Isolating Processor-Intensive Workloads

If the threads of a process are using a high percentage of CPU time, the process should be analyzed to determine if the application's performance can be optimized. For information about improving application performance, see the Platform Software Development Kit (SDK) link on the Web Resources page at https://windows.microsoft.com/windows2000/reskit/webresources . If optimization does not yield satisfactory results, you need to add processor resources.

Device driver problems can cause high % Processor Time values for the System process. In addition, if you have screen savers running on your system, note that they use a large amount of processor time, particularly ones that use OpenGL (a software interface that supports production of high-quality, three-dimensional color imaging). Monitor your screen saver executable and, if necessary, change to one that uses less processor time. (Typically this is only applicable to servers.)

If a single process is using the processor, the chart line associated with that process will be the highest one in the graph, such as in Figure 7.6, which is an actual histogram of a processor bottleneck caused by a single process. Running CPU Stress, a utility on the Windows   2000 Resource Kit companion CD, produced the results shown in this example.

Figure 7.6 Processor Bottleneck Caused by a Single Process

This histogram shows that a single process (represented by the tallest bar) is highly active during a bottleneck; its threads are running for more than 90 percent of the sample interval. If this pattern persists and a long queue develops, it is reasonable to suspect that the application running in the process is causing the bottleneck.

Note that a highly active process is a problem only if a queue is developing. If you are not satisfied with response time and throughput, you can choose to upgrade to a faster processor to achieve better performance.

If you suspect that an application is causing a processor bottleneck, stop using the application for a few days or move it to a different computer. Another option is to schedule the process to run outside of peak operating hours. Then log processor use again. If the problem disappears, it is likely that the application caused it.