On CPU, RAM & AI performance

sjabalamadingdong

sjabalamadingdong

Everlasting student
I've been running Cubase 5 (multi processing= on) for the last years on a:

- Intel Q9400 runs @ 3.4 GHz
- Arctic Freezer Pro 7 CPU cooler
- 8GB DDR2 RAM 800MHz
- Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
- Sata II harddrive
- Presonus Inspire 1394 Firewire

I'm a Virtual instruments user and lately I've noticed that my CPU has become my bottleneck hitting 100% CPU load @ highest peak at some points when working on a song. My audio interface settings were mostly set on 88.2 KHz with a latency of 2.5ms. Except when lot of synths are active and I play my drumparts on BFD2. Pops and clicks occur and shifting the latency to 25ms get's rid of the pops and clicks. But that just wont do for recording guitar and midi keyboard parts...

So I've decided to upgrade my PC as following:
- Intel I7 2600 runs @ stock speed
- Intel Stock cooler
- 8GB DDR3 RAM 1333MHz
- Sata II hardrive
- Presonus Inspire 1394 Firewire

That on the same windows 7 64 machine.

I would say that this upgrade gained me 15 to 20 % advantage over my previous setup. I get a maximum CPU peak @ 83% tops on the same song loaded in Cubase and (this is strange??) I can set my audio interface @ 88.2KHz with a latency of 1.5ms! Without ever getting pops and clicks :S

I wasn't expecting such a huge load on my i7 CPU.
Also; I've been checking this forum and other boards like gearslutz advising musicians to stack their systems with as much RAM the can...
Well, looking at my usage, I've never hit any higher than 4GB tops. And that on times when I run heavy VI's, compressors & Effects on an average of 16 tracks?

So my questions are:
1. Is my CPU load normal?
2. How come upgrading CPU and RAM affect my audio latency in a good way? I thought AI and CPU/RAM were separate things.
3. What is your average and top CPU load and RAM usage and in what situation?
4. How can I lower my CPU usage? Or is it normal that it peaks @ the use of Vi's, effects and compressors?
 
Can't really comment on your CPU load - it depends so much on the plugins & instruments you're using. Some are really demanding, some are not. So the "average" load might vary a lot...

Your CPU & RAM amount affect latency because, well, the latency stems from the CPU - that's what does all the processing. The interface just puts out the sound as quickly as possible (the CPU spools the processed audio into the buffer from which the AI pulls the stuff through the converters...to put it simple). So the overall latency is a sum of the involved parties, not just the AI.

And running @ 88.2 is gonna be heavy in any case. You could try dropping back to 44.1 - which should be a big performance improvement - and see what's the impact on the sound...
 
Thanks for clearing up q2! I did a google search on latency and found this interesting article: Improving FL Studio Performance . It's an article for FL sti
udio, but the performance tweaks are generic for all DAWS.

I'll start tweaking tonight and see what I come up with.

Thnx again Krushing :)

---------- Post added at 05:48 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:47 AM ----------
sjabalamadingdong said:
Thanks for clearing up q2! I did a google search on latency and found this interesting article: Improving FL Studio Performance . It's an article for FL sti
udio, but the performance tweaks are generic for all DAWS.

I'll start tweaking tonight and see what I come up with.

Thnx again Krushing :)
Click to expand...

After tweaking my system with the help of the above article, I've concluded that uppin the latency to 10ms, just don't cut it. Try to play a funk rhythm on electric guitar.. It's like playing in an echo. So for me: The lower latency,the better it is for a natural feel @ Guitar playing and midi keyboard usage. Maybe set a low latency for recording and highest latency for mixing.

Going to upgrade to a Crucial M4 SSD and Scythe Shuriken CPU cooler soon and see what that can do.

If anyone has more system tweaks and or upgrades to share, or correct me in my wrongs, I'd be very interested!
 
Here's a tip for musicians looking for a performance boost like me.


I've managed to do the following:


1. Activated Turboboost in the EFI bios


2. Went to Start > Control Panel > Performance Information and Tools > Advanced tools > Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows


2a. Under the tab Visual Effect select:'Adjust for best performance'.
2b. Under the tab Advanced select under the option Adjust for best performance of: 'Programs'


3. Click ctrl+r and type msconfig and disable all unnecessary Services and startup programs
4. Disabled network connections, and AV apps


This gave me an impressive performance boost!

---------- Post added 04-22-2012 at 11:18 AM ---------- Previous post was 04-19-2012 at 02:29 AM ----------

[ISSUE FIXED] UPDATE:

Writing this for future reference for anyone experiencing the same problem with an i7 processor.
The cause of the big load was merely a configuration setting.

The problem was that the Windows only saw 4 cores instead of 8! Here's how I fixed this:
1. Do ctrl + R;
2. Type msconfig;
3. Go to tab Boot;
4. Uncheck number of processors and maximum memory;
5. Click ok & ok;
6. Reboot and witness the magic...

Now I'm getting a maximum load of -45% on stress.
 
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