Test Your Setup Performance...

General Discussion
1

Ok, we had some discussion in off-topic about dual VS single core CPU and different chipsets. So i thought it would be interesting to make some tests again.

I have 2 differnet test tunes on my hard drive. Unfortunately i dont remember the authors of either one… so i just hope they wouldnt mind…

this one is using freeware superwave P8 vst synth that you can downoad here (only windows unfortunately)

and this one is using just one sample and renoise internal effect processing.

So please run those tunes (especially those with newer comps) and post CPU load that you get alongside with latency time you use and system specs like CPU, chipset, RAM etc!!

2

ok, here is my results

CPU: AMD Athlon64 3500+
chipset: nforce 4 ultra
RAM: 1GB Kingston (CL 2,5)
Soundcard: M-audio audiophile 192
video: ati radeon x850 pro (pci express)

sample rate used 44100 Khz

CPU_LOAD_BENCH.rns

ASIO latency 24 ms (buffer size 1024 samples) CPU LOAD 60%
ASIO latency 12 ms (buffer size 512 samples) CPU LOAD 65%
ASIO latency 6 ms (buffer size 256 samples) CPU LOAD 74%
ASIO latency 3 ms (buffer size 128 samples) CPU LOAD 87% with crakles

test.rns

ASIO latency 24 ms (buffer size 1024 samples) CPU LOAD 49%
ASIO latency 12 ms (buffer size 512 samples) CPU LOAD 50%
ASIO latency 6 ms (buffer size 256 samples) CPU LOAD 56%
ASIO latency 3 ms (buffer size 128 samples) CPU LOAD 57% with crakles

EDIT: if someone has similar CPU with nforce 3 chipset then i would love to know your results since many say that nforce 4 is no go with audio apps

3

"EDIT: if someone has similar CPU with nforce 3 chipset then i would love to know your results since many say that nforce 4 is no go with audio apps "

I really hope thats not true because one can hardly get a motherboard thats not nforce 4.

4

Anyone? :unsure:

@splajn

read this and
this big thread on nuendo forums

you can also find info by just googling around…

EDIT: and this is not just nforce 4 but any cipset that supports pci express… with dual core CPU there is no problem with nforce 4 though…

5

with my mediocre pc:
athlon xp 2600+ OC’d to 2700+
133 FSB
768mb SDRAM
radeon 9600 pro
emu0404:

CPU_LOAD_BENCH:
50 ms: 86.2% (graphics get stuck, no sound glitches)
20 ms: 92% (more stuck, few sound glitches)
16 ms: 94.8% (hitting stop or ctrl-esc do not stop song. have fight against graph stuckness to get the mousepointer to the stop button. after afew seconds sound stops, even more glitches)
from 12ms on: 99.9% (song is unstoppable, ctrl-alt-del needs decades to show up the task manager. [the only way to stop the song now]. but audio sounds kinda like with 16 ms)

i’ll do the other one a little later.

6

CPU: Intel P4 3.4GHz
Chipset: Intel 875
RAM: 2GB Kingston
Soundcard: M-Audio Delta 1010
Video: Ati Radeon 9600

CPU_LOAD_BENCH:
17ms: 80%
11ms: 71%
8ms: 74%
5ms: 76%
2ms: 91% (with crackles)

It seems my system performs best with 11ms latency (512 samples).

I test this again with my new machine as soon as I get it.

7

Hardware Setup:
CPU: Pentium4-C “Northwood” 3.0 @3.8Ghz
RAM: 1024MB DDR PC500, DualChannel
ChS: Intel 875p “Canterwood”
SFX: EMU 1212m, ASIO
GFX: nVidia Geforce 6800 GT, 256MB GDDR3, AGP

Renoise Settings:
44100hz, playback with filebrowser visible (trackscopes will consume some performance, especially with the 30 channel test-tune (which i “made” quite a while back, btw ;)).
screen resolution / windows size does not seem to influence performance in any way.
[File]
CPU_LOAD_BENCH.RNS

[20 ms]
CPU peaks @ 62%

[12 ms]
CPU peaks @ 63%

[06 ms]
CPU peaks @ 65%

[03 ms]
CPU peaks @ 71% (/w crackles)

[File]
test.rns

[20 ms]
CPU peaks @ 44%

[12 ms]
CPU peaks @ 45%

[06 ms]
CPU peaks @ 48%

[03 ms]
CPU peaks @ 51% (again, with crackles)

8

CPU:
Pentium IV 2.8Ghz / bus 533Mhz
1GB DDR PC2100 ram (266Mhz)
Chipset Intel 845G / ICH4
4x AGP
ATI Radeon 9800 pro (not fully functional because of my mainboard agp-bus limitations).

All audio is tested using 44Khz. frequency, windowed mode (no fullscreen!).
In full screen i know i have no crackles if i stay beneath 85%, but this depends also wether using vsti (more crackles) or samples (less crackles) only.

Renoise 1.5.1

test.rns
ASIO buffer 1024 (23ms) ~63% (no crackles)
ASIO buffer 512 (11ms) ~65% (a drifted irritating crackle here and there)
Asio buffer 256 (5ms) ~70% (increasive irritating crackles.)
ASIO buffer 128 (2ms) ~76% (severe yet steady retrig output of sound)

CPU_LOAD_BENCH.rns -> Unexpected end of file, but does load the first sample and the pattern.
ASIO buffer 1024 (23ms) ~76% (no crackles)
ASIO buffer 512 (11ms) ~79.5% (no crackles (?))
Asio buffer 256 (5ms) ~86.5% (unsteady retrig output.)
ASIO buffer 128 (2ms) ~99.9% (ssssslllllloooooowwwwwwwmmmmmmoooooooo)

I would probably win when swapping my mainboard and using different memory along with it.

edit: removed facts about unstable, unreleased, not yet optimized and hidden alpha releases : )

9

CPU: Pentium4 “Prescott” (HT enabled) 3.0 @ 3.366Ghz (FSB 224Mhz) = Prime95stable
RAM: 2048MB DDR PC400 DualChannel - 3-3-3-8 (224Mhz) = Prime95stable
MBo: Asus P4C800-E Deluxe
ChS: Intel 875p “Canterwood”
Snd: EMU 1212m v1.81 Driver
GFX: MSI nx6600 256VTD

i think results with crackles are totally uninteresting. so this is my lowest possible latency without any crackles @ 44kHz. (in window mode, file browser visible, pattern scrolling on)

test.rns
8ms ASIO - 44kHz - max. 52% load

CPU_LOAD_BENCH.rns
8ms ASIO - 44kHz - max. 70% load

can anybody make another sample-test-tune … the sample itself contains crackles from the record … hard to distinguish between the soundcard crackles and the sample crackles …

10

CPU: Intel P4 3.7GHz Extreme (2MB Cache)
Chip: Intel 925XE
GFX: ATI X850 @ 1680x1050
MEM: 2x1024 DDR2 533
SND: M-audio Audiophile 2496 ASIO @ 44.1 KHz

Disk browser visable, not the scopes.

CPU Load Bench

Peak - Latency - Samples

59.3% - 24ms - 1024
60.4% - 12ms - 512
62.9% - 6ms - 256
66.1% - 3ms - 128 (with crackles)

Test

42.4% - 24ms - 1024
44.3% - 12ms - 512
45.2% - 6ms - 256
48.4% - 3ms - 128 (with crackles)

11

CPU: AMD Athlon XP 3000+; 200 MHZ FSB
MBO: Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe Rev. 2; nForce 2 Ultra
RAM: 2x 512 MB Corsair Valueselect PC3200 Dual Channel; 2,5-3-3-8
GFX: Leadtek Winfast A400 GT TDH; GeForce 6800 GT
SND: Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music; audio creation mode enabled

Only tests without crackles mentioned.

test.rns

10ms 56,7%
20ms 53,3%

cpu_load_bench.rns

10ms 73,4 %
20ms 67,8 %

12

CPU: Pentium® 4 Processor 540J, LGA775, 3.20 GHz, 1MB L2-Cache, 800 MHz FSB
MBO: Albatron Intel® PX915P Pro
RAM: TwinMOS 2 GB DDR400 Dual Channel (4x512 MB, CL2.5)
GFX: Gigabyte Radeon X600 Pro
SND: MOTU 828mkII FireWire (ASIO, 44,100 Hz)

CPU_LOAD_BENCH.rns

2048 (46 ms): ~67.0%
1024 (23 ms): ~67.5%
512 (11 ms): ~70.0% (some crackles)
256 (5 ms) : ~73.5% (more crackles)
128 (3 ms) : ~80.5% (lots of crackles)

test.rns

2048 (46 ms): ~49.5%
1024 (23 ms): ~50.5%
512 (11 ms): ~52.0%
256 (5 ms): ~55.0% (some crackles)
128 (3 ms): ~58.0% (lots of crackles)

13

anyone with a desktop pc + pentium mobile here?
or centrino based laptop?
would love to see some results of a (overclocked) 2,13Ghz Dothan. :rolleyes:

14

Hiya keith, yup, i’ll post my pentium M result tomorrow (it’s 2am here at the mo, and i don’t have any headphones to test for crackling). It’s only a 2Ghz, but it isn’t overclocked, though, as the bios is buggerin’ locked, innit. gahhhh

Firstly, though, where are you guys seeing the performance percentage? Does Renoise have its own meter, or are you just using Ctrl+Alt+Del of Windows XP?

cheers

15

Just have a look at the top right edge from renoise, there is a cpu percentage meter.

Greets

16

Thanks.

CPU: Intel Pentium-M 760 2GHz @ 533MHz FSB
Chipset: Intel 915 + ICH6M
RAM: 2 x 512MB DDR2 533MHz
Soundcard: Motu Traveler (firewire)
Graphics: 256mb nVidia GeForce Go 6800 PCIe
OS: A normal, bulky XP install (haven’t had chance make a dual boot for music-production only, yet) with SP2

test.rns:-

23ms @ 1024 samples: ~47.0%
17ms @ 768 samples: ~47.7%
11ms @ 512 samples: ~49.0%
8ms @ 384 samples: ~49.8%
5ms @ 256 samples: ~51.0%
4ms @ 192 samples: ~52.5%
3ms @ 128 samples: ~55.% crackles/glitching

CPU_LOAD_BENCH.rns:-

23ms @ 1024 samples: ~61.2%
17ms @ 768 samples: ~63.0%
11ms @ 512 samples: ~64.9%
8ms @ 384 samples: ~66.4%
5ms @ 256 samples: ~69.8%
4ms @ 192 samples: ~72.7%
3ms @ 128 samples: ~78.0% crackles

17

Are you saying that nforce4 has audio issues independent of the onboard sound?

18

My Setup:
CPU : Athlon XP 2700+ (2.17 GHz)
RAM : 512 MB, DDR333
Chipset: NForce 2
Soundcard : MAudio Audiophile 192
Video : Radion 9600

Everything was run with pattern follow turned on with the diskbrowser view.

Results:

CPU_LOAD_BENCH.rns

DMA Buffer Size - Latency - CPU Usage - Notes
1024 Samples - 24ms - 66.6%
768 Samples - 18ms - 70.0%
512 Samples - 12ms - 74.6%
384 Samples - 9ms - 76.8%
256 Samples - 6ms - 81.5% - GUI refresh a little slugish (level meter on top), but not crackles
128 Samples - 3ms - 95% - GUI Really slow, major crackling, unusable
64 Samples - 2ms - 99.9% - Audio playback is slowed down and crackly, mouse freezes up

test.rns

DMA Buffer Size - Latency - CPU Usage - Notes
1024 Samples - 24ms - 54.5%
768 Samples - 18ms - 55.8%
512 Samples - 12ms - 57.5%
384 Samples - 9ms - 60% - Occasional crackle on the beginning of each chord in Track00
256 Samples - 6ms - 64.5% - The same crackle happens more often now
128 Samples - 3ms - 67% - Really bad crackling - unusable. GUI is fine
64 Samples - 2ms - 73% - Sound completely distorted, but GUI is still fine

Does anyone else have crackles in their sound while typing? :frowning: Should I try a USB keyboard maybet (PS2 keyboard causing low level interupts??) I just noticed this, and it happens with Winamp too.

19

maybe we should start a wdm (asio4all) vs. real-asio latency competition ;)

20

Tee-hee

With my iBook G4 @ 1.2GHz 768MB I could play only the first 10 tracks without any crackles (CPU_LOAD_BENCH.rns). CPU usage was hanging around 87%, and GUI was almost completely useless at this point. I’m not using any external audio interface so that latency-thingy can not be tested on this system.

Well, this baby still has enough power for my needs :slight_smile: