Full 64-bit Aperture 3 Performance Maxed

All Macs running Snow Leopard that are Core2Duo or better are capable of full 64-bit, but from reading the threads I would say almost nobody is doing this.

Currently, of all Macs on the market now, only the X-Serve boots into full 64 bit mode by default.

I guess that this is because Apple assumes a server is typically professionally managed, meaning the operator would have the technical savvy to verify that all required software is 64 bit clean....ALSO servers do not tend to have any excess software on them that is not needed for them to function.

Stark contrast to the overstuffed user machines cluttered with useless old files PLUS there is still lot of current valid user software not 64-bit capable yet, like PS CS4. Knowing this, Apple does not want a lot of complaints from average, non IT professional users for current non-64 bit incompatibilities, and that is understandable. This makes Apple's default boot mode for Snow Leopard on user machines 32 bit mode. Currently Apple makes users DELIBERATELY select full 64 bit mode at boot...and in so assuming that these hopefully savvy users know the possible consequences.

Now when running in the default 32 bit mode, 64 bit apps will operate in either 64 bit, or if so selected in their Info box, 32 bit to maximize compatibility. While running a 64 bit app increases its performance, it is only a portion of the performance running a full 64-bit machine will do.

If your system has a lot of extensions or old drivers or other associated crapola <(technical term) left over from years of upgrades, you might just want to pass on this suggestion right now...HOWEVER if your system is decently clean, a fresh install of the OS and Aperture 3, you will most likely be fine.

Aperture 3 running on a full 64-bit machine is a delightful improvement, and in my limited experience to date SMOKIN' fast.

Now if you are on still on Leopard, congrats, you kept better performance than the early SL adopter folks on Aperture 2...BUT Aperture 3 NEEDS SL to make it sing, so if you are going to move to Aperture 3, UPGRADE to SL 10.6.2 NOW.

Assuming we are all on SL 10.6.2 now let's talk full 64 bit, and getting all the performance your hardware can deliver.

OK then...On this clean system, restart and hold both the 6 and 4 keys down during boot. You can then verify the full 64 bit mode by looking in the System Profiler. Select About this Mac... More Info... then click on the Software title header in the left column and in the second to last line you should see:

" 64-bit Kernel and Extensions: Yes"

WELCOME to your full 64 bit machine.

After checking you are in full 64 bit, launch Aperture 3, and Activity Monitor...to monitor performance.

If all goes well, Aperture should now be SMOKIN fast. I can hold the arrow key down in full screen and D3X .NEFs render almost immediately, smaller files a blink. 6GB on my MBP shows no pageouts running just Aperture 3. An 8 core Mac Pro with lots of RAM will be MUCH faster due to full 64 bit AND the parallel core thread processing.

Imports with backups to a secondary disk (YAAY!!!) are so fast I cannot believe it, I think it is faster than Photo Mechanic, which is my gold standard for import/ingest speed.

Now the two finger 6 and 4 key reboot method is only temporary, the next reboot it will revert to 32 bit mode, which is handy at this point in time if you have run into crashing or other problems.

If you find you have a clean system you can make it boot into 64 bit all the time, but that is part of a larger performance discussion...just try this and see if you are doing better in terms of performance.

Remember, most plug-ins, etc. are not going to be 64 bit yet...in fact Aperture even displays this in the File:Export... menu where it says (32 bit) next to the names of plug-ins. OBVIOUSLY (I hope) it probably would not be such a great idea to try these in this full 64-bit mode (ya think?). Just enjoy the stuff that does =).

So...chances are VERY good you probably cannot do all your work in this mode just yet...BUT...if you are limiting tasks for the moment to just Aperture and the OS, like library conversion, or learning the new features, you probably will blow through this much faster than in 32 bit.

ALSO, while I am talking Aperture performance...

Aperture also needs really fast storage to see max performance with big libraries (500GB+), and I mean an eSATA host with a striped array. Firewire 800 and lesser technologies are 3-4 times slower on average. Sadly, Only the 17" MBP (and all previous size version MBPs) and the Mac Pro can run an eSATA host. To me this is the single biggest drawback to the iMac, and seems REALLY silly now that you can buy an iMac with an i7 processor with a great graphics card...but only the internal single drive is eSATA, and you are stuck with FW800 for storage.

Anyway, I am running a Sonnet Tempo Pro Express 34 card in my MBP connected to Sonnet Fusion D500P array with 10TB of disk space, formatted using SoftRAID. My dedicated space for Aperture benchmarks on this setup at about 130MB/sec on average of all tests. Two crucial facts here is that the Sonnet drivers for the card (v2.2.1) are full 64-bit as well as the fact that a 64 bit version of the SoftRAID driver is included with Snow Leopard for users in 64 bit mode, which will allow you to keep existing volumes and access data from the 64 bit version of Snow Leopard.

Anyway, fellow Aperture 3 adopters I encourage you to give it a shot...and I hope this results in some smiling faces...

Sincerely,

K.J. Doyle

PS No flames please... of course since this is all new ground YMMV... proceed at your own risk, there is a reason Apple is not making this easy right now...'nuff said, I hope.