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How to speed up my Mac Pro

J

jsgtpd

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 26, 2012
30
4
I've had my Mac Pro for about 3 years now. It was the top of the line model for 2012 and it was great. In the past 6 - 8 months though it has really started to slag. I find now after working on it for a few minutes it starts to slow down a lot. My magic mouse is constantly laggy and I just don't know what to do to speed this up.

My specs are
OS X Yosemite
Version 10.10.4
Mac Pro (Mid 2012)
Processor 2 x 2.4 Ghz 6-Core Intel Xeon
Memory 24 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 ECC
Graphics ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024 MB

I mostly work in Adobe Creative Cloud (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere Pro) All CC 2015.

I have 75% of my 1TB HD Free and I just did a factory reset 2 weeks ago and it's still the same problems.

Any helpful hints or tips to help me out here would be greatly appreciated!
 
jsgtpd said:
I've had my Mac Pro for about 3 years now. It was the top of the line model for 2012 and it was great. In the past 6 - 8 months though it has really started to slag. I find now after working on it for a few minutes it starts to slow down a lot. My magic mouse is constantly laggy and I just don't know what to do to speed this up.

My specs are
OS X Yosemite
Version 10.10.4
Mac Pro (Mid 2012)
Processor 2 x 2.4 Ghz 6-Core Intel Xeon
Memory 24 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 ECC
Graphics ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024 MB

I mostly work in Adobe Creative Cloud (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere Pro) All CC 2015.

I have 75% of my 1TB HD Free and I just did a factory reset 2 weeks ago and it's still the same problems.

Any helpful hints or tips to help me out here would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...

As poster above mentioned, upgrading to an SSD should make it run better than new.

Odd that the system is still running so slowly after a factory reset though. The desktop HDDs normally have reduced access times and quicker read/write speeds than the laptop ones. Could you try verifying the HDD SMART data to make sure it's not corrupted or failing? Direct link to SMART Utility here.
 
keysofanxiety said:
As poster above mentioned, upgrading to an SSD should make it run better than new.

Odd that the system is still running so slowly after a factory reset though. The desktop HDDs normally have reduced access times and quicker read/write speeds than the laptop ones. Could you try verifying the HDD SMART data to make sure it's not corrupted or failing? Direct link to SMART Utility here.
Click to expand...

Just ran this and both HDD passed! I was thinking RAM maybe?
 
Hirakata said:
Slows down how? What exactly slows down? What are you doing at the time?



Have you tried a wired mouse?
Click to expand...

Haven't tried a wired mouse yet, will have to go buy one.

When I say it slows down i mean it lags and slows to a crawl. So i have dual monitors, say i am dropping artwork into indesign, as i drag the file (around 15mb in size) from my folder to drop into InDesign my house just won't move, then 2 seconds later it jumps to the other side of the screen where i was dragging it too.

It happens in all programs one i start getting into my work.
 
jsgtpd said:
Haven't tried a wired mouse yet, will have to go buy one.

When I say it slows down i mean it lags and slows to a crawl. So i have dual monitors, say i am dropping artwork into indesign, as i drag the file (around 15mb in size) from my folder to drop into InDesign my house just won't move, then 2 seconds later it jumps to the other side of the screen where i was dragging it too.

It happens in all programs one i start getting into my work.
Click to expand...

Even as I type this with iMessage, safari and finder open if i move my mouse around it's lagging and choppy.
 
Open activity monitor and look at the CPU and Memory tabs while the slowness is happening. Sort by % CPU and Memory. Screenshot them and post here.
 
jsgtpd said:
Just ran this and both HDD passed! I was thinking RAM maybe?
Click to expand...

Definitely could be RAM buddy, best thing to do would be to download MemTest for Mac.

Once that's downloaded & installed, if you open Terminal and type memtest all 10 - this will do 10 passes on the memory. However if it's running that slow anyway you can run the same command through single-user mode (by holding Cmd+S on startup).

Basically if your computer shuts down/kernel panics with the memtest then it's definitely RAM. You've already done a clean install and the HDDs are OK, which leads me to believe it's either SATA cable or RAM.

Out of interest, have you tried taking out both SATA cables and using them in the other hard-drive? This will quickly allow us to diagnose if it's the SATA cable if the performance is much smoother after doing that. If you don't have another hard-drive then maybe try using the ODD SATA cable?

Please keep this thread updated, I hope we can get to the bottom of this issue. :)
 
jsgtpd said:
Even as I type this with iMessage, safari and finder open if i move my mouse around it's lagging and choppy.
Click to expand...
I have had bad USB cables and had to temporarily replace Apple mouse and kb ]

When in doubt and a new test user account isn't enough, a quick clean OS on another drive as a test system. Also eliminates any 3rd party driver that affects the system. I am a believer that Etrecheck can help in those situations too.
 
Inutopia said:
Open activity monitor and look at the CPU and Memory tabs while the slowness is happening. Sort by % CPU and Memory. Screenshot them and post here.
Click to expand...
If you visit websites at all, there have been numerous attacks on Macs now and you may have accidentally installed something that is working in the background and hogging your processors. I had a similar problem and it took me a bit, but I found it and deleted it and everything was back to normal.

I would also suggest, as was suggested elsewhere, that you look at your ram and verify that it is all working as well as how much of it is being used. As you add updates to programs, you may find that the demand on your ram has also been increased and you may need more ram to operate efficiently.
 
jsgtpd said:
Haven't tried a wired mouse yet, will have to go buy one.

When I say it slows down i mean it lags and slows to a crawl. So i have dual monitors, say i am dropping artwork into indesign, as i drag the file (around 15mb in size) from my folder to drop into InDesign my house just won't move, then 2 seconds later it jumps to the other side of the screen where i was dragging it too.

It happens in all programs one i start getting into my work.
Click to expand...

The Magic Mouse is notoriously bad with reception especially when used with Mac Pros due to the location of the Bluetooth antenna (near where the PCI-e slots are). Definitely try a wired mouse to see if the problems persist. You may also try to remove the battery cover on the Magic Mouse to see it it helps.

That being said, getting an SSD is good idea for system.
 
keysofanxiety said:
Definitely could be RAM buddy, best thing to do would be to download MemTest for Mac.

Once that's downloaded & installed, if you open Terminal and type memtest all 10 - this will do 10 passes on the memory. However if it's running that slow anyway you can run the same command through single-user mode (by holding Cmd+S on startup).

Basically if your computer shuts down/kernel panics with the memtest then it's definitely RAM. You've already done a clean install and the HDDs are OK, which leads me to believe it's either SATA cable or RAM.

Out of interest, have you tried taking out both SATA cables and using them in the other hard-drive? This will quickly allow us to diagnose if it's the SATA cable if the performance is much smoother after doing that. If you don't have another hard-drive then maybe try using the ODD SATA cable?

Please keep this thread updated, I hope we can get to the bottom of this issue. :)
Click to expand...


Running this now, I will post results. I have some new RAM here. I installed it and it didn't change the speeds or anything when I tried it a couple months ago. I'll let you know thank you!
 
LorenK said:
If you visit websites at all, there have been numerous attacks on Macs now and you may have accidentally installed something that is working in the background and hogging your processors. I had a similar problem and it took me a bit, but I found it and deleted it and everything was back to normal.
Click to expand...


I've wondered if this was the problem, i'll post some activity monitor screenshots asap
 
jsgtpd said:
I've had my Mac Pro for about 3 years now. It was the top of the line model for 2012 and it was great. In the past 6 - 8 months though it has really started to slag. I find now after working on it for a few minutes it starts to slow down a lot. My magic mouse is constantly laggy and I just don't know what to do to speed this up.

My specs are
OS X Yosemite
Version 10.10.4
Mac Pro (Mid 2012)
Processor 2 x 2.4 Ghz 6-Core Intel Xeon
Memory 24 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 ECC
Graphics ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024 MB

I mostly work in Adobe Creative Cloud (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere Pro) All CC 2015.

I have 75% of my 1TB HD Free and I just did a factory reset 2 weeks ago and it's still the same problems.

Any helpful hints or tips to help me out here would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Did you change anything in the vicinity of the work space that could interfere with the BT? The cMP BT antennas are in a notoriously bad location in the machine (at the bottom!.) Much has been written about changing antenna connections etc. to help the issue.

You could also have a software issue, where something is hogging CPU in an amazing way, or there it a BlueTooth configuration issue.
- Load the Activity Monitor software and go to the CPU tab. See, whether there is a process grabbing all of your time,
- If there is no process hogging all of your CPU, it could be a BT config problem. The first thing I would try is an SMC reset. Shut down the cMP, unplug for 15 or more seconds, then plug it back in. Wait 5 seconds or more, then boot. If that does not fix it, delete all the BT devices and reconfigure them.

Apart from an SSD, there is nothing on that system that would dramatically change your experience. The system should be very responsive, if running correctly. I upgraded from 2.4Ghz to 3.06Gz Xeons, but apart from bench marks, mp4 encoding, and game frame rates, I really do not see a difference. For most situations, the system is running at <3% utilization. I have 48GB or RAM, but with even VMs running, with 15GB used I am well under 24GB utilization and most of this is used as cache.

If you have BT problems and a reset or reconfiguration does not solve it, google it some more. You can delete specific system configuration files for a complete reset, but you also might have a hardware issue with the mouse.
 
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yeah SSD and at least 16 GB RAM. You don't need to upgrade graphics unless you need GPU intense apps. Even the crappy GT120 is great just for the GUI.

Magic Mouse is a good mouse but very flawed. Damn thing is too sensitive to touch. Get a Microsoft or Logitech one with software for configuring buttons.
 
haralds said:
Did you change anything in the vicinity of the work space that could interfere with the BT? The cMP BT antennas are in a notoriously bad location in the machine (at the bottom!.) Much has been written about changing antenna connections etc. to help the issue.

You could also have a software issue, where something is hogging CPU in an amazing way, or there it a BlueTooth configuration issue.
- Load the Activity Monitor software and go to the CPU tab. See, whether there is a process grabbing all of your time,
- If there is no process hogging all of your CPU, it could be a BT config problem. The first thing I would try is an SMC reset. Shut down the cMP, unplug for 15 or more seconds, then plug it back in. Wait 5 seconds or more, then boot. If that does not fix it, delete all the BT devices and reconfigure them.

Apart from an SSD, there is nothing on that system that would dramatically change your experience. The system should be very responsive, if running correctly. I upgraded from 2.4Ghz to 3.06Gz Xeons, but apart from bench marks, mp4 encoding, and game frame rates, I really do not see a difference. For most situations, the system is running at <3% utilization. I have 48GB or RAM, but with even VMs running, with 15GB used I am well under 24GB utilization and most of this is used as cache.

If you have BT problems and a reset or reconfiguration does not solve it, google it some more. You can delete specific system configuration files for a complete reset, but you also might have a hardware issue with the mouse.
Click to expand...


Thank you! I am going to try the SMC reset now, nothing on my desk has changed locations at all i don't have a tonne of space to work with so there isn't much to move. I'll let you know!
 
Here are samples of what the Activity Monitor said during one of my lags.
 

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keysofanxiety said:
Definitely could be RAM buddy, best thing to do would be to download MemTest for Mac.

Once that's downloaded & installed, if you open Terminal and type memtest all 10 - this will do 10 passes on the memory. However if it's running that slow anyway you can run the same command through single-user mode (by holding Cmd+S on startup).

Basically if your computer shuts down/kernel panics with the memtest then it's definitely RAM. You've already done a clean install and the HDDs are OK, which leads me to believe it's either SATA cable or RAM.

Out of interest, have you tried taking out both SATA cables and using them in the other hard-drive? This will quickly allow us to diagnose if it's the SATA cable if the performance is much smoother after doing that. If you don't have another hard-drive then maybe try using the ODD SATA cable?

Please keep this thread updated, I hope we can get to the bottom of this issue. :)
Click to expand...


Ran the tests and all of my memory came up as OK so that's a plus! Kinda lol
 
The beauty of using ECC RAM is when you get something strange like this, you don't have to worry about the RAM in general.

No matter is the HDD faulty or not. I will still at least get a small SSD (e.g. 128G) which is good enough to run the OS and some frequently used applications.

I use my Mac Pro 2009 from 10.5 to 10.11 beta now. IMO, all the OSX after 10.7 is designed to run on SSD. Of course you can run them with the traditional HDD, but the difference is really day and night. It's not expensive now, especially if compare to how much you already spend on this machine. Don't miss this one, it's the very key hardware to make you feel that your machine is really running fast. It won't increase your Mac's processing power, however, it greatly reduce the bottleneck from traditional HDD.

Besides, how's your magic mouse in the recovery partition? If normal, then it's more likely not hardware related (or at least not mouse / BT related). Even though I must admit that the cMP's BT is not reliable, but if you use it for quite a long time already, it won't suddenly have bad reception. UNLESS, you have some new hardware(s) which able to boardcast the 2.4GHz frequency. It could be a new router, or a USB 3.0 device nearby, and not necessary a new hardware installed in your Mac Pro. Besides, some users report Yosemite still suffer from Wi-Fi issue, I am not sure if it also affect the BT performance as well.

By the way, did you recover everything from your backup after factory reset? If you did a full recover, then you may recover the software bug as well. However, if after a clean install, you reinstall your software, and only copy the user data back into place, but still suffer from the same problem. Then, for me, it's a hint for me to consider hardware fail.
 
First I wanna thank ALL of you for your help this has been so annoying to deal with lo

Looks like clearing the SMC reset may have fixed it for now, been running for 10 minutes and have a bunch of stuff open and closing just to test and no lag at all. *Knock on wood*

Now I guess my next question is, do I need this extra 32G of RAM or should I send it back? Currently I have 6 slots of 4 with 2 empty, and i have these 2 shine 16G sticks of RAM that would love to jump in. Is there such think as too much RAM?
 
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