Users/Guides/Disabling Dual-Core on a per application basis
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Some programs may have problems loading or run really slow (mainly games, although some applications too).
To make these games/applications run at normal speed you have to make them run on a single core.
[edit] Instructions
Here are instructions on how to disable the Dual-Core functions of your Core Duo for a specific program.
1. Press Ctrl-Alt-Del which will bring up the task manager.
2. Click on the Processes tab and scroll until you find the programs executable (eg icytower13.exe).
3. Right-click on (in this case) icytower13.exe and click on the bottom entry in the menu which says "Set Affinity...".
4. You should have 2 options there CPU 0 and CPU 1.
5. Untick one of the boxes (doesn't matter which).
6. Click OK.
7. Have fun.
Due to the way Windows is programmed, when you first launch an application it will run on both cores. For (generally) all older programs this doesn't work out, which is why you need to disable one of the cores.
The reason it might not work with two cores is because current dual-core technology is not perfect, the cores are not entirely synced.
I might also add that games which use the StarForce CD protection will not load (authenticate the disc) if both cores are enabled which is where this nifty little program I am about to introduce comes in.
[edit] User, meet imagecfg. Imagecfg, meet user.
Imagecfg is a nifty little program which automatically sets an executable to run on a single core at launch. The simplest way to Wine Clubs use this program is to extract it into your C:\Windows\System32 folder and then, when you find a program which needs to be run on one core, all you have to do is go into Start > Run... and type imagecfg -a 0x1 "X:\path\to\application.exe" (the 1 in 0x1 may be replaced by a 2 if you want that specific game/program to run on the loan modification second core... good for organisation I guess. eg you could have games run on core 2 while everything else runs on core 1) or if that doesnt work you can try imagecfg -u "X:\path\to\application.exe"
Note: I do not actually own an Apple computer myself, but since these methods work on every other Dual-Core processors (including other Intel manufactured ones) I have no reason to believe it should not work in this case.
- Rekoil, 22 March 2006
Addendum: This method has been tested on an IntelMac (iMac Core 2 Duo @ 2.33GHz) to run both RavenShield v1.6 and Unreal Tournament 436, with complete success.
- Zarmanto, 25 November 2006
