Tweaking a CPU for programs?

[mikeo01]

I don't know if this is the right section, but it is to do with software I guess.

Basically is there a way to allow my CPU to fully use a program. Say I want to run an Anti-Virus scan, is there a way to allow the program to fully use the CPU, instead of about 30% of it EVEN if I set priority to realtime/high. (excluding background tasks).

Is there a batch file I could create to allow for a program to use as much CPU power as possible?

Want to be able to apply the same technique to all other programs I wish to fully use.

I have a triple core processor, so using the full multi-threading ability or full cores it has to offer. Don't want to be wasting processing power that I can use to its max.

The reason I want to do this is to reduce latency in programs (say windows media player) and to get jobs done as fast as possible (scanning). As I won't be using my computer when scanning, so to max out the CPU would get the job done quicker.

Hopefully you'll see my logic in this

Thanks for any replies.

[scaryjim]

Probably not. I imagine the reason you don't see full CPU usage in some tasks is because the CPU is not the bottleneck for that task. For instance, when scanning the scanner is going to be the bottleneck, not your CPU - your CPU can deal with the data faster than the scanner can provide it, so it's mostly going to be sitting there waiting for data to handle.

Also, you mention having a triple core CPU, but some tasks simply don't parallelise; that is, the algorithm for that task is a sequence of steps that have to be carried out one at a time in order. Multiple threads / cores only help when parts of a task can be independently worked on at the same time, so if the task a program does can't be broken down like that, it will only ever use one core / thread effectively.

Bottom line - if a program is only using 30% of your CPU that's because it only needs 30% of your CPU, and you should be pleased that this means you've got 70% of your CPU that can be doing something else!

[56kbs]

If you want a certain process to have a higher priority you can do that in the task manager in the processes window. But as scaryjim said, it's not your CPU that is at full use for things such as scanning

[dct]

Scanning files on disk is inherently IO bound and thus will take long time regardless of CPU availability. Moving to SSD will probably improve the bottleneck there.

[DrATty]

I used software that set the affinity of a program (effectively the core or cores it used) under XP. A search suggested a few programs that might do what you want. I'm fairly sure that I used SysInternals Process Explorer.
I haven't experimented with Windows 7. My experiences with XP were mixed but some programs benefitted. The gains became unnoticeable when I moved to a faster processor. That was some time ago and I'd guess you'd see little difference with a modern PC. You won't do any harm if you don't set the priority of a thread too high.