Performance issue on 64bit: ASIO driver 2.2.4 high CPU usage

2025-03-19 14:45:39

Hello @Peter , I started evaluating the 64bit version of Foobar 2.24.3.
Apart from the not existing 64bit version of certain key components I am using, the other big problem I noted is about overall performance of the ASIO driver 2.2.4 in 64bit mode.

On my Windows 11 (64bit, 16GB RAM, 3GHz CPU speed, USB 3.1 interfaces...), running the Beheringer UMC ASIO driver, I have this strange problem:
- Running your ASIO driver in 64bit mode, the CPU usage goes immediately at 100% and everyhing chokes.
- Running our ASIO driver with the 64bit mode disable, the CPU usage remains around 20%,

So, in my case, there is some kind of performance issue with the 64bit mode.

All the best, Andrea

Re: Performance issue on 64bit: ASIO driver 2.2.4 high CPU usage

Reply #1 – 2025-03-20 09:52:59

Happy to hear you have finally upgraded from a 32-bit OS.

Out of curiosity, what kind of CPU usage do you get when not using ASIO?
The CPU use of entire foobar2000 process should be pretty close to 0% and the CPU usage of the ASIO host executables should be much smaller. I see it being at less than 0.01% for the majority of time. All it does is communicate with ASIO drivers. The 32-bit and 64-bit ASIO hosts are otherwise identical but they are just compiled for different architectures. One loads 32-bit driver, other one loads 64-bit driver. Difference in foobar2000's perspective is that one runs asiohost32.exe, the other one runs asiohost64.exe. There should be zero difference in performance.

I don't know if it helps anything, but you could use Process Explorer to open the process using 100% CPU and then check the Threads tab to see if it shows anything interesting. You'll instantly see the most taxing threads on top. For example here the majority of processing time is spent in ASIO driver's dll. Both it and asiohost.exe show <0.01% usage, but driver uses twice the cycles compared to foobar's code.

Re: Performance issue on 64bit: ASIO driver 2.2.4 high CPU usage

Reply #2 – 2025-03-20 12:58:26

Hello @Case , today I cannot replicate the problem of yesterday. So, probably it was just due to something needing a reboot.
I am now running 64bit ASIO with Realtime enabled and all runs smooth.

Anyway, here you are performance comparison between my 32bit and 64bit (test) "music machines" having digital Xover, phase/time arbitrator and digital room correction:

A) 32bit solution, Windows 10 based on Intel T7500 2.2GHz CPU (4 GB RAM total), Foobar 2.25 32bit preview 2025-03-14 with Cantabile 32bit DAW:
- 16bit 44kHz stream => 25% total CPU load (5% foobar, 15% Cantabile, 5% others)
- 24bit 192kHz stream => 30% total CPU load
- SACD 1bit 2.8MHz stream =>  30% total CPU load

B) 64bit solution, Windows 11 based on Intel i7-6500U 3GHz CPU (16 GB RAM total), Foobar 2.24.3 64bit with Cantabile 64bit DAW:
- 16bit 44kHz stream => 15% total CPU load (3% foobar, 7% Cantabile, 5% others)
- 24bit 192kHz stream => 20% total CPU load
- SACD 1bit 2.8MHz stream =>  not tested

Said that, I am not convinced yet to migrate to 64bit. I am planning to stay on 32bit for longer.

Thanks and regards, Andrea

Re: Performance issue on 64bit: ASIO driver 2.2.4 high CPU usage

Reply #3 – 2025-03-20 13:04:09

Good that the 100% CPU usage issue was a fluke. Though your setup is surprisingly demanding.

Remember, you can use 32-bit foobar2000 - even your old setup from the old computer directly - on the 64-bit system. Having the 64-bit OS would help a lot with your memory struggles as the player can use full 32-bit address space (4 GB) then.

Re: Performance issue on 64bit: ASIO driver 2.2.4 high CPU usage

Reply #4 – 2025-03-20 13:06:23

Thank you @Case for this tip! I will take it in consideration.
Regards, Andrea