performance Archives - Shapiro Consultants

The latest Oculus Quest 2 update comes with a serious performance boost

June 22, 2023
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The latest software update for the Oculus Quest 2 and Meta Quest Pro is here, and it’s bringing some serious performance upgrades to both of Meta’s VR headsets.

Meta teased this update following the Meta Quest 3 announcement where a press release revealed that the Quest Pro and Quest 2 would see their CPU speed rise by up to 26% each. What’s more, the Quest 2’s GPU will, according to Meta, improve by up to 19%, while the Quest Pro’s GPU will improve by 11%.

These hardware upgrades are achievable via a software update because Meta’s new update is allowing the CPU and GPU in each headset to run at a higher clock speed. Previously both headsets ran underclocked systems – read: maximum performance is being held back – in order to prevent the headsets from getting too hot and causing discomfort for the player. Clearly, Meta decided that it was a bit too conservative with its underclocked approach, so now it's releasing a bit more power.

On top of its faster processing, Meta has announced that the Quest Pro is getting a boost to its eye-tracking accuracy. While the update post doesn’t go into much detail we can’t help but feel like this is Meta’s first step to helping the Quest Pro catch up to Apple’s newly unveiled Vision Pro headset – which threatens to usurp Meta’s spot at the top of the best VR headsets list.

The Apple Vision Pro headset on a stand at the Apple headquarters — What will Meta learn from the Apple Vision Pro? (Image credit: Future)

One innovation Apple’s headset has is that it uses eye-tracking to make hand-tracking navigation more accurate. Rather than awkwardly pointing at an app you just have to look at it and then pinch your fingers.

The Quest Pro’s improved eye-tracking accuracy could allow Meta to implement a similar system to the Apple Vision Pro – and help make its eye-tracking technology more useful.

More minor changes

Beyond these performance boosts, the Meta Quest v55 update brings a few minor software improvements.

Now when using Direct Touch hand tracking, you’ll be able to tap swipe notifications away or tap on them like buttons as you can with other menu items. If this doesn’t make interacting with your headset feel enough like using a smartphone, Meta has also said that the full Messenger app will now launch on the Quest platform – allowing you to call and message any of your contacts through the app, not just the people that use VR.

Two new virtual environments will be made available too. The Futurescape – which was featured in the 2023 Meta Quest Gaming Showcase – combines futurism with nature, while the Great Sand Sea is a vast desert world that’s an exclusive space for people who have preordered Asgard’s Wrath 2. To change your current environment to either of these options you’ll need to go into your Quest headset Settings and find the Personalization menu. You should see the option to change your environment to either one of these new spaces or the previously released virtual homes.

Check out our interview with one of the developers to find out how Asgard's Wrath 2 will bring out the best of the Oculus Quest 2.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

June 6, 2023
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One of the big announcements at Apple’s WWDC 2023 was macOS Sonoma (we looked it up; it means “Valley of the Moon”).

Apple claims the new operating system has a sharp focus on productivity and creativity. It says “the Mac experience is better than ever.” To prove it, the company revealed screensavers, iPhone widgets running on Macs, a gaming mode, and fresh video conferencing features.

But the new macOS has another surprising feature for users of our pick for best free video editing software.

The final cut

Beyond WWDC’s bombshell reveal – yes, Snoopy is an Apple fan now – the event served up more than enough meat to keep users happy. There’s a new Macbook Air 15-inch on the way, said to be the “world’s thinnest.” The watchOS 10 beta countdown has started. And the Vision Pro is dividing opinion. Is the VR headset the future or will it lose you friends?

The reveal of the new Mac operating system, meanwhile, feels quieter somehow. Muted. Perhaps new PDF editor functionalities and a host of “significant” updates to the Safari browser aren’t as eye-catching as a pair of futuristic AR/VR ski goggles.

> 15 things we learned at Apple's WWDC 2023 event

> The best video editing laptops tested

> Safari is getting friendlier with passkeys

However, Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering, said, “macOS is the heart of the Mac, and with Sonoma, we’re making it even more delightful and productive to use.”

What he didn’t say, but the company later revealed, is that Sonoma adds an extra bonus for video editors.

Designed for remote and hybrid in-studio workflows, the operating system brings a high-performance mode to the Screen Sharing app. Taking advantage of the media engine in Apple silicon, users are promised responsive remote access with low-latency audio, high frame rates, and support for up to two virtual displays.

According to Apple, “This mode empowers pros to securely access their content creation workflows from anywhere – whether editing in Final Cut Pro or DaVinci Resolve, or animating complex 3D assets in Maya.” It also enables remote colour workflows that previously demanded the best video editing Macs and video editing PCs.

It seems Final Cut Pro is getting a lot of attention lately. May saw the launch of Final Cut Pro for iPad – how did it take so long? – and now better support in the operating system. What next? Perhaps that open-letter from film & TV professionals pleading for improved support really did focus minds at Apple Park.

Best video editing software: Which video editors make the final cut?

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

March 13, 2023
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AMD’s new GPU driver is reportedly causing serious performance issues with RDNA 3 graphics cards under Windows 11, though the bug is a rare occurrence from what we can tell.

Another point to note carefully here is that apparently the problem is only affecting 3DMark runs, specifically the TimeSpy benchmark (we’ll come back to that later).

VideoCardz broke the news that a software engineer at Google (Osvaldo Doederlein) running an RX 7900 XTX with the most recent version 23.3.1 of the Adrenalin driver ran into trouble with much lower TimeSpy results than should have been produced.

Indeed, Doederlein’s results came out at more than 50% slower than normal, a massive performance loss.

One of the developers at UL (which makes 3DMark) replied to Doederlein to say that they raised the issue with AMD, and it appeared to be related to the latest driver version.

The dev observed: “We also looked at our [3DMark] database to compare results on the previous driver vs. new driver on any result using 7900XT or XTX and can confirm that this appears to be a real, if very rare issue.

“Among all results with the new driver, approximately 3% of the results show abnormal (very low) scores on Time Spy. No similar group of very low scores appear on the results with the previous driver version.”

Doederlein went on to clarify that they are running a test version of Windows 11 (Release Preview – so the most stable build), which the 3DMark dev noted isn’t supported by the benchmarking suite.

The developer added that AMD did eventually manage to reproduce this severe performance glitch and that “it is starting to look more and more like a driver issue,” with the best course of action for those bothered by the gremlin being to roll back to the previous driver. Or alternatively to just sit tight and wait for the fix to be deployed.

Analysis: More than meets the eye

There’s a bit more to this than meets the eye, as further in the thread on the Steam forums replying to the original complaint from Doederlein, there’s an RX 6800 GPU owner saying they’re affected – so maybe it’s not just an RDNA 3 issue – and that rolling back to the previous AMD driver version did not help. (The 3DMark dev seems pretty sure that the problem does pertain to the most recent AMD driver, though).

Furthermore, a couple of Nvidia RTX 4090 owners have chimed in saying they have been hit, too – but that’s just two scattered reports, so add seasoning there. Still, the commonality here appears to be running test versions of Windows 11. Indeed, one of those RTX 4090 owners lays the blame at the feet of the preview version of the next big update for Windows 11 (Moment 2).

Despite that, AMD still believes this bug to be a driver issue, so we’ll stick with that as the most accurate diagnosis so far – although it’s possible that the problem is also wrapped up in using a preview version of Windows 11, too.

The more positive news is that whoever is being affected here, it’s seemingly a rare bug. The broader concern for those encountering this issue is that maybe it’s slowing down games as well as 3DMark benchmarks, and it’s easy to see how folks might get paranoid about that possibility.

It’s certainly something that occurred to Doederlein, who as a result ran a whole bunch of tests on games. That included benchmarking with Guardians of the Galaxy, Horizon Zero Dawn, Dying Light 2, Batman Arkham Knight, Returnal, and more, but Doederlein found no performance hit whatsoever with any of them. So it does indeed seem like a benchmarking-only issue only, fingers crossed – hopefully AMD will shed more light on the bug in due course.

What we can rule out is that it’s any kind of 3DMark problem, because as the dev clarifies, the TimeSpy benchmark “has not been modified for ages”, so the misbehavior is clearly down to the AMD driver or Windows 11 (or both in combination perhaps, as mentioned).

Via Neowin

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

March 8, 2023
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Nvidia’s GPU driver was recently found to have a bug that was spiking processor usage after quitting out of a game, but the good news is this problem has been fixed in a freshly released hotfix.

Neowin reports that the affected GeForce driver version, 531.18, now has a hotfix (531.26), and it cures two issues including the gremlin that was eating CPU resources.

This was an odd bug which saw an Nvidia Container process hang around after you’d stopped playing a game and exited. Going into Task Manager, gamers were seeing CPU resources being eaten up to the tune of 10% or even 15%, causing some slowdown to the host gaming PC.

If you didn’t open Task Manager and notice this process, then manually close it, your machine could run rather sluggishly and you’d have no idea why.

Still, the cure has arrived now, and if you were holding off updating to version 531.18 due to the presence of this bug, you can now go ahead.

Analysis: Notebook crashing blues also fixed

This fix has been deployed quickly, which is good to see. Nvidia chose the route of a hotfix because that can be pushed out immediately to those with GeForce graphics cards, rather than having to wait for a cure bundled with the next version of Team Green’s graphics driver.

The hotfix also comes packing a resolution for a second problem. Namely a random crash (stop error) happening with some laptops that have GeForce GTX 10 Series, or MX 250 / MX 350 mobile GPUs.

Both of these are quite nasty little glitches, so it’s good to see them stamped out by Nvidia in a swift manner. Indeed, because there was apparently some noticeable slowdown evident with the persisting Nvidia Container bug, slightly more paranoid types may even have wondered if something had happened malware-wise, as sudden system slowdown or lack of responsiveness can be a symptom of infection – so they may have worried unduly.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

March 3, 2022
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Boosting your PC performance could get a welcome hand from Microsoft Edge, which is getting a new tool to help spot issues that could slow down your machine.

The new Performance Detector feature will help browser users debug performance issues caused by common problems such as running multiple windows or tabs.

These activities can lead to your device running slower, affecting battery life and user experience, but Microsoft says its new tool could spell an end to such worries.

Microsoft Edge Performance Detector

Performance Detector will be able to see any issues caused by unnecessary tabs or the use of extensions that may be hogging bandwidth.

When switched on, the tool will be able to monitor how Edge is running, and if it detects any issues, can recommend actions or fixes. This will most likely be through pop-up alerts or notifications, but Microsoft has yet to confirm the exact details.

The feature is currently available to testers in the Microsoft Edge Canary scheme, meaning it should receive a wider public launch soon – although there's no concrete information on this just yet.

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The tool will run alongside the existing Microsoft Edge efficiency mode, which looks to help users extend their battery life by minimizing how much power and system resources the browser uses.

This is done through a number of features, including setting background tabs into sleep mode after five minutes of inactivity, and also fade sleeping tabs in order to save memory and CPU usage.

Microsoft says that engaging efficiency mode will help not only improve battery life on your device, but also allow whatever version of Windows you may be using to perform more effectively – although this will depend on exactly what device you are using.

Efficiency mode has also emerged in Windows Task Manager, where users can employ it to push the application in question down the priority list when it comes to system resource allocation, helping boost performance and battery life.