Good morning everyone!
My second set of results (generated while Resource Manager was active) look quite a bit different (and better).
I had to restart the benchmark after if died before exporting the D850 files (it completed the Canon and Sony files, but got stuck, and stopped running).
The following conditions were different during the two tests:
-- Task manager / resource manager window was open during the second test, with the CPU performance graph active
-- The laptop was not connected to the internet during the second test. I didn't disable WiFi, I just didn't connect to the phone's hotspot (we're travelling), while the first test was done while the laptop was connected to the internet (NBN) through the home WiFi router. In both cases Windows virus protection / Windows Defender have been disabled.
-- It has been about 10 degrees C cooler in the room while running the second test.
Some observations during the benchmark (I went to sleep after restarting it):
-- During most of the time, performance seem to be processor limited.
-- The maximum memory used was 9.3 GB, and it stayed relatively constant.
-- During building Smart Previews, the hard disk was the apparent limitation. During this time, the system used about 70% CPU at 1.5 - 1.7 GHz while the hard disk use was up around 30% of capacity.
-- During the CPU-intensive tasks, some strange, saw-tooth behaviour occurred, as if something was limiting or throttling the CPU, without an apparent uptick in disk activity.
I am not sure (yet) how useful the tool will be in comparing different systems (or selecting hardware for purchase), but it is an extremely useful way for me to run a set of standardised actions and measure the outcomes to try and diagnose whether I'm having hardware or software issues, and whether I can make a significant impact by changing some settings.
I need to investigate the cores / logical processor issue further. I also need to find out if Microsoft did something else to throttle the CPU during the last updates (like they did earlier in the year).
And I seem to get almost 50% more performance out my laptop if I work during the night....
Christelle