macOS CPU performance related to WindowServer

Share your favorite Ableton Live tips, tricks, and techniques.
vrom
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Feb 22, 2018 6:28 pm

macOS CPU performance related to WindowServer

Post by vrom » Sat Jun 30, 2018 2:52 am

For anyone experience CPU performance issues, try reducing WindowServer process's load by reducing Live's frame rate.

To Options.txt, located at

~/Library/Preferences/Ableton/Live X.X.X/Options.txt

add the line

-MaxFpsMac=30

or even

-MaxFpsMac=15

for more aggressive reduction.

8E
Posts: 392
Joined: Sun May 05, 2013 11:25 am
Location: +ICXC·NIKA+

Re: macOS CPU performance related to WindowServer

Post by 8E » Sat Jun 30, 2018 4:23 am

vrom wrote:For anyone experience CPU performance issues, try reducing WindowServer process's load by reducing Live's frame rate.

To Options.txt, located at

~/Library/Preferences/Ableton/Live X.X.X/Options.txt

add the line

-MaxFpsMac=30

or even

-MaxFpsMac=15

for more aggressive reduction.
What does it do?
MacOS Mojave MacBook Pro (15", Mid 2015), 2,5 GHz i7, 16GB RAM
Live Suite 10-latest + Push 1
U-PHORIA UMC204HD

aleh
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Mar 23, 2019 11:35 pm

Re: macOS CPU performance related to WindowServer

Post by aleh » Sat Mar 23, 2019 11:37 pm

@vrom: Thanks a lot! This was bugging me before, now the fan on my Air is calm.

kites
Posts: 25
Joined: Sat Dec 03, 2016 2:43 pm

Re: macOS CPU performance related to WindowServer

Post by kites » Thu May 16, 2019 7:00 am

I’m testing this right now, so far so good! My fan speed is a bit down too.
My Live 10.1b22 Beta set is with 46 tracks of mostly audio, Live’s Plugs, small handful of 3rd party plugs. Also using external monitor w/ 3 surface controllers thunderbolt hub etc.

I HAVE done a bit of graphics cutting through the terminal command among other workflows to cut down background apps.

MacBook Pro 15” mid 2014
Model Identifier: MacBookPro11,2
Processor Name: Intel Core i7
Processor Speed: 2.5 GHz
Total Number of Cores: 4
Memory: 16 GB
MacBookPro11,2 15” mid 2014
Intel Core i7 Processor Speed: 2.5 GHz
4 Core, 16 GB

TLW
Posts: 809
Joined: Thu Aug 23, 2018 2:37 am

Re: macOS CPU performance related to WindowServer

Post by TLW » Sun May 26, 2019 7:28 pm

Just to give this a bump and keep it near the top of the forum.

This is one of the best bits of advice for running Live on a Mac with Intel graphics there is. Reducing the frame rate reduces the load on the system a lot and can make an enormous difference to Live's audio performance.
Live 10 Suite, 2020 27" iMac, 3.6 GHz i9, MacOS Catalina, RME UFX, assorted synths, guitars and stuff.

pandeiroman
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed May 29, 2019 1:28 am

Re: macOS CPU performance related to WindowServer

Post by pandeiroman » Wed May 29, 2019 1:29 am

Thanks! Any command for windows?

Leloux
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Jun 12, 2019 1:39 pm

Re: macOS CPU performance related to WindowServer

Post by Leloux » Wed Jun 12, 2019 1:46 pm

Hello everyone,

that look's really great but I can't find "options.txt" there :
~/Library/Preferences/Ableton/Live X.X.X/...

I can only see :
Indexer, Log, PluginScanner, WebConnector and that's it (in txt)

Thank's for your answer :) I would be happy to try your trick !

fishmonkey
Posts: 4478
Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2007 4:50 am

Re: macOS CPU performance related to WindowServer

Post by fishmonkey » Wed Jun 12, 2019 1:50 pm


Leloux
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Jun 12, 2019 1:39 pm

Re: macOS CPU performance related to WindowServer

Post by Leloux » Wed Jun 12, 2019 2:09 pm

Thank's a lot !!!

HugoBeck
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Aug 02, 2019 7:53 pm

Re: macOS CPU performance related to WindowServer

Post by HugoBeck » Fri Aug 02, 2019 7:53 pm

:D Awesome

The Samuraiz
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Aug 12, 2019 7:52 pm
Location: Scotland
Contact:

Re: macOS CPU performance related to WindowServer

Post by The Samuraiz » Tue Aug 13, 2019 7:43 pm

Wow, thanks! This is class. I've noticed when the CPU is melting on the Mac, just using the hot corner to hide the arrangement window stops all clicking and nasty audio glitches. This seems to work just as well! :twisted:

mooncaine
Posts: 335
Joined: Mon Apr 17, 2006 9:22 pm

Re: macOS CPU performance related to WindowServer

Post by mooncaine » Sun Aug 25, 2019 4:01 pm

Didn't work for me in version 9.7.7. but threw an error instead. I removed the initial hyphen character, and now I don't get the error, but I don't know if anything changed yet.

TLW
Posts: 809
Joined: Thu Aug 23, 2018 2:37 am

Re: macOS CPU performance related to WindowServer

Post by TLW » Mon Aug 26, 2019 3:47 pm

From https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/artic ... s-txt-file

“Add one option per line with the correct syntax; each option begins with a hyphen and some options may also require an additional underscore.”

I don’t know for certain but I think this is only relevant to Live 10, and then maybe only if using Intel integrated graphics. I don’t see how it can do any harm, but if your Mac wasn’t having the window server thrashed by Live in the first place it probably won’t make the slightest difference.
Live 10 Suite, 2020 27" iMac, 3.6 GHz i9, MacOS Catalina, RME UFX, assorted synths, guitars and stuff.

Sierrah's
Posts: 28
Joined: Wed Jul 11, 2018 8:57 pm

Re: macOS CPU performance related to WindowServer

Post by Sierrah's » Mon Aug 26, 2019 11:48 pm

What’s Ableton’s normal FPS?
Live 10 Suite / Push 2

Calagan
Posts: 268
Joined: Fri Jul 24, 2015 4:44 am

Re: macOS CPU performance related to WindowServer

Post by Calagan » Tue Sep 10, 2019 6:22 am

Interesting ! And interesting to know what are the side issues (laggy visuals, visual latency...).
If someone can share some experience...

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