New, Updated SonarTest

also I missed/don't see the post about why the test file wont play and asks to creat audio?

The test file is not supposed to play. You simply open it and note CPU usage with the audio engine engaged (this is automatic). No need to press play or do anything other than just opening the file.

-S

CPU: Intel Pentium 4 530 3.0GHz 800MHz FSB 1MB L2 cache
MMX/SSE/SSE2/SSE3
HyperThreading Enabled

M/B: Intel 915GAV LGA775
Inf 6.2.1.1001
BIOS EV91510A.86A.0332

RAM: 2.048GB 4 x 512 DDR400 Kingston RAM
Dual Channel Max Memory 4GB

Video: Intel GMA900 (On Board)
Driver 6.14.10.3943

S/C Audigy 2 ZS Platinum
Driver 1.84.50

H/D 2 Seagate SATA 200GB and 160GB
Supports 4 SATA H/Ds

Pioneer DVD+-/CD RW`

O/S Windows XP SP2

S4PE 4.01
FL Studio 4
Steinberg VST5
Various EMU and other SoundFonts

MS..... Sonar CPU %. Windows Task Manager CPU %
1.5...... 88-97.......... 14-18
2.9...... 57-64.......... 18-23
5.8...... 42-46.......... 25-31
11.6.... 34-37.......... 23-28
23.2.... 31-33.......... 25-29
46.4.... 28-30.......... 29-33

Using WDM Drivers

I am very pleased with this system

Does anybody know why there is a difference in Sonar's CPU usage compared to the Windows Task Manager?

jamminji,

(Let's take this topic to another post so we don't clutter up the test results page) ok
what type of monitor are you using? Most digital monitor's will adjust and it could be as simple refreshing your monitor back to default settings. Typically if your screen space is skewed or strecthed it still keeps everything on there but it's worth a try.

CPU: Intel Pentium 4 2.8GHz 800MHz FSB
HyperThreading Enabled

Computer Sony VAIO PVC-RS612

RAM: 1gig 3200DDR

Video: ATI9200 series (On Board)

Sound: SoundMax 512 (OnBoard)

Hard Drive: 250gig WD 7200rpm 50gig free

Pioneer DVD+-/CD RW`

O/S Windows XP SP2

S4PE

WDM/KS drivers w/POW-r3 Buffers 2
(will not stay set- unreliable) Can not get less then 10ms

MS..... Sonar CPU %
10 ...... 46%
20 ...... 40%
30%.... 38%
40 ...... 36%

Getting an audiophie 2496 this week. Will retest then.

Thanks - WireRage that did it! I had to take the resolution up to 1280x768 to finally set the meters... ODD but at least I can do the test now...hehe

jam

Okay... fixed my problem. Here are my new numbers:

New DAW:

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ 1MB L2 Cache Clawhammer Core
MSI K8N Neo Platinum 754 Socket nForce3 250GB Chipset
1024 400DDR OCZ EL Platinum Revision 2 Dual Channel
WinXP Professional SP2 with Sonar 4.0.1PE entered as DEP exception
Jaton nVIDIA GeForce MX4000 Video Card, 128MB DDR, Dual VGA
80gb Seagate ATA-100 7200rpm OS/pgm drive (Partitioned 40/40)
160gb Seagate SATA 7200rpm audio drive
Plextor PlexWriter Premium 52x32x52 CDRW
Antec Sonata case 380W Silent Technology power supply and cooling
2 16 Channel Zaolla analog cables in and out of converters
2 16 Channel Apogee AES/EBU cables in and out of DAW
1 Lynx AES16 digital interface w/ AD-16/DA-16 Apogee converters
1 RME Digiface PCI digital interface for ADAT optical transfers
2 UAD-1 powered DSP PCI cards v3.7
1 MOTU MIDI Express XT (USB interface)
1 Mackie Control Universal
2 Mackie Control Extenders

Results:

23.2 = 24%
11.6 = 27-28%
5.8 = 31-34%
2.9 = 39-42%
1.5 = 54-60%
0.7 = 86-88%

---

That's more like it. I'm a happy guy!

ORIGINAL: SteveD

Okay... fixed my problem. Here are my new numbers:

New DAW:

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ 1MB L2 Cache Clawhammer Core
MSI K8N Neo Platinum 754 Socket nForce3 250GB Chipset
1024 400DDR OCZ EL Platinum Revision 2 Dual Channel
WinXP Professional SP2 with Sonar 4.0.1PE entered as DEP exception
Jaton nVIDIA GeForce MX4000 Video Card, 128MB DDR, Dual VGA
80gb Seagate ATA-100 7200rpm OS/pgm drive (Partitioned 40/40)
160gb Seagate SATA 7200rpm audio drive
Plextor PlexWriter Premium 52x32x52 CDRW
Antec Sonata case 380W Silent Technology power supply and cooling
2 16 Channel Zaolla analog cables in and out of converters
2 16 Channel Apogee AES/EBU cables in and out of DAW
1 Lynx AES16 digital interface w/ AD-16/DA-16 Apogee converters
1 RME Digiface PCI digital interface for ADAT optical transfers
2 UAD-1 powered DSP PCI cards v3.7
1 MOTU MIDI Express XT (USB interface)
1 Mackie Control Universal
2 Mackie Control Extenders

Results:

23.2 = 24%
11.6 = 27-28%
5.8 = 31-34%
2.9 = 39-42%
1.5 = 54-60%
0.7 = 86-88%

---

That's more like it. I'm a happy guy!

Steve,

Glad you got it worked out. What was the problem?

JD

ORIGINAL: SteveD

Okay... fixed my problem. Here are my new numbers:

New DAW:

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ 1MB L2 Cache Clawhammer Core
MSI K8N Neo Platinum 754 Socket nForce3 250GB Chipset
1024 400DDR OCZ EL Platinum Revision 2 Dual Channel
WinXP Professional SP2 with Sonar 4.0.1PE entered as DEP exception
Jaton nVIDIA GeForce MX4000 Video Card, 128MB DDR, Dual VGA
80gb Seagate ATA-100 7200rpm OS/pgm drive (Partitioned 40/40)
160gb Seagate SATA 7200rpm audio drive
Plextor PlexWriter Premium 52x32x52 CDRW
Antec Sonata case 380W Silent Technology power supply and cooling
2 16 Channel Zaolla analog cables in and out of converters
2 16 Channel Apogee AES/EBU cables in and out of DAW
1 Lynx AES16 digital interface w/ AD-16/DA-16 Apogee converters
1 RME Digiface PCI digital interface for ADAT optical transfers
2 UAD-1 powered DSP PCI cards v3.7
1 MOTU MIDI Express XT (USB interface)
1 Mackie Control Universal
2 Mackie Control Extenders

Results:

23.2 = 24%
11.6 = 27-28%
5.8 = 31-34%
2.9 = 39-42%
1.5 = 54-60%
0.7 = 86-88%

---

That's more like it. I'm a happy guy!

Steve what was the problem.

Hey SteveD - glad to see you found the problem.

Can you please tell us what you did / fixed / changed ?

Tim

SteveD,

What does entered as a DEP exception mean?

ORIGINAL: WireRage

SteveD,

What does entered as a DEP exception mean?

DEP stands for "Data Execution Prevention". Modern x86 CPUs, such as all Athlon64s, all Opterons, and some Xeons and upcoming P4s support this in hardware. The idea is that it prevents many viruses from executing, by preventing code from being executed in data-only memory areas. Some applications break this rule (usually a result of sloppy programming), and must be excepted in order to work.

-S

ORIGINAL: timboe

Hey SteveD - glad to see you found the problem.

Can you please tell us what you did / fixed / changed ?

Tim

Timboe and others...

I was just about to begin ripping out PCI cards so that I could start again from scratch. I thought I might also have to download the latest MSI driver, but the one that is installed is dated 8/24/2004. I thought that one should be current enough. But just in case I botched something in the BIOS, I selected the option to reset the BIOS back to the factory default settings for optimized performance. The system came up screaming fast.

I don't know what I did to create the performance bottleneck, so I went back into the BIOS and tried all the same tweaks and changes I had tried before and couldn't recreate the problem. However, when attempting to overclock the CPU, even moderately, my UAD-1 plugins would occassionally issue an internal hardware error and none of those plugins would work... even after rebooting, so I went back to the factory defaults and all is well. That's fine with me, because I had already made the decision to buy the fastest single processor I could so that I wouldn't have a need to overclock the CPU.

Hope this helps others.

Thx Scott & Steve

I wish I had written down my test results from S3.1.1 to compare 'cause I'm getting something weird in S4. I'm getting a respectable 44-52% @5.8ms but every 30 seconds or so I get a CPU spike at as high as 83%. Is that normal? Does it point to a setup problem? BTW- I disconnected the FW-1884 for this test and am running the Delta 44 in ASIO.

he he he... I still have the fastest DAW... neener neener neener!!

Bump

Hi all !

Meant to post these the other day when I posted my A64 939 O/C results. Amyhow, here goes:-

- Asus A8V Rev 2.0 Board
- A64 3200+ 939 .09nm Winchester CPU [ stock 10 x 200 ] 512k Cache
- 2 x 512 Corsair 512 XL @ 2/2/2/5/11/16
- Delta 66 @ .48a ASIO Drivers
- S3 Test in Sonar 4.0.1

Fully stable / tested O/C of 9.5 x 274 = 2.602gig with Zalman 7000 AlCu with AS3

Idle temp = 43'C
Load Temp = 58'C


1.5ms 64% <-> 66%
2.9ms 43% <-> 44%
5.8ms 32%
11.6ms 26%
23.2ms 23%
46.4ms 21%


As I noted in my other post, I cant wait for the 1mb Cache 939 .09nm A64's

Timboe

Hi Jay,
I'm currious why you disconected the fw1884
becuase I'm considering getting either one of those or an 828mkII..

Is the fw1884 not as effcient as the Delta?
Why not do the test w/ the fw1884?

Thanks,
Tomek.

Hi Jay,
I'm currious why you disconected the fw1884
becuase I'm considering getting either one of those or an 828mkII..

Is the fw1884 not as effcient as the Delta?
Why not do the test w/ the fw1884?

tomek: Sorry to confuse the issue - I only mentioned the FW1884 because it appears in my signature and I didn't want those who might offer advice to have to deal with another variable. I get the same result with the FW1884, so I just unplug it when doing any software troubleshooting.

I have not had a response to my issue yet.

Jay,
thanks for the response.

I've read on this forum that
cpu spikes occur with intel cpus
if my memory serves me correctly.
(as well as other reasons)

Have you had a chance check
any of those variables?

Background process perhaps?
Sharred IRQ maybe?
Could be lots of stuff!
Good luck,
T.

Thanks tomek. I think I found the problem as I checked some of the background processes. I noticed that alg.exe was using RAM intermittently. My DAW is dedicated to DAW and not connected to the internet so I had set alg.exe to "manual". When I turned it off during Scott's test I did not have more CPU spikes. Obviously someting is calling alg.exe - I just have to figure out what it is and hopefully I can disable it.

IBM T-42 (1.7GHz Centrino), SoundMax native, Edirol UA-25, RME Fireface 800:
http://www.cakewalk.com/forum/tm.asp?m=339012&mpage=1&key=&anchor#339012

P4-3.2 HT
Asus P4S800D-E Deluxe motherboard
1 Gig PC3200 RAM
2 x 200 MB WD SATA Harddrives
M-Audio Delta 1010LT Sound Card ASIO
NVidia FX5700LE 256 MB Video Card
Win XP Pro -SP2

With HT
23.2ms - 30%
11.6ms - 33%
5.8ms - 46%
2.9ms - not available in ASIO
1.5ms - not available in ASIO

w/o HT
23.2ms - 34%
11.6ms - 40%
5.8ms - 67%
2.9ms - not available in ASIO
1.5ms - not available in ASIO

Hi Scott
Can you tell me inunder God what is the purpose of this test. It would seem to me you are a very knowledgable person so why dont you give all these people very simple advice... if you need power buy a big DAW or better still solve everybodys problems by telling them to buy a mac and use dp4 or protools
Running tests is something thats done at school, It has nothing to do with pro audio. the theory is simple your computer works or it doesent period.
So scott how about changing the TUNE and come up with something more valuable to newbys and pros alike.or is it that You consider Sonar and cake to be still at the testing stage and playing catch up?, perhaps your right.
Dont get me wrong here i have the utmost respect for you but please i think its time you moved on and change the tune


Shea

here's my results using ASIO - Delta 44 with 5.10.0.0048 drivers

Dell 4400 PC

46ms 55%
23ms 61%
20ms 63%
17ms 66%
11ms 74%
8ms 81%
5ms no engage
2ms no engage
1ms no engage

CPU-Z version 1.26.

Number of CPUs 1

Name Intel Pentium 4
Code Name Willamette
Specification Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 1.60GHz
Family / Model / Stepping F 1 2
Extended Family / Model 0 0
Brand ID 8
Package mPGA-478
Core Stepping D0
Technology 0.18 µ
Supported Instructions Sets MMX, SSE, SSE2
CPU Clock Speed 1594.9 MHz
Clock multiplier x 16.0
Front Side Bus Frequency 99.7 MHz
Bus Speed 398.7 MHz
L1 Data Cache 8 KBytes, 4-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size
L1 Trace Cache 12 Kµops, 8-way set associative
L2 Cache 256 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size
L2 Speed 1594.9 MHz (Full)
L2 Location On Chip
L2 Data Prefetch Logic yes
L2 Bus Width 256 bits



Mainboard and chipset
Motherboard manufacturer Intel Corporation
Motherboard model D845PT, AAA67829-304
BIOS vendor Intel Corp.
BIOS revision A02
BIOS release date 12/12/2001
Chipset Intel i845D rev. 4
Southbridge Intel 82801BA (ICH2) rev. 5

Graphic Interface AGP
AGP Status enabled, rev. 2.0
AGP Data Transfert Rate 4x
AGP Max Rate 4x
AGP Side Band Addressing supported, not enabled
AGP Aperture Size 64 MBytes



Memory
DRAM Type DDR-SDRAM
DRAM Size 512 MBytes
DRAM Frequency 132.9 MHz
FSB:DRAM 3:4
CAS# Latency 2.5 clocks
RAS# to CAS# 3 clocks
RAS# Precharge 3 clocks
Cycle Time (TRAS) 6 clocks
# of memory modules 2
Module 0 Micron Technology DDR-SDRAM PC2100 - 256 MBytes
Module 1 Micron Technology DDR-SDRAM PC2100 - 256 MBytes


Software
Windows version Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)
DirectX version 9.0c

Hi Shea,
I find this thread informative for upto date
information as to which hardware works and how.

Good for when you are in the market for a new DAW ;)

Perhaps it would be better in the hardware forum,
but I would like to see it keep going...

Take care,
Tomek.

-edit typo

Just a stupid question, maybe even asked before in this long thread:

Do I just run this test without any audio material in the tracks? There is no mention of this in Scott's instructions. It works and I get readings, but no sound of course.

I am asking because I use this to test an RME Fireface that has given me problems. It crackled, but kept running. Now with a new motherboard I have solved that. But another use for this Sonar Test is to test drivers/equipment boarding on dropping out. Since there are many figures here I have something to compare with, giving me an idea of what to expect. However, I feel that you should also listen to the quality of the sound produced to judge whether your setup is working properly or not. Right?

Ya...just load it and look at your CPU usage. This is just meant to benchmark your computer against everyone elses. I guess it's assumed you'll have good quality recording if your CPU usage is low.

Thanks, your benchmarks actually played a large role when I upgraded my motherboard and processor this week. Not knowing them I probably would have chosen P4, now I got an Athlon 64.

jay steven,

hope this answers your question:

alg - alg.exe - Process Information
Process File: alg or alg.exe
Process Name: Application Layer Gateway Service

Description:
alg.exe is a part of the Microsoft Windows operating system. It is a core process for Microsoft Windows Internet Connection sharing and Internet connection firewall. This program is important for the stable and secure running of your computer and should not be terminated

You can't go wrong with the AMD64 processors, I love it so far. Before I upgraded to the AMD, I had a P4-2ghz Xeon Dual processor with SCSI drives and a gig of RAM, and the 64 blows it away! The dual processor is now used for far simpler tasks...

Just remember, if you decide to use SATA drives, use the Nforce3 controllers if you have them. What motherboard are you getting?

Athlon XP 3200+ (Barton) Running stock voltages @ 2.37 Ghz with 431Mhz FSB.
My numbers don't vary like they do on my other computer.

M-Audio Delta 66 ASIO:

1.5 90%
2.9 57%
5.8 41%
8.7 35%
11.6 32%
23.2 28%
46.4 25%

I can't download the test file anymore. Where'd it go??

ORIGINAL: Boogie

I can't download the test file anymore. Where'd it go??

Try again. The link seems to work fine for me.

-S

Hi Everyone,


How do I import and run the SONAR 3 Test in SONAR 4 PRODUCER EDITION?

I seem to be having trouble opening up this file. Can you help?

When I open up the file it says..."Audio is missing would you like to create it?" I click "YES" and nothing happens, there is no audio wave files in the track view.

Can anyone help please.

ORIGINAL: Scott Reams

ORIGINAL: Boogie

I can't download the test file anymore. Where'd it go??

Try again. The link seems to work fine for me.

-S

Do you have any updated graph with all the results? I'm planning to build a new DAW and I'm not decided on the CPU .

I seem to be having trouble opening up this file. Can you help?

When I open up the file it says..."Audio is missing would you like to create it?" I click "YES" and nothing happens, there is no audio wave files in the track view.

It's asking you if you want to create an audio folder, right? Click yes.

The test file contains no audio. The test measures CPU utilization of Sonar's audio engine based entirely on real-time input monitoring.

OK, here's a shootout between old computer and new:

OLD COMPUTER - Carillon AC-1, P4 2.0gHz, Intel 865, 1GB RDRAM, 40/120GB IDE drives, XP SP1, MOTU 896 WDM

46.4 = 48%
23.2 = 53%
11.6 = 62%
5.8 = 80%
2.9 = dead

NEW COMPUTER - AMD64 3500+ 939, ASUS A8V, 2 GB DDR, 80/250 SATA, XP SP1, 828mkII WDM

46.4 = 28%
23.2 = 30%
11.6 = 35%
5.8 = 42%
2.9 = 60%
1.5 = 71%

aahhhhhhhh

still not as good as some of the numbers posted here, but it's a HUGE improvement and I've yet to do any tweaks.

I'd think it would be cool to have a 64bit Sonar Test. I just built a screaming machine where I've placed Sonar64/MS XP64 on a seperate drive. It's built on the new ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe board with Athlon FX-55 939 Socket and DDR-550 RAM. It's one of my Giga 3 machines. Just a thought!

Regards,
Bruce

Is this test strictly for SONAR 3?
Or can I run it on my SONAR4SE ?
Thanks
Good stuff here for when I build my new DAW
E

Sorry to be a johnny-come-lately but here are my figures (yawn). This was on S4 because my S3 is only studio edition with no Sonitus FX.

Latency. . . Samples . . . . CPU
(ms). . . . .per buffer . . . .%
46.4 . . . . . 2048. . . . . . . 27
23.2. . . . . .1024. . . . . . . 29
11.6. . . . . . 512. . . . . . . .33
5.8. . . . . . . 256. . . . . . . .38
2.9. . . . . . . 128. . . . . . . .48
1.5. . . . . . . . 64. . . . . . . .73

AMD64 3200+, 2GHz, Asus K8VSE, 1Gb RAM, Terratec 24/96 6fire.
XP home (SP2), and I had Zonealarm firewall running all the time but most other systray stuff killed off.

Ok I did it!
here's the numbers ( don't laugh )

AOpen PIII, 866MHz, 1048M pc133 ram, ViaApolloPro133
44.1k / 24bit / 384 I/O
ASIO 5.8 msec / WDM 11.8 mSec
WinXP Pro SP1 tweaked ( musicXP & black viper)

it floats between 64 and 65% under ASIO
and 70-75% under WDM
with 2 efx though it goes into the red (I normally use outboard anyway )

EDIT: for WDM numbers, added chipset numbers
It works fine like this and I don't wanna change anything
PS: Good to see I'm not the only one pushing a PIII to it's limits

this is with HT, Multi-processing engine enabled.
XP Media Center sp1
ATI Mobility Radeon9700

46.4ms = 10-13%

34.8ms = 11-14%

23.2ms = 14-18%

17.4ms = 16-20%

11.6ms = 18-26%

8.7 ms = 22-31%

5.8 ms = 29-51%

4.4 ms = 30-45%

2.9 ms = 36-71%

2.2 ms = 55-91% with random warning

Opening windows when at 2,2 ms stops the engine.

Opening windows when at higher latency = momentary peak

this is with HT, Multi-processing engine enabled.
XP Media Center sp1
ATI Mobility Radeon9700

46.4ms = 10-13%

Hmmm... something probably isn't right here. With this score, you've beat all of the systems, including the dual-CPU ones. Perhaps you are missing some plugins?

-Scott

For those of us who are pushing older hardware along, here are the results from my rusty, trusty "white box" rackmount. All numbers running S4P under W2K Professional.

CPU: Intel PIII 1.4-S running at spec clocking
MB: DFI CA-64TN with VIA Apollo pro 133 chipset
512 MB RAM (PC133)
Echo MIA (WDM)
PNY Verto GeForce FX 5200
Maxtor 6Y160 ATA 7200 RPM HD

Latency(ms) CPU Utilization(%)

46.4 - 56%
23.2 - 62%
11.6 - 72%
5.8 - 91%
2.9 - Help !

BTW, numbers under S3P were all within a point or two of the S4P figures with no audio engine engage @ 2.9.

ORIGINAL: Scott Reams

this is with HT, Multi-processing engine enabled.
XP Media Center sp1
ATI Mobility Radeon9700

46.4ms = 10-13%

Hmmm... something probably isn't right here. With this score, you've beat all of the systems, including the dual-CPU ones. Perhaps you are missing some plugins?

-Scott

Sorry Scott, really had it wrong!!!!! didn't see the link at first so I was trying to recreate according to the file description...Now here's my real score!

46.4 = 28-32%

34.8 = 30-33%

23.2 = 32-37%

17.4 = 33-40%

11.6 = 37-45%

8.7 = 40-52%

5.8 = 50-63%

4.4 = 58-87%

2.9 = Stops after 2 sec.

2.2 = Won't engage

Now that's more like it but I don't like it a bit!!!!

According to your graph I should get better results, what do you think?

Kind regards

Ben

According to your graph I should get better results, what do you think?

Try ASIO. Looks like you are using WDM.

-S

ORIGINAL: Scott Reams

According to your graph I should get better results, what do you think?

Try ASIO. Looks like you are using WDM.

-S

I am using ASIO driver, I couldn't get good results with WDM, but that was a few months ago when I was a real Sonar newbie then, so...didn't do the test with WDM then since I didn't know about it, but I couldn't get latency lower than 23.2ms or 34.8ms (WDM). I get around 11.6 - 17.4ms with ASIO. This is with my basic template, to which we paste our old MIDI songs. Maybe I'm asking for too much!? Here's what it looks like:

4 audio tracks for Mics, input monitor, send to Cake verb, main outs.

1 audio track for electric guitar, input monitor, GuitRigDXi insert, send to out 7-8, main outs.

1 audio track for BV, input monitor, send to Cake verb, send to out 5-6, main outs.

1 audio track for acc.guits, input monitor, send to Cake verb, send to out 5-6, main outs.

1 TTS-1 instance with:

output 1 - instruments, send to out 5-6, main outs.

output 2 - Bass wGuitRigDXi insert, send to out 1-2, main outs.

1 TTS-1 instance with:

output 1 - drums, send to Lexicon verb, send to out 3-4, main outs.

1 aux Cake verb (vox, BV)

1 aux Lexicon verb (drums)

1 aux Sonitus verb (sometimes used as replacement for the above or for extra inst.)

So this is about 10 audio tracks, 2 DXi inserts, 3 aux verbs, various count of MIDI tracks assigned to 2 TTS-1 using 3 outputs, nothing really big here, right???...

ORIGINAL: CRNA59

I'd think it would be cool to have a 64bit Sonar Test

Now that is a cool idea. I've not gone 64 bit yet so it would be good to see some results.

Andy

My numbers seem way high for my CPU and system. I think I must be doing some things wrong, but I'll start with my test results:

System:
AMD Athlon 64 3400+ running @ 2412
MSI K8N Neo Platinum mobo
2x 512kb Corsair DDR RAM
Win XP Pro SP2
M-Audio Delta 1010 WDM drivers
2x UAD-1 v3.7
Sonar 3.1.1 PE
ATi Radeon 9600 series video card w/128 MB

my results WDM
55-56 % @ 46.4ms
56-57 % @ 29ms
58-60 % @ 17.4ms
75% @ 5.8ms
i cannot slide below 5.8 ms and am not sure how you can do this. It does not go any lower.

my results ASIO
75% @ 5.8ms and the slider does not go lower nor does it move up higher.. the audio driver bit depth is greyed at 24bit and the file is 16bit / 44.1

my results ASIO
75% @ 5.8ms and the slider does not go lower nor does it move up higher.. the audio driver bit depth is greyed at 24bit and the file is 16bit / 44.1

ASIO latency is changed by clicking on the "ASIO Panel" button at the bottom of the Audio Options dialog and setting a different buffer size at the sound card driver.

Otherwise... yes, your results aren't anywhere near where they should be. You probably have a configuration problem.

-S

Scott - or anyone who may know:
I have the ATi 9600SE model video card, which has 64-bit memory interface (not 128 as I had thought). Would this possibly be the culprit of my slow PC?

I have checked all my XP tweaks and disabled a few more app's I did not require (using blackviper as my guide). I think I down to hardware as my next investigation...

Thanks for the advice!

Would this possibly be the culprit of my slow PC?

no , i really don't think so - Scott said "your results aren't anywhere near where they should be." ..something is really wrong there .

EUREKA!
It was in the BIOS config! I just selected 'USE OPTIMIZED SETTINGS" and voila! I have a Sonar3Test ASIO showing the numbers as others have tested. I will (at some point) get to the bottom of what setting(s) was the culprit, but as of now I can get back to mixing...

PS - and after all the digging I had done since last nights discovery, I now have a really streamlined rig! I had so much tweaking into this problem, that I ended up having to re-authorize Windows XP Pro

Thanks for the replies guys!

Pentium 4 540J 3.2GHz LGA775 H/T
Intel 915G Southbridge Intel 82801FB (ICH6)
ATI ASUS Extreme AX300SE/T 128MB PCI x16
2Gb RAM (4x512 DDR400MHz) In Dual Channel Mode
E-MU 1212M
2 X SATA 250gb
WinXp Pro SP2

Sonar3PE 3.1.1

Results for Sonar3 on Sonar3Test.cwb WDM Driver 44.1

Latency Use MP On.. Use MP Off
46.4ms.. 23-25%.... 29-30%
23.2ms.. 25-27%.... 30-32%
11.6ms.. 28-31%.... 33-37%
5.8ms.... 36-40%.... 43-46%
2.9ms.... 52-55%.... 58-63%
1.5ms.... 79-85%.... 92-warning (no dropout)

Am considering upgrading to Sonar4

Travis

Standard PC
P4 1.8GHz
Gigabyte 845G Series P4 Titan 533FSB Motherboard
256Mb DDRAM (266MHz)
SBLive5.1 with kX drivers(v5.10.00.3537)
Western Digital 80Gb 8Mb cache 7200rpm
Onboard display adapter(Intel 82845GL 64Mb shared RAM)
LG52x CD-ROM
Philips DVDR1640p 16x DVD-RW

Windows XP Professional with ServicePack 2
Sonar4

WDM/KS (44KHz & 16bits)
40ms 50%
30ms 55%
20ms 63%
10ms 70%
below are not available

ASIO (SBLive locks itself with 48KHz & 16bits if asio selected)
42,66ms 49%
21,33ms 53%
10,07ms 64%
05,30ms 84%
02,70ms dropout immediately
------------------------------

Hi ppl,

Are the results above average or do i need some tweakin? I need some upgrades lookin above, right? But due to the motherboard's docs my max upgrade should be a P4 2,4GHz. Does it worth it to buy? (1.8 -> 2.4 ?)

Or should i change both m.board and cpu? I need some suggestion about which one wins the war about the performance/price issue? AMD or Intel?

I usually run 16audio 8midi(sf2+DXi)tracks 3effects perchannel 21,33ms (asio) at an average of 70% cpu load. Mostly no d.outs, but sometimes drives me crazy. I only record guitars all the other things are samples, DXis, VSTis, mostly sf2s. I couldn't find a surround monitoring capable 24/96 pci audiocard with an affordable price, so stuck with SBLive.

I'd just ordered a 512Mb DDRAM (400MHz), i guess that will take care of most of the sf2 work.

I'm open for all of your suggestions. Thanks a lot...

I think you should notice the trend in this thread is that AMD is the best value vs performance for Sonar DAW.

The test file contains no audio.

I wanted to try the test, but there is no audio in the file. Can someone give a link to the full test project?

you don't need audio in the file to perform this test.

Here are mine:
MSI NEO2 Platinum Athlon 3500+ 1G DDR, RME Fireface 800

ASIO
48 - dropouts
64 - 79-81%
96 - 59-61%
128 - 51%
256 - 37%
512 - 30%
768 - 28%
1024 - 28%

WDM FF800 set at 64 samples in buffer
1.5 - 83% and audio stopped onit's own
2.9 - 55%
4.4 - 45%
5.8 - 40%
7.3 - 37%
8.7 - 35%
10.2 - 33-35%
11.6 - 32-33%
13.1 - 31-32%
15.4 - 30-32%
16 - 30%
17.4 29%
21.8 - 28%

I am thinking I can get better than this. I am not totally convinced my system is tweaked to the hilt yet.

ORIGINAL: Guitarmech111

I am thinking I can get better than this. I am not totally convinced my system is tweaked to the hilt yet.

Your should be able to do better then that my 3000+ socket754 1gig ddr with a Delta 44 has the same stats as yuor machine.