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i5 / i7 MBP / Logic Pro benchmark test

So I have been thinking about consolidating both my Mac Pro and MacBook Pro into one newer MBP i5 or i7. I stumbled on a benchmark test and ran it on both my Mac Pro and MBP.

http://www.evan.se/logicprobenchmark/EvanLogicBenchmark.zip

My MacBook Pro is a 2.2 Core 2 Duo (3.1, not unibody) and I was able to play around 18 tracks by dragging the loop point right before the tracks, un-muting all tracks, starting playback and then dragging each track one by one until it can't played anymore.

I did the same thing with my Mac Pro 2 x 2.66 Xeon (first gen). I was able to get about 28 tracks going.

I got to stop in the Apple store for a short while tonight and was really disappointed by the new i5/i7's with this benchmark test. I actually got better results with the i5 than the i7 (really strange). I tried the i5 2.53 and was able to get about 22 tracks going and on the i7 2.66 I was only able to get about 16 tracks going.

Something is definitely wrong because the i7 should definitely be able to do more than the i5. I for sure thought the i7 would at least be able to match my current Mac Pro.

One more thing is that Logic Pro is not loaded on the Macs in the Apple store, only Logic Express is, so Space Designer was not present in the test at the Apple store. This was even more of a let down because when I was running the test on my Macs, Space Designer was obviously running as well.

Other people have gotten similar results in this thread on Gearslutz:

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-computers/371545-logic-pro-multicore-benchm arktest.html

Please run this benchmark test and give some feedback on your results, there might be something I'm missing here...

Mac Pro, MacBook Pro, Logic Studio, iPhone, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on May 1, 2010 12:21 AM

Reply
169 replies

Jul 6, 2010 11:25 AM in response to Mike Connelly

Not getting worked up. Just responding to the other guy who was getting worked up.

The bottom line is that Express or Pro, Logic is hands down the best DAW available. I've used them all, extensively, and I've found that Express is better than a turbo-charged app like Nuendo, and any core audio machine being built these days—short of the mini—has enough horsepower to handle most projects.

Again, I don't see what all the disappointment/alarm is about. In fact, I think your benchmark tests kind of did me a disservice because they suddenly had me thinking my machine could be inferior, so I wasted fifteen minutes downloading the test and running it.

Much ado about nothing.

Truth is, I need to stop listening to concern posts and just concentrate on my music.

Sorry for adding input where it obviously wasn't wanted.

Message was edited by: robgb

Jul 9, 2010 3:53 PM in response to robgb

"and any core audio machine being built these days—short of the mini—has enough horsepower to handle most projects." - robgb

Thats not true, I would love it to be, and I would love my i7 MBP to do what my MacPro can but it's not there yet!
I frequently lay down several guitar tracks using modelling plugs (GR4, Amplitube, GTR) in projects plus additional orchestral tracks using Kontakt and Vienna Symphonic ...
plus... Omnisphere, Alchemy, Kore2 all processed and mixed using Waves, Izotope, Logic in built e.t.c..... this is all in one typical arrangement.
Plus I run Ableton Live in re-wire mode for some beats ...
...while all working to picture!

So that new i7 MBP I've just bought, it would be nice if it and Logic used all its power when I'm on the road, at my Mum's, by the beach e.t.c.

Jul 10, 2010 5:42 AM in response to thedomus

thedomus wrote:
"and any core audio machine being built these days—short of the mini—has enough horsepower to handle most projects." - robgb

Thats not true, I would love it to be, and I would love my i7 MBP to do what my MacPro can but it's not there yet!
I frequently lay down several guitar tracks using modelling plugs (GR4, Amplitube, GTR) in projects plus additional orchestral tracks using Kontakt and Vienna Symphonic ...
plus... Omnisphere, Alchemy, Kore2 all processed and mixed using Waves, Izotope, Logic in built e.t.c..... this is all in one typical arrangement.
Plus I run Ableton Live in re-wire mode for some beats ...
...while all working to picture!

So that new i7 MBP I've just bought, it would be nice if it and Logic used all its power when I'm on the road, at my Mum's, by the beach e.t.c.


Indeed, I do the same kind of work and having more power to be able to produce our work is not something we should have to justify to anybody.

While I agree that benchmarking can sometimes be a silly, pointless exercise of nerdy obsession over stats, sometimes it really is very useful. If I hadn't done some proper tests - making a test project with a lot of tracks and plugs and running it on my MBP i7 and my old MBP Core 2 Duo, I might never have realized that there is a big problem with Logic not using the full power of the new MBPs at all. As it stands now, Logic is the only pro software I use that doesn't make an attempt to use the HT capability of the mobile i7 in my new MBP, which means that it runs as if it were running on a plain-vanilla dual core machine. A project which pushes Logic's CPU into the red on the i7 is clearly not using all the available resources, because Activity Monitor (which displays 4 CPU bars, not 2 like in Logic), never goes anywhere further than 50% usage on all the 4 cores. So it was a very valid thing for me to discover that, despite the very large performance increase the new machines have when you look at the general benchmarks, my brand-spankin new machine can only barely outperform the old MBP Core 2 Duo I bought in 2006, only when running Logic.

When you do your research about a new machine that comes out, with a vastly superior CPU design to the old machine from a previous generation you had before, it is pretty logical to presume that the big leaps in computing power should obviously apply to all of the software you use - especially the flagship music production software made by Apple themselves. But through doing some actual tests, it turns out that this is not currently the case. I even took it further to test other audio apps (Protools LE) and found that it does benefit from the power of the new machine. Ie, I was able to make a Protools session that could run around 30 more reverbs on my MBP i7 vs my old MBP Core 2 Duo, which couldn't come anywhere near handling that amount of work.

So, this information is actually useful and productive.. because if someone were to ask me if they should upgrade to a new i5 or i7 MBP right now, for the sole purpose of getting more power to run more instruments/plugs/tracks or video in Logic, over a Core 2 Duo MBP they already own, I'd have to say no it's not a wise choice right now.

It really shouldn't be that hard to put oneself in other people's shoes and to imagine that it's possible other people need more CPU power for the work they do. For some people who work on music in a certain way for certain purposes then yes - every Mac or PC you can buy these days completely spoils you with what it can accomplish compared to only a few years ago. If you're one of those people, then you're lucky.. things have never been better, you can work unhindered and life's great. But for those of us who sometimes (or always) work on very big projects which regularly push our machines to the limit, d*mn straight we want to know what performance we can get from upgrading to a new machine. It's vital information to be able to spend our money wisely.

Jul 19, 2010 12:50 PM in response to Marc_Duchesne

When can Logic users except this problem to be solved?

EDIT: I mean the problem, that Logic Pro is unable to recognize the four threads of the Core i7, treating the machine like a "normal" Dual Core

Did the Logic developers have given an official opinion about this issue

(sorry, if this has been already posted. I just skiped the thread, but didn't find anything)

Message was edited by: demon-from-the-crypt

Jul 19, 2010 1:16 PM in response to Mike Connelly

I have no bug to report. I want to buy a Mac Book Pro in the next days. The Core 2 Duo (2.4 GHz) - or the Core i7 - model. The performance under Logic Pro is a key factor for my decision

If I can except the problem with Logic Pro not to be solved before (let's say) January 2011, I would buy the Core 2 Duo model now ... and then – after the problem with Logic Pro is fixed - , switch to the Core i7 Model, expecting the price for this model will decrease until then.

Message was edited by: demon-from-the-crypt

Jul 20, 2010 2:54 AM in response to Mike Connelly

I'm really hoping that with these various problems with Logic, not seeing cores on mobile i5/i7 and the continuing RAM not-releasing issue in 32bit mode, are not being fixed quickly because a serious update is due any moment!
On other forums the talk is that Logic over the past 10 years is at its worst state as a DAW right now!

(unless you one of Jay Asher's clients! 😉 )

Jul 20, 2010 9:00 AM in response to thedomus

Definitely agree that an update is WAY overdue, it was great to see 9.1.1 fairly quickly but there are still plenty of things that still need fixing.

Interesting that people are saying that. There are definitely some issues in the latest version, but overall I'm happier with the state of logic now than the 7 or 8 versions. And while there are issues with CPU use and 64 bit growing pains, from what I've heard about other mac apps, things don't seem to be much better. It would be very interesting to do a benchmark of various audio apps to see how Logic really stacks up when it comes to ability to run plugins.

Jul 20, 2010 12:19 PM in response to thedomus

thedomus wrote:
the continuing RAM not-releasing issue in 32bit mode


äääh ... more problems I don't know yet!

Could you tell a bit mor about this problem EDIT: If I buy MBP, it would be a c2d or ci7, with 4GB-RAM, and MAC OS X 10.6
How would this problem manifest itself under this setup?

Thx!

Message was edited by: demon-from-the-crypt

Message was edited by: demon-from-the-crypt

i5 / i7 MBP / Logic Pro benchmark test

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