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#1
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# of cores and hyperthreading
Hello fellows,
I'm running PT 10.3.10 on Windows 7 pro x64 and I have a Dell xps 8700 with core i7 4770, 16gb RAM, etc. Recently I noticed that every time I get the famous message saying that Protools is running out of CPU power my CPU was actually under 50%. After a quick Googleing I found and read all the threads on hyperthreading (HT) there are so before doing any changes I grabbed a paper and a pencil while opening one of my busiest projects: -Before deactivating HT I was using no more than 50% before getting the warning, that was using 6 cores at 99%. -Changing to 1 or 2 cores created funny noises making PT unusable. -With 3 cores everything went smooth, the CPU went over 75-80% with the same busy project. -With 4 cores the CPU went down to 47-51 and I believe this is the best performance I could get with HT activated. Now... -After deactivating HT I got the same performance as with 4 cores using only 3 cores, this is around 47-51%. The point in which I would like to hear your opinion guys is: would it be better to leave only one core for OS with no HT and keep using 3 cores for PT or RE-activate HT to have 4 cores for OS, being forced to use 4 cores in PT? As I pointed before PT performance is the same with these two configurations, I just want to give the rest of the programs the best possible resources. Thanks beforehand to all of you, duc.avid.com rocks!
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Dell XPS 8700. Intel Core i7-4770 CPU @ 3.40GHz. RAM: 16GB. Windows 10 Home x64. NVIDIA GeForce GTX 645. NI Komplete Audio 6. Pro Tools Software 2019 amagrasmusic.com |
#2
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Re: # of cores and hyperthreading
Truthfully, it really does seem to be on a per-system basis. What works best for one PC might be worst on the next one.
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HP Z4 workstation, Mbox Studio https://www.facebook.com/search/top/...0sound%20works The better I drink, the more I mix BTW, my name is Dave, but most people call me.........................Dave |
#3
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Re: # of cores and hyperthreading
Like Dave says, it's totally dependent on the plugins you use and their workload.
First thing to realize is many of these problems are caused by plugin bugs, so you *always* want to suspect plugin issues. Things you should do... -1 Make sure your system is *fully* optimized. Every single last thing done. 0. Disable ignore errors in the playback engine settings, you want to see every error possible while troubleshooting. 1. Run with the largest IO buffer size you can, and avoid silly high session sample rates. But make the IO buffer size smaller if you want to deliberately trip up problems for troubleshooting. 2. Check every one of your plugins are up to date, and compatible with the OS and Pro Tools version. At least try out any latest AAX plugins available from vendors if you have old RTAS versions installed. 3. Exclude plugin denomralization problems... buggy plugins like Sansamp burning CPU or creating spikes. Stick a dither plugin in front of sansamp. Also google search for other plugins known to have denormalization problems. Plugins with that problem usually need to be instantiated to cause issues. 4. Try removing all third party plugins from the RTAS and AAX plugins folder and putting them back in batches to see if you can detect a problem. Yes even plugins you are not/never use, plugins don't need to be instantiated in a session to cause problems. 5. If things are unstable try starting with disabling HT and run with RTAS CPU = #CPU-1. If HT is enabled you want to _start_ by still setting RTAS CPU = # (physical CPU cores) - 1. That guarantees a whole CPU core is still available to Pro Tools but does not give plugins any real benefit of HT. They are just starting points you will still *have* to experiment. 6. Don't over focus on the CPU meters, they won't tell you about glitchy plugin spikes (they just cannot resolve those brief spikes) that cause many of these kind of problems. High unexpected CPU burn can be a sign of denormalization problems (but that can also create unseen spikes). |
#4
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Re: # of cores and hyperthreading
And if you're using Kontakt 5 turn off multiple processor support. Could also try turning off Kontakt Memory Server as well.
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#5
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Re: # of cores and hyperthreading
Quote:
Thank you Darryl, as usual your explanations make a difference. I will also keep an eye on the Sansamp and the like.
__________________
Dell XPS 8700. Intel Core i7-4770 CPU @ 3.40GHz. RAM: 16GB. Windows 10 Home x64. NVIDIA GeForce GTX 645. NI Komplete Audio 6. Pro Tools Software 2019 amagrasmusic.com |
#6
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Re: # of cores and hyperthreading
Quote:
If you're asking about turning off Kontakt Memory Server if you're running a 64 bit system it's not really necessary. It was developed to help those running a 32 bit operating system. |
#7
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Re: # of cores and hyperthreading
Quote:
__________________
Dell XPS 8700. Intel Core i7-4770 CPU @ 3.40GHz. RAM: 16GB. Windows 10 Home x64. NVIDIA GeForce GTX 645. NI Komplete Audio 6. Pro Tools Software 2019 amagrasmusic.com |
#8
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Re: # of cores and hyperthreading
I wanted to update (and inevitably resurrect) this post with information because it may help others in the future.
I've been comparing PT behaviour with and without hyperthreading resulting in: PT works in my PC (listed on the signature) with HT and #CPU-2 better than with no HT and #CPU-1, this is 8CPU-2 in the first case against 4CPU-1. Thanks to all of you for chime in!
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Dell XPS 8700. Intel Core i7-4770 CPU @ 3.40GHz. RAM: 16GB. Windows 10 Home x64. NVIDIA GeForce GTX 645. NI Komplete Audio 6. Pro Tools Software 2019 amagrasmusic.com |
#9
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Re: # of cores and hyperthreading
It's great to share tips, but comments about CPU scaling are kind of meaningless without knowing what plugins and what workload they are running.
And in some cases you may need to know the versions of plugins. And even more fundamental, what are you actually meaning when you say "works better" -- is that lower indicated CPU use (measured how)?, a higher throughput number (like done for DVERB tests?), or ability to run certain workload with fewer DAE/AAE CPU errors? What may be interesting is to develop DVERB like workloads of other plugins. |
#10
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Re: # of cores and hyperthreading
Good idea! You and me could start by picking two plugs and maybe others will do the same until we have an extensive database. Anyways I'm still not very clear on how to make the Dverb test but I'm on it.
__________________
Dell XPS 8700. Intel Core i7-4770 CPU @ 3.40GHz. RAM: 16GB. Windows 10 Home x64. NVIDIA GeForce GTX 645. NI Komplete Audio 6. Pro Tools Software 2019 amagrasmusic.com |
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