CPU question

Dorico
#1

Sorry to bring this up again. I know there are a number of threads related to this, and I’ve read them all, but this is a question specific to my situation.

Almost the entirety of my work at present is hymnals, which requires a ton of manual adjustment, both note spacing and lyric adjustment. I don’t really need performance metrics relating to condensing or working with large scores. I’m working with one hymn per project file.

I’m using a Stream Deck, so I have a pretty fast workflow. My laptop really lags performing these tasks at the speed I’m able to execute them. My desktop, however, blows through them like it’s nothing. Laptop CPU peaks around 30%, but desktop CPU basically sleeps through the whole thing, 3% or so.

Specs are below, in my signature. If I were to replace my laptop to get similar speed to my desktop, what’s the important metric? CPU, I assume? 8 cores vs. 4? Would a newer Xeon 8-core do me? (Dell Precision 7540). Apparent NVMe vs. SATA isn’t a factor. Thanks.

#2

Hey Dan, if you like why don’t you attach a project file and we can each open it up, perform some tasks, and report back on our specs and performance? Would also be interesting getting a mac vs pc result.

#3

https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/search?utf8=✓&q=7540 should give you a fair idea. Note that there’s a huge amount of variation between different variants of the same processor; the specs you’ve given in your footer aren’t actually specific enough for this question.

edit: I’m not entirely sure I trust the geekbench scores that Paul quoted here: https://www.steinberg.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=246&t=175231&p=933381&hilit=Geekbench#p933381
You’d be best off downloading the Geekbench 5 application and running it yourself. At least that way you know what you’re aiming for. I have a feeling that your desktop (at least from Paul’s quoted figures) hits almost the same Geekbench score as the 16” MacBook Pro I just took ownership of. If that’s the case, you’re looking at a fair amount of cash for a comparable Windows laptop, albeit not quite what I paid for the Mac.

#4

Thanks for the offer. Here’s one: https://www.dropbox.com/s/2kdaxa21ozhxzt1/At%20the%20Name%20of%20Jesus_Kings%20Weston.dorico?dl=0

Basically I have one hand to select lyrics or spacing handles, and the other hand is performing Alt-L/R (or Ctrl-Alt-L/R), as fast as my fingers can manage.

#5

Point taken. I just updated my signature to reflect more info for the Dell. The Ryzen 7 2700’s are all the same, I think.

Yeah I’m expecting to have to donate a kidney. :frowning:

#6

Well, interesting. My Dell scores for Geekbench 5 were:

Single: 951
Multi: 3988.

And the Ryzen desktop was:

Single: 1040
Multi: 7448.

I assumed the functions I’m performing were single-core. The single-core perfomance numbers are so close, but the speed is night-and-day different. Do note spacing and lyric spacing use multiple cores, or single?

Also, I don’t understand why Geekbench scores for the machine I’d like vary so much between devices. I saw one particular comparison in which a machine with 64 GB RAM get a score nearly half that of a 32 GB machine with other specs identical. It makes it seem like I have no certainty a new machine will perform at any particular level until I actually get it and test it.

#7

Here’s how to find out for yourself https://www.nextofwindows.com/windows-10-quick-tip-how-to-display-all-cpu-cores-performance-in-task-manager
Common factors that reduce Geekbench scores are power settings (particularly laptops running on battery with power restrictions in place), and testing while using other software (in the foreground or the background).

The machine that produced the low score of which you speak (the one with 64GB RAM) may be faulty, or may have 10% battery remaining (or whatever point it is at which Windows puts it into power-save mode), or the user may simultaneously have been rendering 4k video. Don’t fret about individual results!

#8

Your Laptop could be throttling due to heat issues.

#9

Ah… interesting. Thanks for that link. I’ve consulted the Resource Monitor many times, but I’ve never known about tracking individual core performance. I can see manual note spacing and lyric adjustments are indeed both multi-core functions, using all 4 of my laptop’s cores.

I wonder why there would be a lag at all… considering that, even when I grab a large range and furiously press Ctrl-Alt-Left repeatedly, I can’t get the CPU to exceed 28% (and Dorico is using only 18%). It’s not like the CPU is working that hard…

#10

Not in this case. It’s running quite cool. Fans are running a little, but temps are under 50 C.

#11

Not that it’s necessarily anything to do with it, you should double-check the power settings on your existing laptop, just to be on the safe side: try https://www.thewindowsclub.com/cpu-is-not-running-at-full-speed-in-windows for instance.

#12

Thanks, I’m already running it wide-open.

#13

As a very rough rule of thumb, as multi-core performance goes, you are likely to see a performance increase up until the number of cores equals the number of players. So if you only have four players, for instance, then I wouldn’t expect that 8 cores would give you much improvement over 4. There are however so many other variables such as micro-architecture, clocking speed, memory speed, cache size, power settings etc, that it’s hard to give any specific recommendations. This also may explain some of the different benchmark scores between seemingly identical systems.