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Another cataloging time question - how are CPU cores allocated?

Answered
Tony Collins
  • Edited

Currently about 48 hours into the cataloging of 1TB/87000 item folder, with no indication of how long it will eventually take. The folder is on a fast, but external SSD.

I'm on a Macbook pro with 10Core M2Pro CPU. If I switch to PR app (bring it to front) then for a short time the 6 performance cores will all be used 100% (say for about a minute). After this time (or if I minimise the app) it will switch to using the 4 efficiency cores.

I guess it would proceed quicker if I could force it to use the 6 performance cores. Is this under the control of the PR app, or is it simply how MacOS allocates CPU resources?

Are there any settings I an use to force it?


Related - does anyone have any experience of how long a large library on external SSD with M1 or M2 chip takes to process.

Thanks

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7 comments

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  • Brian Lawson Community moderator

    Hi Tony, we users have no control over how the program makes use of its processors. The program itself has some control in that it can assign a kind of priority rating but ultimately it is up the the Mac OS to determine how the processors will be used. Don't forget there are all kinds of background tasks that also want to use those different cores for themselves and they may get them even when PR is trying to use them.

    If you are truly interested in how the cores are managed on Apple Silicon systems I highly recommend Howard Oakley's Eclectic Light Company blog. He has written programs to test the system's use of the different types of cores and written extensively about it. There are a bunch of them at https://eclecticlight.co/m1-macs/. They get technical and deep pretty quickly.

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  • Tony Collins

    Thanks for replying - Pretty much what I expected.

    Thanks also for the link to the blog - I'll check it out.

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  • Brian Lawson Community moderator
    • Edited

    I'm going to modify my reply. We do have some control. In Preferences > System there is a setting for AI Processor.

    I haven't played with it leaving it set to Auto. You can try specifying the Apple option. I assume your system will show Apple M2. Here is what the User Guide has to say about it:

    AI processor

    Sets the processing option for Photo RAW’s AI-based operations. By default, the option is set to Auto, which uses the best combination of system resources to process tasks. If you are noticing some performance issues with NoNoise, Sky Swap, or other AI-based tasks, you can try setting the options to either your CPU or your graphics card.

    I don't know how much AI is being used in the Catalog building process so it may not have much affect.

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  • Tony Collins

    Just as a follow up:

    Setting the AI processor made no difference, neither to the cores used, nor to use of the GPU.

    However, I've discovered that if I put On1 on a second virtual desktop - every time I switch to that desktop, it swaps to using the performance cores for around 45 seconds.

    So I made an automator to swap to the second desktop, and then back to the first every 30s - and that keeps On1 at 700+% CPU, using all 6 performance cores. I can set that running when I'm not using the laptop.

    Hammers the fans though.

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  • Brian Lawson Community moderator

    Why do you want your GPU usage so high all the time? Most likely that spike you are seeing is from redrawing the screen when switching between the virtual desktops. FWIW, I keep Photo RAW on its own Desktop too but I do not switch back and forth just to drive up the GPU usage. The OS is pretty finely tuned for how it manages which cores are used for what and when. Just let it do its thing.

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  • Brian Lawson Community moderator

    Also, there is an ebook that's about $9 that goes into detail on the Apple Silicon systems and how they differ from Intel. The author updates it with each new release and they are always free.

    https://www.takecontrolbooks.com/m-series/

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  • Tony Collins

    I don't (didn't - its completed now) want the GPU usage high. I was trying to force it to use the performance CPU cores to speed up the cataloguing process. I don't think them switching from 4 100% efficiency cores to 6 100% performance cores for a full 45 seconds was any spike due to redrawing the screen. Although being forced to do something (redraw the window) may cause On1 PR to reallocate priorities of threads temporarily. (The same thing happens if you bring the window to the front - or do anything in the app)

    Thanks for the link to the e-book - I'll check it out.

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