On Mon, Apr 23, 2007 at 02:18:36PM -0700, Dave LeCompte (really) wrote:
By definition, wasting cycles is bad, and if the CPU is running at 25%,
that would be 75% waste, right?
NO.
---
James Paige
For instance, I'm using a laptop. In some situations I have to pay
attention to how quickly I'm using up battery power. So, all other
things being equal, a game that uses 25% CPU is a better game for me
than one that hogs 100%. I can hear the thing's fans straining, and the
fan use, heat, and battery drain can't be good for the life of the
machine. In the spirit of Earth Day, it's also worth pointing out that
wasting energy is bad for the country and the world.
And what's the benefit to using active waiting or no waiting in a game's
main loop? With a simple, passive delay you get a regulated framerate
(good for when someone plays your game in five years on a much faster
machine) and are considerate of other programs. The only advantage of
active waiting seems to be a slight improvement in framerate timing,
which no one will notice.