LabView 2010 application runs twice as slow in Windows 7

[rjohns]

When our company mandated the replacement of Windows XP PC's, my LabView test application that was compiled in LabView 2010 runs over twice as slow on a Fujitsu Esprimo E710E86+ machine. The application uses a GPIB USB - HS adapter to control an HP 4285 Impedance analyzer whose signals are switched to it using two (2) SCXI chassis that contains five (5) SCXI-1193 switch modules. This chassis uses the USB-1359 communicator.

On the Windows XP machine that is being replaced (a Dell Optiplex 960), a typical set of measurements takes around 40 seconds to complete. The new Windows 7 machine takes about 100 seconds to do the same set of measurements. Has anyone noted this increase in test time???

Thank you.

Rod Johnson

Test Engineering

FujiFilm SonoSite Inc.

[Nick-A]

Hi Rod,

Have you tried updating the USB drivers on the computer?  I would be curious if the delay is happening due to the data transfer speed.  

Also, do you have access to the latest version of LabVIEW just to test what the performance looks like on the newest version?

Regards,

Nick

[rjohns]

Thanks for the reply Nick,

The new PC was loaded with the LabView 2010 instrument drivers. Yes I do have the latest version of LabView 2013 as I am signed up for the support package.

Re-compling the program in LabView 2013 would be possible, but it would also mean a software version change and the associated time and expense for that. But that is certainly an option...

Regards,

Rod

[Nick-A]

Hi Rod,

It would be interesting to simply test the application on LabVIEW 2013 and see if that is a solution for the performance issue.  If that is the case, then you might feel that it is worth the time and expense to completely make the shift to 2013.

Do you have another computer that already has 2013 loaded up on it?  This would greatly help with the time required to test your application.  Also, remember that you can also install 2013 on the same computer that 2010 is installed.

Let me know if this is a practical option or if we should continue to focus solely on any LabVIEW 2010 limitations.

Nick

[0utlaw]

Hello Rod,

Before updating to LV 2013 I'd recommend isolating what components are causing the slowdown or at least trying to eliminate some of the variables - right now there's a new PC, new OS, new physical connections, and perhaps even new hardware, so figuring out which of these is causing the slowdown should be the first order of business.  I've seen issues simlar because USB devices were switched around to different (built-in) ports on the same machine.

A few things to check:

-What does this application do?  Are you doing any intensive data manipulation or is this mostly a call-and-response type application?

-What does your system resource utilization look like on the two machines?  In either case, are you using more or less RAM on one machine or railing one or more CPUs?

-Do you see the same sort of performance hit on a Windows 7 installation on an Optiplex or similar machine?

-Did you change drivers when you upgraded to Windows 7? 

-What NI driver version(s) are/were you using?

-Does this application log data data to disk or perform any network operations?

-Have you attempted recompiling the 2010 executable on "new" hardware?  The LabVIEW compiler will optimize for the platform it is being built on and it seems highly likely that the Dell and Fujitsu machines have different processors.  As a note I've never seen recompiling in this fashion result in a 100%+ speedup.

-Have you taken a look at the machine's I/O traces to see how long the acquisition itself takes?

-Have you tried moving the USB connections to different ports?  Most desktop PCs nowadays have one hub on the front and one on the back of the machine, although I'm not familiar with Fujitsu desktops.  If the adapters you are using or anything else on the machine is forcing a USB 2.0/3.0 port to 1.0 or something this could be a factor.

Regards,

[rjohns]

Hi Tom,

Here is a summary of what my application does:

• This application is used to measure Impedance magnitude and Phase angle of our Ultrasound transducers that we make. The USB SCXI switch matrix routes each element of the transducer to an HP 4285A Impedance analyzer. I use the NI GPIB - HS adapter to talk to the HP 4285 instrument. This system can test 64, 92 or 128 element transducers, 128 elements being the maximum count.

• This application was compiled on my desk's Windows 7 machine using LabView 2010. The machines (2 of them) that the app is deployed in on the Manufacturing floor are currently Windows XP Dell Optiplex machines. One of them is an Optiplex 745 with a Celeron processor, and the other one is an Optiplex 960 with a multicore processor. These machines were loaded with the LabView 2010 instrument driver package.

• The replacement PC's will be Fujitsu Esprimo E710E86+ machines with an I3 quad core processor running @ 3 GHz, so they should have plenty of horsepower. I have installed the LabView 2010 driver package on these PC's. They will be connected to the same hardware as the XP machines are currently connected to. In this scenario, I have noted the speed difference.

• The SCXI chassis and the NI GPBI - HS adapters are connected to the USB slots on the rear panel of the new PC. Windows does recognize everybody OK and NI MAX also recognizes the configuration. Any differences in the USB ports is something that I can look into.

• The application does store data files to one of our Network servers, but this file is closed (or saved) after the end of the test sequence and the operator is prompted either to save or discard the data. I can change this to the local drive on the PC but I don't think this causes any slowdown...

• Tomorrow (Friday the 2nd) I will try to work with our IT guy to see if there is anything in the user account on the PC that is messing things up speed wise.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Rod