Hi, JM:
Let me say first, I don't know much about this, but, have you considered
using a water cooling system for your overheating PC?
I recall reading about them in Popular Mechanics back in the 90's.
I don't recall how one installs them, but apparently hard-core gamers use
them.
Vince
----- Original Message -----
From: "JM Casey" <crystallo...@ca.inter.net>
To: <jaws-users-list@jaws-users.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 24, 2018 4:32 PM
Subject: [JAWS-Users] interesting thoughts/finding about CPU speeds,
temperature and JAWS
Hey everyone.
So, I am running an AMD with six processors rated at, apparently, around
3500 MHZ. My system has 8 GB of Ram and is running Windows 10, 1803, and
JAWS 18. My preferred voice is the premium Daniel Vocalizer voice. Yes,
these specs are all relevant to the topic.
For some time now, I have noticed a certain tendency of my system to lag,
or
lock up, for several seconds at a time. This only seems to happen when
JAWS
is running. I'm aware that my choice to use this synth does negatively
affect JAWS response time, even on this reasonably fast system. Anyway,
the
"freezes" seem to affect some programmes more than others, but perhaps
particularly Firefox and MS Office products. Sometimes, alt-tabbing
between
open windows seems rather sluggish.
Well, today I ran a utility from a company called Resplendent Software
called WhySoSlow. It's basically one of dozens of diagnostic software
tools
available, that measures your computer's performance by calculating
various
factors. It measures your CPU speed, memory load, and the temperature of
your CPUs using the sensors that modern PCs have. The system was running
at
a cool 20-something celsius. It was also running at less than half its
advertised clockspeed, the programme informed me, and suggested that my
CPUs
were being "throttled" to conserve power.
Now, I'm aware that some of these third party utilities measure specs in
weird ways, or make strange and not always advisable recommendations. I've
completely gone off using registry cleaners or any such tools for this
reason. I'm also aware that modern CPUs can "clock up" when the load on
them
becomes particularly intensive, but I don't know how well Windows for
instance actually manages this feature. However, I decided to try a little
experiment. I remembered fiddling a bit with the power settings in Windows
10 previously, but not to any great extent - mostly just to prevent my
computer from "going to sleep" when left unattended. In the "power plan"
settings within power options, I adjusted the power plan from "balanced",
to
"optimise for performance", to see if it would make a difference.
I then ran WhySoSlow again. My computer is now operating at peak processor
speed, all of the time. I suppose it's also using a hell of a lot more
power, which might not be a good thing. It's also not "running cool"
anymore. In fact, the CPU temperature has doubled all across the board,
reaching as high as 65 C, according to this programme (even higher
according
to the coretemp utility).
However - JAWS is now behaving much more responsively. I haven't had any
freezes. Alt-tab cycles between programmes nearly instantaneously, and
Firefox seems much faster.
I don't really have a question for the list. I just thought this was kind
of
an interesting thing to share, and wondered if anyone else had observed
anything similar. It is a fact that with my current setup I am normally at
a
speed disadvantage when placed against sighted users. This is, I believe,
in
part because JAWS is somewhat resource-intensive, especially using this
type
of synthesiser (yes, I have considered switching back to Eloquence). I'm
not
sure if I ought to keep my setup this way. I don't particularly want a
really high power bill and I don't want my computer to overheat, though in
theory the automatic cutoffs should engage before anything really bad
happens. I actually think it's nice that Windows includes power saving
features, but not necessarily at the expense of system performance.
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