Steady decrease in CPU usage and sim performance (not thermal throttling)

Discussion in 'Support!' started by ubertgold, March 19, 2017.

  1. ubertgold

    ubertgold New Member

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    I have a server that I have been using for PAT games and I keep running into an issue where after X amount of time, the CPU usage goes down by Y amount causing the sim performance to decrease by Z amount relative to the decrease in CPU usage.
    For example after about 3 minutes, the CPU usage has dropped from ~35% to ~20% causing the sim performance to go down to ~64%.

    I've been running the server with a 16v16 setup (all AI, I just spectate to view performance, normal difficulty) with a 14 planet system, this happens on other setups with less AI and a smaller system, just takes a bit longer.

    Server specs (HP Proliant DL360 G6, latest BIOS):
    2x Intel Xeon e5540 (4 cores, 8 hyperthreads each. 2.53 GHz, turbo to 2.8 GHz)
    24 gigs of DDR3 ECC RAM at 1066 MHz

    The server CPU temperatures never go above 40C, I've attached a capture of the HP iLO temperature readings after about 4 minutes of use (41% sim performance and ~15% cpu usage). My CPU doesn't go past 55C.

    I run the PAT server in a container or VM (I've been trying both with different settings to see if anything changes, nothing i've tried does) running Debian or Ubuntu giving it 22 gigs of RAM and all 16 cores. I use Proxmox 4.4 and have multithreading enabled.

    This is the guide I used to setup the server:
    exodusesports.com/guides/planetary-annihilation-dedicated-server-setup/

    I know network speed can be a factor but when I monitor the netout of the PAT server, it never exceeds my upload speed and when I connect to the server on my local gigabit network, the exact same thing happens.

    The dxdiag.txt is of my PC.

    Attached Files:

  2. mikeyh

    mikeyh Post Master General

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    PA server multi-threading on?
    Last edited: March 19, 2017
  3. mikeyh

    mikeyh Post Master General

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    Recommend you don't run in a VM or container.... Ubuntu server is your simplest choice for a bare metal OS to run a PA server.

    If you're using Proxmox on Debian try running the PA server in the host environment for comparison.

    The e5540 from 2009 is pretty low down the single thread performance rankings @ 1,141:
    Compare with:
    • 1270v3 @ 2,217 (my preferred SoftLayer/Bluemix bare metal hourly for hosting games)
    • i7-7700K @ 2,596
  4. ubertgold

    ubertgold New Member

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    Yes multi-threading is on for the server, without it on it only stays at 6.25% CPU usage (i.e. a single thread).
  5. ubertgold

    ubertgold New Member

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    I figure it running in a VM or container would be fine as long as it's the only one (it is when I want to run PA server), if i run a bench-marking program in the container or server it will still max out the CPU.
    I will try this though
  6. mikeyh

    mikeyh Post Master General

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    Originally I was hosting on the top spec Linode 20 cores / KVM then switched to a SoftLayer bare metal 24 cores / 48 threads dual 2690 v3 which was a huge improvement.

    Now I find the 4 cores / 8 threads 1270v3 perform better for most games.

    Upload some logs for the test system you are using.... 14 planets sounds excessive.

    32 AI will also be a much higher load than 32 real players.

    From some history take a read of:
    In my multi-threading benchmarking and testing for the last update the bare metal 1270v3 performed very well.

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