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  #1  
Old 12-03-2012, 09:37 AM
propower propower is offline
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Default 2012 i5 mini and ProTools 10

Hey all,

I had a 2012 i7 Mini for a short time and it handled pro tools just fine. What it did not do was run cool under load. I have seen some thermal comparison data that the i5 mini runs much cooler under load due to same thermal management as i7 but less TDP.

So: does any one have experience with running protools on a sandy or ivy bridge i5? I typically run 16 tracks, 16 channel strips, some waves, delays, a verb as well as BFD and a VI or two. On the i7 machine this averaged a 15% to 20% load and I only allocated 4 cores. My engineering brain says if I allocated 3 cores to PT on an i5 I would get 1/3more load than on the i7 (ie now would be closer to 25 to30%.) If so I am thinking this may be fine for me.

Any input on how a modern i5 would fare would be appreciated!
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  #2  
Old 12-03-2012, 02:13 PM
musicman691 musicman691 is online now
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Default Re: 2012 i5 mini and ProTools 10

Quote:
Originally Posted by propower View Post
Hey all,

I had a 2012 i7 Mini for a short time and it handled pro tools just fine. What it did not do was run cool under load. I have seen some thermal comparison data that the i5 mini runs much cooler under load due to same thermal management as i7 but less TDP.

So: does any one have experience with running protools on a sandy or ivy bridge i5? I typically run 16 tracks, 16 channel strips, some waves, delays, a verb as well as BFD and a VI or two. On the i7 machine this averaged a 15% to 20% load and I only allocated 4 cores. My engineering brain says if I allocated 3 cores to PT on an i5 I would get 1/3more load than on the i7 (ie now would be closer to 25 to30%.) If so I am thinking this may be fine for me.

Any input on how a modern i5 would fare would be appreciated!
First off - how hot did the i7 Mini run? Enough that it died?

You're going to have a performance hit going to the i5 Mini. Remember that the i5 does not do hyperthreading. Your comparison between the i5 and i7 machines only holds if they have the same clock speed (and they don't).
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  #3  
Old 12-03-2012, 03:48 PM
propower propower is offline
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Default Re: 2012 i5 mini and ProTools 10

The details of my views on the i7 mini can be found here...
http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=331218

Yes, The i5 is dual core hyper threaded proc. At 2.5GHz though its singe core speed is on par with the i7 2.3/2.6. I did find out that sadly the i5 is a not a quad. This may be too far a fall for protools (as in assign only 2 to 3 cores for pro tools). May be nowhere near enough.

But I am sure some of the folks have tried a system like this. Still interested to hear how that went.

(edited for technical corrections)
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Old 12-03-2012, 05:35 PM
Bill Denton Bill Denton is offline
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Default Re: 2012 i5 mini and ProTools 10

As musicman691 alluded to...

The processor is getting very hot.

But...

Is it "hot to outside of spec"? Hot enough to damage the processor or other components?

Just "getting hot" is not necessarily indicative of a problem...
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Old 12-03-2012, 05:53 PM
musicman691 musicman691 is online now
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Default Re: 2012 i5 mini and ProTools 10

The thing for the OP to remember is that NO computer will run cool under loads like we put them under with audio recording unless you're running some kind of massive liquid cooling. They WILL get hot. And some of these machines have chips that are spec'ed to run a lot hotter than any sane person would feel comfortable with but the geeks who design these things must know what they are talking about.
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  #6  
Old 12-03-2012, 06:16 PM
propower propower is offline
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Default Re: 2012 i5 mini and ProTools 10

Sadly (for me) I AM one of those geeks...
25 years designing high reliability power supplies...

To have the CPU go up to 94degC under 15% loads is just a bit hard for me to get used to. Sure the proc spec is 105. But I can tell you that there are a lot of 85degC components right nearby. Also there are thermal stresses on all the solder joints from the rapid temp cycling and a host of other things I sadly know about. Yes, it is all at least in spec for the CPU so in the end it came down to my feelings about it.

I am not saying it won't work, isn't reliable etc... I am saying it is outside my comfort zone.

And BTW - there are tons of great thermal designs in the computer world. The MAcPro is an obvious. My CPU temp on my aging 2009 MacPro NEVER goes above 60degC at 100% load. It takes thermal mass, surface area for radiation and airflow. All nuts and bolts engineering from the last 50 years. All of the computers I have built in the past are even better than that... just saying
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  #7  
Old 12-03-2012, 07:23 PM
serio serio is offline
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Default Re: 2012 i5 mini and ProTools 10

Quote:
Originally Posted by musicman691 View Post

Remember that the i5 does not do hyperthreading. .
Is this still true? My 2012 dual core i5 2.5 GHZ macbook pro shows 4 available cores.
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  #8  
Old 12-03-2012, 07:56 PM
propower propower is offline
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Default Re: 2012 i5 mini and ProTools 10

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Originally Posted by serio View Post
Is this still true? My 2012 dual core i5 2.5 GHZ macbook pro shows 4 available cores.
I edited my previous post - sorry...

2012 i5 in the mini is a dual core hyperthreaded proc. Core i5 3210M. The desktop version is a true quad core with no hyper threading.
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