[SOLVED] Isadora 3 and Multi-Core usage in Windows
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Hello, I am in the process of making some upgrades in the studio and am wondering if Isadora 3 will make use of multiple cores (IE Dual Xeon E5-2670 8C @ 2.60GHz Turbo 3.3GHz) or if single core frequency is most important (IE i9-9900k). I am going to dedicate a workstation to Isadora and rendering and any input would be helpful here as I weigh my choices. For Cinema 4D rendering, these choices are pretty much equal, but I am uncertain which configuration would be best for Isadora 3. The workstation will have a couple of GTX1080s in it. I would prefer to use the Xeon workstation if the single core frequency is not an issue.
Best,- J
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Isadora 3 indeed adds more threading to the system so it will use multiple cores for the primary application, but the engine that runs patch logic is a single thread so the cpu speed plays a role there, but less so than in Isadora 2 since in 3 the Isadora user interface is no longer directly part of the engine thread (has its own). This means that you can do more in the primary engine now without seeing any performance hit from the user interface.
Video playback is multi-threaded and depending on the platform and codec/wrapper used run across all cores.
Also video back utilizes the GPU for decompression for some high performance codecs (freeing the cpu). Hap is a great example of this.
If you are creating complex patches that use a lot of 'eyes' or other cpu heavy actors you may still want to go for cpu cycles, but if your primarily video mapping and playing back Mov's it's less important.
I am finding that performance is rather good with even just a recent i5 2.4 cpu and a gtx1060. Of course it's all about scale, and Isadora 3 will allow much more, but requires the hardware that is capable.
Sorry I know this isn't a straight answer. It's tough and really depends on your goals. One thing I am not sure of is how tuned the video engines (AV foundation on Mac, and Directshow/Media foundation on PC) are for use with dual cpus?
@Fred might have more more to add. He has built some powerful systems and usually has some good advice.
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This is very useful to me. Thanks for the information, it will help a lot in weighing my choices here. I am now leaning towards getting rid of the old Z820 and building a i9-9900K box in a 4u case. The Z820 is a beast for CPU and GPU rendering in Cinema 4d, but it sucks for after effects as it really does not thread well to this day. In Isadora, I am using a lot of logic and javascript actors - enough that it choked my laptop up. By the sounds of it, these functions will be single core dependent.
I am excited for Izz3 and have been holding off on some big revisions until its release. Looking forward to it.
Again, thanks for your insight and taking the time to provide this info.
Best,
- J
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I bit the bullet, sold the Z820 and am going to stick my current 5960x workstation into a 4U shorty case with a 1080 and assign it double duty as a render node and traveler workstation. While less portable than a laptop (I work 99% of the time in Toronto), I have become increasingly interested in (obsessed with) Isadora and think this change will make for a very sizable change in performance. Thanks again @DusX for the information you shared.
