Andy, Thanks for posting your CPU test results with Multipsk. Patrick mentioned that he doesn't think RAM is important in this case and adding more than the minimum memory requirement wouldn't change anything; I guess that leaves the processor.
It just seems odd that there would be a large disparity in CPU usage since both processors run similar clock speeds (yours is actually faster). My Dell has a Pentium dual core E2200 and I'm wondering if the difference is due to the dual vs. single core? >The CPU demand is based on maximizing Multipsk's tasks >(SDR- >Direct active, with full RS-ID on and regular waterfall at >4 Khz) Would it be possible for me to run the SDR feature without actually having and SDR rig attached? If so, how can I activate it? Tony -K2MO ----- Original Message ----- From: Andy obrien To: [email protected] Sent: Saturday, January 30, 2010 7:22 AM Subject: [digitalradio] Multipsk- CPU tests with SDR-IQ Direct active. Interesting data , Tony. I am was surprised that our similar computers have so dissimilar results. So , I checked a few things on different PCs here at my location. Here are my results, The CPU demand is based on maximizing Multipsk's tasks (SDR-Direct active, with full RS-ID on and regular waterfall at 4 Khz) . Casual readers of this thread should note that Multipsk under most common scenarios for ham radio, uses much less CPU than below. Shack Computer (Dell Opitiplex GX260 , 2.3 Ghz CPU single core , 1 gig RAM. Windows XP. Multipsk = 95-100+ % (not usable) Home PC (Dell Optiplex GX270 , 2.7 CPU single core , 512 RAM, WIndows XP. Multipsk = 65% , worked well.) Low end Acer Latop , 3 gig RAM, Windows 7. . Multipsk = 75%, worked fine. Ironic that the one PC I want to get Multipsk to work on is the one PC that it does poorly on ! The good news is that when maximizing Multipsk on a basic PC , with not a lot of other things multi-tasking, Multipsk will work. I am especially pleased to see it work well on the Windows 7 laptop which only cost $247.00 So while the desktop computers do not have identical parameters (different system files, ect) , I am intrigued about the 30-35% less CPU demand on the PC with only 512 RAM but .4 Ghz more processing speed . Does .4 ghz more speed usually make that much difference.. Your outcomes , Tony, also intrige me about what difference I might discover if I add another gig of RAM to my 2.3 CPU ham PC. Andy K3UK On Fri, Jan 29, 2010 at 10:25 PM, Tony <[email protected]> wrote: [Attachment(s) from Tony included below] Andy, I configured Multipsk as you described and the CPU usage seems to average about 5 percent. Panoramic mode is about the same. I've included a few screen shots so you could see the results. Mixw seems to tax the CPU the same way as Multipsk does, but Fldigi needs a bit more to run - CPU usage jumped to 10%. I guess it's the difference in RAM. Would like to hear how the Vista laptop works out. Please let use know. Tony -K2MO PS: We're about the same here Andy, thanks for asking. Still waiting for research to catch up with type-I. Hope all is well with you and yours my friend. ----- Original Message ----- From: Andy obrien To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, January 29, 2010 3:55 PM Subject: Re: [digitalradio] SDR-Radio with DM780 20M Digital Band Tony, my shack PC sounds like yours. A Dell P4, 2.3 CPU , but only 1 gig of RAM. Perhaps we can compare current system resource utilization for regular Multipsk ? Regular Multipsk in PSK31 mode with a 4,3 Khz waterfall uses 25 % of CPU. With RS ID on , about the same 25-26% With Panoramic decode.. CPU increases to around 30%. Then Multipsk with Direct I/Q mode invoked , CPU increases to 60% Then RS ID in SDR /IQ direct invoked, Multipsk uses 90% of my CPU. The above is JUST Multipsk related, obviously other applications , like a web browser being open, add more demand. My daughter is away skiing this weekend, so I may "borrow" her Vista laptop and do a comparison. I do not know what is realistic for Multipsk with all its SDR receive capability and RS ID. I don;t really understand what actual performance increase one could expect if CPU was 3.0 Ghz rather than 2.3, Also not sure what performance improvement going to a dual core around the same clock speed would produce. On my shack PC, Multipsk seems "close" , I am guessing if I could eek out another 10% it would run just fine. I'm reluctant to put more RAM in to an old machine, but I do have a compatible 1 Gig memory chip that i could pilfer from another PC and see if 2 gigs of RAM ease demand on the CPU. I'm guessing it would not make much difference. I do have plenty of HD space. Hope you and the family are all OK, Andy. Andy On Fri, Jan 29, 2010 at 2:36 PM, Tony <[email protected]> wrote: Andy, I plan on switching to SDR in the near future. My current PC is a dual CPU 2.2GHz Dell with 3 GHz RAM. Any idea what the minimum PC requirement is to run Multipsk with SDR? Could you also tell us what processor you're running now? Thanks, Tony -K2MO ----- Original Message ----- From: Andy obrien To: digitalradio Sent: Friday, January 29, 2010 9:11 AM Subject: [digitalradio] SDR-Radio with DM780 20M Digital Band One of the things that I wanted to accomplish with an SDR receiver, is the ability to keep an eye on the whole 14065 to 14115 frequency range. If I was down on 14074 monitoring ALE 400 traffic, I would miss Olivia signals that popped up in the 14109 area. I would also miss Hell signals at 14068. Now the SDR affords the opportunity to keep an eye all all at once. My venture in to SDR from a digital mode perspective has led to a discovery that, other than Multipsk, the current state of the art does not support direct monitoring of wider I/Q data. I'm also challenged in that my PC cannot cope with the Multipsk CPU demand when I try direct monitoring. So, at the moment I am visually monitoring signals with the SDR and using traditional software methods to decode the 3-4 kHz of audio that is fed from the SDR to applications like DM780 or Fldigi. At this screen shot http://www.obriensweb.com/sdrdm780.jpg you will see how it appears. I am simply using DM780 and SDR-Radio software together. When I need to transmit, I just use my TS2000 after dialing in the signal discovered by the SDR receiver. Simon HB9DRV will likely "integrate" these two applications later in 2010. I did catch a Russian on RTTY this morning that I would have otherwise missed while I was slumming it in PSK31-land.. Multisk does RS-ID over this entire 14065-14115 portion, and DM780 is likely going to include this ability in the future. If people use RS-ID often enough, it will be really "cool" to monitor 14065-14115 and get RS ID alerts. So, just over a week playing around with the SDR receiver... I see the potential... digital mode applications are not quite "there" yet. When they are "there" (as in Multipsk) my PC isn't. This $41.00 Ebay PC may eventually get retired for a slightly improved one with better CPU. OK, back to keeping an eye on 14065-14115. A-ha, an SV3 calling CQ RTTY, 14082. Andy K3UK
