DP 8.07, Mac Pro upgrade & CPU Spikes from Video

[cccppprrr]

Recently upgraded to a 3.46 12 Core 2010 Mac Pro 5,1 with a Radeon 5770 Card. Everything is basically working except I continue to get CPU spikes when running video in 8.07. The tricky part is, generally, upon a fresh restart of DP things will run smoothly without the CPU spikes. As you open and close files (maybe 5-6) or as you work for a while with a single file the spikes will creep in. Closing the video window will stop the spikes and the machine is really very powerful with something like a 30,000 multicore geek bench score (nearly as good as the new Mac Pro trashcan 12 core) so the CPU meter without video will sit at maybe 25%. When you reopen the video window I generally continue to get the spikes until I quit and restart. I'm running 3 monitors with Mountain Lion. I've done a ton of troubleshooting and I can't seem to nail down any part of quicktime or it's components as the culprit and there doesn't seem to be a consistent fix other than a DP restart. I'd appreciate any help, although I've been using DP for going on 25 years (yikes!) so comments like trashing your preferences and assorted other tidbits like that won't be of much use. If anyone has specifically encountered similar, or possibly related, video problems and has any insight that would be most helpful.

I'm also curious if anyone knows if running the 3rd monitor through a firewire DV hardware interface might be less taxing for DP. DP, though a great program in so many ways, has always been a graphics resource hog and this supposed "re-write" of the graphics engine in the latest versions of DP8 have not been a big help. I say this coming from my old mac which was choking on DP graphics too, but this new machine is at least 3 times as powerful so really should be able to handle everything without too much trouble.

Thanks in advance.

[mikehalloran]

. I'm running 3 monitors with Mountain Lion.

Which version?

with a Radeon 5770 Card

There is a firmware issue that will never be fixed although Apple has addressed it partly through workarounds in Mavericks and Yosemite. It affects the Apple version of the following cards:

ATI/AMD Radeon HD 5670
ATI/AMD Radeon HD 5750M
ATI/AMD Radeon HD 5770
ATI/AMD Radeon HD 5870
ATI/AMD Radeon HD 6490M
ATI/AMD Radeon HD 6630M
ATI/AMD Radeon HD 6750M
ATI/AMD Radeon HD 6770M
ATI/AMD Radeon HD 6970M

Do you keep MOTU Audio Setup.app open? If so, close it when done with setup. Some builds have a conflict with this firmware bug as does TechTool Pro through v. 7.04.

I have the 5750M and once I learned to close MOTU Audio Setup.app, I had no further issues.

How much VRAM do you have? Three monitors might perform better with 2G.

if anyone knows if running the 3rd monitor through a firewire DV hardware interface might be less taxing for DP.

Running through usb is better supported and easy – takes a $50 interface box and some cables – not compatible with everything such as OpenGL and 3D graphics. Read this thread:

http://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtop ... =4&t=59857