Howto : Make Ableton use Less CPU in OSX

[glitchrock-buddha]

I used to use Coolbook for the same purpose, it had a huge effect when I was on a Core2duo mbp. There is no need though with the new ones. My i7 doesn't need to have speed stepping turned off and it's probably not a good idea to do so. These things are powerful, you don't want it going full speed ahead all the time. It adjusts much better than the older ones, the performance tests are just insane. In fact the full power of the machine is not sustainable. But it's got extra kick to deal with cpu spikes and keeps everything smooth. I can get about 4 times as many tracks going in the performance test as I could with the previous generation macbook pro.

[wjbuchanan]

I used to use Coolbook for the same purpose, it had a huge effect when I was on a Core2duo mbp. There is no need though with the new ones. My i7 doesn't need to have speed stepping turned off and it's probably not a good idea to do so. These things are powerful, you don't want it going full speed ahead all the time. It adjusts much better than the older ones, the performance tests are just insane. In fact the full power of the machine is not sustainable. But it's got extra kick to deal with cpu spikes and keeps everything smooth. I can get about 4 times as many tracks going in the performance test as I could with the previous generation macbook pro.

Appreciate the feedback...I'm a long way off affording one of the newer systems so trying to drag out a bit more life on the C2D one.

[pepezabala]

I was under the impression that for my macbook (not pro) the effect is contrary: CPU gets higher when using QuietMBP/setting it to 0

[Captain Johnson]

@ glitchrock-buddha - How did coolbook work out???

[glitchrock-buddha]

@ glitchrock-buddha - How did coolbook work out???

Coolbook was great a while back. I think by the time I went to Leopard, the difference wasn't as noticeable so I removed it. Or was it Snow Leopard? I can't remember. At some point when I upgraded, it no longer made as much difference with or without it on because they fixed the speed stepping.

[Khazul]

@ glitchrock-buddha - How did coolbook work out???

Coolbook was great a while back. I think by the time I went to Leopard, the difference wasn't as noticeable so I removed it. Or was it Snow Leopard? I can't remember. At some point when I upgraded, it no longer made as much difference with or without it on because they fixed the speed stepping.

I remember reading somewhere that OSX does much more fine grained CPU speed switching now especially on newer hardware, so the effect is much more even. All coolbook used to do (IIRC) was use the CPU all the time to keep CPU use above the switching threshold which had the effect of keeping the fans going and therefore ironically running the machine cooler

[glitchrock-buddha]

@ glitchrock-buddha - How did coolbook work out???

Coolbook was great a while back. I think by the time I went to Leopard, the difference wasn't as noticeable so I removed it. Or was it Snow Leopard? I can't remember. At some point when I upgraded, it no longer made as much difference with or without it on because they fixed the speed stepping.

I remember reading somewhere that OSX does much more fine grained CPU speed switching now especially on newer hardware, so the effect is much more even. All coolbook used to do (IIRC) was use the CPU all the time to keep CPU use above the switching threshold which had the effect of keeping the fans going and therefore ironically running the machine cooler

There was a bit more to it than that. It let you assign your own speed step intervals and even assign voltages to clock speeds. It was found the the macbooks could run cooler by lowering voltage (and maybe having fans on too, can't remember). But yeah it was the fact that you could set your own speed steps that let you get more processing power. It was never a good idea to run full throttle all the time, it would kill battery and get noisy, but you could set up a couple or three steps, allowing it to run faster when needed without lots of steps.