CPU Usage

[enhanced08]

why do most all software applications only use a small percent of the processing power of a CPU? i never really thought of it until today while i was creating backup ISO's of my cds that the CPU usage bar moved from about 10% - 20%! wouldn't it make more sense to use 100% and get things done quicker? even if the idea behind it is to save some of the power for other applications, if they all do it then there will always be some spare CPU. this is good for programs like folding, but why don't all applications use as much CPU as possible? it seems like a waste to have a nice 3Ghz machine if it never gets used...

[WhatsThisBoxFor?]

It could be that other parts of the system bottleneck the performance before the CPU reaches full load. There is no point having the processor running at 100% if the hard drive cannot be used fast enough to provide the information needed.

[glc]

Maybe this is the reason I'm totally happy with my old 800 MHz machine?

[rjfvillarosa]

Originally Posted by glc Maybe this is the reason I'm totally happy with my old 800 MHz machine?

Funny that my old pentium 111 733mhz coppermine never goes over 15%

[enhanced08]

it can't be that the HDD slows things down because everything that the processor does has to be in RAM. I can see how this would hold true for like ripping a CD but other applications get out in RAM and RAM shouldn't be a bottleneck, atleast not that much of one!

Originally Posted by glc Maybe this is the reason I'm totally happy with my old 800 MHz machine?

800MHz?? wow, i thought you were on a 400 for some reason!

[doctorgonzo]

I don't think that most software applications are written to leave processing power for other apps. Most apps I see never get above 20% or so either. They just don't have all that much to do, or there are bottlenecks (even RAM can be a significant bottleneck), or the software is poorly written and not optimized. If you want something that will use 100% of your CPU, download SETI@Home or one of the other distributed computing projects.

[rjfvillarosa]

In one of my machines I am using a Soyo board with a P111 733mhz and 1gig of 133 ram, it has XP pro and will rip and burn a DVD in 45mins. I would love to upgrade it to an ultra fast proccessor and DDR ram but with very nice steady performance from it as it is I just can't justify it to myself.

[enhanced08]

i already run folding. i just thought it odd that everyone wants faster and faster but when you get faster and faster it never gets used. its kinda pointless in my opinion... but on the other hand i do notice how fast applications load on my machine (2.8Ghz) compared to my moms (500 celly) so it must be used somewhere...

[doctorgonzo]

Originally Posted by enhanced08dotcom i already run folding. i just thought it odd that everyone wants faster and faster but when you get faster and faster it never gets used. its kinda pointless in my opinion...

Yes, it's very pointless. CPU speeds oustripped programming ability long ago: we have all this power, but programmers can't take advantage of it. But if Intel and AMD didn't come up with faster processors constantly, how else would they get people to replace their computers every few years?

[enhanced08]

yeah, but still.... i think that maybe someone other than glc would have thought for a sec. and said "huh, this 233 never gets fully used so why should i upgrade it?" and now with dual cores..... and servers, why do you need 23 CPUs in a server??? servers don't need to be fast, its int I/O that needs to be fast! whats with that then?