Hi all.
Everybody’s been wondering about whether 64-bit Cubase (6) is any faster than 32-bit version. So read this article and you’ll get some guidelines about it. Of course these tests have been executed with only my own PC, but the results are comparable in a general sense to other systems also. Certainly the results will not be vice versa on other systems anyway – at least I don’t know how they would.
I divided the tests in 2 categories:
- Passmark Performance Tests (done with Passmark’s Performance Test v7.0 x86 and x64 versions)
- Cubase Tests with both x86 and x64 versions
The details of the tests are as follows:
1) PASSMARK TESTS:
A. CPU test:
- Integer Math
- Floating Point Math
- Find Prime Numbers
- SSE
- Compression
- Encryption
- Physics
- String Sorting
B. Memory test:
- Allocate Small Block
- Read Cached
- Read Uncached
- Write
- Large RAM
C. 2D graphics test:
- Solid Vectors
- Transparent Vectors
- Complex Vectors
- Fonts and Text
- Windows Interface
- Image Filters
- Image Rendering
D. 3D graphics test:
(not relevant)
E. Hard drive test:
- Sequential Read
- Sequential Write
- Random Seek + RW
2) CUBASE 6 (x86 and x64) TESTS:
A. Opening time for Cubase 6 with the following plugins installed:
- Waves 7 plugins pack (200+ plugins – jBridged in x64 Cubase 6)
- Line 6 audio plugins (~10 large plugins)
- Halion Symphonic Orchestra 1.5
- Groove Agent 3
- IK Multimedia T-Racks 3 mastering bundle
B. Opening time for large project files:
- This project utilizes plugins from ALL sections from the section a) except for the T-Racks 3
C. Downmix time of the same project:
- The plugins (some) are present, like mentioned in section b) + there’s a lot of automation, MIDI + AUDIO events, Inserts/Sends/EQ present also
D. Mastering time of the same project:
- This project utilizes T-Racks 3 (demanding on the CPU), Waves 7 and Steinberg’s native plugins
E. Time-stretching time of the downmixed file of the same project:
- Time-stretching was done with Poly Complex algorithm and the file was expanded 200% of the original length
ONE NOTE: Of course the 3D measurements + results have got nothing to do with Cubase 6 performance whatsoever but I had to run them also to have a Passmark Rating Value done by the Passmark’s software; It demands that all the sub-tests be performed in order to give you a general Passmark rating.
TEST SETUP:
First of all, I spent some 8 hours yesterday tweaking my PC’s BIOS to maximum performance values and I finally found those. This was done so that other Windows services would have the minimal effect on the test results; on a slower PC the relative effect on the Background services + the rest would be bigger so the results wouldn’t be accurate. Of course there are no “accurate” or “absolute” results or truth about the Cubase 6 performance to begin with. It always depends on the system.
Hardware:
- ASUS P7P55D Motherboard with the latest BIOS (revision 2003, 25.1.2011)
- 8GB DDR3 RAM @ 1540MHz
- Intel i7 core 860 processor @ 3,67GHz (4 physical cores / 8 hyper-threaded)
- ATI Radeon HD 5700 1GB Dual [over-clocked with ATI Overdrive to the maximum values (CPU: 960MHz (default: 400)/ RAM: 1445MHz (default: 600))]
- Apacer A7202 SSD 64GB (w/ latest firmware) dedicated for the Operating System. WRITE-CACHING is ENABLED. R/W-average speed: ~240MB/s (Advanced System Optimizer 3 benchmark)
- 2TB RAID 0 Stripe-set (hardware) for the audio files and applications (like Cubase itself) (4*500GB Western Digital Black Series SATA2 hard-drives. WRITE-CACHING is ENABLED. R/W-average speed: ~1,3GB/s (Advanced System Optimizer 3 benchmark))
Software:
- Windows 7 64-bit SP 1
- All the latest drivers installed (checked manually + with Advanced System Optimizer 3 & DriverFinder 2.04 & Driver Genius 10)
- All the updates & patches installed via Microsoft Update
- Steinberg Power-scheme is ENABLED.
- Audio priority: BOOST
- Windows Pagefile (12,3 GB static) + all temporary files set on RAID 0-drive (D-drive)
- Cubase 6 32-bit & 64-bit + plugins (like described above)
BIOS:
- Intel SpeedStep: ENABLED
- Intel Turbo-mode: ENABLED
OK, there’s a setup configuration.
And at this point I’d like to emphasize that my meaning is NOT to be showing off my PC!! I’m trying to be of help to others here, so if someone is annoyed out of his head at this point, I’d suggest you to stop reading this and do something else instead. No inappropriate or irrelevant replies needed also. Thank you.
Then to the interesting part: The results.
PASSMARK TESTS (which tell the overall performance of x86 and x64-systems)
Performance Test 7 32-bit:
CPU Mark: 5613.6
2D Graphics Mark: 742.7
Memory Mark: 1231.6
Disk Mark: 2777.7
3D Graphics Mark: not relevant
PassMark Rating: 2598.5
Featured and interesting sub-scores:
CPU - Integer Math: 674.6
CPU - Floating Point Math: 2756.9
Memory - Read Cached: 2635.2
Memory - Write: 1640.9
Memory - Large RAM: 2158.1
Performance Test 7 64-bit:
CPU Mark: 7608.4
2D Graphics Mark: 791.1
Memory Mark: 2173.8
Disk Mark: 2828.4
3D Graphics Mark: not relevant
PassMark Rating: 3333.0
Featured and interesting sub-scores:
CPU - Integer Math: 2885.8
CPU - Floating Point Math: 3405.6
Memory - Read Cached: 2993.5
Memory - Write: 1742.8
Memory - Large RAM: 5254.1
CONCLUSION:
Performance advance for 64-bit score over 32-bit score (formula: [[x64-value / x86-value] * 100] – 100):
28.3%
=====================================================
CUBASE 6 TESTS
The start-up times (for Cubase itself nor the project start-up time) didn’t vary namely at all on my system, so I won’t present any numbers for no reason.
Exporting the MIXDOWN of a large project to 96kHz/32-bit .WAV-file:
Cubase 6 32-bit: 196 seconds
Cubase 6 64-bit: 80 seconds
Performance advance for 64-bit score over 32-bit score (formula: [[x86-value / x64-value] * 100] – 100):
145%
Mastering project to the corresponding downmixed file to 320kbps .MP3-file:
Cubase 6 32-bit: 251 seconds
Cubase 6 64-bit: 172 seconds
CONCLUSION:
Performance advance for 64-bit score over 32-bit score (formula: [[x86-value / x64-value] * 100] – 100):
45.9%
Time-stretching the corresponding downmixed file (algorithm: MPEX - Poly-Complex, time value: expand, 200%):
Cubase 6 32-bit: 1655 seconds
Cubase 6 64-bit: 845 seconds
CONCLUSION:
Performance advance for 64-bit score over 32-bit score (formula: [[x86-value / x64-value] * 100] – 100):
95.9%
So the answer to the ultimate question: “HOW MUCH FASTER IS CUBASE 6 64-BIT OVER 32-BIT???” IS:
~89% faster
This is a weighted average of the sub-results with the following weighted amounts:
Passmark test: 10%
Cubase 6 (mixdown): 30%
Cubase 6 (mastering): 30%
Cubase 6 (time-stretch): 30%
So for me, Cubase 6 64-bit is ALMOST TWICE AS FAST as Cubase 6 32-bit.
The conclusion:
For me the result is pretty clear; Cubase 64-bit is way more efficient than 32-bit (or x86) version and I’m going to use the 64-bit version only from now on. And of course the results would vary on other systems but this test was merely meant to be a baseline for others.
Also please notify that the mastering project is heavily loaded by the 32-bit T-Racks 3 plugin (+ jBridged Waves’ plugins) and the time-stretching uses natively 64-bit Steinberg’s own time-stretching plugin ONLY! Imagine when ALL the plugins that we use are natively 64-bit. Then the performance advance for 64-bit Cubase 6 is even higher!
I hope I could shed some light for this performance issue. For me the performance difference actually was a bit of surprise – but a nice one! Steinberg is proven to have coded their 64-bit version very well indeed and not just with the attitude “well, we have to do this too, so let’s do it quickly with our left hands”.
This document can be downloaded in .DOC format here:
http://www.pc-professor.fi/Cubase6/performance/report.doc
© 13.3.2011 Tommy Dee