Pro Tools using more CPU as I increase the amount of processors. Please help.

[wreckthisplace]

Hey all,

This seemed to have come out of the blue. I am running the current update of Pro Tools. I'm not sure if this started right after the update. My memory is a bit hazy on that one. Older sessions with a decent amount of plugins or sessions with few plugins that take up a lot of CPU will simply not play without the CPU spiking or the audio cracking and popping unless I reduce my processors from using 7 out of 8 to using 2 out of 8. I also did a test on a session using on software instrument and when using 7 out of the 8 processors, it seemed to use at least 10-15% more CPU than when I switched it to using 2 out of the 8 processors. This has never happened before. I tried trashing all of the prefs, the DAE folder etc, but the problem still seems to be there.

Anyone experience this before?

Any idea how I may go about fixing this?

I am using a Hackintsoh, but as I said, everything has always worked great up until now.

Thanks.

OS X 10.7.5
Pro Tools 10.3.3

3.39 GHz Intel Core i7
16 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 RAM

[TOM@METRO]

Try disabling Hyperthreading in Bios.

[wreckthisplace]

I'll try that and report back.

Any idea why I wouldn't have had to do that before and would have to all of a sudden do it now?

Thanks.

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by wreckthisplace

I'll try that and report back.

Any idea why I wouldn't have had to do that before and would have to all of a sudden do it now?

Thanks.

What did you change?

This type of behavior is _very_ dependent on the exact plugins and how many of them you are using in a session.

Darryl

[wreckthisplace]

I changed literally nothing. I went back to a session that I know ran 100% ok before, simply wanted to re-bounce the song, and thats when I noticed the problem. The same song gave me huge CPU spikes, cracks and pops etc using 7 out of the 8 processors. When I brought it down to 2 out of 8, I was able to bounce the track.

The only thing I can think of that may have changed was updating Pro Tools to the latest update.

I've also been using Pro Tools for almost 10 years now, so I am aware of how it should act with how many plugins or with certain plugins.

Thanks.

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by wreckthisplace

The only thing I can think of that may have changed was updating Pro Tools to the latest update.

I've also been using Pro Tools for almost 10 years now, so I am aware of how it should act with how many plugins or with certain plugins.

And you are also aware no doubt how "entertaining" Pro Tools upgrades can be....

In this case if its not due to a change in the core Pro Tools you actually probalby also updated some of the plugin code itself. So pretty significant changes.

Darryl

[wreckthisplace]

Hmm...

Could bad RAM cause this type of behaviour?

I'm currently testing all of my RAM and all of the RAM slots and suspect I may have one bad stick of RAM. Not 100% sure yet, though.

[TOM@METRO]

And have you disabled hyperthreading yet, to help sort out certain possible plug-in issues.

[sunburst79]

Originally Posted by wreckthisplace

Hmm...

Could bad RAM cause this type of behaviour?

I'm currently testing all of my RAM and all of the RAM slots and suspect I may have one bad stick of RAM. Not 100% sure yet, though.

Not that I'm aware of. Although bad RAM can cause all sorts of issues. I'd suspect a problem with a plug denormalizing first.

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by wreckthisplace

Hmm...

Could bad RAM cause this type of behaviour?

I'm currently testing all of my RAM and all of the RAM slots and suspect I may have one bad stick of RAM. Not 100% sure yet, though.

No. And your answer on whether you have disabled hyperthreading is.....?

Darryl