Why can't my centrino laptop not get anywhere near the pefor

Astral Fridge Magnet · Sun Aug 29, 2004 7:33 pm

Hello,

I took the plunge and bought a Centrino Pentium M laptop. The specs are basically:

1.8 Dothan processor, 60 Gb hardrive, DVD +/- writer, 64 Mb Ati 9700 pro card, Windows XP pro and it is an ASUS 6000Ne.
Now, I have read loads of stuff saying that a set up like this can out perform a reasonably powerful desktop, but I don't find this to be true unless I have configured it wrongly. For example:

I made a comparison test using my laptop and 2.4 ghz desktop using a Tascam US-122 audio interface for both machines, plus running Ableton and Amplitube. I also ran Logic 5.5.1 plus Amplitube. My desktop easily outperformed the laptop, even while I had internet going, my virus scanner, ZoneAlarm firewall and a variety of other programs running in the background. With Ableton and Amplitube the CPU usage was at about 8% whereas with my Lap top it was at 20% and I don't have any virus scanners, firewalls, internet or anything running in the background (to my knowledge). I also disabled my WiFi in my laptop. So what is all the hype that a Centrino can outperform a desktop? The same goes for Logic. The laptop was using 2 times more CPU than the desktop.

So can anyone tell me what I should do to boost the performance of my laptop please? What have I done wrong?

Any constructive help would greatly be appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your response(s).

Stige · Post by **Stige** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 3:36 am

This might not help you, but Centrino is optimized for power saving. If I'm not wrong, it closes certain parts in cpu, when they are not needed (if this is not true, someone please correct me). Perhaps you could try disabling all possible power saving in your laptop. Also, can you test somehow the peak performance with both systems, running a specific benchmark program. If you laptop uses 20% with the programs, it might still think that full cpu is not needed to be in use. Just my thoughts, I really know only about AMDs..

[ This Message was edited by: Stige on 2004-08-30 04:37 ]

Astral Fridge Magnet · Mon Aug 30, 2004 3:48 am

Thanks for your reply. But how do I disable power settings?
Is it CONTROL PANEL>POWER OPTIONS>TURN OFF MONITOR to NEVER,TURN OFF HARDISK to NEVER?

POWER SCHEMES has various choices, such as: HOME/OFFICE DESK, PORTABLE/LAPTOP, PRESENTATION, ALWAYS ON, MINIMAL POWER MANAGEMENT, and MAX BATTERY.

Oh, I forgot to mention in my first post that My laptop has 1024 Mb of Ram whereas my desktop has only 512.

Thanks in advance for your response(s).

[ This Message was edited by: Astral Fridge Magnet on 2004-08-30 04:51 ]

valis · Post by **valis** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 8:32 am

Power management: monitor & harddisk should NEVER power down (setting it otherwise polls the OS periodically for inactivity) and power scheme should be ALWAYS ON.

Also how much RAM is installed on that laptop and what type? That makes a huge difference. So does the presence of more than 1 harddrive, and what you have done to the operating system.

Astral Fridge Magnet · Mon Aug 30, 2004 8:45 am

Hi,

Thanks for the replies so far.

I have 1024 MB Ram in the laptop and with windows XP pro. AS far as installing XP I did a standard install. I don't know what type of RAM is inside the machine.

Astral Fridge Magnet · Mon Aug 30, 2004 10:01 am

Hello again,

Thanks for all the replies so far!! I also put this same post on the Ableton site and did what someone suggested with regard to going to "Power Options" and set it to "Always On". Now with say Ableton and Amplitube running I got down to 6% CPU when originally it was at 18%. So a marked improvement!!!

Nevertheless, my 2.4 desktop with 512 RAM (the laptop has 1024), runs exactly the same setup with 8% CPU and that is with Internet Explorer running in the background, virus scanner, firewall, and various other things. So, is that about right with regard to performance comparing the laptop and desktop?

Finally, and I hope it's not a stupid question-having changed my power options to "Always On", does that have any repercussions on the laptop?
Will it cause it to run hotter, cause more wear and tear or maybe strain it to far? Sorry for asking, but just in case.

Regards and again thanks in advance for your replies.

Stige · Post by **Stige** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 10:27 am

Good to hear the fault was power saving.
There is no other disadvantages but your battery runs out very fast, and of course cpu is heating more.

Astral Fridge Magnet · Mon Aug 30, 2004 10:39 am

Hi again,

Seeing you say the CPU gets hotter Stige, is it significantly hotter? Could it cause problems or should it be able to handle the extra heat?
Sorry for the question.

Post by **garyb** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 12:16 pm

your centrino is doing very well and i'd say, pound for pound it's killing the p4 but it's hard to beat brute force. the p4 is 1/3 the clock speed faster. as to "always on being rough on your laptop,well.....hot rods seem to get more wear and tear than an old man's sedan don't they?

at0m · Post by **at0m** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 12:27 pm

Tip for power settings: Delete all of them and make your own presets. I also applied a shortkey to the Power settings, pressing Alt-Gr P > a > Enter in sequence changes to Always On for example. This makes quick switching for when you want to do music... and switch back to some saving mode when you're away.

valis · Post by **valis** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 7:31 pm

The reason that ALWAYS ON makes the difference is because the Centrino chip can dynamically change its internal clockrate to adjust for current conditions and it will ALWAYS opt for power saving (read less performance) options when given the choice. This works hand in hand with the OS which is why changing it solves that problem.

As for your desktop system having other things running the background, keep in mind that having other programs MEMORY RESIDENT isn't the same as having them actually consume cpu cycles. Antivirus software consumes next to no cpu sitting idly and only passing the occasional access to a wav file (most don't brute force scan audio files, with the exception of mp3's now due to id3v2 vulnerabilities).

IE also would sit idle unless it was on a page that automatically refreshed periodically (yahoo stocks etc). A page with a flash object might consume some cpu usage to keep the timeline going but unless it were made visible so that it needed to draw to the screen buffer its unlikely that it would have more than a marginal cpu hit on a modern system.

Firewall again only takes negligable cpu usage UNTIL network traffic occurs that your machine must recognize (addressed to your ip or MAC address).

Point is that having these things running is more of a memory concern and would likely only cause the occasional 'hiccup' in recording on a slower system when dealing with many tracks. On a modern system the impact should be negligable although I personally close all of the above when working as I prefer my systems performance streamlined and my memory pages contiguous.

Stige · Post by **Stige** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 3:36 pm

As a reply to your question about driving your cpu max, without powersaving enabled, there should not be any danger to break your laptop. They are designed to tolerate maximum usage. The first sign of overheating is system error or freeze, that should not be fatal. Isn't there a built in overheating protection in new pentiums?

domingo1974 · Post by **domingo1974** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 9:45 am

Feel for you - I use logic 5.5.1 as well on a desktop and found your message when looking for articles on Asus 6000Ne as my boss just purchased one and I thought it would be an excellent machine for myself. Besides power settings, the already running programs, my only thought could be that my desktop has several large HDD running at 7200rmp and also (from memory when I last installed it)that Logic 5.5 was optimized to make the most of the Pentium 4 HT and AMD XP+ processors so would be giving you a better result in that regard. Also, I have had many problems with external USB 2.0 as compared to firewire if that may be an issue. But really they need to customize the program for Centrino as well, though highly unlikey since Apple owns it - Looks like we'll have to go back to Uni so we can buy an Apple G5 cheap.

[ This Message was edited by: domingo1974 on 2004-10-06 13:25 ]

Astral Fridge Magnet · Sat Oct 09, 2004 11:24 pm

Hi and thanks for your replies so far,

Well everything is running smoothly and I have had no problems with Logic, 5.5.1, Cubase SX 2 and Ableton 4. And Domingo, I am really happy with my ASUS machine!! It runs well and matches my 3.06 ghz desktop easily.

valis · Post by **valis** » Sun Oct 10, 2004 7:14 am

Logic 5.51 isn't HT optimized as far as I know. The optimizations in Logic 5.x are for SSE/2 support (in addition to SSE/1).

Astral Fridge Magnet · Sun Oct 10, 2004 12:19 pm

Hi

I am running Logic 5.5.1 on a HT machine (Pentium 4 3.06 Ghz) and have no problems whatsoever

Vasfed · Post by **Vasfed** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 12:29 am

fist of all - cpu powersaving slows up performance, as already mentioned.
The second thing is that memory in laptops is also optimized for powersaving, there's no dualchannel etc.
also, there's 4200 rpm HDD with about 2 mb of cache, which is as you might guess, is slower than SATA 7200 rpm + 8 mb cache...
Plus heatsinks optimized for power saving too - p4 has built-in thermal sensor and when near to overheat it also decreases speed

ronnie · Post by **ronnie** » Sun Dec 26, 2004 7:30 pm

You can use a utility like SpeedSwitchXP to control your laptops power settings easily so that it doesn't bog down your audio:

http://www.diefer.de/speedswitchxp/

tobor · Post by **tobor** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 9:17 pm

So the centrino chip works perfectly well with the tascam US-122 then? (seen a few other forums where people said it won't work)

maakbow · Post by **maakbow** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 5:48 am

interestingly that asus and other mobo manufacturers have made adaptors so you can use centrino cpu's in desktops.
it's been discovered that when teamed up with fast hdds, cooling, fast ram bus etc of the desktop, that this setup can outdo anything currently around.
finally intell have cottened on to this and are working on desktops based on the same technology...and will probably ditch the current crop of p4 failures

Maak