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Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Adobe Lightroom Q&A => Topic started by: Per Zangenberg on April 23, 2010, 04:56:18 am

Title: Is editing faster on 4 vs 2 cores?
Post by: Per Zangenberg on April 23, 2010, 04:56:18 am
I am thinking about swapping my Core 2 Duo e8400 (@3.7GHz) for a Quad core 9550/9650 and am wondering if LR3 will be faster in editing operations or only when exporting?
Title: Is editing faster on 4 vs 2 cores?
Post by: ErikKaffehr on April 23, 2010, 06:49:56 am
Hi,

My impression is that there are some gains in generating previews but probably not in editing.

What should be faster in editing? The answer may depend on the question...

Best regards
Erik


Quote from: Per Zangenberg
I am thinking about swapping my Core 2 Duo e8400 (@3.7GHz) for a Quad core 9550/9650 and am wondering if LR3 will be faster in editing operations or only when exporting?
Title: Is editing faster on 4 vs 2 cores?
Post by: Per Zangenberg on April 23, 2010, 07:01:08 am
Quote from: ErikKaffehr
Hi,

My impression is that there are some gains in generating previews but probably not in editing.

What should be faster in editing? The answer may depend on the question...

Best regards
Erik

If am thinking about when you open a new image in edit mode, it takes a certain time to open/render the preview before you can start editing.
Title: Is editing faster on 4 vs 2 cores?
Post by: andyptak on April 23, 2010, 09:10:02 am
I think I read somewhere that LR can only use two cores, but I forget where now.
Title: Is editing faster on 4 vs 2 cores?
Post by: Per Zangenberg on April 23, 2010, 09:20:56 am
Quote from: andyptak
I think I read somewhere that LR can only use two cores, but I forget where now.

Well that is not true, because you can certainly use more by running more than one output thread for example.
Title: Is editing faster on 4 vs 2 cores?
Post by: feppe on April 23, 2010, 09:28:18 am
Quote from: Per Zangenberg
Well that is not true, because you can certainly use more by running more than one output thread for example.

You can, but you can do that with a single-core system as well. Just because it runs multiple threads doesn't mean the OS and LR can fully utilize multiple threads.
Title: Is editing faster on 4 vs 2 cores?
Post by: madmanchan on April 23, 2010, 10:08:00 am
LR 1, 2, and 3 all offer increased speed during editing (e.g., Develop) when using more cores (up to 8, at present).
Title: Is editing faster on 4 vs 2 cores?
Post by: ErikKaffehr on April 23, 2010, 11:58:53 am
Hi,

That is generating previews. My impression is that it's not faster on quadcore than on duocore, but it seems that it can generate four previews simultaneously on quad core. The effect is that the first image takes some time to load but the next ones are much faster (semi instantaneous). I don't think that LR is very good at utilizing hyperthreading. Also I'd suggest that having enough memory is most important. You also need a 64 bit operating system.

Best regards
Erik

Quote from: Per Zangenberg
If am thinking about when you open a new image in edit mode, it takes a certain time to open/render the preview before you can start editing.
Title: Is editing faster on 4 vs 2 cores?
Post by: Per Zangenberg on April 23, 2010, 03:18:06 pm
Quote from: ErikKaffehr
Hi,

That is generating previews. My impression is that it's not faster on quadcore than on duocore, but it seems that it can generate four previews simultaneously on quad core. The effect is that the first image takes some time to load but the next ones are much faster (semi instantaneous). I don't think that LR is very good at utilizing hyperthreading. Also I'd suggest that having enough memory is most important. You also need a 64 bit operating system.

Best regards
Erik

Thank you. I have 8GB RAM and am running Windows 7 64-bit.
Title: Is editing faster on 4 vs 2 cores?
Post by: Wayne Fox on April 24, 2010, 12:11:07 am
Perhaps some of the bottleneck isn't due to the lack of hyperthreading and use of multiple cores - I can't think of a better expert on this than Eric since he is involved in writing some of the code so I think he's answered the question.

I think drive access is signifiant.  To maximize performance a multiple drive raid o system, maybe even SAS 15k rpm drives with lots of ram would valuable.  Then you may actually be able to get enough data off of the drive to supply those cores.
Title: Is editing faster on 4 vs 2 cores?
Post by: Per Zangenberg on April 24, 2010, 01:56:08 am
Quote from: Wayne Fox
Perhaps some of the bottleneck isn't due to the lack of hyperthreading and use of multiple cores - I can't think of a better expert on this than Eric since he is involved in writing some of the code so I think he's answered the question.

I think drive access is signifiant.  To maximize performance a multiple drive raid o system, maybe even SAS 15k rpm drives with lots of ram would valuable.  Then you may actually be able to get enough data off of the drive to supply those cores.

Ok, I already use 2x RAID0 drives (4 drives).
Title: Is editing faster on 4 vs 2 cores?
Post by: Schewe on April 24, 2010, 02:09:32 am
Quote from: madmanchan
LR 1, 2, and 3 all offer increased speed during editing (e.g., Develop) when using more cores (up to 8, at present).


Just to be PERFECTLY clear, you really, honestly _DO_ want to pay attention to what 'madmanchan' is saying, ok? I mean it's one thing to listen to the typical internet pun-dents, but it's another thing to listen to the guys that write the friggin' code, ok?

If Eric is saying multi cores help develop and processing then it does, ya know?
Title: Is editing faster on 4 vs 2 cores?
Post by: HickersonJasonC on April 24, 2010, 02:48:03 am
Quote from: Schewe
Just to be PERFECTLY clear, you really, honestly _DO_ want to pay attention to what 'madmanchan' is saying, ok? I mean it's one thing to listen to the typical internet pun-dents, but it's another thing to listen to the guys that write the friggin' code, ok?

If Eric is saying multi cores help develop and processing then it does, ya know?

Jeff, I'm wondering if I'm the first to point out the huge difference between how your commentary comes across in person/videos versus in written word?
Title: Is editing faster on 4 vs 2 cores?
Post by: Schewe on April 24, 2010, 02:55:28 am
Quote from: HickersonJasonC
Jeff, I'm wondering if I'm the first to point out the huge difference between how your commentary comes across in person/videos versus in written word?


No...what's your point?

Again, let me be even more clear, you are a friggin' idiot if you don't pay attention to every single word Eric may have to say...

Is that more clear?

(oh, is that not what you meant?)

:~)
Title: Is editing faster on 4 vs 2 cores?
Post by: ErikKaffehr on April 24, 2010, 03:01:07 am
Hi,

I have no doubt regarding Eric's comment.

With regard to bottlenecks, I don't really see disk access as the main problem. I simply observed CPU and disk activity in the Activity Monitor, it seems to be quite low.

Different tools may work in different ways. I just tried to use a large adjustment brush on my quad core and it causes about 350% load on CPU, so it utilizes four cores pretty well. Just doing sharpening and things like that don't show any CPU activity. Selective edits is one of the areas that seem to benefit from my new computer, but I don't know if that speed up is coming from "Quad core", three memory busses or the installed 16 GByte RAM. I'd suspect that all of those help ;-)

A decent harddisk should be able to transfer about 100 MByte/s. If disk transfer rate is much below that I would not expect RAID 0 or SAS disks would speed up your work. An SSD is a different thing. SSDs have very short access times and that may have an effect.

File sizes may play an important role. Some of us use P65+ and some use much less demanding equipment. My experience is mostly based on full frame DSLR with about 24 MPixels. Would I use a P65 and generate TIFFs using Capture One or DxO disk speed may play a bigger role.

Best regards
Erik


Quote from: Wayne Fox
Perhaps some of the bottleneck isn't due to the lack of hyperthreading and use of multiple cores - I can't think of a better expert on this than Eric since he is involved in writing some of the code so I think he's answered the question.

I think drive access is signifiant.  To maximize performance a multiple drive raid o system, maybe even SAS 15k rpm drives with lots of ram would valuable.  Then you may actually be able to get enough data off of the drive to supply those cores.
Title: Is editing faster on 4 vs 2 cores?
Post by: Per Zangenberg on April 24, 2010, 04:08:08 am
Quote from: Schewe
No...what's your point?

Again, let me be even more clear, you are a friggin' idiot if you don't pay attention to every single word Eric may have to say...

Is that more clear?

(oh, is that not what you meant?)

:~)

lol  
Title: Is editing faster on 4 vs 2 cores?
Post by: Per Zangenberg on April 24, 2010, 04:14:24 am
I just tried doing some stuff in the develop module in LR3 b2 and it surely using both cores on my Core 2 Duo, so I would think I would benefit from going to a Quadcore. Obviously an i7 CPU would be the best, but then I will have to get new mobo and RAM to, not to mention reinstalling Windows 7. I am therefore looking at a Q9550s.
Title: Is editing faster on 4 vs 2 cores?
Post by: Farmer on April 24, 2010, 04:17:55 am
Quote from: Per Zangenberg
I just tried doing some stuff in the develop module in LR3 b2 and it surely using both cores on my Core 2 Duo, so I would think I would benefit from going to a Quadcore. Obviously an i7 CPU would be the best, but then I will have to get new mobo and RAM to, not to mention reinstalling Windows 7. I am therefore looking at a Q9550s.

Just to be clear, if you go from a 2 core to a 4 core processor, you will need to reinstall Win 7 anyway.
Title: Is editing faster on 4 vs 2 cores?
Post by: stamper on April 24, 2010, 05:48:16 am
No...what's your point?

Again, let me be even more clear, you are a friggin' idiot if you don't pay attention to every single word Eric may have to say...

Is that more clear?

(oh, is that not what you meant?)


Ah.....the volcano just erupted again or did it spit you out?
Title: Is editing faster on 4 vs 2 cores?
Post by: Per Zangenberg on April 24, 2010, 06:49:51 am
Quote from: Farmer
Just to be clear, if you go from a 2 core to a 4 core processor, you will need to reinstall Win 7 anyway.

I don't think so.

http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-se...-quad-core.html (http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/63271-upgrading-dual-core-quad-core.html)
Title: Is editing faster on 4 vs 2 cores?
Post by: Christopher on April 24, 2010, 08:11:23 am
Quote from: Per Zangenberg
I don't think so.

http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-se...-quad-core.html (http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/63271-upgrading-dual-core-quad-core.html)

You certainly don't. I upgraded from 8 cores to 12 one one workstation and on my personal computer from 2 to 4 without any problems.
Title: Is editing faster on 4 vs 2 cores?
Post by: Mark D Segal on April 27, 2010, 11:25:21 am
Following up on Eric's expert advice on how the application is actually programmed to work on the image, there is a subsidiary question I'm not too clear on about the role of hard drives. My understanding is that they don't affect image editing unless recourse to the scratch disk is required because of inadequate physical and virtual RAM, because the image is called-up into RAM for editing. But the hard drives do come into play for calling-up the image in the first place and then re-saving it. I find with my dual core 3 GHz Xeon 5160s that these processes are not fast. Opening an image upwards of 120 MB and resaving it takes enough time to call-up Photoshop's "Progress" bars - never a good sign of computing efficiency. For my Phase-1 files, there's time for coffee or relief therefrom   So I'm hoping that an upgrade to a 4 or 8 core system (probably a Mac this time) would improve file movement to a very noticeable extent, along with other tasks.
Title: Is editing faster on 4 vs 2 cores?
Post by: madmanchan on April 27, 2010, 01:29:31 pm
Hi Mark, moving up to a faster drive should help you, because the base (and edited) images themselves are large in your case. So even if you have plenty of RAM and plenty of cores, you're likely limited by how fast you can read the darn file off the disk (and write it back to the disk).
Title: Is editing faster on 4 vs 2 cores?
Post by: Mark D Segal on April 27, 2010, 02:45:35 pm
Quote from: madmanchan
Hi Mark, moving up to a faster drive should help you, because the base (and edited) images themselves are large in your case. So even if you have plenty of RAM and plenty of cores, you're likely limited by how fast you can read the darn file off the disk (and write it back to the disk).

Thanks Eric, good point. If I wait long enough maybe I'll be able to get good SSDs in a high-powered desktop. That should be awesome.
Title: Is editing faster on 4 vs 2 cores?
Post by: Per Zangenberg on May 02, 2010, 02:16:45 am
Ok, so I got my Q9650 installed and made a 20min. video about Lightroom performance with Core 2 Duo vs Quad Core at same clock speed.

I was actually surprised at how well Lightroom uses the quad core...

VIDEO: http://www.vimeo.com/11378426 (http://www.vimeo.com/11378426)