qmaster confusion

[Chris Borjis]

set instances for 6. thats what I heard is optimal on the 8-core.

[Joe Jennings]

thanks,
i will try that

[Walter Soyka]

[Joe Jennings] “options for selective service is set to 7 instances but prior to that it says selected service off”

Have you clicked the “Start sharing” button in the lower right corner of the preference pane? Can you post a screen shot of the window?

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Joe Jennings]

I did hit the start sharing button and then I will hide that window and go to compressor to continue and hit submit in compressor. I think I have got it set up properly.(I can see many processes working while looking at the cpu activity in the activity monitor)(but i have also done it to see only one working) I have played around with it enough. I guess I don’t really understand the processes of the application. I know that it’s possible to to utilize many computers with a cluster…correct me if i am mis-understanding. And it’s also possible to utilize…spread out processes over different cores on the same computer…correct? This is what I think that I am doing. I only have this one work station. 2 X 2.26 8 core mac pro with 12Gb or RAM. Oh… also, I can see the usage of RAM in the activity monitor as well after I share in qmaster and submit in compressor. My question is approx. how much usage should i be seeing…of RAM and CPU processes. I am seeing about 6 different processes working around 200% to 300% each and the RAM only seems to be using 2 to 3 GB. This confuses me a little because i thought that RAM will make your computer faster. Maybe I am wrong to assume that it would be using more….???
Any information you might have to help me understand better and or to help me make sure that my setting are the way they are suppose to be for best optimization.

thanks
joe

[Walter Soyka]

[Joe Jennings] “I did hit the start sharing button and then I will hide that window and go to compressor to continue and hit submit in compressor. I think I have got it set up properly.(I can see many processes working while looking at the cpu activity in the activity monitor)(but i have also done it to see only one working) “

Even if you’ve set up the cluster correctly, you must select the quick cluster when you submit the job in Compressor. If you leave it set to the “This Computer” default, it will not split up the job among multiple processes. Perhaps this is what you saw?

[Joe Jennings] ” know that it’s possible to to utilize many computers with a cluster…correct me if i am mis-understanding. And it’s also possible to utilize…spread out processes over different cores on the same computer…correct? This is what I think that I am doing. I only have this one work station.”

This is all correct.

[Joe Jennings] “My question is approx. how much usage should i be seeing…of RAM and CPU processes. I am seeing about 6 different processes working around 200% to 300% each and the RAM only seems to be using 2 to 3 GB. This confuses me a little because i thought that RAM will make your computer faster.”

Unfortunately, the answer is “it depends.” Your source footage, compression settings, and disk speed will all factor in.

RAM makes a computer faster in two ways: it allows you run more processes spread out across multiple cores (as Qmaster does), and it reduces the amount the operating system needs to swap RAM to disk. When a computer runs low on RAM, it copies pieces it hasn’t used recently virtual memory on a hard disk, then frees up the RAM it used to occupy. When that old item from RAM is requested again, the computer must swap something else out to load the original contents back in. As a user, you’ll see your system slow down and hear the hard drive accessing rapidly when swap occurs.

In other words, perhaps it’s not so much that more RAM makes your computer faster; less RAM makes it slower.

As long as you have a decent amount of RAM free, you’re in good shape. When your RAM gets maxed out, your computer will slow dramatically.

[Joe Jennings] “Any information you might have to help me understand better and or to help me make sure that my setting are the way they are suppose to be for best optimization.”

I recommend installing MenuMeters — it’s a great little utility that can add processor, memory, disk, and network meters to your menu bar. It’s a useful tool for figuring out where any bottlenecks may be occurring.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Joe Jennings]

Great!
thanks so much for the info

joe