Have to Restart (Computer Slow) Computer After Maxing Out Ram - Windows 7

creationsof12,

My first idea is that the system (Precision T7610 @X E5-2620 v2 6-core @ 2.1 / 2.6GHz) is bottlenecking, by a combination of the low clock speed of the E5-2620 v2 and disk performance at the CPU to RAM to disk swaps. the idea that dual 6-core CPU's are running a 100% seems to a sign of lack of processing power. These two factors though may be separated and to evaluate changes, concentrate first on the disk performance.

In 3ds Max especially, the number of calculations to generate polygons position, especially when using heavy textures, or particles- reflections, liquids, etc. will pile up in the thread distribution and swaps to RAM which becomes saturated. The reason it speeds up after a restart is that the RAM has been flushed during the restart. If 3ds is also accessing for example textures libraries on the HD, the situation becomes worse.

On Passmark Performance Test baselines, an Advanced Search: "T7610, E5-2620 v2 , K" -which will filter GPU's beginning with a K, lists 6 systems of which 3 systems are using 2X E5-2620 v2. These systems as GPU have: Quadro K5000, K4200, and K5000.

The relevant results are the CPU and Disk scores:

CPU: 13482, 13152, 12009
DIsk: 7246 (LSI Logical Volume), 3746 (Liteonit LCS256), 3639 (Intel SSDSC28848)

An Advanced Search: : E5-2620 v2, WD10EZEX lists 11 systems, 6 of which are using 2X E5-2620 v2:

CPU: 14817, 14811, 14793, 14516, 14167
Disk: 2180 (this must be a RAID 0), 1139, 1093, 1182, 1059, 979

The CPU scores are reflective of the number of calculation cycle and as that rating is distributed over tall the threads, the rating appears adequate. However, the 2.7GHz maximum clock speed produces a single-threaded performance rating of only 1269. Compare this to the 1271 single-threaded performance rating of a Core2 Quad Q9650, which is a non-hyperthreading 3.0GHz CPU released in the 3rd quarter of 2008. If I might say it in these terms, the Xeon E5-2620 v2 is an excellent moderate load server processor, but nominal in rendering requiring careful thread allocation, and sub-nomimal for professional 3ds use.

As well, the disks scores quoted are in my view, substandard to the demands of 3D modeling and rendering.

My suggestion is to first, run the Passmark Performance Test and compare your CPU and Disk results to the above.

My expectation is that the CPU performance is nominally adequate and the problem is the disk performance. The Western Digital Blue is very good for a mechanical drive, but well below that necessary for 3D modeling.

Suggested Sequence:

1. Test with Passmark
2. If the test results have a CPU mark much below 12000:
___ A. check in BIOS that Hyperthreading is enabled
___ B. check in Control Panel > Power Options that the power plan is set to "High Performance"
3. If the CPU scores are in the 13000+ range, buy and install as a test a Samsung 850 Evo 250GB (about $90)
4. Start the identical rendering on the SSD upgraded and an original WD10EZEX T7610 and time the results.
4A. Test navigation and alterations to a 3ds model.
5. If the SSD- equipped system is performing adequately, supply all the systems with that drive.
6. If performance is inadequate, buy a pair of used Xeon E5-2680 CPU's (8-core @ 2.7 / 3.5GHz) (Approx $200 each):
____ http://ark.intel.com/products/64583/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E5-2680-20M-Cache-2_70-GHz-8_00-GTs-Intel-QPI
7 Install and test in the SSD- equipped system.
8. If the performance is adequate- consider changing the CPU's to used E5-2680's.

In any event, if you like, run the Passmark Test and post the results in this thread and it may well reveal the situation.

Here's hoping it's only a setting, but my intuition is the system is crying out for a fast SSD. The E5-2680 should significantly speed up modeling also as they would run at 3.5GHz instead of 2.6GHz. the single-threaded performance of the E5-2620 v2 is 1269, while the single-threaded score for the E5-2680 is 1709, or +34%. Importantly, the change is increasing the number of threads that may be assigned to rendering from 24 per system to 32 at +600MHz (that is from 2.1GHz to 2.7Ghz). Depending on your firm's billing rate, the CPU change could pay for itself in a few days' time. Check however, for implications as to the system warranty and make a risk assessment.

Cheers,

BambiBoom

Modeling:

1. HP z420 (2015) > Xeon E5-1660 v2 (6-core @ 3.7 / 4.0GHz) > 32GB DDR3 1866 ECC RAM > Quadro K4200 (4GB) > Intel 730 480GB (9SSDSC2BP480G4R5) > Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > 600W PSU> > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit > Logitech z2300 speakers > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440)>
[ Passmark Rating = 5064 > CPU= 13989 / 2D= 819 / 3D= 4596 / Mem= 2772 / Disk= 4555]
[Cinebench R15 > CPU = 1014 OpenGL= 126.59 FPS] 7.8.15

Pending upgrade: HP /LSI 9212-4i PCIe SAS /SATA HBA RAID controller, 2X Seagate Constellation ES.3 1TB (RAID 1)

Rendering:

2. Dell Precision T5500 (2011) (Revised) > 2X Xeon X5680 (6 -core @ 3.33 / 3.6GHz), 48GB DDR3 1333 ECC Reg. > Quadro K2200 (4GB ) > PERC H310 / Samsung 840 250GB / WD RE4 Enterprise 1TB > M-Audio 192 sound card > 875W PSU > Windows 7 Professional 64> HP 2711x (27", 1920 X 1080)
[ Passmark system rating = 3844 / CPU = 15047 / 2D= 662 / 3D= 3500 / Mem= 1785 / Disk= 2649] (12.30.15)