the whole process) for each time it is found, which equals to how many profiles you have on your computer.
b. Go back up to Edit > Find Next (F3)

Step 3
a. Shut your computer down, power-off and cold restart. Do not do a warm restart.

Test out your computer, open your performance monitor or test it in game. You will find your cores more evenly balanced, FPS issues improved and no spiking.

cited, http://ultimatecomputers.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3644

Edited February 16, 2013 by Aoikani

[raventrigun]

Before Registry Fix:

3 Parked Cores on i7-2600K

 

After Registry Fix:

0 Parked Cored

 

Before CPU Usage Skyrim: 38%

After Fix Skyrim: 10%

 

Overall I say this is pure gold, Glad to see the registry fixes are coming back like the old XP days.

 

Still Waiting to Field Strip my Windows 7 x64 Bit Ultimate to remove some of the junk that isn't needed.

 

I recommend Sticky

 

Note: THIS ONLY APPLIES TO CPU'S WITH 2 OR MORE CORE AND 2 OR MORE LOGICAL CORES IE the i7's for example.

[kiwano69]

bonjour,

je suis interressé par ton test mais en faisant la 1ere recherche j'obtiens a la place de "0" le chiffre "64" doisje quand mettre ce que tu propose ou suis je au mauvais endroit?

merci pour ton aide

[Aoikani]

Can you be more specific in your steps Kiwano69?

 

The steps I outlined are very concise as can be, although I don't speak French and I may be misinterpreting.

[Aoikani]

Before Registry Fix:

3 Parked Cores on i7-2600K

 

After Registry Fix:

0 Parked Cored

 

Before CPU Usage Skyrim: 38%

After Fix Skyrim: 10%

 

Overall I say this is pure gold, Glad to see the registry fixes are coming back like the old XP days.

 

Still Waiting to Field Strip my Windows 7 x64 Bit Ultimate to remove some of the junk that isn't needed.

 

I recommend Sticky

 

Note: THIS ONLY APPLIES TO CPU'S WITH 2 OR MORE CORE AND 2 OR MORE LOGICAL CORES IE the i7's for example.

 

I used this tweak on my laptop "Lenovo i7", but I've also tweaked my desktop "AMD Phenom II" too. Works very well. :biggrin:

[kiwano69]

je vais tester a nouveau et je vous tiens au courant merci

[Aoikani]

So your ValueMax was at 64? Just set it to 0, it turns off the core parking. Create a restore point and save your registry before you try so you can be safe. If you're satisfied then ... have fun! :D

 

Let me know how you do.

[joshl77]

Is this mostly for i7 chips? I'm running an i5 3570k @ 4.5ghz and would love to try this.

[joshl77]

Well, nvm. Doesn't look like windows is parking any cores. Disabled speed step and a few other things in the bios relating to CPU the other day and I'm assuming that's why.

[Aoikani]

It's for 2+ physical or logical core systems using Windows 7. The feature is built in Windows 7 and manages the core parking feature whether it is AMD or Intel chips. Don't assume that your cores are not parking unless you changed the registry as I showed above. When you finally use a game that will put some heavy loads on your system, the parking will show in the PerfMon. If you have an awesome system already, you might not notice the benefits. Try running 2 games at once in separate windows, like Mass Effect 3 and Skyrim together, then view your PerfMon. You can visually see whether your cores are ALL being utilized.

 

Disabling speedstep helps too.