Is my computer fast enough?

[titch]

It takes me about 30 seconds to Develop an image in Affinity and  I have heard that some people can do it in about 7 seconds. So I am wondering if my 2010 built Mac is fast and big enough. My computer has the following,   a 3.2 GHz intel core i3 processor, 8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 memory with an ATI Radeon HD 5670 512 MB  graphics.

[Old Bruce]

How long to develop a raw file (that is what you mean right?) varies but with those specs 30 seconds sounds a bit long, how many cores in the i3 I cannot recall if I ever knew. If it is two then maybe 30 seconds is right.

[titch]

 Thanks for your speedy reply Old Bruce.    It has two cores.  So how do I increase the number of cores and how many should I increase to?

[markw]

41 minutes ago, titch said:

It has two cores.  So how do I increase the number of cores and how many should I increase to?

The number of cores in a chip are a physical part of the chip’s construction, they can not be increased by the user in an existing chip.
As to how many is ideal? That's a hard one to answer these days. Not all chips with the same number of cores are created equal.
But in general the more cores the better perhaps? But then the more expensive that chip becomes...

[titch]

I asked people on a Mac forum if I could rework my computer and they advised me to buy a new one. 

Thank you both for replying.

[David in Яuislip]

1 hour ago, titch said:

they advised me to buy a new one

Anyone can give 'advice' like that
How many other programs are running?
How much RAM is allocated to Photo? see Edit/Preferences/Performance
How often are you Developing raws and what size are they?
For a raw image 4640 x 3472 this box takes
3s with no corrections
6s with a few random corrections

On Windows there is Task Manager wich shows CPU, Memory and Disc usage for each program, I'd guess there's someting similar on an Apple. If it's using the disc then it's strapped by RAM. RAM is cheap
Photo is remarkable in its use of ram and its reluctance to give it up even after all documents are closed. So if you've been doing some work, maybe the ram level is high, now you decide to Develop a raw and it starts using the disc. Try quitting and restarting Photo and running the Develop again, any difference?
Of course we all like new toys but I'm never been impressed with replacing good gear unless it's really past its sell by date, ok I'm tight. Good luck

[v_kyr]

18 hours ago, titch said:

My computer has the following,   a 3.2 GHz intel core i3 processor, 8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 memory with an ATI Radeon HD 5670 512 MB  graphics.

I assume you have one these iMacs then, (Apple specs) though with 8 GB RAM then?

Ok the CPU isn't the fastest, but it should still be able to do the job fine. How huge are the RAW files you're processing and do you concurrently use other open apps beside Photo too (meaning at the same time)?

 

[titch]

Thanks David and v_kyr for replying. I am shooting Nikon Z6 Raw large files 6048x 4024 and I have Photomechanic 6 running. David I have attached a screen shot of the Performance page  I think you are referring to, if this is correct please tell me if I have the correct settings, thanks.

[David in Яuislip]

Well 57344 MB is rather more than the 8 GB installed but at least it wasn't set much lower, say 4; I have never understood why Affinity lets you choose a number higher than the chips but that's for another time. 

I managed to find some sample files, 6064 x 4040px 47.2MB, here https://www.photographyblog.com/previews/nikon_z6_photos 

Ok, Affinity has been running for a while, nothing opened, Task Manager shows 1885.4 MB. Lens profile detected
4.5s with no other corrections
5s with a few random corrections

Closed and restarted, Task Manager shows 232.6 MB
5s with no other corrections
5s with a few random corrections

Attachment shows what was happening during the last run

So that's the end of my pseudo scientific contribution, basically I don't know what I'm talking about but I am rather surprised at 30s. Good luck

[titch]

David, you refer to Task Manager..is that part of Affinity or the mac computer? Could you direct me to it so that I can run the same test. Thanks

[David in Яuislip]

As I wrote above, "On Windows there is Task Manager wich shows CPU, Memory and Disc usage for each program, I'd guess there's someting similar on an Apple."

I have no knowledge of Apple though so can't help

[v_kyr]

13 minutes ago, titch said:

David, you refer to Task Manager..is that part of Affinity or the mac computer? Could you direct me to it so that I can run the same test. Thanks

On Macs it's instead the Activity Monitor!

You shouldn't run other memory hungry apps the same time when using Affinity Photo for RAW processing, further your max physical memory of 8 GB is 8192 MB and so far less than the 56.3 GB value in the settings there. Though the wrong value entry there under "RAM Usage Limit" might not have any impact on the overall performance speed here.

You can inspect with the Activity Monitor how much RAM Affinity Photo usually uses when processing any of your Z6 RAW files (see the different possible RAW image sizes for example here).

 

 

[titch]

 

I set up Activity Monitor and  took  some readings: With an Raw image displayed the CPU reading was 2.9 % and the memory used was 1.05 GB.

When I clicked on Develop the CPU readings went from 176% up to 382 % and the memory readings went from 1.55 GBs up to 2.19GBs and it took the normal 30 seconds.

I tried the same test with Photomechanic active and switched off and the readings were the same.

So if you have any ideas what to do next please let me know. Many thanks.