[CLUE-Tech] performance issues with audio / ripping

[Dave Anselmi]

Dave Price wrote:

> Symptoms:  When ripping and encoding with Grip (cda2wav and gogo),
> the desktop becomes nearly unusable - mouse pointer hops all over the
> screen and appears to issue 'bogus' clicks whenever it is moved.
>
> It is impossible to play mp3files while ripping is in process, dropouts
> are nearly constant even with mpg123 (command-line player)
>
> Under lighter load, mpg123 usually works okay, although i do get slight
> dropouts when switching between desktops or windows.
>
> Question: I have seen mention of some possible PCI buss issues that may
> be responsible for this... can anyone shed some light on what to look
> for? (The video card is a Number-Nine 'Revolution IV' AGP card.)
>
> Would trying another sound card be worthwhile?
>
> Interesting note: Even while ripping / encoding, I can play mp3 files
> off the same drive that the ripper is using across a network connection
> via samba on windoze laptop with literally NO dropouts observed.
>
> Any other suggestions?

You can try nice'ing the heck out of the encoder (is that gogo?)  Encoding
wavs into mp3s is pure math, so your cpu tends to be the bottleneck.
Depending how fast the data is going into the encoder (off a hard drive is
fast enough, a fast CDROM probably too), the CPU can run at 100%.  If you
are piping straight from cdda2wav, you can also slow down the CD so the CPU
can keep up.

As usual, I could be completely wrong.  But the fact that you can play
files across the network while encoding indicates that the disk and network
are keeping up fine.  So I don't think that sound, video, or pci are your
problem.  What does top say?

Dave