1.8.5 is Affinity Photos last stable release. 1.10.0 crashes and burns

[Muldune]

I've rolled back to Photo 1.8.5. I tried 1.9.0 and 1.10.0. Both hung my Windows 10,  64bit, Intel i7-8700k, 16GB system with a 1TB Intel PCI-E SSD.

Affinity photo 1.10.0 caused my i7 processor to overheat. I did a focus merge using 8 tiffs - the merge worked and I started to do some editing, nothing complicated, and the Photo app hung. I restarted my computer and was given a CPU overheat error from my BIOS. After it cooled down I restarted and loaded Photo 1.10.0 again. This time I did a stack of 3 .tiff files. The Photo app hung again. I waited and waited and it did not resolve. 

Affinity Photo 1.9.0 crashed and hung when I simply tried to open previous .afphoto files, nothing special. 

This is the only application on my system that I have a problem with, and I have many, many other applications on my system. 

Seems like Affinity is letting its customers do the system testing. 

So this is my second rollback to 1.85. It works fine. Does focus merges, stacks, multiple files, multiple editing steps, no crashes, no hangs, no problems. 

Edited August 17, 2021 by Muldune
Hit enter too soon

[Arceom]

Similar experience, I absolutely loved photo and designer (now I just like  them); they were blazing fast, but something happened around 1.8.x that hit my performance very noticeably.

[Komatös]

12 hours ago, Muldune said:

...

So this is my second rollback to 1.85. It works fine. Does focus merges, stacks, multiple files, multiple editing steps, no crashes, no hangs, no problems. 

What if you disable hardware acceleration in 1.10? You'll find them under Edit --> Preferences --> Performance.

[Chris B]

The noticable change between 1.8 and 1.9/1.10 is hardware acceleration. As Komatös says, disabling this might help.

OpenCL is enabled by default for any cards that support it, however you may have an outdated driver or potentially need to remove and reinstall the current driver (don't simply just update it).

[Muldune]

Thanks for the suggestions. I use the built in graphics function of the i7 rather than a separate graphics card. This may explain the overheating but not the hanging.  It only happens with Affinity Photo, none of my other image apps (Capture 1, Silkypix Studio Pro, Digital Photo Professional, Elements Video Editor). 

I welcome your thoughts on this. 

[NotMyFault]

It is a bit complicated.

OpenCl boost performance for those lucky guys (like myself) with a wide range of GPU models, correct (means non-buggy) GPU driver releases, and otherwise clean and current HW and OS configuration. 

Affinity is a totally rare example of an App fully capable to utilize your GPU. But this means it will consume maximum power, produce maximum heat for extended time, and is absolutely sensitive to every potential misconfiguration - especially insufficient cooling on hardware.

The other apps named by you are mostly unable to fully utilize the GPU, never running into the issue.

Affinity can be blamed for all open software issues on their side. But issues caused by hardware vendors, GPU vendors etc. should be addressed to them, not Affinity. If your race car got damaged while speeding over a pothole, its not the fault of the car manufacturer. 

[Muldune]

NotMyFault: Thanks for the info.

I'm willing to purchase and install a good graphics card if it will help me to edit images and videos. I see your graphics card, GTX1080, costs about $1kUS. I can't justify such an expense given that I am not a gamer. I need a graphics engine (card) good for image and video editing. 

Please suggest some GPUs/cards to meet my needs.

Thanks.

[Mike Borginis]

Hi same overheating problem here with 1.10.1.  Happening on 2 identical machines, brand new Dell Precision 3240s.  The cases are pretty small but Affinity Photo Focus Merge is the only thing that causes overheating.  Dell even came and replaced the CPU and MOBO.  

We have rolled back to 1.9.2 and we'll try to disable acceleration when we reinstall 1.10.1

[Mike Borginis]

On 8/18/2021 at 4:41 PM, NotMyFault said:

It is a bit complicated.

OpenCl boost performance for those lucky guys (like myself) with a wide range of GPU models, correct (means non-buggy) GPU driver releases, and otherwise clean and current HW and OS configuration. 

Affinity is a totally rare example of an App fully capable to utilize your GPU. But this means it will consume maximum power, produce maximum heat for extended time, and is absolutely sensitive to every potential misconfiguration - especially insufficient cooling on hardware.

The other apps named by you are mostly unable to fully utilize the GPU, never running into the issue.

Affinity can be blamed for all open software issues on their side. But issues caused by hardware vendors, GPU vendors etc. should be addressed to them, not Affinity. If your race car got damaged while speeding over a pothole, its not the fault of the car manufacturer. 

I don't know about this.   "Affinity is a totally rare example of an App fully capable to utilize your GPU."

You would expect that a less capable GPU would simply result in slower performance.  Utilizing the GPU is one thing, melting it is another.    Race cars are not intended to be driven with engines constantly redlined.  If Affinity's graphics acceleration is overtaxing otherwise capable systems, there's a problem.  That's not use, that's abuse.

"...If your race car got damaged while speeding over a pothole, its not the fault of the car manufacturer. "

Fair point, but what if Affinity's graphics acceleration  IS the pothole?

[NotMyFault]

1 hour ago, Mike Borginis said:

Hi same overheating problem here with 1.10.1.  Happening on 2 identical machines, brand new Dell Precision 3240s.  The cases are pretty small but Affinity Photo Focus Merge is the only thing that causes overheating.  Dell even came and replaced the CPU and MOBO.  

We have rolled back to 1.9.2 and we'll try to disable acceleration when we reinstall 1.10.1

I can tell you from more than 20 years experience with about 10 Laptops from Dell, Fujitsu, Acer, HP with OS from Windows XP, 7 and 10 that their all can overheat quite badly, including blown batteries. Non of these devices where exposed to Affinity apps. Simply Office and a bit Video calls is sufficient to burn your fingers, or damage battery and PC on the long run. Just happened to my business Laptop. 

Affinity puts stress similar to video games, video edits, or some number crunchers like. 

Apps capable to actually cause damage to well build PC hardware are rare. Affinity is none of them. 

Example are overclocking tools, prime number generator which can cause CPU damage, or special burn-in-tests which are intended to use synthetic loads, which don’t occur in regular apps. 

 

 

[Mike Borginis]

11 minutes ago, NotMyFault said:

I can tell you from more than 20 years experience with about 10 Laptops from Dell, Fujitsu, Acer, HP with OS from Windows XP, 7 and 10 that their all can overheat quite badly, including blown batteries. Non of these devices where exposed to Affinity apps. Simply Office and a bit Video calls is sufficient to burn your fingers, or damage battery and PC on the long run. Just happened to my business Laptop. 

Affinity puts stress similar to video games, video edits, or some number crunchers like. 

Apps capable to actually cause damage to well build PC hardware are rare. Affinity is none of them. 

Example are overclocking tools, prime number generator which can cause CPU damage, or special burn-in-tests which are intended to use synthetic loads, which don’t occur in regular apps. 

 

 

Thanks for your feedback..  We are not trying to use these Dells as gaming machines or anything close to that.  We use them for office type tasks, and a few times a day we use Affinity for some light touch ups on product photos.  A focus merge for 3 images takes seconds, and if we do a few of these the core temp rapidly heats to 90C and Affinity freezes. We are going to reinstall 1.10.1 and try disabling acceleration.  

[Muldune]

My Affinity photo heating problems went away when I installed a new cooling fan on my PC. The heat does go up when using Affinity Photo, but it does not get high enough to shut down. I also installed "Core Temp 1.17.1" to monitor my core temps. 

[NotMyFault]

Dell has a tool to let the fans blow at maximum independently from load. This can help to keep then cooler on average 

In case of laptops with air in/out at bottom plate, use something to raise them about 1cm to increase air flow. I cut a cork in slices. Don’t use with lid closed. 

[Mike Borginis]

12 minutes ago, Muldune said:

My Affinity photo heating problems went away when I installed a new cooling fan on my PC. The heat does go up when using Affinity Photo, but it does not get high enough to shut down. I also installed "Core Temp 1.17.1" to monitor my core temps. 

Yep Dell swapped out the fan on one of our machines and we monitor with Core Temp.  Still unusable.  We are going to try running with acceleration turned off today.  Thanks for the reply

 

 

[Muldune]

Yes, I have had good results when I shut hardware acceleration off in Affinity Photo. I don't think Affinity has sorted out all the issues with hardware acceleration (OpenCL) yet. 

[Mike Borginis]

[RL7836]

On 10/4/2021 at 12:53 PM, Muldune said:

Yes, I have had good results when I shut hardware acceleration off in Affinity Photo. I don't think Affinity has sorted out all the issues with hardware acceleration (OpenCL) yet. 

With the new fan and disabled hardware acceleration, are you now able to use ver 1.10.0 successfully (or did you stay w/ 1.8.5)?

[Mike Borginis]

Very happy to report that with hardware acceleration turned off the overheating problem has gone away in 1.10.x.  Thanks for all your suggestions

[Muldune]

I'm using Photo 1.10.1.1142 with hardware acceleration (OpenCL) turned off. No problems with it so far, but I have not exercised all it's functions. It seems to work fine but only with hardware acceleration turned off; otherwise, it's unusable for me.  

[RL7836]

38 minutes ago, Muldune said:

I'm using Photo 1.10.1.1142 with hardware acceleration (OpenCL) turned off. No problems with it so far, but I have not exercised all it's functions. It seems to work fine but only with hardware acceleration turned off; otherwise, it's unusable for me.  

That's my conclusion also (albeit with far less knowledge & experience). In an attempt to function, I kept the task manager visible and monitored CPU usage while performing Affinity functions. Just clicking on 'Shadows & Highlights' would typically require that I wait for 5-10 seconds. Using a paint brush was not possible without Affinity locking up. After reading this thread (& a few others), I disabled OpenCL and the world was good again.

I just completed my new computer build a few months ago & Affinity was the only experience that was negative (& shockingly so).

The build for those interested: Intel Core I7-11700K (w/ integrated graphics), 32 GB Ram, 1TB Sabrent Rocket M.2 SSD, Win 10 Pro.

Many thanks to everyone in the forums for helping me get past this hurdle (at least so far!).

Ron