Forcing performance mode for background app on Intel P/E-core CPU


The issue seem to be completely fixed by this excellent tool. Just put * in "Processes to Keep Off E-Cores" and everything else leave at defaults.
 

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smp79 said:
The issue seem to be completely fixed by this excellent tool. Just put * in "Processes to Keep Off E-Cores" and everything else leave at defaults.
Click to expand...
It sounds promising, but it looks like "just" a core affinity tool that blocks processes from using E-cores. I want the encoder to use all cores, not just P-cores, but prevent Windows from kicking it off the P-cores when it's in the background.
 

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Encoder will use all cores with the default "Efficiency mode off" method, that's the whole point. No matter if it's in background or not.
 

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This fixed it for me:

Code: 
   // HighQoS
   // Turn EXECUTION_SPEED throttling off.
   // ControlMask selects the mechanism and StateMask is set to zero as mechanisms should be turned off.
 
   PROCESS_POWER_THROTTLING_STATE PowerThrottling;
   RtlZeroMemory(&PowerThrottling, sizeof(PowerThrottling));
   PowerThrottling.Version = PROCESS_POWER_THROTTLING_CURRENT_VERSION;

   PowerThrottling.ControlMask = PROCESS_POWER_THROTTLING_EXECUTION_SPEED;
   PowerThrottling.StateMask = 0;

   SetProcessInformation(GetCurrentProcess(), ProcessPowerThrottling, &PowerThrottling, sizeof(PowerThrottling));

Edit:
As mentioned by @CptCaveman this also works great (but requires admin rights): powercfg /powerthrottling disable /path "path to your exe"
 

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CptCaveman said:
So, in my case I am using the Julia programming language and this works:
Code: 
powercfg /powerthrottling disable /path "C:\Julia\Julia-1.8.3\bin\julia.exe"

Thanks to @lexa_a for pointing me in the right direction
Click to expand...
Interesting, is it just a coincidence that the command option has the same name as the feature that was introduced with Win10 1709 (in conjunction with Skylake and Speed Shift)?
How does such a system behave if you deactivate it completely?

A little rant:
Even back then, I found it strange to simply bluntly reduce the performance of a software just because it was no longer in focus.
At least it only affected mobile systems (at least I only ever saw it there) and can be quickly deactivated globally.

And now since Alder-Lake (actually Lakefield) with the hybrid architecture, things are often not much better.
I can still remember a presentation video where they were really excited when they minimized a performance-intensive software and then could write an email with the P-Cores that were then freed up. o_O:oops:

Despite Windows 11, the (oh so intelligent) Thread Director and the latest software versions, it is still necessary to help yourself with more or less reasonable workarounds which range from deactivating the e-cores completely, to pointless burn electricity, diving into the depths of the registry or tinkering around with 3rd party tools .
Somehow a heterogeneous architecture on the desktop (mobile is a different story) doesn't really seem to be the solution to me. :unsure:

Greetings,
Martin
 
Last edited:

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Dear all,
despite countless attempts to solve the problem addressed in this discussion, the only solution I found was to disable E-Cores via BIOS.

The main application I use for work will have to be updated to run 100% the 8+16 cores of my i9-13900K (the developers say) and this annoys me a lot, because the timing is very uncertain.

I have been thinking of building a new workstation using an AMD CPU, the 7950x in particular.

Could you confirm that the problem would not occur with this CPU? Regardless of whether the application is in the foreground, background or is a "non-visible" process, the 16 cores (32 threads) would always work at 100%, right?

Thank you in advance for your response.
 

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I went from a Ryzen 5900x to an Intel 13600k.
Encoding a certain video file in AV1 I got around 12fps encoding speed on Ryzen, on Intel I got 13fps.
Then I thought it was a good idea to lower PL1 on the Intel to 90 Watts to save some energy.
Guess what, fps dropped to 7fps.
P-Cores were doing almost nothing now (below 3Ghz), all the work on the E-Cores.
Changed back PL1 to Auto (180Watt) and guess what? 13fps again.

My assumption is, that with PL1 set to 90 Watts the CPU was constantly forced to limit itself
and the scheduler somehow thought to push work to E-Cores.
Now with PL1 set to full again, the scheduler pushes work on all cores again.

Maybe this helps someone.
 

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DigitalGoat said:
Your mention here of server functions made me think of this setting, have you tried it yet to see if it makes a difference?
View attachment 62889

LTT has just done a TechQuickie vid on the Windows & CPU scheduling features, quite informative even if it doesn't solve your original issue.
Click to expand...
Hi, I was just browsing and wanted to let you know when I saw something familiar. This setting seems to be malfunctioning for some reason; I did some testing a while ago. The most effective way to use this setting is with `win32priorityseparation`. Just in case it helps someone.
 

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