The high priority setting

Jibroni · January 27, 2019, 11:45:51 PM

$:-\$ Should I be making the exe files of my video games a 'high priority' at all? Also, how does this relate to the 'configure foreground boost' feature? This website says I shouldn't even bother with it because it could negatively effect performance and even do some harm, so why even offer the option in the place?

edkiefer · January 28, 2019, 07:07:38 AM

Quote from: Jibroni on January 27, 2019, 11:45:51 PM
$:-\$ Should I be making the exe files of my video games a 'high priority' at all? Also, how does this relate to the 'configure foreground boost' feature? This website says I shouldn't even bother with it because it could negatively effect performance and even do some harm, so why even offer the option in the place?

Hi, If you are starting out new to Process lasso I would suggest you run stock configuration, for the average user this will work well.
The whole idea of process Lasso is to keep all the background process in check, by lowering them so they don't interfere with the foreground application.
So to answer the question should you set the foreground process to high I would say no, at least not right off the bat.

You will read a lot of "tweak guides" were they recommend setting high CPU priority, well that can work for one or so processes but after a while, it defeats itself as if you have many processes set high, then they aren't higher compared to rest.
Hope that makes sense to you if not you can read more detailed on our website
https://bitsum.com/how-probalance-works/

As for why there are options, PL is a very flexible application and is used by many different types of users. What may work for one may not be great for another, it just depends on the use and hardware/software being used.

Jibroni · January 28, 2019, 04:56:05 PM

Quote from: edkiefer on January 28, 2019, 07:07:38 AM
Hi, If you are starting out new to Process lasso I would suggest you run stock configuration, for the average user this will work well.
The whole idea of process Lasso is to keep all the background process in check, by lowering them so they don't interfere with the foreground application.
So to answer the question should you set the foreground process to high I would say no, at least not right off the bat.

You will read a lot of "tweak guides" were they recommend setting high CPU priority, well that can work for one or so processes but after a while, it defeats itself as if you have many processes set high, then they aren't higher compared to rest.
Hope that makes sense to you if not you can read more detailed on our website
https://bitsum.com/how-probalance-works/

As for why there are options, PL is a very flexible application and is used by many different types of users. What may work for one may not be great for another, it just depends on the use and hardware/software being used.

Well the only reason why I started messing with any of this stuff at all was because my games kept crashing with a hard reboot. Lately, its been only Hitman 2, it was good for a while until recently, crashed at least two times so far. I don't know if you have any idea why a PC would do a hard reboot while playing a game. Not that it matters that much, because I'm getting a brand new PC some time this year anyway. I did upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10, and I'm not sure how much that has to do with it.

edkiefer · January 28, 2019, 08:52:16 PM

Can be many things, but a reboot while under load with no error message could be PSU issue.

Though I would check event viewer for any error/warnings

Jibroni · January 28, 2019, 09:53:17 PM

Quote from: edkiefer on January 28, 2019, 08:52:16 PM
Can be many things, but a reboot while under load with no error message could be PSU issue.

Though I would check event viewer for any error/warnings

Ok, I'll give that a look if it reboots again. I've had this problem for a while.

Jibroni · January 31, 2019, 01:17:38 AM

Quote from: edkiefer on January 28, 2019, 08:52:16 PM
Can be many things, but a reboot while under load with no error message could be PSU issue.

Though I would check event viewer for any error/warnings

Well its been three days now, and the PC hasn't hard rebooted while playing Hitman 2 since I enabled foreground boosting, so far so good. I wonder, assuming this is a power supply issue, would foreground boosting help the PC better regulate the power output while playing video games? $:-\$

edkiefer · January 31, 2019, 07:40:26 AM

Quote from: Jibroni on January 31, 2019, 01:17:38 AM
Well its been three days now, and the PC hasn't hard rebooted while playing Hitman 2 since I enabled foreground boosting, so far so good. I wonder, assuming this is a power supply issue, would foreground boosting help the PC better regulate the power output while playing video games? $:-\$

If boosting foreground altered results I doubt it is PSU then, probably something is flaky in system, drivers, conflicts etc. If it is only that one game, it is probably the game or drivers.
I would check all logs for crash logs, event viewer errors etc.

Also, make sure under advanced system settings>startup and recovery (under Systems settings) that you have unchecked system failure automatic restart.
You want that off so you see the errors it system errors and not be mistaken for reboot issue.

Jibroni · February 06, 2019, 10:59:31 PM

Quote from: edkiefer on January 31, 2019, 07:40:26 AM
If boosting foreground altered results I doubt it is PSU then, probably something is flaky in system, drivers, conflicts etc. If it is only that one game, it is probably the game or drivers.
I would check all logs for crash logs, event viewer errors etc.

Also, make sure under advanced system settings>startup and recovery (under Systems settings) that you have unchecked system failure automatic restart.
You want that off so you see the errors it system errors and not be mistaken for reboot issue.

Well, it has crashed at least once or twice in almost every single game I have until recently. I was fine for a while with all my games until this year rolled around, now its randomly rebooting again with Hitman 2. It did it again just a few minutes ago. This despite me unchecking the automatic restart box in the advanced settings menu. I think this is the correct event that occurred during the crash in the image below. I have no idea what any of this nerd shit means.

Jibroni · February 07, 2019, 05:30:12 PM

Quote from: edkiefer on January 31, 2019, 07:40:26 AM
If boosting foreground altered results I doubt it is PSU then, probably something is flaky in system, drivers, conflicts etc. If it is only that one game, it is probably the game or drivers.
I would check all logs for crash logs, event viewer errors etc.

Also, make sure under advanced system settings>startup and recovery (under Systems settings) that you have unchecked system failure automatic restart.
You want that off so you see the errors it system errors and not be mistaken for reboot issue.

Here is another error message that occurred around the time I played Hitman 2. It has something to do with the PC rebooting so this might be the correct error message.

edkiefer · February 07, 2019, 06:51:49 PM

It is not the distributedCOM event, look for an application error.

If you unchecked the reboot on error, then it could still be PSU, I know Hitman is pretty CPU intensive if my memory is right.
If you have another PSU around, maybe try swapping the power cables with PSU not installed, just for test.

Also check if PSU has a dirty filter or bad fan, that can cause reboots too.

Jibroni · February 12, 2019, 12:05:45 AM

Quote from: edkiefer on February 07, 2019, 06:51:49 PM
It is not the distributedCOM event, look for an application error.

If you unchecked the reboot on error, then it could still be PSU, I know Hitman is pretty CPU intensive if my memory is right.
If you have another PSU around, maybe try swapping the power cables with PSU not installed, just for test.

Also check if PSU has a dirty filter or bad fan, that can cause reboots too.

My PSU was ok, its pretty clean but my CPU was pretty damn dusty. I haven't really opened up my PC in months so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I cleaned it out a few days ago. The game hasn't crashed again, but I said the same thing before so I'll give it at least a week and see what happens. I asked a computer tech guy from Micro Center if a PC randomly rebooting during a game is due to PSU issues and he said most likely not if its only happening in one game. He got all technical with his explanation and said that there is something called a GFI (if I remember correctly) that would basically trip something within the PSU and shut down the computer. According to him, I wouldn't be able to turn the PC back on if its really a PSU issue. He of course said he can't really know for sure what the problem is without running a diagnostic, so lets hope he's right because I do not want to have to put myself through that for a PC I'm planning on getting rid of soon anyway.

edkiefer · February 12, 2019, 07:02:51 AM

Well, I am not pro tech, but have seen a bad PSU do reboots if it is overheating or just going bad. There are many issues that could do it, I just gave what IMO might be the first place to look.
Overheating CPU might do it but I think you get more system crashes first than reboots.

You can easily test this with a heavy load on the system, run Prime95 for like an hr while watching temps of CPU with say HWinfo64.
Those two things should give a good idea of cooling and if the system can handle high loads, your game will never stress to prime95 levels.
HWinfo64 will also show many important voltages, fan speeds, power limits etc just monitor the CPU core temps to make sure they're not spiking into 85-90+c if so stop and fix the cooling issue.

3DMark Firestrike is a good overall heavy load on GPU and CPU, it will probably pull more wattage than prime95 as it does both GPU and CPU, if you can pass 15-20min the PSU is probably ok.

Jibroni · February 24, 2019, 06:34:45 PM

Quote from: edkiefer on February 12, 2019, 07:02:51 AM
Well, I am not pro tech, but have seen a bad PSU do reboots if it is overheating or just going bad. There are many issues that could do it, I just gave what IMO might be the first place to look.
Overheating CPU might do it but I think you get more system crashes first than reboots.

You can easily test this with a heavy load on the system, run Prime95 for like an hr while watching temps of CPU with say HWinfo64.
Those two things should give a good idea of cooling and if the system can handle high loads, your game will never stress to prime95 levels.
HWinfo64 will also show many important voltages, fan speeds, power limits etc just monitor the CPU core temps to make sure they're not spiking into 85-90+c if so stop and fix the cooling issue.

3DMark Firestrike is a good overall heavy load on GPU and CPU, it will probably pull more wattage than prime95 as it does both GPU and CPU, if you can pass 15-20min the PSU is probably ok.

Ok, its looking like it was crashing because my CPU was really dusty. It hasn't crashed since I cleaned it almost two weeks ago. Its not looking like the PSU was the culprit at all. Things could change, but I guess I need to do a better job keeping my case clean.

Jibroni · September 08, 2019, 08:14:11 PM

Well I was fine for a while, no crashes until a few days ago, with Hitman 2, yet again. I put on some brand new Arctic MX-4 thermal paste on my CPU to see if that was the issue. So far it hasn't crashed, I guess I'll know for sure in another month or so.