Which Games Fully Utilize Quad-Core CPUs?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the utilization of quad-core CPUs in gaming, specifically whether games are designed to fully leverage the capabilities of such processors. Participants explore the threading capabilities of modern games compared to professional software, and the implications for performance in gaming.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants note that many modern games, like Crysis, are primarily optimized for only one or two cores, which limits the performance benefits of quad-core CPUs.
  • Others mention that professional software, such as Adobe Premiere, can utilize all cores effectively, contrasting with the performance of games.
  • There is a suggestion that multi-threading in games can be complex, leading developers to avoid full utilization of available cores.
  • One participant raises a question about whether any games, such as Far Cry 2, actually take full advantage of quad-core CPUs.
  • Concerns are expressed about the appearance of multi-threading in some programs, which may simply be the OS managing load distribution across cores without true multi-threading.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree that many games do not fully utilize quad-core CPUs, but there is no consensus on specific titles that do. The discussion remains unresolved regarding which games, if any, fully leverage quad-core capabilities.

Contextual Notes

Limitations include the lack of specific examples of games that utilize quad-core CPUs effectively and the dependence on definitions of multi-threading and performance metrics.

The_Absolute
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I was curious if your OS, and background/system tasks are fully multi-threaded throughout all the Four cores of a quad-core CPU. As well as all Eight threads, if that quad core supports hyper-threading.

Most modern games, like Crysis, are only programmed to be threaded through Two processor cores. Which is why a quad-core CPU doesn't make Crysis run faster.

Are there any games that take full advantage of a quad-core CPU? I heard that Far Cry 2 does.
 
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I don't know about games, but a video rendering package called Adobe Premeire will use all 4 cores.
 
Most games only use one or two cores. Multi-threading can get difficult so most games just don't use it. Professional software programs like adobe, matlab, ansys, comsol, etc have the ability to use all cores and threads.
 
The_Absolute said:
I was curious if your OS, and background/system tasks are fully multi-threaded throughout all the Four cores of a quad-core CPU. As well as all Eight threads, if that quad core supports hyper-threading.

Yes. Windows natively supports multicore CPUs back to Windows XP, and schedules threads to fill idle cores appropriately, taking into consideration thread priority. Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del in Windows XP and Ctrl+Shift+Esc in Windows Vista and 7) will show a graph of the load on each CPU.
 
Last edited:
Sometimes programs can appear to be multi-threading when they are not. The OS can just be alternating between the cores to spread out the load.
 
Pattonias said:
Sometimes programs can appear to be multi-threading when they are not. The OS can just be alternating between the cores to spread out the load.

Most modern video games are programmed to only be multi-threaded through Two processor cores. Such as Crysis, for example. Are there any games yet which take full advantage of a quad-core processor?
 

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