LIVE 4 PERFORMANCE TEST

clipstick · Post by **clipstick** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 7:26 pm

cheers dear forum users ,

here my results:

1) Ableton Live CPU Meter % (if it bounces around, please list the peak)

22%

2) Laptop/Desktop? Make/Model

desktop - self made

3) Operating System

winxp pro

4) CPU Make Model and Speed

athlon barton 3000+

5) Amount of Ram / Speed of Ram (if you know)

2*512 mb krv400-ddr in dual channel

6) Soundcard (Stock or add on?, usb/firewire/pci ?)

rme-hdsp pci w/multiface @ rme-digi9636

7) Hard Disk Drive Speed (if you know)

7200 rpm

my brand new clevo d500e is coming this week..... was loosing control.....

some new benchmarx soon

Spacerboy · Post by **Spacerboy** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 8:07 pm

these Powerbooks G4 suck completely....
I am happy I never bought one....
even the RME Hammerfall can´t help you out I see...

AMD´s are just incredible....

cc

MarkH · Post by **MarkH** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 8:43 pm

j wrote:Performed said test again with all samples etc. on 7200 rpm external, no difference at all 58-60%. Powerbook 17in. 1.33 mhz.

Guess this means swapping out the stock drive for one of those Hitachi 7200 rpm drives isn't gonna help much?

j

For virtual instruments it doesn't matter. For playing audio files it makes a huge difference. It's the difference of being able to play 4 simultaneous tracks or 16+ (I've never tried more than 16).

MarkH · Post by **MarkH** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 8:50 pm

Spacerboy wrote:these Powerbooks G4 suck completely....
I am happy I never bought one....
even the RME Hammerfall can´t help you out I see...

AMD´s are just incredible....

cc

For Live, yeah, I feel Ableton could do a much better job. Their code is poor for Mac. Live is not Altivec optimized nor is it CPU efficient on Mac. When I make the same 4 bar loop with the same virtual instruments (using Live's reverb and delay versus Logic's Platinum verb and Stereo delay) Live shows 38% and Logic shows 10%. Obviously there is some serious room for improvement!!!!! Stating the Powerbook sucks isn't entirely true. Saying that Live performs way under expectations is more like it! But I feel that holds true even for G5 as it's a total waste of a 64 bit CPU to just use the second processor for "graphics". I mean, REALLY! Pfffft!

j · Post by j » Tue Sep 07, 2004 9:49 pm

Spacerboy wrote:
these Powerbooks G4 suck completely....
I am happy I never bought one....
even the RME Hammerfall can´t help you out I see...

Lame satement DUDE....

Powerbooks do not suck, I am dissapointed how well they run Live though and I personally won't be supporting Ableton by buying LIVE until they support the MAC platform a little more robustly....

j

pentajigga · Post by **pentajigga** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 11:33 pm

logic, even on my p4 2.4ghz running on windows in version 5.5, is much more processor efficient than live3 or 4. this is of course without apple's optimization (apple hadnt even changed logic at version 5.5) and without any dual processor issues (i only have 1). i can run a good deal more plug-ins on logic than live.

this i attribute to ableton programmers dealing with other issues besides efficiency up to this point. if you want the most efficinet DAW live is not the one right now, but as this test shows, there are many options for bothg PC and MAC to get you into a high performance area with live4 and im sure it will only get better as optimized.

i think logic and live will continue to push each other forward in the next few years, with us users being the benefactors of such competition.

bensuthers · Post by **bensuthers** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 1:03 am

there are more types of efficiency than straight processor performance.

MarkH · Post by **MarkH** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 1:53 am

bensuthers wrote:there are more types of efficiency than straight processor performance.

Yes, I agree, but efficient code should be a priority for both platforms with an y software developer. I do not understand why Ableton hasn't written their software to either take advantage of Altivec or Hyperthreading, or at least make better use of dual CPU. It lacks in both and the end result is a program that truly just eats away at your CPU in painfully large amounts compared to other audio applications. It's not like we're asking Ableton to do something other companies aren't already doing.

It's just something I wish they would address. My guess is Live is what it is, and to add optimizations would require a re-write. It just sucks that my favorite program also happens to be the least efficient and I can really feel the pain.

bluskreen · Post by **bluskreen** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 2:19 am

1) 48%
2) Apple PowerBook G4
3) OS X 10.3.5
4) G4 1.5 ghz
5) 1 GB RAM
6) Internal
7) 4200 rpm internal

Keyboard · Post by **Keyboard** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 2:54 am

*posting for my friend*

1) 77%
2) Apple PowerBook G4
3) OS X 10.3.5
4) G4 867 mhz
5) 1 GB RAM
6) Internal
7) 4200 rpm internal

FaX-01 · Post by **FaX-01** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 2:58 am

Yes as a PC laptop Live user I don't particularly appreciate the carte blanche "powerbooks suck" attitude either.
Logic is the best example of how powerful a Mac PowerBook can be when using fully optimised code.
The reality is Live 4.0 is just more PC friendly from a CPU based perspective.
It by no means is an indication or measure of a Powerbooks quality or efficiency at all.
In all honesty I think Logic 6 and a G5 i-Mac would be a great if not best entry level pick for a first time DAW at the moment IMHO.

FaX-01 · Post by **FaX-01** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 3:09 am

The only other thing I can think of is that due too LIVE's REALTIME functionality (lets face it you can do pretty much anything wihout hitting stop) there have been limitations placed on what can be done altivec wise to conserve CPU cycles on the G4 processor itself.
It seems form these tests that the G5 is easily up there with everything else tested and then some.
Which makes me wonder if the issue is G4 specific or not.
I'd be interested to know myself.

FaX-01 · Post by **FaX-01** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 5:22 am

Ok I did the test again with affinity set to processor 0 and hyperthreading disabled for this app and it does make a difference only slight but noticeable.

1) Min Peak 15% Max peak 20-21% fluctuating
2)Toshiba Satelite P20 17" wxga
3)XP Pro SP1
4)i865 P4 H/T clocked at 3.19ghz exactly (hyperthreding disabled in this test)
5)2* 512kb DDR PC2200RAM (wierd ram spec for a lappy w/ HT but I checked and this appears to be correct for this system)
6)Echo Indigo DJ
7)Lacie D2 160gb external FW drive

The processor was more on 20% than 21% though only flicking on it for a millisecond at most.
Funny thing is the Task Manager CPU meter read a constant 18% throughout the demo .als file - go figure

.
This system was tweaked by Vinn @ AAVIMT in Melbourne at Planet Awave.
3 months in an not a single CPU crash I might add very pleased I payed for professional config myself.

The Hyperthreading disabling has made a big difference on some of my Live 3.0 sets loaded into live 4.0 though.
One composition has 14 stereo tracks and 46 VST pluggins in total (including 2 hig quality Ableton reverbs and it doesn't pip 48% throughout with all tracks going in Live 4 with H/T disabled.

That said I am definately saving up for a G5 i-Mac for when Metasynth 4 for OSX is released.
The two systems together will be great as I can save all the files in Metasynth as AIFF and load them up in the P4 laptop.
May as well get the best of both worlds I reckon

.

Komplex · Post by **Komplex** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 6:01 am

Vin is a legend. I went in to buy some stuff once and he chewed my ear off

JAMM · Post by **JAMM** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 8:52 am

Spacerboy wrote:
these Powerbooks G4 suck completely....
I am happy I never bought one....
even the RME Hammerfall can´t help you out I see...

HAHAHAHA!!!

I am playing gigs and making music with my Tibook 500 over two years now and it,s still going here!

So what are you doing? Making music or running CPU test!

LIVE 4 PERFORMANCE TEST

v4 test

amazing...

Re: Further Testing....

Re: amazing...

Bad Spacerboy