Alwan CMYK Optimizer

Transcription

1 Alwan CMYK Optimizer Benchmark on processing performances October 25, 2012

2 I. Introduction The goal of this paper is to help users choose the appropriate Mac configuration for their PDF usage of CMYK Optimizer. It will give you an idea of the amount of files CMYK Optimizer can process depending on the hardware, for different kinds of PDFs. This paper also describes the influence of following parameters on processing speed : - Number of files processed simultaneously (CMYK Optimizer option) - Activation of PDF Page Rasterization option (CMYK Optimizer option) - Amount of RAM memory installed on the Mac - Benefits of a Solid State Drive (SSD) instead of a classical Hard Disk Drive (HDD) - Mac OS X System used II. Benchmark The following benchmark has been done using CMYK Optimizer v3.9.7, with 3 kinds of files : - Classical PDF files: A4 format, PDF size from 200 Ko to 3.7 Mo, average file size of 500 Ko - Medium PDF files: A3 format, PDF size from 500 Ko to 8 Mo, average file size of 2.5 Mo - Heavy PDF files: Mix of heavy PDF, PDF size from 5 to 300 Mo, average size of 15 Mo In all cases these PDFs samples are mono-page, CMYK and/or RGB, coming from web offset and sheetfed offset production. Benchmark on processing performances - Alwan Color Expertise - October 25, page 2

3 III. Influence of other parameters 3.1. Influence of Number of files processed simultaneously Above benchmark has been realized on a MacPro 2 x 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon, 12 GB DDR2 FB-DIMM, HDD by increasing the amount of files processed in parallel from 8 (computed by CMYK Optimizer) to 12 : We notice that increasing the amount of files processed simultaneously has almost no benefit when processing Classical or Medium PDFs, and will decrease performances in the case of heavy PDFs files. When too many files are processed simultaneously, the hard disc access becomes a bottleneck. It is thus recommended to use Compute button from Preferences -> Job Manager tab, which will suggest an optimal figure given your RAM and CPU characteristics Influence of the RAM memory installed No significant difference has been noticed by increasing the amount of RAM from 1 GB/Core to 1.5 GB/Core optimizing the 3 kinds of PDF mentioned in the second paragraph. However only CMYK Optimizer was running during this test. If you want to run other software on the Mac, increasing the amount of RAM from 1GB to 1.5GB is recommended. Note that for powerful processor (Intel Xeon >= 8 Cores) with less than 1 GB/Core it is recommended to increase the amount of files processed simultaneously to 8. Benchmark on processing performances - Alwan Color Expertise - October 25, page 3

4 3.3. Influence of using SSD instead of classic HDD This benchmark has been realized on a MacPro 2 x 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon, 12 GB DDR2 FB-DIMM by replacing the HDD 500 GB 7200 rpm by an SSD Crutial M4 128 GB : As shown the increase in processing power is particularly impressive especially on large format PDFs where 49% time less is needed to process the same number of files. Note that for best performance, the SSD should be used for Mac OS X System and for CMYK Optimizer (hotfolders + scratch disc). Benchmark on processing performances - Alwan Color Expertise - October 25, page 4

5 3.4. Influence of Rasterization trigger This parameter is very important : if you are using CMYK Optimizer to Flatten all types of transparencies and overprint sensitive, then the processing speed could be reduced by a factor of 20 with HDD and a factor of 10 with SSD, absolute worst case scenario. In other terms if 2000 PDFs/h are processed without rasterization only 100 PDFs/h (in case of HDD) will be processed if all PDF are rasterized. Note that this is the worst case scenario because only PDFs that need to be rasterized will be. The amount of rasterized PDF will depend on: - How many rasterization triggers are checked (the more rasterization triggers are checked the more PDF will be rasterized). - The percentage of PDF containing overprint sensitive or transparencies (if you have few PDF with such elements a few will be rasterized and so on). Once again SSD and HDD has an impact on rasterization trigger so it is highly recommended to use an SSD when rasterization triggers are checked. 3.5 Influence of Mac OS system : As shown the increase in processing power from Leopard (10.5.8) to Snow Leopard (10.6.8) is around 10% however there is no difference between Snow Leopard and Lion (10.7). Benchmark on processing performances - Alwan Color Expertise - October 25, page 5

6 3.6 Influence of Unsharp Mask Activating Unsharp Mask option increase time consuming of 25%. In other terms if 2000 PDFs/h are processed without Unsharp Mask, these 2000 PDFs will be processed in 1.25h (so only 1600 PDFs/h will be processed). 3.7 Influence of PDF report generation Activating PDF Report generation does not have any influence on time processing except massive multi-page PDF where it could be increase of 35% in the worst case (case taken from a 8000 multi-pages PDF). Note that TEXT report generation has no influence on performances even on massive multi-page PDF. 3.8 Influence of Ink Consumption Statistics Activating Ink Consumption Statistics increase time consuming of 15%. In other terms if 2000 PDFs/h are processed without Unsharp Mask, these 2000 PDFs will be processed in 1.15h (so only 1740 PDFs/h will be processed). IV. Conclusion This benchmark will help you making a hardware configuration choice depending on the client s need. A SSD hard disc is highly recommended for best performance compared to classic HDD. Given the price of Mac RAM memory, it can be more useful to invest in a SSD instead of investing in RAM memory. Moreover upgrading from Leopard to Snow Leopard is advised as the increase in processing speed is around 10% without changing any hardware. For a more accurate benchmark on hardware requirements, please ask the client to provide 100 actual PDFs from production and we will provide benchmarks based on different hardware choices. If you still need more processing power, you can also load balance files on two CMYK Optimizer running on two Macs. Benchmark on processing performances - Alwan Color Expertise - October 25, page 6