Program only uses my graphics card, not CPU!?

Mtown · #1 December 11th, 2007, 12:18 AM

I downloaded a free physics engine to mess around with in my free time. It lets you fling stuff around, set up dominos, etc. My roommate also the same program since he thought it was cool.

Anyway, I noticed that his Physics Engine program ran smoother than mine did and could have much more objects moving around before it started lagging.

This surprised me because my computer completely kicks his computer's ass. I have a 1.83 Ghz Core Duo with 1 gig of RAM and a 7300 Nvidia Geforce Go graphics card. He has a single 1.1 Ghz processor with a little over 700 mb of RAM and a GeForce 5800 or something.

It seemed to me that my computer should wipe the floor with his when it comes to processing things like physics calculations and rendering objects, but it doesn't. His does better than mine.

I then noticed that even when my physics program is running at 6 frames per second and lagging to pieces, my dual processes didn't even budge. For some reason, the program only used my graphics card for rendering and physics calculations and didn't even touch my CPU.

Even though my Geforce 7300 was more "advanced" then his 5800 or whatever, his 5800 is "more powerful" than mine (the last 3 numbers designate the "power" of the card) and can render more than my card can.

So my question is, is there any way to "force" a program to use the CPU? I checked all the options in the program and there was no option to "use the CPU" or even any indication that the program only used the graphics card.

Does anybody know a way to make a program tap into my CPU or is it impossible to do something like that?

stang10001 · #2 December 11th, 2007, 01:04 AM

a 7300 should be alot better than a 5800

cHiNgY1788 · #3 December 11th, 2007, 02:07 AM

no
the 7300 might not be better than the 5800
why?
its a low end newer card vs a high end older card
this is very clear when you compare a Geforce 4 Ti 4800 and a Geforce FX 5200
my 6800GT can beat a Geforce 8500GT

now I dont think there is a way to force the CPU to do the work, it all depends on the Physics Engine, how its written, what its designed to take advantage of

Mtown · #4 December 11th, 2007, 02:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cHiNgY1788

no
the 7300 might not be better than the 5800
why?
its a low end newer card vs a high end older card
this is very clear when you compare a Geforce 4 Ti 4800 and a Geforce FX 5200
my 6800GT can beat a Geforce 8500GT

Exactly. I wish I had known this before I bought my computer. I had a choice between a 6800 and the 7300, and my home PC already had a 6800. I chose the 7300 because I thought it would be loads better, but while it does have new features, it has less power.

About the CPU thing: I figured that it was imposible but I thought i'd check to make sure. It's not too important anyway, haha.