Just finishing up my son's Surface Book (i5 6600) and decided to create a 24 Track Pro Tools session using only plugins that come with PT 12.5.

3 tracks with a sine wave & 25 plugins total. Duplicated to create 24 tracks for a total of 200 plugins.
CPU hovers around 66 to 67 percent at peak consistently.

Tried on an older Dell N5010 (i3 M370), the project was cut in half with the CPU havering around 83% and spiking up 10 100%. Turned off Pace driver & set to manual in services. CPU spikes dropped to 90% max.

The sessions used: (updated links)
Pro Tools 12.5 Test.rar - 575 KB

Rapidgator link

Uploaded link

The internal sound system was used for the Surface & the N5010. Performance should improve with an external audio device.

 

Last edited: Jul 7, 2019

wanted to check it out but rockfile is a PITA, gave it a shot tho

 

Posted Rapidgator link just for you!

 

It looks like the Surface Book performs better than the older Dell N5010, which is expected given the hardware differences. For improved performance, using an external audio interface on both systems would help, as internal sound systems are typically not ideal for intensive audio work. Reducing buffer size, freezing tracks, and optimizing your system by disabling unnecessary background processes can also help with CPU spikes.

 

Last edited: Feb 23, 2025