Support for more than 4 CPU cores...

[003]

I have been using the free dBpoweramp R10 version for as long as I can remember. It finally got too limiting due to the large amount of files I work with, and outdated codecs. So I just purchased the 13.1 reference version and OMG it's so much better!

All its new features are intuitive and a welcome addition. But the best part is the multi core encoding. It does 4 files at once.

But I think it could be better. I have a Core i7 920, which is a quad core CPU, but each core can execute two threads due to hyper threading, so the computer sees it as an 8 core CPU. Is dBpoweramp going to be updated to support more than 4 cores/threads? It already flies at 4 threads, but I am getting greedy now, it would be super sick at 8 threads!! :komisch12

We're talking a 20 track album in like 30 seconds!:shocked:

[Spoon]

Re: Support for more than 4 CPU cores...

Hyper-threading generally does not help audio encoding, extra cores do. R14 will possibly have 8 cpus.

[003]

Re: Support for more than 4 CPU cores...

Hyper-threading generally does not help audio encoding, extra cores do. R14 will possibly have 8 cpus.

Thanks for the response. I would like to add, maybe the implementation of HT on the old Pentium 4 CPUs was sub par, and was the reason that it did not handle multiple threads very well.

On the Core i7 though, that is not the case. I can run two sessions of dMC, each converting a FLAC album to mp3. In this case, all 8 threads are being used, and I verified that by looking at CPU usage in task manager -- it was 100%.

And compared to just running one of the conversions, I did not notice much (if any) decrease in encoding speed.

So, adding support for 8+ threads would provide a very large performance boost for Core i7 owners, as well as people with 8 logical cores. No harm in adding support for even more than that as well, for future proofing.

EDIT:
As I currently I own dBpoweramp 13.1 reference, would the upgrade to 14.0 be free or paid? If paid, would I receive any discount due to it being an upgrade and not a new purchase?

[LtData]

Re: Support for more than 4 CPU cores...

http://forum.dbpoweramp.com/showthread.php?p=80800

[matiasnino]

Re: Support for more than 4 CPU cores...

Are you saying that decoding 8 files at a time out of a large batch on a Quad Corei7 would take more time than decoding 4 at a time due to HT inefficiencies? Any chance this has been tested?

Thanks for everything you do.

...Matias
Manassas, VA

Hyper-threading generally does not help audio encoding, extra cores do. R14 will possibly have 8 cpus.

[Shin0bi272]

Re: Support for more than 4 CPU cores...

I have a Core i7 920, which is a quad core CPU, but each core can execute two threads due to hyper threading, so the computer sees it as an 8 core CPU. Is dBpoweramp going to be updated to support more than 4 cores/threads? It already flies at 4 threads, but I am getting greedy now, it would be super sick at 8 threads!!

^^^^ This

[vryder]

Re: Support for more than 4 CPU cores...

Hyper-threading generally does not help audio encoding, extra cores do. R14 will possibly have 8 cpus.

any idea when R14 will come out?
Also, with my i7-930, it uses 4 cores... core 1-4, wich I think is really just the hypertreaded cores 1 and 2.. so it is running less efficiently than if it could use 1, 3, 5, and 7.. any way to assign wich of the 8 cores my machine currently "has" can be used?

[EliC]

Re: Support for more than 4 CPU cores...

Per spoon

It is hoped that R14 will be code complete by July with a possible release in August or later.

[Spoon]

Re: Support for more than 4 CPU cores...

Use the DSP effect CPU force to force on to certain cores.

R14 with 16 cpu support is currently in the beta section of this forum.

[Shin0bi272]

Re: Support for more than 4 CPU cores...

The cpu force dsp plugin still only lists 4 cores on HT enabled quad core cpus so thats not a fix.

[AshenSugar]

Re: Support for more than 4 CPU cores...

and yes hyperthreading when encoding tends to be slower even on i7, you need to understand how it works.

HT works by having the virtual cores use the logic of the real cores, BUT if the real cores are already working at high load, anything more you pile on will slow the process down.


think about it this way, would you be faster at putting a cacluator togather using both hands or using 1 hand to put each one togather?

Most people would say faster using both hands on one unit because your not deviding your attn between 2 diff jobs, sames true for hyper threading, its like adding a 2nd job to each core, and when the cores already fully occupied that isnt a good thing.

and the core plugin is so you can choose what of the 4 supported cores are used, for the guy with a dualie he can disable 2 virtual cores and speed up his encodes.

p4 HT worked pretty well with alot of apps becaue the p4 has a VERY long pipe, and alot of times apps just couldnt keep that pipe full of data, so the HT could fill in the gaps making the cpu work more effecently, but true multi core apps did not like that, hell try running windows 2000 on a p4 with HT enabled, then disable it, the os will get ALOT smoother and faster when its not trying to use a fake/virtual core as if its a real core.