Windows 7 Micro stutter Fix - Core Parking

brandonwh64 · Feb 2, 2012, 05:29 PM

Hi Everyone

I just found a great fix to stop win7 parking the cores when Idle.

This is an aggressive power saving approach which makes the system feel sluggish and underpowered..

Who is affected
It only applies to Windows 7 X64 and X32 and only in systems using more than 2 physical CPU's and/or more than 2 "logical" cores - ie: Core i7's.

The Problem
Core Parking is a feature of Windows 7 that is causing rare performance problems. I don't notice it on my home i7 / Win7 system but some people are getting microstutters and odd behavior in certain programs. Without the following " tweak" you may see CPU spiking in your programs and Windows Task Manager - some CPU cores will be "turned off" / "parked" depending on load and they will be dynamically turned on or off and dynamically loaded up or down as the system deems necessary - the scope for glitches / pops / clicks / dropouts etc.... in such an environment is simply enormous. To the best of my knowledge, there is no known "switch" to turn it off - no utility I am aware of to "tweak" it off.

The Fix
- Go to Regedit
- Select Edit > Find... and find this key: "Specify the minimum number of unparked cores/packages allowed (in percentage)."
- Within this key, there is a value called: " ValueMax " This value represents the % number of cores the system will park
- Change the value of " ValueMax" to 0 so that, it matches " ValueMin "
- You will have to find the key a few times and repeat the process for each time it is found - the number of instances will depend on the number of power profiles in your system. To do this go back up to Edit > Find Next. (I had 3 instances of this key in my registry.)
- Do a full shutdown and power-off and cold-re-start.

This seems to work better.

SOURCE

Thanks guys in the BF3 clubhouse.

Sasqui · Feb 2, 2012, 05:34 PM

Cool tip. Surprised no BIOS exposes that setting, or prhaps it does in a different way?

brandonwh64 · Feb 2, 2012, 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sasqui

Cool tip. Surprised no BIOS exposes that setting, or prhaps it does in a different way?

Its something windows 7 does to save some energy. This fix has been known to help anyone with HT shuttering issues in BF3

Sasqui · Feb 2, 2012, 06:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brandonwh64

Its something windows 7 does to save some energy. This fix has been known to help anyone with HT shuttering issues in BF3

Yes, I knew that part, but there's a hardware/software layer that allows Win7 to do this, and my assumption is it's talking through the BIOS. Much like the power saving modes of old.

cadaveca · Feb 2, 2012, 06:18 PM

I made the changes, will check it out this afternoon.

First thing to report is that it did not affect idle temps at all.

brandonwh64 · Feb 2, 2012, 06:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cadaveca

I made the changes, will check it out this afternoon.

First thing to report is that it did not affect idle temps at all.

Nice! Please let us know how it works out for you!

_ALB_R3D X · Feb 2, 2012, 06:38 PM

Same here...Temps are normal
Gonna try BF3 in a few minutes

johnspack · Feb 2, 2012, 07:35 PM

Just tried this myself with winrar, and it does indeed increase performance by a fair bit. However there is an easier way, just one reg mod and you can set it in power options! 0% is fully enabled, and 100% and parking is fully disabled:

cadaveca · Feb 2, 2012, 07:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnspack

Just tried this myself with winrar, and it does indeed increase performance by a fair bit. However there is an easier way, just one reg mod and you can set it in power options! 0% is fully enabled, and 100% and parking is fully disabled:
http://img.techpowerup.org/120202/CorePark.png

I already tried to make those adjsutments, and "Core Parking" still seemed to be enabled, as the power plan here on my system didn't list core parking in the power options.

I wonder why it shows in yours? Weird...

DRDNA · Feb 2, 2012, 07:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnspack

Just tried this myself with winrar, and it does indeed increase performance by a fair bit. However there is an easier way, just one reg mod and you can set it in power options! 0% is fully enabled, and 100% and parking is fully disabled:
http://img.techpowerup.org/120202/CorePark.png

My power options did not change and I dont have any thing that looks like your screen shot.
Your screenie almost looks like windows is skinned to basic.?.

johnspack · Feb 2, 2012, 07:51 PM

You just need to use the one reg mod I showed, simply change the attribute from 1 to 0. Then it will show up in advanced power options.

DRDNA · Feb 2, 2012, 07:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnspack

You just need to use the one reg mod I showed, simply change the attribute from 1 to 0. Then it will show up in advanced power options.

where is advanced power options located?

johnspack · Feb 2, 2012, 07:54 PM

Click "Change power settings" then "Change advanced power settings". Oh, and I didn't need a reboot for any of this, it worked right away.
Edit: and yes, I use classic interface, with classicshell ect....

DRDNA · Feb 2, 2012, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnspack

Click "Change power settings" then "Change advanced power settings". Oh, and I didn't need a reboot for any of this, it worked right away.
Edit: and yes, I use classic interface, with classicshell ect....

Ahhh...okay...now I see it...lol

Mine was set at 10% originally. Now its at 100%...

johnspack · Feb 2, 2012, 08:00 PM

Yep, mine was at 10 as well, when I put it to 100, my winrar throughput went up a good 25%...

LAN_deRf_HA · Feb 2, 2012, 08:01 PM

I did this awhile ago. Increased my gflops and did not increase power draw. What exactly is core parking supposed to accomplish because so far it just wastes performance.

Breathless · Feb 2, 2012, 08:04 PM

This is a great post. Thanks!

DRDNA · Feb 2, 2012, 08:06 PM

WOW right of the bat it has lowered my temp on my core 0 while folding with smp and v7!I always had core0 running a few degrees hotter but now its on par with all the rest of the cores! Hot damn nice!

cadaveca · Feb 2, 2012, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LAN_deRf_HA

I did this awhile ago. Increased my gflops and did not increase power draw. What exactly is core parking supposed to accomplish because so far it just wastes performance.

"Core Parking" will fully disable and power down unused cores that support "Core Parking". It takes a moment or two to "wake" the "sleeping" core, which causes the performance loss. It will also shift workloads to active cores so that only the needed amount of cores are "woken" from the ultra-low-power state. Disabling Core Parking removes the Ultra-low power staes, having the cores ready for new work.

As far as I understand it, teh WIn7 kernel isn't able to fully support CoreParking right yet, so maybe that's why there is no differnce in idle states or power consumption. It's more than possible that the cores aren't actually "sleeping" in Win7, and are merely ignored for thread-dispatch.

_ALB_R3D X · Feb 2, 2012, 08:29 PM

Maybe it's me but I'm feelin a bit of smoothness in BF3...anyone else tried yet?

LifeOnMars · Feb 2, 2012, 08:44 PM

I'm crap with technobabble, would this encompass i5 2500k's as well?

cadaveca · Feb 2, 2012, 08:46 PM

maybe, but it seems to be more for INtel CPUs with HT. Give it a try and let us know; it's easy to reverse.

LifeOnMars · Feb 2, 2012, 08:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cadaveca

maybe, but it seems to be more for INtel CPUs with HT. Give it a try and let us know; it's easy to reverse.

I'll try anything for a performance increase

Whats the best indicator of any perfomance increase? Will it mean I can run Crysis?

But seriously, which benchmark would show up any improvement?

cadaveca · Feb 2, 2012, 08:56 PM

things that are more core-instensive, liek winrar and such, should show the largest gains, but I seem to be noticing an effect in nearly everything. It might be a placebo effect, but even IE seems to load up faster.

DRDNA · Feb 2, 2012, 09:01 PM

SAME HERE! I should run some benches.

Feb 2, 2012, 05:29 PM	#1
brandonwh64 Addicted to Bacon and StarCrunches!!! Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Chatsworth, GA Posts: 13,562 (10.03/day) Thanks: 2,145 Thanked 5,338 Times in 3,695 Posts System Specs	Windows 7 Micro stutter Fix - Core Parking Hi Everyone I just found a great fix to stop win7 parking the cores when Idle. This is an aggressive power saving approach which makes the system feel sluggish and underpowered.. Who is affected It only applies to Windows 7 X64 and X32 and only in systems using more than 2 physical CPU's and/or more than 2 "logical" cores - ie: Core i7's. The Problem Core Parking is a feature of Windows 7 that is causing rare performance problems. I don't notice it on my home i7 / Win7 system but some people are getting microstutters and odd behavior in certain programs. Without the following " tweak" you may see CPU spiking in your programs and Windows Task Manager - some CPU cores will be "turned off" / "parked" depending on load and they will be dynamically turned on or off and dynamically loaded up or down as the system deems necessary - the scope for glitches / pops / clicks / dropouts etc.... in such an environment is simply enormous. To the best of my knowledge, there is no known "switch" to turn it off - no utility I am aware of to "tweak" it off. The Fix - Go to Regedit - Select Edit > Find... and find this key: "Specify the minimum number of unparked cores/packages allowed (in percentage)." - Within this key, there is a value called: " ValueMax " This value represents the % number of cores the system will park - Change the value of " ValueMax" to 0 so that, it matches " ValueMin " - You will have to find the key a few times and repeat the process for each time it is found - the number of instances will depend on the number of power profiles in your system. To do this go back up to Edit > Find Next. (I had 3 instances of this key in my registry.) - Do a full shutdown and power-off and cold-re-start. This seems to work better. SOURCE Thanks guys in the BF3 clubhouse. __________________ Cruncher's: All GPU's GPU's: 7970 3GB Unlocked = 8 Threads 5770 1GB OCed = 2 Threads

System Name:	The StarCrunch Defender!
Processor:	I7 2600K @ 4.5ghz 1.32V
Motherboard:	Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H-B3
Cooling:	Corsair A70 Push/Pull
Memory:	G-Skill Ripjaws 2x4GB DDR3 1866mhz
Video Card:	Gigabyte 7970 3GB Reference Card at boost clocks
Hard Disk:	2x 500GB WD Blue Raid 0 / 1TB WD Black
Optical Drive:	Samsung DVD/R/RW SATA
CRT/LCD Model:	ViewSonic VG2227wm 1080P
Case:	NZXT Tempest 410 Elite
Sound Card:	Onboard Realtek (Azalia)
PSU:	Corsair 750TX
Software:	Windows 7 Home X64

Feb 2, 2012, 05:34 PM	#2
Sasqui Eligible for custom title Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Manchester, NH Posts: 6,046 (2.22/day) Thanks: 816 Thanked 904 Times in 738 Posts System Specs	Cool tip. Surprised no BIOS exposes that setting, or prhaps it does in a different way? __________________ Heatware

System Name:	"Naked Ivy"
Processor:	i7-3570k Costa (4.7 Ghz 24/7), Now de-lidded and NAKED!
Motherboard:	GA-Z77X-UD5H (rev1.1)
Cooling:	SWTech 320 Rad, Modded 655 Pump, Koolance 345
Memory:	16GB 4x4 G.Skill CAS9 2133 Sniper
Video Card:	Powercolor HD 7870 (Core at 1200, 5% bump in voltage)
Hard Disk:	WD 320 / 500KS / 500KS / 640KS / 640LS / 640LS / 640LS / 1TBFAEX
Optical Drive:	LG DVD+-R
CRT/LCD Model:	24" DELL 2405FPW
Case:	Modded HAF 932
Sound Card:	Onboard + HD HDMI
PSU:	Corsair HX750 (love it)
Software:	Win 7 Ultimate
Benchmarks:	Almost stable @ 4.9 Ghz, working on benchies

System Name:	The StarCrunch Defender!
Processor:	I7 2600K @ 4.5ghz 1.32V
Motherboard:	Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H-B3
Cooling:	Corsair A70 Push/Pull
Memory:	G-Skill Ripjaws 2x4GB DDR3 1866mhz
Video Card:	Gigabyte 7970 3GB Reference Card at boost clocks
Hard Disk:	2x 500GB WD Blue Raid 0 / 1TB WD Black
Optical Drive:	Samsung DVD/R/RW SATA
CRT/LCD Model:	ViewSonic VG2227wm 1080P
Case:	NZXT Tempest 410 Elite
Sound Card:	Onboard Realtek (Azalia)
PSU:	Corsair 750TX
Software:	Windows 7 Home X64

Feb 2, 2012, 06:18 PM	#5
cadaveca My name is Dave Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: The Great White North Posts: 10,767 (4.15/day) Thanks: 4,480 Thanked 5,192 Times in 3,199 Posts System Specs	I made the changes, will check it out this afternoon. First thing to report is that it did not affect idle temps at all.

System Name:	Eyefinity Gamer
Processor:	Intel i5 3570K @ 4.6 GHz
Motherboard:	ASUS Maximmus V Formula
Cooling:	Corsair H100
Memory:	16 GB G.Skill F3-2666C11Q-16GTXD
Video Card:	AMD Radeon HD7950 3GB x2 w/AMD Catalyst 12.10
Hard Disk:	OCZ Nocti 60GB mSATA, Crucial M4 120GB x2
Optical Drive:	LG BluRay/HD-DVD
CRT/LCD Model:	3x Dell U2412M
Case:	LianLi T60
Sound Card:	N/A
PSU:	Silverstone Strider 750W GOLD
Software:	Windows 8 Pro
Benchmarks:	Benchmarking is for suckers. ;)

Feb 2, 2012, 06:38 PM	#7
_ALB_R3D X Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Tirana,Albania Posts: 246 (0.38/day) Thanks: 83 Thanked 70 Times in 61 Posts System Specs	Same here...Temps are normal Gonna try BF3 in a few minutes __________________ I work only for money,if you want loyalty hire a dog. Clear CMOS: 1.) immediately following a new build, before power is applied 2.) immediately following any hardware change/upgrade 3.) after flashing BIOS.

System Name:	Th3 R3D X
Processor:	Intel Core i5 2500K @ 4.0Ghz
Motherboard:	Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H
Cooling:	CoolerMaster V6GT
Memory:	Kingston KHX1866C9D3T1K2/8GX @2133Mhz(11-13-13-32)
Video Card:	ASUS Radeon HD6950 2GB CrossfireX
Hard Disk:	Hyper X 3K 90GB(OS+BF3),WD 500 + Samsung HD502HJ
Optical Drive:	LG DVD-RW
CRT/LCD Model:	Samsung P2350,Full HD,2ms
Case:	Cooler Master HAF X
Sound Card:	OnBoard
PSU:	Cooler Master Silent Pro 850W
Software:	Win 7 Ultimate 64bit

Feb 2, 2012, 07:35 PM	#8
johnspack Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Nelson B.C. Canada Posts: 3,724 (1.81/day) Thanks: 282 Thanked 750 Times in 516 Posts System Specs	Just tried this myself with winrar, and it does indeed increase performance by a fair bit. However there is an easier way, just one reg mod and you can set it in power options! 0% is fully enabled, and 100% and parking is fully disabled: __________________ Heatware: http://www.heatware.com/eval.php?id=73875 Clan !! The Fighting 24th !! http://fxxiv.forumotion.ca/ Buy the games you like! Boycott the garbage! Cruncher: P6T Xeon ES W3570 6Gbs Ram 1xgtx285 1xgtx260

System Name:	Blacknet
Processor:	i7 950@ 4.1GHz
Motherboard:	Asus Rampage II Gene
Cooling:	Noctua NH-D14, 8 case fans
Memory:	24GB gskill ripjaws@ 1800mhz
Video Card:	Evga GTX480 + GTX260 Physx + TrackIR 5
Hard Disk:	WD Black 1TB 64mb cache + Spinpoint F1 750g backup + 2TB Seagate backup + 320GB Seagate backup
Optical Drive:	LG BH12LS38 Blu Ray burner
CRT/LCD Model:	Syncmaster 2443BW 1920x1200 Lcd + 19" ViewSonic Lcd
Case:	Antec 1200
Sound Card:	Onboard
PSU:	Silverstone 850Watt Strider+ Modular
Software:	Win7 x64 SP1 Ultimate
Benchmarks:	Time to upgrade to 680s....

System Name:	http://www.heatware.com/eval.php?id=73751
Processor:	i7-920 CO@4.2GHZ
Motherboard:	Asus P6T Deluxe Intel X58
Cooling:	Asetek Liquid CPU Cooling System
Memory:	CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1600
Video Card:	2X ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB DDR5 PCI-Express
Hard Disk:	(RAID-0) with 4 Identical Hard Drives (1.28TB (320GBx4)
Optical Drive:	LG BLU-RAY/HD-DVD Reader / DVD±R/±RW Writer
CRT/LCD Model:	LG 50" 50PK550 1080p 600Hz Plasma/37 Inch WestingHouse @1920x1080
Case:	Thermaltake M9 (I hate it its like trying to live in a 1 inch box)
PSU:	ThermalTake ToughPower 1200 Watt
Software:	Windows 7 professional 64

Feb 2, 2012, 07:51 PM	#11
johnspack Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Nelson B.C. Canada Posts: 3,724 (1.81/day) Thanks: 282 Thanked 750 Times in 516 Posts System Specs	You just need to use the one reg mod I showed, simply change the attribute from 1 to 0. Then it will show up in advanced power options. __________________ Heatware: http://www.heatware.com/eval.php?id=73875 Clan !! The Fighting 24th !! http://fxxiv.forumotion.ca/ Buy the games you like! Boycott the garbage! Cruncher: P6T Xeon ES W3570 6Gbs Ram 1xgtx285 1xgtx260

Feb 2, 2012, 07:54 PM	#13
johnspack Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Nelson B.C. Canada Posts: 3,724 (1.81/day) Thanks: 282 Thanked 750 Times in 516 Posts System Specs	Click "Change power settings" then "Change advanced power settings". Oh, and I didn't need a reboot for any of this, it worked right away. Edit: and yes, I use classic interface, with classicshell ect.... __________________ Heatware: http://www.heatware.com/eval.php?id=73875 Clan !! The Fighting 24th !! http://fxxiv.forumotion.ca/ Buy the games you like! Boycott the garbage! Cruncher: P6T Xeon ES W3570 6Gbs Ram 1xgtx285 1xgtx260

Feb 2, 2012, 08:00 PM	#15
johnspack Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Nelson B.C. Canada Posts: 3,724 (1.81/day) Thanks: 282 Thanked 750 Times in 516 Posts System Specs	Yep, mine was at 10 as well, when I put it to 100, my winrar throughput went up a good 25%... __________________ Heatware: http://www.heatware.com/eval.php?id=73875 Clan !! The Fighting 24th !! http://fxxiv.forumotion.ca/ Buy the games you like! Boycott the garbage! Cruncher: P6T Xeon ES W3570 6Gbs Ram 1xgtx285 1xgtx260

Feb 2, 2012, 08:01 PM	#16
LAN_deRf_HA Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 4,016 (2.14/day) Thanks: 290 Thanked 831 Times in 588 Posts System Specs	I did this awhile ago. Increased my gflops and did not increase power draw. What exactly is core parking supposed to accomplish because so far it just wastes performance.

System Name:	Obelisc
Processor:	i7 2600k @ 4.5 GHz
Motherboard:	Asus P8Z77-V
Cooling:	H110
Memory:	16GB(4x8) @ 2133 MHz 9-11-10-28 2T
Video Card:	Galaxy GTX 660 Ti GC 3GB SLI
Hard Disk:	M4 256GB, 2x 3TB Seagate XT
Optical Drive:	Samsung 12x Bluray
CRT/LCD Model:	Crossover 27Q
Case:	Corsair 550D
Sound Card:	X-Fi Titanium HD with HD598
PSU:	Kingwin LZP-550
Software:	Win7 64bit SP1

Feb 2, 2012, 08:04 PM	#17
Breathless Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 367 (0.18/day) Thanks: 66 Thanked 35 Times in 26 Posts	This is a great post. Thanks! __________________ All Hail Obama - by Breathless http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVAJd-AwNtQ http://soundcloud.com/breathlessrap/...mands-designer http://soundcloud.com/breathlessrap/food-for-thought

Feb 2, 2012, 08:06 PM	#18
DRDNA Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: New York Posts: 4,122 (1.56/day) Thanks: 612 Thanked 494 Times in 424 Posts System Specs	WOW right of the bat it has lowered my temp on my core 0 while folding with smp and v7!I always had core0 running a few degrees hotter but now its on par with all the rest of the cores! Hot damn nice! __________________ Asus P6T Deluxe Intel X58/ i7-920CO@4.2GHZ 24/7 <> CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1600.<> ThermalTake ToughPower 1200 WATT PSU 2X ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB DDR5 <> Asetek Liquid CPU Cooling System 320GBx4 Perpendicular RAID-0/BLU-RAY/HD-DVD Reader / DVD±R/±RW Writer LG 50" 50PK550 1080p 600Hz Plasma/WestingHouse 37 inch @1920X1080/Windows 7 Pro/64

Feb 2, 2012, 08:29 PM	#20
_ALB_R3D X Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Tirana,Albania Posts: 246 (0.38/day) Thanks: 83 Thanked 70 Times in 61 Posts System Specs	Maybe it's me but I'm feelin a bit of smoothness in BF3...anyone else tried yet? __________________ I work only for money,if you want loyalty hire a dog. Clear CMOS: 1.) immediately following a new build, before power is applied 2.) immediately following any hardware change/upgrade 3.) after flashing BIOS.

Feb 2, 2012, 08:44 PM	#21
LifeOnMars Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Kettering,Northants. UK Posts: 2,242 (1.25/day) Thanks: 1,718 Thanked 401 Times in 337 Posts System Specs	I'm crap with technobabble, would this encompass i5 2500k's as well?

Feb 2, 2012, 08:46 PM	#22
cadaveca My name is Dave Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: The Great White North Posts: 10,767 (4.15/day) Thanks: 4,480 Thanked 5,192 Times in 3,199 Posts System Specs	maybe, but it seems to be more for INtel CPUs with HT. Give it a try and let us know; it's easy to reverse.

Feb 2, 2012, 08:56 PM	#24
cadaveca My name is Dave Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: The Great White North Posts: 10,767 (4.15/day) Thanks: 4,480 Thanked 5,192 Times in 3,199 Posts System Specs	things that are more core-instensive, liek winrar and such, should show the largest gains, but I seem to be noticing an effect in nearly everything. It might be a placebo effect, but even IE seems to load up faster.

Feb 2, 2012, 09:01 PM	#25
DRDNA Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: New York Posts: 4,122 (1.56/day) Thanks: 612 Thanked 494 Times in 424 Posts System Specs	SAME HERE! I should run some benches. __________________ Asus P6T Deluxe Intel X58/ i7-920CO@4.2GHZ 24/7 <> CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1600.<> ThermalTake ToughPower 1200 WATT PSU 2X ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB DDR5 <> Asetek Liquid CPU Cooling System 320GBx4 Perpendicular RAID-0/BLU-RAY/HD-DVD Reader / DVD±R/±RW Writer LG 50" 50PK550 1080p 600Hz Plasma/WestingHouse 37 inch @1920X1080/Windows 7 Pro/64

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
How can I get rid of micro-stutter in Skyrim?	Black Panther	Games	25	Feb 1, 2012 04:39 AM
Stutter lock up issues on windows 7	Reefer86	General Hardware	5	Feb 18, 2010 02:28 PM
Ideal Core (Core Parking Optimization) and how to change it!	EastCoasthandle	General Hardware	13	Dec 25, 2009 07:26 PM
Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz LGA 1366 Quad-Core Processor for $199.99 @Micro Center	sata_mata	Hot Deals	7	Apr 3, 2009 07:38 PM
Windows XP SP3: Windows Update fix	hat	General Software	9	Jun 4, 2008 08:30 AM