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CPU requirements for a LabVIEW project?
mikegarizona
Member
01-31-2006 08:05 PM - edited 01-31-2006 08:05 PM
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Sorry for such a basic question, but I need an estimate of the hardware requirements of a project so that I can order an acceptable machine if needed. I've only done basic stuff in LabVIEW 7, so I'm not too sure what is needed.
I'd like to use my PCI4472 to aquire data at about 50k to 102KHz, FFT it, and then log to a file and display realtime results to the user. I'd also like to use my PCI6711 to output at 100-200KHz concurrently (it drives the instrument I'm recording from). Finally, I'll probably have an IIR filter running on the results as they come in, depending on the noise level.
I'm testing now on a Duron 750MHz w/ 512MB of RAM, the UI lags badly but it seems to be recording ok, but I haven't added the filtering or all the GUI stuff yet and I'm worried the machine will start to get in the way later in my project. Would ordering a new machine be recommended given the nature of the project?
Thank you.
I'd like to use my PCI4472 to aquire data at about 50k to 102KHz, FFT it, and then log to a file and display realtime results to the user. I'd also like to use my PCI6711 to output at 100-200KHz concurrently (it drives the instrument I'm recording from). Finally, I'll probably have an IIR filter running on the results as they come in, depending on the noise level.
I'm testing now on a Duron 750MHz w/ 512MB of RAM, the UI lags badly but it seems to be recording ok, but I haven't added the filtering or all the GUI stuff yet and I'm worried the machine will start to get in the way later in my project. Would ordering a new machine be recommended given the nature of the project?
Thank you.
Message Edited by mikegarizona on 01-31-2006 08:06 PM
Enrique
Active Participant
01-31-2006 09:20 PM
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johnsold
Knight of NI
02-01-2006 08:45 AM
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Mike,
I cannot comment directly on the hardware requirements, but the program structure can have huge effects on overall performance.
Some general tips: Avoid the use of global variables and property nodes to handle the data. Minimize the nuber of copies of data. The Buffer Allocations tool is useful. FFTs on "chunks" of data which are integer powers of 2 in length are much faster than other lengths. Make sure the data acquisition and signal processing do not run in the UI thread.
Lynn
I cannot comment directly on the hardware requirements, but the program structure can have huge effects on overall performance.
Some general tips: Avoid the use of global variables and property nodes to handle the data. Minimize the nuber of copies of data. The Buffer Allocations tool is useful. FFTs on "chunks" of data which are integer powers of 2 in length are much faster than other lengths. Make sure the data acquisition and signal processing do not run in the UI thread.
Lynn
Berto
NI Employee (retired)
02-01-2006 04:56 PM
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Hi Mike,
We don't normally do "benchmarks" of this sort, but I can tell you that I set up a pretty basic (and ugly) VI that does what you want on my machine and didn't have any problems with it. A lot of the work going on here is done by the actual boards, but at the same time, the filtering, FFT, and writing take up more of your system resources. Do a ctl-alt-delete and check out the task manager and sort by CPU and memory. If LabVIEW's numbers are very high, then you probably need some faster equipment.
As an FYI, I did this in LabVIEW 7.1 with a 3.2GHz Pentium 4 and a gig of RAM, so it's obviously much faster and newer than your hardware.
The one last thing you can try doing is optimizing your system for higher performance -- there are many things you can do to get Windows XP to run faster (That we don't officially support). Try googling for Tweak Windows XP and also Windows XP Services. There's lots of stuff that starts up that you don't need to be running, and by shutting down some services, maybe you can save a bit of CPU time and memory. Doing this kinds of stuff helps considerably in my PCs running Windows. Do that at your own risk and always back up your system when doing this though.
But to be honest, your hardware most likely needs to be updated sooner or later, and this could save some headaches on all of the data you're crunching.
mike
We don't normally do "benchmarks" of this sort, but I can tell you that I set up a pretty basic (and ugly) VI that does what you want on my machine and didn't have any problems with it. A lot of the work going on here is done by the actual boards, but at the same time, the filtering, FFT, and writing take up more of your system resources. Do a ctl-alt-delete and check out the task manager and sort by CPU and memory. If LabVIEW's numbers are very high, then you probably need some faster equipment.
As an FYI, I did this in LabVIEW 7.1 with a 3.2GHz Pentium 4 and a gig of RAM, so it's obviously much faster and newer than your hardware.
The one last thing you can try doing is optimizing your system for higher performance -- there are many things you can do to get Windows XP to run faster (That we don't officially support). Try googling for Tweak Windows XP and also Windows XP Services. There's lots of stuff that starts up that you don't need to be running, and by shutting down some services, maybe you can save a bit of CPU time and memory. Doing this kinds of stuff helps considerably in my PCs running Windows. Do that at your own risk and always back up your system when doing this though.
But to be honest, your hardware most likely needs to be updated sooner or later, and this could save some headaches on all of the data you're crunching.
mike
