i7 Builds - Specs and Results

[Barney1981]

Good Day

I really hope someone might be able to help, I am at my wits end trying to get PT to play ball with my system. I am encountering endless CPU Spikes leading to 9093 errors and its driving me crazy.

I am getting errors in all versions of pro tools (10,11 and 12.4) on nearly all buffer sample sizes on both windows 7 and 8.1. I have tried every conceivable hardware configuation I have available to me as well as done every optimisation on the avid force page, also trash pref etc.

I am running via HD Native on an ASUS Z170M-PLUS with Intel i7 6700 3.4khz and 16GB DDR4 RAM, it should be able to handle PT. My old Core2 quad performed better with less than half the RAM.

Here is a detailed spec of my PC, if anyone can help I would forever be in your debt:



Model : OEM System Product Name
Serial Number : System Ser**********
Chassis : Default string Desktop
Mainboard : ASUS Z170M-PLUS
Serial Number : 1507490********
BIOS : AMI (OEM) 3301 02/10/2017
Intel vPro : 11.08.50.3399
Total Memory : 16GB DIMM DDR4

Processors
Processor : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700 CPU @ 3.40GHz (4C 8T 3.41GHz, 3.4GHz IMC/4GHz, 4x 256kB L2, 8MB L3)
Socket/Slot : FC LGA1151

Chipset
Memory Controller : ASUS Core (Skylake-D QC) Host Bridge/DRAM Registers 100MHz, 2x 8GB DIMM DDR4 2.13GHz 128-bit

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : Kingston/Hynix (Hyundai) KHX2133C14D48G 8GB DDR4 PC4-17100U DDR4-2134 (14-14-14-35 4-50-16-5)
Memory Module : Kingston/Hynix (Hyundai) KHX2133C14D48G 8GB DDR4 PC4-17100U DDR4-2134 (14-14-14-35 4-50-16-5)

Video System
Monitor/Panel : ACI VG248
(1920x1080, 24.0")
Monitor/Panel : ACI VG248
(1920x1080, 24.0")
Video Adapter : AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series (8CU 512SP SM5.1 800MHz, 16kB L2, 1GB DDR5 4.5GHz 128-bit, PCIe 3.00 x16)
Video Adapter : AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series (8CU 512SP SM5.1 800MHz, 16kB L2, 1GB DDR5 4.5GHz 128-bit, PCIe 3.00 x16)

Graphics Processor
OpenCL : AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series (512SP 8C 800MHz, 16kB L2, 1GB DDR5 4.5GHz 128-bit)
D3D 11 : AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series (512SP 8C 800MHz, 16kB L2, 1GB DDR5 4.5GHz 128-bit)
OpenGL : AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series (512SP 8C 800MHz, 16kB L2, 1GB DDR5 4.5GHz 128-bit)
OpenGL : AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series (512SP 8C 800MHz, 16kB L2, 1GB DDR5 4.5GHz 128-bit)

Storage Devices
Crucial_CT128M550SSD1 (128GB, SATA600, 2.5", SSD, OPAL, SED) : 119GB (C:)
Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB (500.1GB, SATA600, SSD, OPAL) : 466GB (D:)
SAMSUNG HD204UI (2TB, SATA300, 3.5", 5400rpm, 32MB Cache) : 2TB (E:)

Logical Storage Devices
System Reserved : 350MB (NTFS, 4kB) @ Crucial_CT128M550SSD1 (128GB, SATA600, 2.5", SSD, OPAL, SED)
Data & Docs (D:) : 466GB (NTFS, 4kB) @ Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB (500.1GB, SATA600, SSD, OPAL)
Libraries (E:) : 2TB (NTFS, 4kB) @ SAMSUNG HD204UI (2TB, SATA300, 3.5", 5400rpm, 32MB Cache)
Hard Disk (C:) : 119GB (NTFS, 4kB) @ Crucial_CT128M550SSD1 (128GB, SATA600, 2.5", SSD, OPAL, SED)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller #1 : ASUS Z170 Sunrise Point-H LPC Controller
Audio Device : ASUS Sunrise Point-H HD Audio
Audio Device : AVID Tech HD Native
Serial Port(s) : 1
Parallel Port(s) : 1
Disk Controller : ASUS Sunrise Point-H SATA controller [AHCI mode]
Disk Controller : ASUS Sunrise Point-H PMC
USB Controller #1 : ASUS Sunrise Point-H USB 3.0 xHCI Controller
SMBus/i2c Controller #1 : Intel ICH SMBus

Printers and Faxes
Printer : Send to Microsoft OneNote 15 Driver (1200x1200, Colour)
Printer : Pantum P2200W Series (1200x600)
Printer : Microsoft XPS Document Writer v4 (600x600, Colour)
Fax : Microsoft Shared Fax Driver (200x200)

Network Services
Network Adapter : Intel(R) Ethernet Connection (2) I219-V (Ethernet)
Network Adapter : TAP-Windows Adapter V9 (Ethernet)
Wireless Adapter : Qualcomm Atheros AR9287 Wireless Network Adapter (802.11n (HT), AES-CCMP, 144.4Mbps)

Operating System
Windows System : Microsoft Windows 8.1 Personal 6.03.9600
Platform Compliance : x64

Performance Enhancing Tips
Warning 2513 : TPM not detected. Some security features are unavailable.
Tip 2 : Double-click tip or press Enter while a tip is selected for more information about the tip.

[PatriotsBiker]

I received an 8700K machine built by Pro Tools PC. In a word. Wow!

I'm enjoying improvements on every single front, not just performance. Even ear fatigue, of all things.

That 8700K, though. Man oh man, is it ever smooth and quick. VERY responsive.

[YYR123]

^^ This ^^

[chrisdee]

Originally Posted by PatriotsBiker

I received an 8700K machine built by Pro Tools PC. In a word. Wow!

I'm enjoying improvements on every single front, not just performance. Even ear fatigue, of all things.

That 8700K, though. Man oh man, is it ever smooth and quick. VERY responsive.

Awsome. What's your specs (CPU, RAM, disk)?
Ehh, how does it help you against ear fatigue?

[PatriotsBiker]

Originally Posted by chrisdee

Awsome. What's your specs (CPU, RAM, disk)?
Ehh, how does it help you against ear fatigue?

Keep in mind that I was a database geek in real life, not a hardware guy. I my have things improperly stated.
32MB DDR4 2400 RAM
8700K LGA1151 @3700gHz (stock) and set to 4400gHz (partially overclocked) and one more BIOS setting away from 4700gHz should I need it.
System and Audio drives are both 500gb Solid State
Two other drives are WD 2TB

Machine noise and the loss of some awful hi-mid sound degradation are the two factors on ear fatigue I will commit to. I noticed decreased pain factor in all audio - mine, VI or ripped from CD - right away. I was not expecting that. Addition by subtraction is in play here, for sure. (the subtraction being my old machine.) However, at some point, I have to tip my hat to the design and implementation of the components in the new machine.

Does anyone know (or care to guess) to what extent, if at all, Avid adjusts audio in real time to enable lower powered machines to run? I've read little bits and pieces here and there, but nothing concrete. More like some generic advice in the reference guide in relation to topics like setting memory cache, etc.

[albee1952]

To Barney1981- The chipset might be the issue. AFAIK, Z170M-PLUS is an unknown for compatibility. Additionally, why Windows 8.x??? I'd say moving to 10 is a no-brainer at this point. Lastly, running samples off a 5400 rpm drive is maybe not a good idea. Another SSD would be ideal, but just moving to a 7200 rpm drive couldn't hurt

"Does anyone know (or care to guess) to what extent, if at all, Avid adjusts audio in real time to enable lower powered machines to run? I've read little bits and pieces here and there, but nothing concrete. More like some generic advice in the reference guide in relation to topics like setting memory cache, etc."
PT doesn't "adjust" anything. Either your computer can handle the workload or it can't. Adjusting the playback buffer higher will lighten the load on the system(at the expense of more latency). There's plenty of info on the DUC, on Sweetwater's site and all over youtube for tweaking a computer to maximize performance

[guitardom]

Originally Posted by PatriotsBiker

Keep in mind that I was a database geek in real life, not a hardware guy. I my have things improperly stated.
32MB DDR4 2400 RAM
8700K LGA1151 @3700gHz (stock) and set to 4400gHz (partially overclocked) and one more BIOS setting away from 4700gHz should I need it.
System and Audio drives are both 500gb Solid State
Two other drives are WD 2TB

Machine noise and the loss of some awful hi-mid sound degradation are the two factors on ear fatigue I will commit to. I noticed decreased pain factor in all audio - mine, VI or ripped from CD - right away. I was not expecting that. Addition by subtraction is in play here, for sure. (the subtraction being my old machine.) However, at some point, I have to tip my hat to the design and implementation of the components in the new machine.

Does anyone know (or care to guess) to what extent, if at all, Avid adjusts audio in real time to enable lower powered machines to run? I've read little bits and pieces here and there, but nothing concrete. More like some generic advice in the reference guide in relation to topics like setting memory cache, etc.

There is nothing adjusted for what you mention. Have no worry's, your system is more powerful than an overwhelming majority. The memory cache, just set it to 5-6 GB, that should be more than enough for your workflow.

[PatriotsBiker]

Originally Posted by guitardom

There is nothing adjusted for what you mention. Have no worry's, your system is more powerful than an overwhelming majority. The memory cache, just set it to 5-6 GB, that should be more than enough for your workflow.

No, not worried at all. Just curious about any possible effects it had on the ear fatigue front as the improvement was big and obvious. It appears that my old machine did me no favors with both ambient and signal, audibly speaking. I do NOT miss that whistling things in the signal nor in the room.

Thanks for the memory tip.

@Albee152 - Thanks for your reply. Curious, as always, I found what I had read in the PT reference about performance and effects. It was only concerning automation rendering as system usage got close to maximum. (pg 102 - actually, that whole last paragraph is rather ambiguous...which really doesn't matter, either, except that helped fuel the curiosity. )

[albee1952]

BTW, for me, -9093 errors almost completely go away as soon as I disconnect the network cable from my main internet switch

[YYR123]

Originally Posted by albee1952

BTW, for me, -9093 errors almost completely go away as soon as I disconnect the network cable from my main internet switch

Running which version of PT?