CPU usage

[DVOM]

How do I find out what services/processes are using CPU cycles in XP? I used to know how in w2k but have either forgotten or it's in a different place in XP. TIA

[Limerick]

Hi DVOM,

Hit Ctrl-Alt-Del and look in the Processes column. Is that the info that you are seeking?

Happy Computing!

Limerick

[DVOM]

Thanks Limerick, yes that's what I was looking for. I found out previously I was running at 100% CPU usage. Now I find out that the culprit was a little MSI program called "coolerXP" meant to run your AMD XP processor a little cooler. It does drag the temp down from about 46ºC to about 34ºC with no apparent drag on performance. But using between 75% and 98% of the CPU cycles doesn't look good.

Seems like it would heat the CPU up rather than the opposite.

Edit: Actually, with that coolerXP program I'm frequently running at about 28ºC CPU temp. How it does that with 98% CPU usage is beyond me.

[jenae]

Hi Dvom that cpu useage got me thinking, so I went looking. You might find this forum discussion interesting:-
http://www.hardcoreware.net/forum/sh...?threadid=3436

[LotusAstra]

Hi DVOM and all,

The 100% CPU usage u'r getting is normal with the program u'r using, infact all CPU cooler programs will give u 100% CPU usage i believe due to the way it puts the CPU into an idle loop...

But there is another way that drops temps just the same and the CPU usage display will work as normal, its by changing a register in the chipset, this can be done with programs WPCREDIT & WPCRSET. The registers u need to change depend on the MoBO u have.

I still use the WPCREDIT/WPCRSET method now on my KT3 ultra system, definatly prefer this way so i can see CPU usage when needed and also so i don't have so many background apps running.

For further info HERE's the thread from back when i 1st tried this stuff, great info in there if u'r up for a read, check out DrMDJs' posts especially.

Happy cooling

[DVOM]

Thanks jenae and Lotus, wish I'd found this out earlier in the weekend as I won't have time to check it out til later.

Lotus, what do I need to search for with google to find which register to adjust with my MSI KT3 Ultra mobo? And from a quick look I'm guessing WPCREDIT is used to change the settings and WPCRSET is used to set it at boot? That'll take more time when I get some.

However, when I first built this machine, I was running about 46ºC with w2k. Now I've changed to XP and am running about 40-41ºC CPU temps. (without "coolerXP") Not bad so I'm not in a rush. I've also read that as the heatsink/thermal compound seat in that the temps can drop about 5ºC anyway.

[LotusAstra]

You can get WPCREDIT 1.2a & WPCRSET 1.2 HERE its the 1st link i found but it seems OK. They're the same versions as i use...

WPCREDIT is purely used for testing, only to check if u have the right settings. since u have the same MoBo as me (and i know the register that needs changing) u could go straight to using WPCRSET to make the settings semi-permanant. Using WPCREDIT can be a little tedious @ 1st, but WPCRSET is the easy part since I know the register to change.

Heres a snippet from the notes i made, i'll just put in the info for WPCRSET as its essentially all u need.

This setting works on my KT3 Ultra v1.0, (untested by me on Ultra 2 & ARU etc but might work)

Register	95 = 1E

Run "InstDD.exe" to install then Reboot
Run "WPCRSET.exe"...
Select the radio buttons for "Start" and "Enable"...
Then click the Add button...
The only values you need to be concerned with are those for Register and Data...
ie. Register = 95 & Data = 1E...
leave other boxes as they were (Zero'd out) and hit OK and Reboot to take effect...

Setiings will now be Permanant until u Un-Select the radio buttons for "Start"

BTW: a well-known (but minor for most) side effect to this program is that recording audio from line-in gives a clicking distortion in the recording... its fairly bad, but its no problem to disable WPCRSET and reboot then alls good to record as before... guess it depends how much recording u do as to wether it would be of anoyance, but i can live with it since other than that i've noticed no other bad things happen.

Regards

[DVOM]

LotusAstra, thanks that worked perfectly. Dropped my CPU temp from 42ºC to 27-28ºC with about 5% and less CPU activity.