[X4U] Having Windows open drain resources?

[zapcat]

thanks to both of you for your replies...

some facts:

OS X 10.4.11, Mac Mini PPC 1.42ghz, 1-gig stick, 7200 RPM External FW  
Drive = boot disk.

OK..I usually have 3D renders going 24/7, and I can tell how long  
each frame takes to render on each of two render nodes...the host  
machine was taking significantly longer than the "slave" node, so I  
started looking at what was wolfing down all that CPU power..

Much as I like using Drag Thing, the biggest improvement in render  
times came after I stopped using it..the host node render time was  
slashed by 1/3, and that ain't nuttin to sneeze at!

When I said "keep a few windows open," I mean Finder windows..I am  
keep8ing 4 open, with one minimized in the dock, and most of the  
time, the Finder CPU usage is 0.00.

I respect what you say about whether a Finder window is trying to  
show Previews, and none of them are...I wanted to keep them at the  
ready because every time I need to do a finder operation, there's all  
that horsing around opening up and sizing and arranging the windows,  
which is dumb compared to having them just stay open, as long as my  
system doesn't take a hit, and it appears that it is not taking a hit  
as a result of what I'm doing.

These two G4 Minis are a bit long in the tooth, and I might not  
upgrade until this Summer, if at all, and I'm looking at ways to  
maximize the efficiency of the systems.  whacking 3D render times by  
1/3 is pretty huge..

The lesson is that 3rd-party interface doo-dads, while cool and  
functional, also put an undue drain on computer resources which,  
IMHO, cancel out the benefits they offer in return.

Previously I thought that keeping Activity Monitor running and open  
was a bit on the fanatical side, but I can say that it has helped me  
to keep the CPU power applied where I need it.

If you can squeeze more performance out of your (expensive) hardware/ 
software complement by changing your own behavior/what you have  
running, why not do it?

zc



On Apr 5, 2009, at 8:02 AM, Zane H. Healy wrote:

> At 11:48 AM -0700 4/4/09, zapcat wrote:
>> I hope this question doesn't sound silly..does it put a drain on  
>> CPU or RAM resources, or even VM to have several windows  
>> constantly open?
>
> Yes, but...  There are trade offs, and I think that's what you're  
> running into here.  Also, it is unclear here as to if you're  
> talking about one application with multiple windows open, or  
> multiple applications.  I suspect the later, which will definitely  
> put more of a drain on your system resources.
>
>> I'm trying to improve my work efficiency by changing some of my  
>> work habits, and I find it helps to have 3 or 4 or more windows  
>> always open, since I end up opening them anyway...I have a habit  
>> of always closing out all windows..which is dumb bcs I always open  
>> them back up!
>
> You don't even want to know how many windows I have open at any  
> given time.  Even worse, how many browser tabs I have open (on as  
> many as 3 web browsers).
>
>> I think this behavior might be a hold over from something I heard  
>> or read advising closing windows as soon as you're done with them.
>
> You don't mention which system you're running.  I'm running a Rev.0  
> G5 2x2, and I've taken it up to 7GB because I value my own time.  
> Most of the time the benefit of having most of what I want open  
> already running is of a greater benefit than the performance hits I  
> take.
>
> Where I do find benefit in shutting everything I'm not using down,  
> or better yet, just plain rebooting, is when I'm doing a lot of  
> graphics work in Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop.
>
> Zane
>