HST Toolpaths - # of Cores

[Brian B 74]

I posted this in the other forum and haven't received any responses yet.

 

When processing a HST Hybrid, HST Waterline - it seems that Mastercam is using ALL my cores for 1-2 toolpaths and more or less brings my computer to a crawl.  

 

I have a Xeon E5-1620 @ 3.6 GHz, 16GB of RAM and an ATI FirePro V7900 video card so I believe I have plenty of horsepower.

 

I know I should be able to process toolpaths in the background and continue to work - but it seems now with X8 if it's processing in the background my computer crawls and more or less becomes unusable.

 

Are others experiencing this or do I have a setting wrong somewhere?

 

Thanks!

[crazy^millman]

How complex are the molds you are doing?

 

#1 Double if not 4X your memory. 

#2 Get a Quardo FX card.

 

Without seeing a file those would be my biggest recommendations.

 

Optional if not using is SSD drives get some and think about Raid-0. If my money maker which is Mastercam is doing it's thing then I am happy. If need to be doing other things while it is processing toolpaths I would get another computer and work on it will it is doing it's thing.

Edited February 7, 2015 by 5th Axis Consulting

[Brian B 74]

The only thing I need to be doing while it's processing is creating additional toolpaths.

 

Our molds are not very complex.  Current mold I am working on is 10" x 9" x 3" cavity block with around 1200 faces selected.  Some of the waterline restmill toolpaths (that take all my cores) take over 30 minutes to generate (.0005 total tolerance - .0001" cut, .0002 arc and .0002 smooth).

 

Thanks for the feedback Ron.

[BenK]

What do you have your multi-threading settings set to?

 

Under System Config, Toolpath, Enable Multi-threading

 

Under multi-thread settings set your max thread count set you max # of threads to one less than your available cores and it should leave one open for you to continue working on other things.

[BenK]

That processor is right on par with the one I have in my laptop. 30 minutes to crunch a waterline path seems like a little long for basic mold core like you described. If you would like I will take a look ad it and see if anything stands out to me. My email is in my signature.

[Brian B 74]

I have multi-threading enabled.  Where do I set the # of cores to use?

 

Also it's the Waterline (Restmill) operations that are taking the time to crunch.

[BenK]

Open the multi-threading manager and click the ! (options). Restmill will add some time to calculation because all the additional information it has to read but I still think 30+ minutes is a bit much.

[Brian B 74]

Ok.  Found the multi-thread settings and - funny - it was set to 4.  I set it to 7 so we'll see how this helps.

 

From what you said - if I had it set to 4 - why would it take all 8 cores?  Or because it's hyper-threading - is it asking for actual physical cores?

[Brian B 74]

Another thing I noticed - as Mastercam is sitting idle - I see in my Windows Task Manager that there is 12% CPU usage.  I look into my processes tab and see Mastercam is at 12% CPU usage.  It's not doing anything but it is using the CPU?  Anyone know what it's processing when sitting idle?

[Reko]

I have been investigating that a bit because I have been having problems with my computer overheating... most of it coming from the Quadro 4000 graphics card running at 80-90 degrees C.

 

I got rid of that card and replaced it with a Quadro K4000 that runs around 40-50 degrees C... also added a few case fans... now everything is stable.

 

In the process of investigating all that, I have been running CPU and GPU usage meters and a Core activity/temp meter too.

 

The main culprit seems to be Mastercam's Verify application.

 

When you first start up Mastercam, all of your cores settle back to zero activity... when you run your part in Verify for the first time... it executes the program startup fairly slowly... but watch... your cores will never fully settle back to zero... they are always showing activity... even if there is no activity.

 

Shut Verify down... same thing... activity in the cores under Mastercam remain... even though you are not crunching numbers and Verify is off.

 

BUT... start Verify up again... and it comes up almost instantly... much faster than the initial startup.

 

I think they have Verify programmed to keep the settings active for a quicker startup.

 

I have seen this behavior in a few other instances and I am still learning... but that is my take so far.