I'm a video editor who recently bought a M2 Max Studio. My render times are terrible since I switched and I'm not sure what to do. Activity Monitor shows that FCPX is never using more than 49% of the GPU and 35% of the CPU during exports.
I'm noticing poor performance with FCPX and the computer overall. Is the computer a lemon? How might I test that? Is this a settings issue? Any ideas?
Mac Studio, macOS 14.2
There are a number of problems here. Primarily the system drive is ridiculously full. You have 23G free space. The drives, especially the system drive, need to have a minimum of 15-20% free, not available, but free.
You have antivirus software which is probably checking everything continuously and a waste of resources. There are better ways to product your Mac. Effective defenses against malware and ot… - Apple Community
You have Google Chrome and its keystone daemons that run continuously and suck up toolbox resources. The application and the keystone extensions should be uninstalled.
Finally, you have CleanMyMac, which has likely damaged the system, especially for pro apps. It should be removed completely, and the system rebuilt migrating only user data and reinstalling the applications without Chrome, antivirus, or CMM.
That’s what I would suggest.
Start by posting an EtreCheck report https://etrecheck.com giving the application Full Disk Access in Privacy & Security System Settings. Copy the report and use the Add Text button to paste the result into reply box.
Please post the Etrecheck report as Tom requested. The CPU and GPU percentages are probably normal, but poor performance is not.
I am thinking that some third party software modifications may be part of the problem. The report should shed some light on the issue.
Here's the report. Looks clean to me (other than my needing to free up some disk space).
Thoughts?
There are a number of problems here. Primarily the system drive is ridiculously full. You have 23G free space. The drives, especially the system drive, need to have a minimum of 15-20% free, not available, but free.
You have antivirus software which is probably checking everything continuously and a waste of resources. There are better ways to product your Mac. Effective defenses against malware and ot… - Apple Community
You have Google Chrome and its keystone daemons that run continuously and suck up toolbox resources. The application and the keystone extensions should be uninstalled.
Finally, you have CleanMyMac, which has likely damaged the system, especially for pro apps. It should be removed completely, and the system rebuilt migrating only user data and reinstalling the applications without Chrome, antivirus, or CMM.
That’s what I would suggest.
Thank you for taking a look at this.
To clarify, when you say to rebuild the system, do you mean format? Any clarification would be appreciated.
The best way is to back up the user data with Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner or both. But first try to clear off some space on the system drive. If all the usage is in users try to offload some content to other drives. Once that’s done you can use the erase and reset function in System Settings to remove the data and reinstall the OS. Migrate the user data from the backups and reinstall your applications.
As Tom and Luis say, the closer you can get it to factory condition, the more comfortable it should be. We recommend using Apple genuine apps whenever possible.
Just a little note on getting your system back to shape.
In current macs, this is easier than it used to be.
1) Full backup using Time Machine; if possible, a second backup
2) System Settings->General->Transfer or Reset->Erase All Content and Settings
This will leave only the OS itself, and erase all system modifications as well as all accounts, so you did do the backup beforehand, right?
3) When asked, choose to migrate from "another mac, drive or Time Machine backup"; select the TM backup drive used in step 1
4) Select to migrate ONLY the user accounts (no applications, settings or other files - otherwise you'd just be back to where you started)
5) Enjoy a properly working mac. Gradually install the applications that you do need.
Never install any "cleaners" or "antivirus".
FCPX not utilizing M2 Max capabilities
