PT9 stress test?

[sneakyimp]

OK so I know I'm going against the grain but I have assembled an AMD 6-core machine with 8GB RAM and I've cross-graded to protools 9 and I want to see if this beast works. Can anyone recommend a proper stress test? I found this in one of the stickies:

The Dverb 2.0 Test

Please make sure that RTAS Engine Ignore Errors During Playback/Record box is unchecked


Start the computer. Create a brand new 24bit/48k Session on your audio drive for the Dverb test. Open up the system usage window in PT. Then, go to Setup > Playback Engine... > and make sure the RTAS engine: Ignore Errors During Playback/Record(may cause clicks and pops) is NOT checked. Also, Go to your buffer setting and select 1024(CPU usage must be 95% or highest possible). Set up your time line ruler for Min:Secs. You want to be in grid mode and set up your grid for Min:Secs and 1 second. Create one mono audio track. Take the selector tool, put it on the 5 minute mark in your audio track and drag this to the start of your session. You will now have 5 minutes selected in this track. Go to AudioSuite > Other > Signal Generator and click on the "process" but. You should now see a 5 minute test tone. Create another audio track and insert 5 Dverbs in all the inserts. Record arm the Dverb track. Click on the track name so it is high lighted white, and hit shift+alt+D then hit enter. Record arm the new track and continue this pattern. You want to be able to record WITHOUT THE TEST TONE BREAKING UP!! Keep adding Dverbs and recording. If the test tone starts to breakup, then delete some Dverbs until you can hear a SOLID TEST TONE for 5 MINUTES. This is VERY VERY important. The test tone has to be 100% solid!!!


****IMPORTANT NOTE ON DVERB TESTING******

the PTLE 8.0 DVERB has a chorus effect added that was not present in prior LE versions. here is a scale comparison that was posted by Shane. pls take this into account as you test your new builds!!!

Shane's current stats/results from the following system:

- Asus P5K MB
- Intel Q6600 Quad-Core CPU
- SATAII System Drive and Audio Drives
- NVIDIA 8400 GS Graphics card
- 4G G.Skill DDR2-1066 RAM

PTLE 7.3.1cs6 - 278 RTAS Dverbs(The old Dverb without chorus)

PTLE 7.4cs5 - 255 RTAS Dverbs(The old Dverb without chorus)

PTLE 8.0 - 159 RTAS Dverbs(The new Dverb with chorus)

PTLE 8.0 - 278 RTAS Dverbs(The old Dverb without chorus) <=== Shane replaced the 8.0 DVERB with the 7.4 one in his plugin folder to test)

[Alexmc1988]

This really is the only "benchmark" for PT that I know of. Which processor do you have? I have the 955 and have been looking at upgrading. How many Dverbs can you get?

[MikeLip]

I ran dverb2 last night using the PT9 D-Verb. 254.
Mike.

[Alexmc1988]

Thanks Mike, is that with one of the AMD 6 cores or your i7?

[MikeLip]

On my i7.
Mike.

[sneakyimp]

Right now it's going quite badly. I'm not sure where the glitch is but something is badly wrong. I suspect it may have something to do with me using non-avid hardware, namely the Tascam US-1800.

For some strange reason, just opening a protools stress test project (not even pressing play or record) sends my CPU blasting to 80% usage on all 6 cores. WTF?

I'm going to check out the system tips for optimization but i'm off to a bad start with this hardware setup. Any hints about where to go for some good coaching would be much appreciated.

[sunburst79]

C2D E7400 @ 64 = 71 @ 90% system Usage 2.5 Ghz
C2D E7400 @ 1024 = 84 @ 90% Sytem usage 2.5 GHz
Athlon II X4 620 @ 64 = 76 95% system usage 106 watts
Athlon II X4 620 @ 1024 98 95% System usage
Phenom X6 1055 @64 = 113 90% Sytem usage 2.6 GHz 142 watts
Phenom X6 1055 @1024 = 144 90% Sytem usage 2.6 GHz
Phenom X6 1055 @64 = 118 90% Sytem usage 2.8 GHz
Phenom X6 1055 @1024 = 147 90% Sytem usage 2.8 GHz
Phenom X6 1055 @1024 = 157 90% Sytem usage 2.8 GHz DDR2 1066

These were some tests I ran about a year ago when I built a AMD rig to see how the 99.00 X4 620 would compare to the 99.00 Intel Core 2 Duo chip. I would have thought the X4 620 would have done a little bit better being as PT heavily favors multi threading. So I upgraded to the (199.00?) X6 and saw a huge performance increase. This was with Windows XP SP3 and whatever version (8.0.1cs2?) of PT that last worked with the original MBox.

With XP and PTLE 8 the X6 AMD ran smooth as glass. This was with a Gigabyte MA785GN-US2H which is a mATX board with integrated graphics. White I dont have any specific advice to offer I would start with the General Troubleshooting sticky and do the Avid recommended optimizations. Chances are its a simple configuration issue.

[sneakyimp]

Thanks sunburst. I'm headed to Protools 9 Technical FAQ - Solutions to common probolems now. If you know a better thread, I would appreciate knowing about it. So far, this is very disappointing. So psyched for Protools 9 and my Awesome X6 (which is something like 3.3 to 3.7 GHz) and yet it won't do diddly. NOTE: I am using a TASCAM US-1800 as hardware. Might it have something to do with that.

Remember, I'm getting all 6 cores zooming top 80% usage when i merely open a file.

[sunburst79]

Originally Posted by sneakyimp

Thanks sunburst. I'm headed to Protools 9 Technical FAQ - Solutions to common probolems now. If you know a better thread, I would appreciate knowing about it. So far, this is very disappointing. So psyched for Protools 9 and my Awesome X6 (which is something like 3.3 to 3.7 GHz) and yet it won't do diddly. NOTE: I am using a TASCAM US-1800 as hardware. Might it have something to do with that.

Remember, I'm getting all 6 cores zooming top 80% usage when i merely open a file.

Somethings wrong there (Thank you Captain Obvious).

You have anyone you could borrow a Digi interface from long enough to optimize and trouble shoot? That would eliminate the variable of the Tascam.

The X6 on XP was great here so I feel that you have a good chance of getting this going.

It's getting late here and I have an early day tomorrow. You might try downloading the DPC latency checker and see what it says.

http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml

Also CPUz and SiSoft Sandra Free will come in handy.

Last but not least you might want to note the settings and then break the overclock temporarily. I doubt its the problem but its another set of variables to eliminate.

[sneakyimp]

THANKS for the useful feedback.

I'm not overclocking. It's the stock clock speed.

I do in fact have a Digi 002 available but the firewire card is fried and it's got the power supply problem. I expect to have it fixed (to the tune of $400) but would love to try and isolate something more specific before wasting my money.

I'll probably drop it off for repair in the next day or so.