hey thanks i'm diving in headfirst, sandra is my new girlfriend
and perfmon is great but it's not turning up what i had hoped
only strange thing i found was that total processor speed or something does not always equal 200%, it averages on 196
alas elimination process continues
one thing i noticed when running taskmanager is that the trackloading is using only one processor, while memory usage stays below 400Mb coming from 375Mb
live needing 180MB coming from 155Mb
as taskmanager gives an average of 40ish percent for cpu i conclude it's using near 70 percent of one processor, but testing of the asiodriver at even 80% playback alone does not induce dropouts, so there's more to it
going sandra now, you think any hw problems are already out on the net? has this mobile config been out long enough?
Acer laptop harddrive latency isssue, urgent help please
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 33 posts since 24 Nov, 2007
oh one more thing traktor is also not optimized for dual processing
in DPC latency checker i get values of around 17000microseconds when programs load they also write something to the internal disk could this coincide with its 17ms random acces time, meaning this is it and i have to look no further?
about the ram yes i am getting corsair? two matched sticks soon if i get this lappy to work that is...should work without dual channel mode no?
in DPC latency checker i get values of around 17000microseconds when programs load they also write something to the internal disk could this coincide with its 17ms random acces time, meaning this is it and i have to look no further?
about the ram yes i am getting corsair? two matched sticks soon if i get this lappy to work that is...should work without dual channel mode no?
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- KVRAF
- 2323 posts since 4 Mar, 2004 from Portugal (Lagos)
My Aspire is a T5600 1.83 Ghz, 667 Mhz FSB 2Mb L2 cache, 2Gb ram, 120 HDD. It was a "take it or leave it" situation, because it was the last one with XP (and it was a great deal too). How can I test it to check how it compares with your system?
Eventually something intelligent will appear written here. Watch this space.
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 33 posts since 24 Nov, 2007
good morning i just needed to close my eyes for a minute..
well just do the test with your host it might give us an indication, comparing our systems is done using sisoft sandra, it's apparently The benchmark and diagnostics tool, as i recently discovered
just install and let it run its tests, no harm can be done and it retrieves a lot of information so we get to compare..
and yes mine also came with xp and very nice price..
well just do the test with your host it might give us an indication, comparing our systems is done using sisoft sandra, it's apparently The benchmark and diagnostics tool, as i recently discovered
just install and let it run its tests, no harm can be done and it retrieves a lot of information so we get to compare..
and yes mine also came with xp and very nice price..
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- KVRAF
- 2323 posts since 4 Mar, 2004 from Portugal (Lagos)
My Aspire (reported by Sisoft Sandra)
Random Access Time (HD): 28ms
Memory latency (random access): 139 ns
Cache/memory bandwidht: 13737 Mb/s
Cache/memory Speed Factor: 33.50
...
Honestly, I don't have a clue what it means, but according to the comparison charts with other systems it doesn't seem that bad.
Random Access Time (HD): 28ms
Memory latency (random access): 139 ns
Cache/memory bandwidht: 13737 Mb/s
Cache/memory Speed Factor: 33.50
...
Honestly, I don't have a clue what it means, but according to the comparison charts with other systems it doesn't seem that bad.
Eventually something intelligent will appear written here. Watch this space.
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 33 posts since 24 Nov, 2007
ok seems there is nothing wrong with our hardware
your sandra results indicate your system slightly lower than mine wich is normal and should be more than enough for playing a few tracks..
and so here are some more thoughts after reading findings with sisoft sandra
all tests show good results so the problem is concerning some variable not used in these benchmarks..
perhaps the c: partitition is using too large (eg 512k) blocks NTFS, wich only becomes apparent when using realtime audio, although i would think large buffersizes on asio would cure this..
can't seem to find any southbridge components with sandra, where are they?
further testing :
i've optimized memory usage and caching while loading tracks
previously traktor used a seperate thread and when disabling the option
perform background analysis when loading into deck the problem is nearly gone, i get it only when simultaneous loading of tracks in all 4 decks at once and before they are loaded dragging some more, now memory usage goes up to 250Mb for traktor in taskmanager but cpu only 45% evenly spreadout among the 2 processors, still not normal but might be due to the program itself.
it seems the way these programs use memory and perhaps don't flush it properly
that is causing the dropouts..
gonna try other sequencerhosts now but it's got to be some memory/cache and software interconnection.
himalaya have you run the playback test with DPC latency checker?
remember it's not playback, it's loading a certain amount of files from disk or into memory that is causing the large interrupts..
i feel quite confident now that with the addition of another ram stick and dual memory usage in conjunction with a proper rme cardbus audio interface
im gonna be fine with this system, i'll have to work it out
maybe some memory controller issue at hand but there's got to be a way to fix it properly.. so i am not going to return it, sure would be a dangerous drive and all, and for mere project work it seems to hold up very well
gonna try some large track counts with audio files being read from disk but clearly the disk itself is not the issue..
so how does it perform himalaya?
your sandra results indicate your system slightly lower than mine wich is normal and should be more than enough for playing a few tracks..
and so here are some more thoughts after reading findings with sisoft sandra
all tests show good results so the problem is concerning some variable not used in these benchmarks..
perhaps the c: partitition is using too large (eg 512k) blocks NTFS, wich only becomes apparent when using realtime audio, although i would think large buffersizes on asio would cure this..
can't seem to find any southbridge components with sandra, where are they?
further testing :
i've optimized memory usage and caching while loading tracks
previously traktor used a seperate thread and when disabling the option
perform background analysis when loading into deck the problem is nearly gone, i get it only when simultaneous loading of tracks in all 4 decks at once and before they are loaded dragging some more, now memory usage goes up to 250Mb for traktor in taskmanager but cpu only 45% evenly spreadout among the 2 processors, still not normal but might be due to the program itself.
it seems the way these programs use memory and perhaps don't flush it properly
that is causing the dropouts..
gonna try other sequencerhosts now but it's got to be some memory/cache and software interconnection.
himalaya have you run the playback test with DPC latency checker?
remember it's not playback, it's loading a certain amount of files from disk or into memory that is causing the large interrupts..
i feel quite confident now that with the addition of another ram stick and dual memory usage in conjunction with a proper rme cardbus audio interface
im gonna be fine with this system, i'll have to work it out
maybe some memory controller issue at hand but there's got to be a way to fix it properly.. so i am not going to return it, sure would be a dangerous drive and all, and for mere project work it seems to hold up very well
gonna try some large track counts with audio files being read from disk but clearly the disk itself is not the issue..
so how does it perform himalaya?
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- KVRAF
- 2323 posts since 4 Mar, 2004 from Portugal (Lagos)
One detail, don't know if it matters: my HD only has main partition and recovery partition, and is formatted in FAT32. It seems odd but I had problems in the past with NTFS with file recovery when there's a system crash by boot sector failure.
Eventually something intelligent will appear written here. Watch this space.
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- KVRAF
- 7886 posts since 24 Feb, 2003 from Earth, USA
512k blocks? You can only go up to 64k blocks with NTFS. I format all SQL servers that way because they access and write in 8 8k extents (64k) anyway. Larger blocks are good for larger files as you generate less I/O and higher throughput. It's bad if you work with tons of small files though. The downside with larger blocks is cache is more heavily consumed, and sometimes unnecessarily for the larger fetch.
For a typical box, I'd stick with Default, which is 4k blocks. My 64k is a mere 'geek tweak' to try to squeak out as much performance on high end databases.
Just to save you some headaches, I'd get 2 SODIMM's in one package and replace your single stick. I just did that on my Acer Aspire to get it up to 2 gigs, works like a champ. It's not for audio though. It was only $44 shipped here for the 2 gigs.
Good luck with the laptop and further tweaking it.
Devon
For a typical box, I'd stick with Default, which is 4k blocks. My 64k is a mere 'geek tweak' to try to squeak out as much performance on high end databases.
Just to save you some headaches, I'd get 2 SODIMM's in one package and replace your single stick. I just did that on my Acer Aspire to get it up to 2 gigs, works like a champ. It's not for audio though. It was only $44 shipped here for the 2 gigs.
Good luck with the laptop and further tweaking it.
Devon
Simple music philosophy - Those who can, make music. Those who can't, make excuses.
Read my VST reviews at Traxmusic!
Read my VST reviews at Traxmusic!
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 33 posts since 24 Nov, 2007
still the problem is clearly there when opening large folders and such within traktor, ableton and others.. so no solution in changing program parameters this lappy should normally be able to deal with
ntfs or fat32 shouldn't be the issue i think, my data partition is also fat32 so..
ntfs or fat32 shouldn't be the issue i think, my data partition is also fat32 so..
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 33 posts since 24 Nov, 2007
yeah sandra reports so many block sizes 
which line is the correct one?
and sure am gonna do the ram, unbranded good enough?
so you also have an acer
ah well thanks for helping,
i'll post here if i find a solution and if the ram is working, and since i'm not turning it in i'll have loads of time to get deeper into the components myself, gonna get some more sleep now, i am empty.
curious bout himalaya's performance though,
the search goes on
bye for now
which line is the correct one?
and sure am gonna do the ram, unbranded good enough?
so you also have an acer
ah well thanks for helping,
i'll post here if i find a solution and if the ram is working, and since i'm not turning it in i'll have loads of time to get deeper into the components myself, gonna get some more sleep now, i am empty.
curious bout himalaya's performance though,
the search goes on
bye for now
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- KVRAF
- 6323 posts since 30 Dec, 2004 from London uk
It looks like youve tweaked your system to death and you seem to be obsessed with the technicalities which isnt helping you. A standard XP install with its defaults and minimum tweaks (set to process background services, turn off indexing and leaving services well alone) for audio is all you need.
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 33 posts since 24 Nov, 2007
oh yeah obsessed definately because i've had several experiences of finally finding solutions so i'm not giving up and if that means getting technical i don't like it either but a man's gotta do...
what exactly do you mean? installing windows as standard pc?
my xp has been reinstalled 4 times in the lastr 56 hours and i'm now running it fresh with just a few minor tweaks, because im not taking the time as they clearly have nothing to do with the problem..
have you anymore insights? you seem to be rather sure of yourself?
thank you for helping..
what exactly do you mean? installing windows as standard pc?
my xp has been reinstalled 4 times in the lastr 56 hours and i'm now running it fresh with just a few minor tweaks, because im not taking the time as they clearly have nothing to do with the problem..
have you anymore insights? you seem to be rather sure of yourself?
thank you for helping..
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- KVRAF
- 6323 posts since 30 Dec, 2004 from London uk
As DevonB said - not all laptops are suitable for audio. Its hard to know what could be causing the HDD holdup, presuming youre not using a virus checker or have tweaked the HDD settings.
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 33 posts since 24 Nov, 2007
ok
i will say it again though, i will only accept defeat if i know the exact reason the cause of this problem.i am open to any suggestions..
but i'm not giving up!
i will say it again though, i will only accept defeat if i know the exact reason the cause of this problem.i am open to any suggestions..
but i'm not giving up!
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- KVRAF
- 6323 posts since 30 Dec, 2004 from London uk
Thats up to you. If it was me - Id rather have something that worked rather than mess about. Glitchless audio isnt a science, its an art. Its too complex to say why things wont work. Sometimes as DevonB said, its just a crapshoot. Looks to me like youve done everything and then some. Good luck.