Cpu Issues - Samsung Netbook 1.6ghz 1gigram

Help, Support & Bugs
#1

Hey folks
I did a search on ‘CPU’ but got no results…
Anyways I’m using a samsung netbook, model N110
which is:
Intel Atom
CPU N270 @ 1.6ghz
1gig ram

windows xp home, service pack 3

All drivers up to date, tweeked so there’s no shitty background services, virus protection etc running in the background.

there’s about 15gig free on the c: drive, and the d:drive is about 114gb free
Pretty sure the gfx card is only about 128, here’s a cut&paste from an info panel regarding the gfx:

Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator Driver for Mobile Report

Report Date: 11/09/2009
Report Time[hr:mm:ss]: 04:18:29
Driver Version: 6.14.10.4926
Operating System: Windows XP* Home Edition, Service Pack 3 (5.1.2600)
Default Language: English
DirectX* Version: 9.0
Physical Memory: 1014 MB
Minimum Graphics Memory: 8 MB
Maximum Graphics Memory: 128 MB
Graphics Memory in Use: 8 MB
Processor: x86 family 6 Model 28 Stepping 2
Processor Speed: 1595 MHZ
Vendor ID: 8086
Device ID: 27AE
Device Revision: 03

  • Accelerator Information *

Accelerator in Use: Mobile Intel® 945 Express Chipset Family
Video BIOS: 1585.0
Current Graphics Mode: 1024 by 600 True Color (60 Hz)

  • Devices Connected to the Graphics Accelerator *

Active Notebook Displays: 1

  • Notebook *

Monitor Name: Plug and Play Monitor
Display Type: Digital
Gamma Value: 2.20
DDC2 Protocol: Supported
Maximum Image Size: Horizontal: Not Available
Vertical: Not Available
Monitor Supported Modes:
1024 by 600 (60 Hz)
Display Power Management Support:
Standby Mode: Not Supported
Suspend Mode: Not Supported
Active Off Mode: Not Supported

  • Other names and brands are the property of their respective owners.

Anyways I was hoping to get into Renoise using this netbook, it’s only about 3 weeks old and there’s no bullshit installed on it, it’s as lean as I can get it without going the TINYXP route (which I’m looking into, but i digress…), no cracks/warez etc. No spyware/maleware as I don’t fuck around with porn/gambling etc…

So the demo of Renoise isn’t running so well for me. I went into prefs, turned off all GFX flourishes I could see, turned off plugin delay compensation, cranked up the latency. I also tried turning the page-file off in SYSTEM settings, but it’s worse that way.
Tried the lowest resolution rate for the monitor setup, tried 16 bit colour, turned off networking devices like lan/wifi…no improvement…

Basically when playing the demo songs the CPU meter steadily increases right up into the %90+ zone and the sound/gfx get very choppy (unlistenable/unusable) usually by about the 5thish/8thish pattern and I’ve got to stop.

Are the demo songs just to cpu heavy ? I’m working at a sample rate of 44.1hz with the onboard soundcard…
I was really hoping I could get down & dirty with renoise on this netbook as I bring it everywhere with me…

Is this just the way it is or… ?
I’m really perplexed because last time I tried a renoise demo it was on an oldass g4 ibook with shittier specs and that ran smooth…
Also running the new audiomulch demo, and that’s running smooth no hiccups with any examples, I also downloaded the ableton 4.14 demo from ableton.com/latest_versions and the demo songs running at a smooth 10% with that…

Thanks for reading this far and I really hope to hear back from you

Trackernacker

Should My Netbook Be Able To Run Renoise..
#2

Well, the current demo-songs are not really designed to run on a netbook effectively. The 1,6Mhz cpu that the netbook contains runs about half efficient as the specs dare you to believe. (expect performance of 800Mhz instead of the real 1,6Mhz). In real tests only two of them seem to run without hickups. (I believe Nivi and The Path)
If it might help, we just finished a contest to get a bunch of netbook qualified demosongs for a special edition of Renoise (just one that runs its demo’s more flawlessly). Though they are aimed for a Linux environment, so i have no idea how they do in a Windows environment.

Try some of these songs in this pack:
http://downloads.renoise.com/indamixx/Reno…Music_Compo.zip

#3

Hey man, thanks for the reply…
I downloaded that pack, are they all the ‘winners’ of the competition, or the finalists ?

Been listening through them…got as far as Arboreal - New Day, and that’s running at a steady 60% with firefox running in the background…
Sweet track I must say…

Will the radio show from last night be available for download ?

It’s a shame to find out I’m only really getting about 800mhz performance, still I was impressed that ableton and audiomulch were running so smoothly with such a modest cpu hit…

Anyway thanks again for that zip, I’m glad to have something to study

#4

Thanks for your input, it is really valuable.
About the radio show: I have no idea, the module pack will stay around though. The pack should contain 45 songs, those are all the entries (including the not-winners as well).
I wonder which of those songs really runs smooth in the Windows Netbook version.

Every audio applications runs nicely on a Netbook if you do modest audio playing and processing.
The original demo-songs in Renoise use packs of effects underneath most tracks, this hits the CPU pretty hard if you don’t have much power. But on a real 1,6Mhz CPU, the demo-songs should at least run fine.

#5

Renoise can heavily suffer of CPU stepping functions. I see you have disabled suspending and similar options, but can you disable stepping functions on your CPU? Stepping is the process which slows down the CPU when it is not fully used; it can easily cause hiccups on some kind of CPU’s, expecially on battery power.

I know it sucks to diasble stepping because it is a valuable battery saving option, but really multimedia production is not anything netbooks have been designed for; proof it is that an Atom 1.6Ghz is not even comparable to an old Pentium 1.6Ghz when it comes to audio production

#6

I’ve got Renoise installed on a Samsung NC10 netbook which has the same CPU spec. While it can’t play songs that max out my desktop PC its still excellent for working with my own songs on the move.

By adding higher latency you can increase the ability to playback heavier songs although even that will struggle on some of the demo songs.

Generally speaking the performance of Renoise on a netbook is impressive. Of course it struggles to handle the same CPU load as a desktop, it is nonetheless, a very useful and very capable app even on an Intel Atom core.