i3 CPU

All i3 cores are two core processors. They can run 4 threads, but I suspect each processor is doing task swapping, which slows things down. In general they are an upgrade of the Core2 with some new technology and some video processing additions. These CPU’s are a poor choice good for gaming performance.

The i3’s are better than Pentiums and earlier single core processors. So, for hose with limited budgets and older computers the i3 is a good choice and will give a healthy performance improvement over the old computer.

i3’s draw 18 to 35 watts depending on the version. The faster the CPU the more they draw.

i5 CPU

Core i5 CPU’s come in duel and quad core versions. At the top of this core version is the Intel® Core™ i5-2500K 6M Cache @ 3.30 GHz. It is a quad core processor capable of 4 threads. This CPU benches at 7,455, which is 2.7 times faster than the top i3 and 5 times faster than my Duel Core2.

i5’s draw 73 to 95 watts depending on the version. These CPU’s do NOT have a direct speed to power relationship. Some slower chips use more power than some of the faster chips. So, there is no choice but to look up the power draw for the chip you are considering.

Second Life should theoretically perform better on the i5’s than i3’s. The optimized Hyper-Threading and Power Boost features should do a lot to improve performance. Certainly more than the i3. However, the i7 is going to outperform both.

i7 3960X

The i7 3960X 12m Cache @ 3.2 GHz is Intel’s current flagship processor. When used with the new X79 motherboards four GTX 580 cards can be run simultaneously in SLI. This is a setup for extreme gamers. Second Life can’t take advantage of all that hardware, but you will get really good frame rates. The interesting calculation would be to divide the cost of the hardware by the FPS rate to see how much each FPS costs.

CPUBenchmark.net only has the Intel Core i7 980X @ 3.33GHz benchmarked not the 3930. It comes in at 10,616. The nice thing about this chip is that it is compatible with motherboards built in 2008. Great for upgraders.

Another nice thing about the i7’s is task swapping is used and the 6 core i7’s can juggle 12 threads. i7’s come in two, four, and six cores. The bigger advantage is the i7’s special support of DDR3 video memory and a faster dedicated data bus for video.

i7’s draw 95 to 130 watts depending on the version. The CPU’s based on the Bloomfield design, 920 to 975, and the Gulftown design, 970 and 980, use 130 watts. The Lynnfield design, 860 to 880, use 95 watts.

Hyper-Threading

This is Intel’s name for task swapping. If you don’t understand swapping, the simple explanation is the CPU unloads one program or task it has been running and saves it someplace. It then works on a new program or task for a limited time then saves it and reloads the previous program or task. This repeats endlessly. Hyper-Threading is Intel’s label for their highly optimized the swapping process.

For Second Life multiple cores and Hyper-Threading are ‘helpful’.

Multi-Thread or Not

Multi-threading is about breaking computer tasks up into separate parts or tasks. Programs that can do that generally run faster because of Hyper-Threading. But, the Linden Lab viewer has a reputation for not doing much multi-tasking. See the JIRA VWR-1135 – Better multi-threading! This item was entered into the JIRA in June 2007 and updated November 2011.

If you want better frame rates visit the JIRA and click WATCH. Don’t expect the JIRA to change much priority at the Lab. They are already working on improved performance. Stability and performance are both high priority now.

JIRA items VWR-1135 and VWR-14221 are duplicates. Item VWR-1135 is shown as Awaiting Review. …it is not the JIRA item awaiting review. It is the issue of multi-threading that is awaiting review. I suspect this is an ongoing review process about what can be threaded next.

Most of the comments in the JIRA are prior to the release of version 3 code. It appears there is more multi-threaded code in V3. Also, there are a number of Debug Settings that show multi-threading.

• CurlUseMultipleThreads – Use background threads for executing curl_multi_perform (requires restart).
• RenderAppleUseMultGL – Whether we want to use multi-threaded OpenGL on Apple hardware (requires restart of SL). — There is no information on whether this has any affect on a Windows machine. Changing it on my Windows machine seems to have no effect.
• RunMultipleThreads – If TRUE keep background threads active during render – Default = False. — There is little information on this setting. What I have found is that setting this item to true hands off texture decompression to multiple threads, which can run in other processors cores. It improves performance.

Everything I’ve been able to find suggests that Second Life and OpenGL are weak when it comes to multi-threading. But, open up the Performance Monitor and start SL. Look at the tasks in the CPU section and you’ll find the SL Viewer running 20± tasks. You’ll see the same with other viewers. This means multi-core processors with more cores will do better than processors with fewer cores.

When to Upgrade the CPU

While SL is weak at multithreading, more CPU cores do help. One’s computer has numerous tasks running at any one time. Having more cores allows those tasks to run without having to interrupt the Second Life ‘task’.

The challenge is figuring out when one needs a CPU upgrade rather than a video card upgrade. We do that by looking at the CPU and GPU loads. When the graphics load on an older video card is small then consider a CPU upgrade to get better performance.

The GPU-Z tool shows GPU load on the Sensors tab. The Task Manager and Performance Monitor in Windows show the CPU load. The Performance Monitor tells the load on the Disk drives, network, CPU and memory. Whichever one runs at near 100% is the one to consider upgrading first.

If you have a single core CPU, check to see if your motherboard will handle other CPU’s. You can look it up on the manufacturer’s web site. CPU-Z will give you the brand name and model.

Clock Speed

Everything in the computer is dependent on clock speed. The CPU in some ways is independent of memory and video clock speeds. The CPU has onboard memory to hold data and program instructions. This allows it to buffer data flow to some extent. Intel builds in smart caching to reduce the dependence on memory speed.

But, the CPU and GPU can both be held back by slow clocks, slow disk drives, and slow memory. If the CPU and GPU are waiting on disk drives or memory, they can be providing poor performance and showing no load. It is time to start looking at getting faster components.

A 3.2 GHz CPU is better than a 2.4 GHz CPU for performance, about 25% better. If your CPU were the only bottleneck in your system then a change from 2.4 to 3.2 should give you a bump from 25 FPS to 31 FPS. And that is an optimistic bump. In real life it will likely be less. So, consider what you are willing to pay to get 6 FPS better performance.

Faster means more power consumption and more heat. The faster chips also cost more.

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