Xtreme Pro slow

Hello,

I have bought a new PC 2 Weeks ago. Installed Xara Xtreme Pro 5 from CD. At first i thought it was all ok. But after a few days i noticed that it's getting slow. In everything. For example dragging around the page with the middle mouse button pressed happens in "slideshow mode". Dragging any object does the same, and also when dragging an object, at first it shows the actual object moving, but when i drag it for too long it switches to contours only (i know you can switch this on or off but i did not do that).

I have bought the pro version since it makes use of multiple cpu cores, so i am expecting a fast program, and not what i have now. I have an i7 860 cpu with 4gb of ram.

Now it is possible (but not sure) that this happened only after updating to the latest version, and that it was still ok with the CD version without update. But i am not sure about this.

Any ideas?

Thanks!


Matt

hello,

I think a major problem here: i have just started Xara and for test i just dragged the empty document around the screen (pressed middle mouse button). Guess what: slideshow time again! Nothing smooth about dragging an empty document around the screen. What is wrong?

thanks!

this may help?
http://www.talkgraphics.com/showthread.php?t=43257

ah how wonderfull!! Now its smooth again, thanks!

This seems a serious bug to me, strange that Xara has not yet addressed it.

The problem is not exactly within Xtreme. The use of Hyper Threading which creates virtual processes seems to initiate the bug. The virtual processes seem to return their results after all physical processes return their results.

Turning off Hyper Threading also corrects the problem, at least on my systems.

ok, well not that i am a technician, but i think i can follow you.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by killerwhale65

ok, well not that i am a technician, but i think i can follow you.

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It's a fair point that Xara have been caught-out in some assumption about multi-core behaviour which doesn't hold true for recent processors.

But I suspect that anyone hoping for Intel to fix this rather than Xara will be in for a long wait...

my thoughts exactly. But shouldn't there be other software that suffers from this?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by killerwhale65

my thoughts exactly. But shouldn't there be other software that suffers from this?

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There are an almost infinite number of ways to introduce multi-threading bugs into applications. It would appear that Xara found a way which most other people have overlooked ;-)

I don't know why it isn't fixed yet when it's been talked about for six months or so, but it's never easy to tell what's happening at Xara-towers from the outside.

Other software is not written in low level machine code, which is the source of Xara's speed in a 32bit environment.

I do not work for Xara and cannot speak for them but to assume that a fix can be quickly accomplished is overlooking too many variables.

ok, i see. Let's hope for the best. For the moment i am happy with the registry fix!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Soquili

Other software is not written in low level machine code, which is the source of Xara's speed in a 32bit environment.

I do not work for Xara and cannot speak for them but to assume that a fix can be quickly accomplished is overlooking too many variables.

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Lol. Sometimes I wonder if I only post here as a means of seeing what imaginative excuses the regulars can come up with when they detect something which might be taken as a slight against Xara.

Multithreaded code is very hard to get right regardless of the language you write your applications in. There's no great shame in having a latent bug exposed by subsequent hardware improvements.

But there is a legitimate question to be asked as to why, when X have known about this since at least last summer, they've not fixed it yet. Multithreaded rendering was only introduced recently, so it can hardly be said to be some ancient unmaintainable legacy feature.

No one is trying to provide "imaginative" excuses. You posted about an issue and I simply provided an alternative work around. You can either use the registry change or turn off Hyper Threading. Your choice.

Neither you nor I know what steps Xara has been or is currently taking about this problem.

I simply find it amusing that people continue to post about an issue without reguard to what may be required to correct it or patience to wait for an update. ;))

I also have this same problem, and contacted Xara support. They are aware and say they are working on it. But, I really encourage everyone having this problem, to contact support to provide feedback. That way they can have a more accurate gauge on the scope of the problem, and maybe identify some anomaly that can be fixed. This problem REALLY effects my work. I'm saddened by the fact that after spending thousands of dollars on a new computer and upgraded software, the performance of the one program that I use the most every day, actually got worse.

Thanks,
Mike

Quote:

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Originally Posted by graphicsfactory

I also have this same problem, and contacted Xara support. They are aware and say they are working on it. But, I really encourage everyone having this problem, to contact support to provide feedback. That way they can have a more accurate gauge on the scope of the problem, and maybe identify some anomaly that can be fixed. This problem REALLY effects my work. I'm saddened by the fact that after spending thousands of dollars on a new computer and upgraded software, the performance of the one program that I use the most every day, actually got worse.

Thanks,
Mike

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You are correct, i will contact them as well.

If you do the registry fix, then performance will come back!

There's actually plenty of software that does not work with HT, which is why I have it turned off on the machine that supports it.

2 examples: Logic Platinum ($900 audio software) simply exits randomly (losing all your work) when HT is turned on. Cubase SX 2 (a similar audio software) actually gets far _slower_ when HT is turned on.

I'm sure there's more examples ;)