processor usage never goes over 50% even when it should??

try another app, like XRG or something

 

Because HL2 cant utilize more than 1 processor, so that it maxes out 1 core, or 50% of your total power

 

weird i have the 2.4 Ghz version of your mbp and i sometimes hit 70% usage just watching a flash movie on newgrounds. weird?

 

Try to open a terminal window, and enter:

Code:

yes > /dev/null

This will cause one core to go to 100% usage (activity monitor will report 100% usage, meaning one core fully utilized).

If you don't like terminal, you can also use this GUI wrapper:
http://www.coolbook.se/CPUTest.html

If your CPU still stays at 30%, something is wrong.

 

Osx dosnt work like that it's 100% per core hence why you'll see 130% usage etc.

Tbh op I would have it looked over. It could be a contact issue between the CPU and cooling causing the CPU to throttle at 30%.

 

What is your temperatures? Do the fans spin on a lot?

Might be worth cleaning the fans, and if you're not comfortable doing that yourself, an Apple Authorised Reseller will do it.

 

Are you running the computer without the battery installed?

 

Opening programs and copying files is not CPU intensive, they are I/O intensive . Opening the whole Adobe suite at once won't use up all of your CPU because it can't read from the hard drive fast enough. HL2 is a really old game, and wouldn't tax a newer machine as much.

Converting a video, watching flash video etc will cause usage to max out on as many cores as the program can handle.

 

First, as already stated, copying files is not a high-CPU task. The process of copying a file and writing it to another location does not take up very much CPU at all, particularly with current system designs being way faster than a single network or hard drive can keep up with. Additionally, most I/O and media control tasks are handled by a set of chips known as a Southbridge. The Southbridge handles the details of the I/O work, and the CPU only supervises. This is why it appears to take up so little resources.

HL2 on Steam also won't appear to take up many resources because a lot of the graphic-intensive work is being handled by your 8600m GPU and the Northbridge. Again, the CPU is only supervising the graphics work, and handling other things (integrating keyboard/mouse inputs, talking with network interfaces that connect to game servers, delegating RAM and GPU tasks to the Northbridge, etc.).

For copying files, no. your disks and network are already going as fast as they can.

For game play, again no. Your 8600m GPU is handling the brunt of the work (graphics rendering) because the game was coded to let the GPU do that, AND because the GPU is designed to do this far more capably than your CPU could.

There are some tasks that WILL max out your CPU. Tasks like data modeling, audio processing, and video encoding will easily max out one or both cores of the CPU, and you'll definitely feel the difference. You'll also realize why maxing out your CPU all the time is not desirable, and not something you want to be doing all the time. Your system will heat up, your fans will kick in, and performing other tasks will be a very sluggish process as your system gets bogged down.

Oh yeah, and visiting a website with Flash will eat your CPU as well. Not because the system can't handle the things that Flash is being used to do, but simply because Flash is badly coded for unix/linux machines, including the Mac.

It should also be pointed out that if you had a newer system (with say, a 9400m/9600 GPU, or a 320/330m), even video encoding won't necessarily max out your CPU if you use the right program, because OS X is written to use the GPU for video encoding tasks when possible.

It's normal behavior, and it's caused by the fact that your computer and the software running on it is designed to do this.

This isn't Windows XP, where everything rested on the CPU, and having the fastest processor always meant you can do more, faster. Modern operating systems like OS X (and even Windows 7) take into account that there's a lot more muscle to a modern computer than just a single CPU, and so tasks are distributed and delegated accordingly. It's no longer the case that you always have to max out a CPU to do a process as quickly and efficiently as possible.

I think the real question to ask is: is your computer performing poorly when you're playing HL2 or when copying files? If not, then there's no need to worry.

 

that's what I was going to say. I usually max out watching flash vids and doing handbrake encodes...