KVR Audio

jonljacobi · Post by **jonljacobi** » Mon Jan 08, 2018 5:17 pm

DuX wrote:Maybe it's an opportunity for programmers to start writing more optimised, as in leaner, faster, more efficient software and give that lost performance back to us?

Don't hold your breath. Time to market and new features overrode tight code a long time ago.

jussi3001 · Post by **jussi3001** » Mon Jan 08, 2018 6:41 pm

This Intel bug and the fix will not affect audio processing that much because it is not a good idea to call any kernel functions (threads, memory, files) from the audio thread (of plugin host app / standalone audio app). Naturally the UI and file performance will be affected.

Jace-BeOS · Post by **Jace-BeOS** » Mon Jan 08, 2018 6:44 pm

jonljacobi wrote:
DuX wrote:Maybe it's an opportunity for programmers to start writing more optimised, as in leaner, faster, more efficient software and give that lost performance back to us?
Don't hold your breath. Time to market and new features overrode tight code a long time ago.

Sadly, a very painful and shitty fact.

Jace-BeOS · Post by **Jace-BeOS** » Mon Jan 08, 2018 6:46 pm

jussi3001 wrote:This Intel bug and the fix will not affect audio processing that much because it is not a good idea to call any kernel functions (threads, memory, files) from the audio thread (of plugin host app / standalone audio app). Naturally the UI and file performance will be affected.

... reduced performance in GUI and file actions will result in the user experiencing reduced performance... and stealing CPU from audio processing...

db3 · Post by **db3** » Tue Jan 09, 2018 9:41 am

Typically, MS patch bricks some AMD CPUs...
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/01/0 ... wered_pcs/

nIGhT-SoN · Post by **nIGhT-SoN** » Tue Jan 09, 2018 9:50 am

NVMe writes/reads have taken a huge beat on Intel platforms, ~30% lower.

jonljacobi · Post by **jonljacobi** » Tue Jan 09, 2018 5:15 pm

nIGhT-SoN wrote:NVMe writes/reads have taken a huge beat on Intel platforms, ~30% lower.

That's why I never update.

I'm a great believer in if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

tapiodmitriyevich · Post by **tapiodmitriyevich** » Wed Jan 10, 2018 2:55 pm

I am a bit afraid, because a) CPU slowdown, its a Sandybridge processor, latency in my Audio Windows and b) CPU slowdown in my gaming windows. Basically I play ArmA or Total War - heavily dependent on CPU. I've deactivated Windows Update because I wanted the safe way to not get the latest months patch, but this of course cannot be a lasting solution.

I will read the Google Projectzero paper one day, I am not sure if there is a realistic malware attack vector for this CPU preread caching thing. I need time to judge.

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Wed Jan 10, 2018 3:01 pm

Games were already shown not to have a big impact on performance (this is because, whilst they are CPU intensive, they do not make a lot user-to-kernel mode switches as some other types of applications, as that would in fact be detrimental to performance).

And on my own machine, I noticed absolutely no changes w.r.t. audio latency, after applying the update.

Daags · Post by **Daags** » Wed Jan 10, 2018 3:10 pm

anyone dabble in 3d modelling/rendering here ? how does it effect you ?

Daags · Post by **Daags** » Wed Jan 10, 2018 3:11 pm

jonljacobi wrote: That's why I never update. I'm a great believer in if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

hehe, ya ... except it is broke. and you really should fix it.

DuX · Post by **DuX** » Wed Jan 10, 2018 3:47 pm

Daags wrote:
jonljacobi wrote: That's why I never update. I'm a great believer in if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
hehe, ya ... except it is broke. and you really should fix it.

Those who still don't use their audio OSes online, or use it only occasionally with a couple of websites [Roland cloud, East-West, Steinberg, Native Instruments...] should still give it a thought and possibly not update/downgrade. The patch impacts I/O operations [reading/writing files] and operations that use OS kernel the most.

This is where my policy of using Debian Linux for the Internet and Windows only for audio comes in really handy!

So obviously, I'm not touching my trusty W7 used for audio only. I don't need to.

And I'm using AMD CPU anyway...

Patch will slow down Intel CPUs up to 30%