Calling All Computer Gurus! - Some Assistance

[ZohnoReecho]

Thread are threads. The more they are the more they are split between multiple cores when necessary by the OS.
Try assigning a single core when you are doing some serious stuff or even standing near crowded aetherytes and see if you don't suffer a performance loss.
And no, percentage doesnt show cores usage. I can have a 16% usage and spread the load between 8 cores.

Replying to OP, I've a 780 and go down to 30FPS in some cases even with 80% of load. It looks more like a game limit.

[KisaiTenshi]

And no, percentage doesnt show cores usage. I can have a 16% usage and spread the load between 8 cores.

If you have a i7, one core = 12.5%, if you look at the % CPU use by FFXIV it's bouncing around that point. If you start telling the OS to only let it use certain cores, you will see the %CPU usage remains unchanged, but the % of those cores it's allowed to use do. This is just the OS scheduling CPU time, and is just smoke and mirrors for non-tech people to make them think they have more powerful systems than they actually do. "FFXIV runs just fine on my system, it barely cracks 14%" when the actuality is that that is the maximum single thread performance. Unless a program is actually coded to use multiple cores at the same time, a game without a frame limiter will max out one CPU core, always. Windows may be alternating which cores those instructions are sent to, but it's not ever going to be able to use more than one core.

The OP has a E8500, passmark score of 2291, Single thread score of 1,332
I have a i7-4770 which has a passmark score of 9993, Single thread score of 2,244 . So by comparison one core on my system = the entire power of their dual core system.

The poster above yours has a E6600 which has a passmark score of 1543, single thread score of 933. So roughly 30% less powerful than the OP's E8500. This is likely the minimum that FFXIV is going to run bearably at.

[Gonzothegreat198]

If you have a i7, one core = 12.5%, if you look at the % CPU use by FFXIV it's bouncing around that point. If you start telling the OS to only let it use certain cores, you will see the %CPU usage remains unchanged, but the % of those cores it's allowed to use do. This is just the OS scheduling CPU time, and is just smoke and mirrors for non-tech people to make them think they have more powerful systems than they actually do. "FFXIV runs just fine on my system, it barely cracks 14%" when the actuality is that that is the maximum single thread performance. Unless a program is actually coded to use multiple cores at the same time, a game without a frame limiter will max out one CPU core, always. Windows may be alternating which cores those instructions are sent to, but it's not ever going to be able to use more than one core.

The OP has a E8500, passmark score of 2291, Single thread score of 1,332
I have a i7-4770 which has a passmark score of 9993, Single thread score of 2,244 . So by comparison one core on my system = the entire power of their dual core system.

The poster above yours has a E6600 which has a passmark score of 1543, single thread score of 933. So roughly 30% less powerful than the OP's E8500. This is likely the minimum that FFXIV is going to run bearably at.

And even with mine you have to OC it just to get it to run it bearably. Currently have it OC'd to 3.0, which is fine for now, going to have a bit of extra money in january so i'm doing a full computer upgrade to the 4770k with the Maximus VI Formula MB.