# Benchmarks on multiple CPUs - only 1 core used

**URL:** <https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/benchmarks-on-multiple-cpus-only-1-core-used/3578>\
**Category:** Mining\
**Created:** [October 27, 2016, 7:43am UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/benchmarks-on-multiple-cpus-only-1-core-used/3578 "2016-10-27T07:43:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![baron.broda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e57/32.png) [@baron.broda](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/baron.broda)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 7:43am UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/benchmarks-on-multiple-cpus-only-1-core-used/3578/1 "2016-10-27T07:43:26Z")

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Hi All,

I’ve been trying to benchmark a 4-core system, but I can only see one CPU being active.

My config file:

```
testnet=1
addnode=betatestnet.z.cash
rpcuser=rpcusername
rpcpassword=rpcpassword
gen=0
genproclimit=4
equihashsolver=tromp

```

I think the relevant bits are: gen=0 and genproclimit=4. I have also tried with genproclimit=-1 and it didn’t help.

This is how I am running the benchmark  
`zcash-cli zcbenchmark solveequihash 20`

My questions in particular are:

- Should I be setting gen=0?
- Is there another parameter that I need to pass to the benchmarking tool to indicate a number of cores?

I am running the 1.0.0-rc2 branch of the “vanilla” miner.

thanks

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Shawn](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/zcash/user_avatar/forum.zcashcommunity.com/shawn/32/187_2.png) [@Shawn](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/Shawn)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 1:39pm UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/benchmarks-on-multiple-cpus-only-1-core-used/3578/2 "2016-10-27T13:39:41Z")

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You need to have gen=1 to be mining, gen=0 is just running the node. Once you switch that you should be good to go.

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**Author:** ![privatenode](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9c0ed/32.png) [@privatenode](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/privatenode)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 1:46pm UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/benchmarks-on-multiple-cpus-only-1-core-used/3578/3 "2016-10-27T13:46:12Z")

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i think when you use zcashd setgenerate false , that would set zcashd stop mining ,and be a node hosting only mode.(which you can prove by use that gui wallet software with dependency zcash node). that wallet still working

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![baron.broda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e57/32.png) [@baron.broda](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/baron.broda)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 6:18pm UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/benchmarks-on-multiple-cpus-only-1-core-used/3578/4 "2016-10-27T18:18:04Z")

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Thanks @Shawn and @privatenode.

I guess then my question is: **Does that mean that I need to keep mining when I am benchmarking?**

If I run the  
`zcash-cli zcbenchmark solveequihash 20`  
with the  
`gen=0`  
in my config, I still get some meaningful (and quite sensibly looking) output, but during the benchmark **only one cpu is active**.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Shawn](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/zcash/user_avatar/forum.zcashcommunity.com/shawn/32/187_2.png) [@Shawn](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/Shawn)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 6:43pm UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/benchmarks-on-multiple-cpus-only-1-core-used/3578/5 "2016-10-27T18:43:27Z")

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You shouldn’t be mining when benchmarking, the benchmark always only runs on a single thread, so its not super accurate for total sysem performance. But when you are done benchmarking all you have to do is change gen=0 to gen=1 to begin mining.

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**Author:** ![baron.broda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e57/32.png) [@baron.broda](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/baron.broda)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 6:54pm UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/benchmarks-on-multiple-cpus-only-1-core-used/3578/6 "2016-10-27T18:54:06Z")

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OK, I guess I probably misunderstood your previous post then. So, to do the **zcbenchmark** I have to set **gen=0**.

So, is there no way to use the zcbenchmark tool to test a multiple CPU system?