Macbook Pro Santa Rosa Performance

Homebelly · Post by **Homebelly** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 5:53 pm

R.J.Dubya wrote:
Homebelly wrote:
dango wrote:ok, i am done spazzing out about Live's shite performance and am ready to give into the 3rd party coolbook. i want to keep using Live.

but does this coolbook always keep running on your computer and can this cause any damage to the computer?

I have not bought it yet, but just running the demo download, when i turn up the 'cpu load' dial to about 3 it drops the cpu strain in live down by 50% (from 60% to 30%). what is this doing exactly when i do this? is it ok for the system? answers please.

Happy New Years!

d~
I would like some more clarity on this issue,,,
Also,,,
How exactly are you supposed to use this,,,??
I'm really not all that clear on it, I've tried all the settings in this thread, but i'm not sure i have my head around using this application at even the most basic level.
For example,,
Does it run all by it's self all of the time, or do i need to start it up then set it every time??
Should i put it into my start up folder??
Should i just run it with live??

I'm sooo confused
When you save the coolbook settings and have the throttling on and the 'use coolbook' box checked, you don't have to re-open it, it will always work how you have it set (different settings for battery/adaptor).
Put wherever you want, I keep it in appliations. You may just want to turn it on when using Live, or just when things get a bit power hungry, it'll save you drop outs when you max it out.

However, it is not suggested to run it maximum cpu speed with the default voltage associated with it, that may burn your computer out. But the key is to undervolt. Follow the manual instructions and do tests to find your minumum stable voltage with your maximum cpu speed. You can maximimize the clock speed with thedemo version, however you cannot adjust the voltage, so I wouldn't leave that maxed out. It's just for testing purposes. When using Live, I use my full 2.17 Ghz with 1.05V.

Cheers for this,, now i'm starting to understand,,
Can you explain how the CPU test works, and how to use the results setting up cool book. For example,, how do i read the results in the CPUTest and then transfer them to cool book settings??
Cheers,,

R.J.Dubya · Post by **R.J.Dubya** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 7:38 pm

Homebelly wrote:
R.J.Dubya wrote:
Homebelly wrote:I would like some more clarity on this issue,,,
Also,,,
How exactly are you supposed to use this,,,??
I'm really not all that clear on it, I've tried all the settings in this thread, but i'm not sure i have my head around using this application at even the most basic level.
For example,,
Does it run all by it's self all of the time, or do i need to start it up then set it every time??
Should i put it into my start up folder??
Should i just run it with live??

I'm sooo confused
When you save the coolbook settings and have the throttling on and the 'use coolbook' box checked, you don't have to re-open it, it will always work how you have it set (different settings for battery/adaptor).
Put wherever you want, I keep it in appliations. You may just want to turn it on when using Live, or just when things get a bit power hungry, it'll save you drop outs when you max it out.

However, it is not suggested to run it maximum cpu speed with the default voltage associated with it, that may burn your computer out. But the key is to undervolt. Follow the manual instructions and do tests to find your minumum stable voltage with your maximum cpu speed. You can maximimize the clock speed with thedemo version, however you cannot adjust the voltage, so I wouldn't leave that maxed out. It's just for testing purposes. When using Live, I use my full 2.17 Ghz with 1.05V.
Cheers for this,, now i'm starting to understand,,
Can you explain how the CPU test works, and how to use the results setting up cool book. For example,, how do i read the results in the CPUTest and then transfer them to cool book settings??
Cheers,,

I'm talking about the coolbook cpu test btw, not the Tarekith Live Test. If you buy coolbook, it comes with a cpu test program and a couple of small documents that tell you how to find your minumum stable voltage. You run the test to make sure it's stable. Basically test every voltage going as low as you can on your maximum cpu speed until you get a kernel panic (Computer shuts down) or the test fails. The manual also suggest finding the highest cpu speed for the lowest voltage as a lowest threshold for speed stepping.

Homebelly · Post by **Homebelly** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 9:07 pm

R.J.Dubya wrote:
I'm talking about the coolbook cpu test btw, not the Tarekith Live Test. If you buy coolbook, it comes with a cpu test program and a couple of small documents that tell you how to find your minumum stable voltage. You run the test to make sure it's stable. Basically test every voltage going as low as you can on your maximum cpu speed until you get a kernel panic (Computer shuts down) or the test fails. The manual also suggest finding the highest cpu speed for the lowest voltage as a lowest threshold for speed stepping.

Thats my point,,
I'm not sure what i'm doing when i set up and run the test,,
I have both the full version of CB and the test application by the way,,,
I'll take another look at it now,,
But i have to be honest,, this level of tinkering bewilders me,,

R.J.Dubya · Post by **R.J.Dubya** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 10:57 pm

Homebelly wrote:
R.J.Dubya wrote:
I'm talking about the coolbook cpu test btw, not the Tarekith Live Test. If you buy coolbook, it comes with a cpu test program and a couple of small documents that tell you how to find your minumum stable voltage. You run the test to make sure it's stable. Basically test every voltage going as low as you can on your maximum cpu speed until you get a kernel panic (Computer shuts down) or the test fails. The manual also suggest finding the highest cpu speed for the lowest voltage as a lowest threshold for speed stepping.
Thats my point,,
I'm not sure what i'm doing when i set up and run the test,,
I have both the full version of CB and the test application by the way,,,
I'll take another look at it now,,
But i have to be honest,, this level of tinkering bewilders me,,

So it does one little test when you save a configuration (a set of cpu and voltage pairs) by going through each step to see if it works. However, this doesn't put much strain on your cpu. You cun the CPU test app to check if it's stable. All I know is that for the settings, you should have one simultaneous test going for each cpu, so 2 instances (not 2 cpu tests, but it's one of the settings). And just try the different test strengths to make sure it's stable - It will tell you if the test pass or fail. And sometimes you get a kernel panic. You should find the lowest useable voltage for the highest cpu speed this way. Go through the documentation step by step, it does make sense when you spend a few minutes at it, although it seems bewildering at first.

Timur · Post by **Timur** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 12:40 am

If you need a meaningful stability test then use Prime95, let it run for a couple of hours to make sure everything is right.

Here is the OS X version:

http://www.computerbase.de/downloads/so ... ?url=14913

stsly · Post by **stsly** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 10:06 am

Just upgraded to a MBP 15" 2.4ghz 2mb RAM running Leopard from a crap 4 year old desktop and at the moment I am seriously dissapointed. Yep the .mac looks cool, but it clicks and pops all the time and drops more than my old desktop did. I can't believe it.

I am using Live 6, ReWire to Reason 4 and Line 6 Tone port.. Will investigate Coolbook this weekend, but I don't see why after spending a lot more money on a .mac (thinking it would be so much better) I then have to buy something else to make it work.

Machinesworking · Post by **Machinesworking** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 6:33 pm

stsly wrote:Just upgraded to a MBP 15" 2.4ghz 2mb RAM running Leopard from a crap 4 year old desktop and at the moment I am seriously dissapointed. Yep the .mac looks cool, but it clicks and pops all the time and drops more than my old desktop did. I can't believe it.

I am using Live 6, ReWire to Reason 4 and Line 6 Tone port.. Will investigate Coolbook this weekend, but I don't see why after spending a lot more money on a .mac (thinking it would be so much better) I then have to buy something else to make it work.

Your problem might be rewire, check out the propellerheads forums on reewire in Leopard. Seems if I recall right Leopard and rewire aren't happy right now. Hardly something you can blame on Apple.
Never switch to a new OS when a major update just comes out. I sure wouldn't buy a Vista machine and complain that windows sucks, get my drift?

bleepsnbreaks · Post by **bleepsnbreaks** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 3:59 am

Has anyone heard anything back from Apple about this problem?
Its not really acceptable to use a 3rd party program to run your laptops at full tilt all the time just to get the max speed out of it when you need it.
Apple havent responded to any of my contacts with them.
Is it because they know they might have a massive product recall on thier hands?
I just want what I paid for to work the way I paid for it to.....
My macbook runs hot as and the battery life is greatly diminished now with coolbook running.....

Machinesworking · Post by **Machinesworking** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 4:13 am

bleepsnbreaks wrote:Has anyone heard anything back from Apple about this problem?
Its not really acceptable to use a 3rd party program to run your laptops at full tilt all the time just to get the max speed out of it when you need it.
Apple havent responded to any of my contacts with them.
Is it because they know they might have a massive product recall on thier hands?
I just want what I paid for to work the way I paid for it to.....
My macbook runs hot as and the battery life is greatly diminished now with coolbook running.....

I dunno man, it's a very unique to audio problem, and honestly I think quite a few people here are just looking at percentage numbers and not really stress testing the machines.
My issue is with relatively low CPU songs that fire in on a CPU crunching part, and have a dropout, in almost any other case a 1/8 of a second pause wouldn't be an issue, but with us it is. I only run Coolbook when I need to, not during songwriting etc.

Anyway Apple are not going to easily be persuaded to put the choke on Intel (who are ultimately responsible for this considering it's on board speed stepping that's an issue), but if you feel better about it, email a formal complaint, or start a petition. That sort of thing can help sometimes.
Look at how Apple gave early iphone adopters a $100 gift certificate for instance.

bleepsnbreaks · Post by **bleepsnbreaks** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 4:16 am

Thing for me is that its not just Live that performs better now. Everything performs better with coolbook running.
My CPU just sits on 800mhz unless forced to 2.4 by coolbook...... I had the same problem as the guy who origionally discovered what was going on....

stsly · Post by **stsly** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 1:13 pm

Machinesworking wrote:
stsly wrote:Just upgraded to a MBP 15" 2.4ghz 2mb RAM running Leopard from a crap 4 year old desktop and at the moment I am seriously dissapointed. Yep the .mac looks cool, but it clicks and pops all the time and drops more than my old desktop did. I can't believe it.

I am using Live 6, ReWire to Reason 4 and Line 6 Tone port.. Will investigate Coolbook this weekend, but I don't see why after spending a lot more money on a .mac (thinking it would be so much better) I then have to buy something else to make it work.

Your problem might be rewire, check out the propellerheads forums on reewire in Leopard. Seems if I recall right Leopard and rewire aren't happy right now. Hardly something you can blame on Apple.
Never switch to a new OS when a major update just comes out. I sure wouldn't buy a Vista machine and complain that windows sucks, get my drift?

Thanks for the response, but even just running Live I get drops in audio.. With the performance test on here I could only run 4 tracks at once without a problem. My moan was more about the machine rather than the OS, from reading on here seems alot of other people have a similar issue and put it down to the Intel steping.

Would being on an earlier version of 10.4 really help the poor performance I am getting? Ohh and haven't checked CoolBook out yet still not sure about it.

spielor · Post by **spielor** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 3:33 pm

hi!
i also have the problem of bad performance but I am running cubase sx3 on windows via bootcamp. could anyone tell me if there is a tool like coolbook or any other possibillity to gain performance on windows xp (running on a mac with bootcamp)?

YILA · Post by **YILA** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 4:00 pm

is this just a mac problem? Or the Santa Rosa in general?

Timur · Post by **Timur** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 4:04 pm

spielor wrote:hi!
i also have the problem of bad performance but I am running cubase sx3 on windows via bootcamp. could anyone tell me if there is a tool like coolbook or any other possibillity to gain performance on windows xp (running on a mac with bootcamp)?

Change your energy-options from "Laptop" to "Desktop" when running audio apps. But don't forget to change it back when using other stuff, cause it will make your CPU run at maximum clock all the time instead of clocking it down when being idle.

spielor · Post by **spielor** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 4:08 pm

thanks for the quick answer