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  #11  
Old 09-27-2020, 06:09 AM
Brandonx1 Brandonx1 is offline
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Default Re: Processor affinity

Anyone getting hard crashes when switching sessions with this hack? I had to stop using it due to crashing whole switching session, which I have to do when reviewing with clients.
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  #12  
Old 09-27-2020, 09:03 AM
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Default Re: Processor affinity

Nothing but trouble free using Processor Affinity as far as crashing is concerned - and most other things with the exception of the video engine choking on rare occasions. The Command switch won't work if you run Pro Tools as Administrator and it won't work if you start Pro Tools by double clicking a session icon. Some people have found better success, depending on the number of cores, by "turning off" a different core than 0 with Hyperthreading off or 0 and 1 with Hyperthreading on. You could also experiment with Processor Priority too.
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  #13  
Old 09-30-2020, 06:51 PM
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Default Re: Processor affinity

CPU Affinity took me from Unusable to Decent Performance
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  #14  
Old 10-01-2020, 01:59 AM
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Default Re: Processor affinity

Quote:
Originally Posted by ejinbc View Post
YES.

Affinity switch setting still required for me to get click/pop free performance at 24/96 with 64 sample buffer (OC 8700K; Win 10; MOTU 1248; PT 2020.9.1; NI Komplete; Waves Gold+). Without this setting the processor switching gets in the way (I think) and the sample que gets serviced too late - and then a click. For my 8700K FFE works best.

At 256 buffer and greater this switch is not required, and in fact can make PT a bit less powered YMMV. So I use 2 command prompts, one with an Affinity switch and one without.

For reference:

cmd.e x e /c start "ProTools" /affinity FFE "C:\Program Files\Avid\Pro Tools\Protools.exe

<remove spaces in ".exe" above can't post without added spaces>

ej9inbc
I have 14 cores. Do you know how to set affinity to only use CPU core 2-14?
From post above it seems like I should avoid using core 0 and 1?
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  #15  
Old 10-01-2020, 05:27 AM
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Default Re: Processor affinity

Christian, After opening Pro Tools, (but not a session) open task manager and right click on ProTools. Click on set affinity and uncheck core 0 and 1, leaving cores 2 through 13 checked. Then click on set priority and select High.
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  #16  
Old 10-01-2020, 06:05 AM
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Thumbs up Re: Processor affinity

Quote:
Originally Posted by mjslakeridge View Post
Christian, After opening Pro Tools, (but not a session) open task manager and right click on ProTools. Click on set affinity and uncheck core 0 and 1, leaving cores 2 through 13 checked. Then click on set priority and select High.
Thanks.
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  #17  
Old 10-01-2020, 07:50 AM
ejinbc ejinbc is offline
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Default Re: Processor affinity

Quote:
Originally Posted by chrisdee View Post
I have 14 cores. Do you know how to set affinity to only use CPU core 2-14?
From post above it seems like I should avoid using core 0 and 1?
C

14 cores looks like this (two 1's per core (i.e. 2 virtual cores per real core):

1111111111111111111111111111

which is this in HEX:

FFFFFFF

So in the command line I gave I would try:

FFFFFFE


which is this in binary

1111111111111111111111111110

That would shut off one half of one real core - which I find optimal. You can use the Windows calculator to do the Hex>Binary conversions.

BUT, THIS MAY DEPEND ON THE WAY THE AUDIO INTERFACE DRIVER WAS PROGRAMMED.

So, some experimentation is needed. I would load up a reasonably complex tracking session, set the buffers low (I use 24/96 with 64 sample buffer with a MOTU 1248), and then watch the activity monitor. When the sudden spikes stop (redlines) you have found the right setting.

WHY is this still a HACK Avid ? Seems pretty dumb we have to explain this over and over in the forum ! I have been using this since PT12.

A STICKY perhaps that explains the method and optimization strategy ?

Hope this helps.

ejinbc

Last edited by ejinbc; 10-01-2020 at 08:14 AM.
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  #18  
Old 10-01-2020, 09:51 AM
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Default Re: Processor affinity

See my post #8 on the first page for a HEX calculator. And yes, you will need to experiment to find which cores you should turn off above a Quad Core CPU. Although I'm puzzled how you have 7/14 cores. AFAIK, Intel's CPU's are multiples of 2 using even numbers.
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  #19  
Old 10-02-2020, 08:02 AM
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Default Re: Processor affinity

We used to have options for "# of Processors" and "CPU Usage Limit" in Playback Engine. Why are these options no longer available?

Avid?

Anybody?
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  #20  
Old 10-16-2020, 12:51 AM
mufi mufi is offline
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Default Re: Processor affinity

There might be another optimisation, disabling Page Combining.
Anyone tried this? It's mentioned here:

https://avid.secure.force.com/pkb/ar...-Configuration

I tried it and so far I did not need to do the affinity trick anymore.

Long story short, Page Combining is a feature introduced in Windows 8.1 that reduces ram footprint of processes with same ram structure (or something like that). But it takes time to do so and it's often called by the os, so I guess it's not so good for apps depending on latency.
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