Hi, when im playing LFS my CPU usage is a consistent 99-100% al the time, surely this cannot be normal. My PC specs are listed below.

Intel Pentium 4 550J 3400MHz
1024MB RAM
Maxtor 300GB HD
ATI Radeon X600 256MB

Now, also my hard drive gets very hot, and basically sometimes the computer just shuts itself down, the PC is stock, no mods. I am also thinking about getting a new graphics card over christmas, which one would you recommend for LFS? With a more powerful graphics card i will probably need to upgrade my cooling, but can you give me some advice on how i can do this, ive attached some pics of my PC, it will be difficult because of a lack of spare space within the case.

Thanks

Brad

hmmm... are you running any other processes? try using some compressed air to clear dust out of the fans and heatsink

is the hard drive very hot to the touch? more so than say... an old 50gig hard drive you have sitting around?

i'm happy with my x800gto. i wouldnt go lower than that. especially since you have a pretty good cpu.

Press Ctrl+Alt+Del, take a screenshot of the process list and post it here so we can ave' a look....

I cleaned by heatsink and fans with compressed air last week to try and keep the computer cool, and yes the HardDrive feels very hot, almost burns my fingers a little to touch sometimes, usually after playing LFS

CSU1, screenshot is attached

EDIT: ZoneAlarm Pro is sometimes added to that too, depends if it 'plays up' and dont let me on msn or not

LFS will use a lot of the CPU, and when racing 100% is quite possible - also, you should have enough cooling for a new gfx card, but of course higher powered fans are easy to buy and installl

I get 16% CPU usage in menus and 90% when on the track. A Pentium 4 isn't really that great, though, so constant 100% during a race should be normal.

It doesn't "use" 100% of the CPU, it allocates it, so that no other application will take over, and then make LFS lag. This is common when it comes to games.

oh, ok thanks for all your help, but also, looking at the first set of pics, how coul i install a hardrive fan if i needed to? because there isnt any space within my case..?

Quote from Lautsprecher[NOR] :

It doesn't "use" 100% of the CPU, it allocates it, so that no other application will take over, and then make LFS lag. This is common when it comes to games.

Then why doesn't my LFS allocate it?

You can google for each service listed in the task manager if you don't know what they are. That will get you a description of what they are and tell you if you really really need it running in the background. Many could be automatic updates for stuff that only updates once a month but still takes up resources unnessessarily, ie. jusched.exe is for Java and sits doing nothing most of the time. Many programs also half load in the background to allow them to "load faster" which ironically makes things load and run slower since your resources are used up with stuff you aren't actually using. Microsoft Office is very good at this. It will load itself in the background, thus you already have Word, Excel, Access, and Powerpoint partially loaded which could be a big bogdown in system resources.

I have googled all the processes that I had running and disabled everything that I didn't need. I did this through Start>Run>system.msc. I found that I had quite a few Windows processes that allowed easy access to using my computer remotely, which I didn't like at all. Anything you have there with eh at the beginning of I know is Windows Media Center stuff. Unless you use it all the time, I'd disable it. I also have none of the ATI stuff enabled and my ATI drivers work just fine. Everything I need to adjust the graphics is on the display properties.

I cut my process's down from around 35-40 when I bought the computer (Compaq, lots were loaded up) to 18 now. I could disable probably about 5 more of them if I didn't share the internet connection to the other computer through this one.

k thanks, ill have a go

Lastly, cooling, my procesor gets temps of about 70c, and HD around the same. Looking at the first set of pics i posted it will be hard to install new fans, becase the front of my comp has no room for a air intake, and the side is protected by a metal cover.... any ideas anyone?

cheers

Brad

Quote from Bradracer :

my processor gets temps of about 70c

Ouch. Still okay, though.

Quote :

and HD around the same

Double ouch. NOT okay.


Seems like you don't have much space to do anything here :worried:

i know, and the thing is, i have insurance on my comp, but if i modify it, then i can wave goodbye to that. I might try and phone philips and see what they can do, but after all, if its not broken i suppose there is nothing i can do, and also, i had an engineer round last month who said it WERNT overheating :/, i was out at the time, so i couldnt ask him why it was really hot then, if it wernt ovrheating.... aaahhh, some engineers, they dont know they were born illepall

-the only time I get 100% CPU use, is when I get "timeout" on LFSworld.

It may not even be 100% CPU usage, your hard drive could be at 100% and something is wrong with it. The only thing that sounds similar to a problem I had like this was when the hard drive has switched over into a low transfer mode or "PIO mode".

To check if your hard drive is in PIO mode, goto the device manager and under IDE controllers, click on the primary ide channel and choose to view its properties. Wait for it to come up, and in this first attachement below where I've outlined the mode described under the Advanced Settings tab, it SHOULD say you are in DMA mode like I have there. But if it IS in PIO mode you need to do the following:

In the device manager where those IDE controllers are found, right click on the Primary IDE Channel and choose uninstall. Let it uninstall and then it will ask you to reboot the computer. Choose Yes, let it reboot, and then when you come back it will reinstall the controller. For me it asks to reboot a 2nd time after it is done, that is fine, so let it reboot again. The computer works like a charm after this, and no more 100% CPU usage .

Now if the harddrive keeps kicking back into PIO mode, then something is wrong with it (and the fact that it is getting hot).

Good luck

Nop, its in DMA mode

I'm highly surprised that no one has mentioned that maxtors get very hot anyway.

Typically the last few I've had, and this was over one or two years ago now, did get into the high 60's under heavy load. If your system is paging a lot, it could get even higher. I will admit 70s is somewhat high, but don't forget the the temperature diodes on computers generally aren't accurate and can have anywhere upto 5-10 degrees of tolerance on them.

If you happen to have a Sky+ box, and wondering why its so hot a lot of the time, open it up and you'll find a maxtor drive (which is replace-able, with faster, cooler and cheaper models).

I'm highly surprised that no one has pointed out all of the shite running:jawdrop:

Red: Mal or non necessary process

Yellow: not needed

Turquise: The only process's that should be enabled when you are playing games- services explained here.
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=274304#post274304
:spvader:
....................Badracers list^^

hi, well a specialised malware removing site helped me remove the many viruses i had anyway, and since then my comps been fine, HD is still about 65, but its ok, not crashing anymore... thanks for all your help

-Brad

Good to hear
There you see what all that spy-/mal-/adware stuff can do. It probably runs considerably faster now, too.

Try going to Run --> services.msc and then disabling some services.