Assigning CPU affinities: Some handy utilities

[Willem]

I've been passing around this link to some other forums so I figured I'd do the same here. I came across this neat utility that allows me to permanently assign my processes and programs to a particular CPU core on my dual-core processor. Since Civ only uses 1 core, you can tell all your background processes to use Core 0, leaving Core 1 just for Civ's use. There's one version that will even allow you to assign up to 8 cores.

http://www.geocities.com/edgemeal_software/SetAffinity/index.htm

BTW, it says for XP but in the readers notes at the bottom it seems to work for Vista 32 bit as well. They just haven't officially tested it yet. It looks like there may be some issues with 64 bit Vista though.

[MoonWolf]

Thanks! Nice to have

[Willem]

It works well too, at least the one I'm using. I just have the dual-core one but my affinities are sticking with every boot. It gives me a bit more efficiency out of my processor, which I like. Having a utility like this available now makes the idea of having a quad-core viable. I always felt it was pointless before since there are virtually no programs that make any use of the technology. It's hard enough to find something that even uses dual-core right now. But being able to assign things to each core makes the notion more appealing. I have a background defragmenter now which might get a bit demanding from time to time so I could give it a core all to itself.

[Krill]

Personally I find it fun to play CIV during the respawn periods when I'm playing Team Fortress; only really possible on a quad core.

[Unimatrix11]

talking about extreme gaming... in contrast to that, i like playing EU3 as Japan in normal speed setting (which means like 3 clicks per hour or so...).

[Blaupanzer]

JAPAN??? In EU#? What's up with that?

[Willem]

Originally posted by Blaupanzer
JAPAN??? In EU#? What's up with that?

EU is a bit of a misnomer, they actually have the entire world in the game. It looks like you can even play as the Aztecs too, if you want. I haven't actually played the game yet, but I was scrolling around the map and was quite surprised at how extensive it is.