What is a core?

[Terry Wetzel]

My question of the day is a little embarrassing since I am by no means a newby but here goes. I'm on a pc, pt's9. I know that cores are a part of the parameters listed when I open the Playback engine but I'm not sure what they are and what part they play in regulating the cpu load on my pc. Does pro tools automatically detect the amount of cores available in my pc? I normally leave this set as 2 but I don't know if there are more cores available. If I change this setting to 1 or 3, how will it affect the cpu load? Which is better, more or less? Knowing the answers will help me understand. Thanks.

[mjslakeridge]

Think of a core as a processing unit. In the old days if you had 1 cpu, you had one core. Now they can put multiple processors (cores) into a single package (cpu). Pro Tools should "see" all of your available cores, unless you have some of them disabled in the BIOS, or have set the affinity to less than the total available (which I'm sure you haven't messed around with).

Do you know which processor (cpu) is installed in your PC? You can download CPU-Z for free and it will tell you a lot about your components (CPU, RAM, Graphics card, motherboard).

You can mess around with the # of cores assigned to RTAS processing. I happen to have a 6 core processor, and usually assign 4 cores, leaving the other 2 to handle the operating system and other tasks. Unless you have a huge session with tons of plugins, you probably aren't going to see much of a difference, given the power of most modern cpus.

Edit: You can also go to Control Panel, then System to see some details about your computer.

[The Weed]

Belarc Advisor is another free and great resource to find out a lot about your computer and the software installed.

Speccy from Piriform is free and very good for finding out information about the hardware installed and even temperatures and hard drive health.

Also, sorry, not to confuse you Terry, but there are physical and virtual cores. An Intel quad core CPU will have 4 physical cores, but, if hyper threading is turned on in BIOS, there will be 4 physical cores and 4 virtual cores. In the former case, with hyper threading off, PT will see 4 cores and in the latter case, with hyper threading turned on, PT will see 8 cores.

I know you haven't touched Affinity, and you probably haven't touched Core Parking either. You may want to read up on Core Parking and have someone make sure none of your cores are parked.

[Terry Wetzel]

Thanks mjslackeridge. This is helpful. cpu-z. I'll download and do a little more investigating. So,if I am understanding you selection of the number of cores can be helpful if I am using a lot of plugins which, compared to you pros I don't think that's the case. I always put them on Aux tracks and try to stick to eq3 and basic delay and/or reverb. occasionally a 7 band eq. My laptop is a quad core. I know this because it has a little decal that says it.

[Terry Wetzel]

Thanks Bruce. Your help is much appreciated. I will certainly take your advice and check out the 2 websites you posted. By the way, I always park my core in my driveway! (Ha Ha! Anh Say, that's a good one! Come on Boy! Laugh it up!! (Quote from FOG Horn LegHorn).

[albee1952]

Originally Posted by Terry Wetzel

Thanks Bruce. Your help is much appreciated. I will certainly take your advice and check out the 2 websites you posted. By the way, I always park my core in my driveway! (Ha Ha! Anh Say, that's a good one! Come on Boy! Laugh it up!! (Quote from FOG Horn LegHorn).

Think I heard a rimshot

[Terry Wetzel]

I've got a million of 'em! An onion and a carrot walk in to a barroom....Never mind!

[The Weed]

I'll be here all week, try the veal.

[DonaldM]

Well, that went downhill fast!