Confusion between CPU Core and Thread
#1
I have just got a new PC with Core i3 530 (2.93 Ghz) today. According to ark.intel.com, my CPU has 2 cores and 4 threads (click the link to see details). I used to think it is a quad-core CPU because the Windows Task Manager shows 4, and even the dxdiag.exe writes "Intel® Core™ i3 CPU 530 @ 2.93GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.9GHz". I cannot tell core from thread.

When trying God of War II with native resolution, I can see that only 3 "cores" in Task Manager are working. The other is always 0%, and the game is pretty slow (full speed in cinematics, but only 30 fps in game). Perhaps it is because of the intergrated GPU in my CPU, which is certainly not very powerful compared to a discrete video card's. But it is clear that PCSX2 supports dual-core CPU. So why my CPU does not reach 100%? And why there is one core/thread that doesn't work at all?
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#2
Your CPU has 2 physical cores. Each one of them creates 1 virtual core (or thread), so you end up with 2 threads from the physical cores and 2 threads from the virtual ones.

PCSX2 0.9.7 will use 3 threads, one for GS, one for EE and one for the GUI (pretty minor but it's there). Your CPU will never reach 100% usage in any case because that is how threading works, for example the GS must sometimes wait for the EE to finish processing something to continue, so they can't run all the time in parallel (thus using 100% of both of your cores all the time).

Your low speeds are most certainly caused by your onboard graphics chip, you can check that by reading the GSdx title bar, if GS is about 90% or higher it's the GPU that is bottlenecking you.
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#3
When I run PCSX2, 2 cores are nearly full (maybe the ones for Graphic Synthensizer and Emotion Engine), one is about 20% (the one for GUI), and the other is not working, as what you said.

Intel and AMD intergrate GPU in some kinds of their CPUs recently. I know the intergrated graphic processor intergrated in the CPU is weak. Perhaps it is only powerful than the one in the motherboard. But at least it allows me to scale the game resolution, which onboard GPU doesn't allow me. I remember when I chose DX9 (Hardware) on my old PC, the Windows crashed immediately.

You're right 'bout the reason that make the game slow. When I tred FFX (PAL) with 2x scale resolution, it run at full speed. But when I tried it with 3x scale resolution, the speed drop to 30 fps, even the CPU only reach 30%. God of War II seems to be video card intensive. Hmm... but several months ago, when I tried it on my friend's PC (AMD Athlon x2 2.7 Ghz & GeForce 9600 GT), it still run at 30 fps. What is the system requirements for this game?

Btw, can you further explain what GS and EE percent numbers mean? I always see it, but really don't know what they mean.
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#4
http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-What-do-t...nd-GS-mean
Core i5 3570k -- Geforce GTX 670  --  Windows 7 x64
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