xeon fps issue

[gordo]

got a problem with my server not holding server side fps.

CPU's are xeon quad core 5345

I am running hl2 servers set to 512 fps.they drop to 100fps sometimes and will not hold 512fps .I also tried the default 64 fps and its drops 10 fps as well.

I have posted on srcds but yet to find an answer.there are other ppl having problem with xeons.

anyone here had the same problem or know a fix for it.

[JasonF]

CPU usage too high?

[swish]

Raise the service priority level

[Spartanfrog]

Yeah Im pretty sure I remember you from srcds.com. All the pentium 4 based cores for Xeons have been peforming horribley. Right now there is no real fix for it but know one really knows whats going on. To vetwebhosting, thats the exact problem. The CPU usage is way above the norm for absoluty no reason. To swish, that would only help if he is running many servers and he wants one specific server to be boosted or if he has a lot of services, programs, etc... running.

[swish]

Did it happen with some kinda steam update? I wasent aware of this issue.

[Monk]

The FPS is calculated with sleep(). Sounds like you might have a buggy chipset/busted ACPI timer. Try using /usepmtimer in boot.ini.

 

Other things that effect FPS:

- NMI/SMI (hardware issue)

- USB controller interrupt problems

- Overheating of northbridge/southbridge

- Faulty BIOS settings

- CPU firmware problem(s)

[Spartanfrog]

@ Swish. Well i frequent forums.srcds.com and so many people have been complaining of high Xeon CPU usage.

@ Monk. Well I doubt all of the Xeons have that problem but thats a good idea to check out.

[Monk]

All CPUs have errata that can be patched with bios fixes, or later steppings. I don't care for intel (at all).

 

Sounds like you might be running into errata.

[Spartanfrog]

Yeah intel's Xeons have just been plain horrible for srcds.....at least for me and many people i know.

[xpservers]

The FPS is calculated with sleep(). Sounds like you might have a buggy chipset/busted ACPI timer. Try using /usepmtimer in boot.ini.

 

Other things that effect FPS:

- NMI/SMI (hardware issue)

- USB controller interrupt problems

- Overheating of northbridge/southbridge

- Faulty BIOS settings

- CPU firmware problem(s)

 

How can you confirm its an issue with the ACPI timer and by running /usepmtimer in boot.ini wont make things worst. Were having the same issue with CPU increase and inconsistent FPS.

 

By Faulty BIOS settings are you refering to power save options ?

[Spartanfrog]

Xeons are bad Im telling you. But Monk please correct me if I am wrong but I think i can answer XP server's question. If the ACPI timer is busted, then thats the bad FPS at work. So if you you the other time (8254/PIT? or something like that) and it works, then shouldnt it be better FPS. I know the other timer is much slower, etc but pretty sure its more stable. I really think this the case of Xeons just plain sucking.

[xpservers]

were swapping all our Xeons with Core2Quad, much better, happy customers.

[Monk]

the PIT timer lives off the ISA bridge, and it uses an ioport read. It's a little slower to read, but doesn't have as much jitter as ACPI and don't skew like TSC.

 

8254 is a good, proven way to get timing from a motherboard. Everything else pretty much sucks, with the exception of HPET (which windows doesn't even support, only 08 does)

 

Anyways. That's a suggestion to a solution to that problem.. the other, could be things like busted bios/microcode, or you're running into some other problem, like a windows update that has went haywire.

[Spartanfrog]

Oh thanks for explaining it monk. So you would you recommend using the PIT timer instead of ACPI? Personally I would love to use HPET but I need to get a motherboard that can support it.

[tycom]

We have problem of abnormal CPU usage on Dual Xeon too. Fortunately it's the only one Dual Xeon we host, others machnes run @ QuadCores.

 

We even calculated capacity eqivalent for it. For example if Q6600 (4x2.4Ghz/1066Mhz BUS) has 9600Mhz capacity, Dual Xeons 5160 (2x3.0Ghz/1333BUS) has estimated (by known game servers loads) capacity of 5000Mhz istead of 12000Mhz (which comes from basic calculations) => game servers on Dual Xeons make almost 150% extra load.

[gordo]

zomg all this mumbo jumbo , just tell me how to fix the problem lol.

cpu usage never goes over 25% btw

[jbiloh]

Can't be fixed on Classic Xeons.

 

How to fix it? Rent a Core2Quad or AMD Phenom Quad Core box.

[Spartanfrog]

Yeah sorry, I know it sucks, but blame Intel.............

Offtopic: Anyone try the Phenom yet? Im practically drooling waiting to get one

[jbiloh]

We just deployed our first batch. Our performance tests (as I'm sure Monk will agree), have been fantastic.