xruns...

  • diresu
Posted: Sun, 09/28/2008 - 04:11
Hi, I thought I should use a new topic for the continuation of the thread 'Where are "Common Music", "Grace", "Common Lisp Music" and "Common Music Notation"?'... The relevant stuff from the previous postings: Except from my posting: --- [...snip...] By the way: I am back having lots of xruns on my new 64studio installation. My motivation to install 64studio was to have a working system out of the box and to not have to deal with xruns anymore. In the beginning it worked but now I have the same problem I had on my homebrewed Debian system before :( Probably these xruns are caused by 64studio programs replaced by "upgraded" versions from the debian repository after adding the debian repository to the /etc/apt/sources.list file and by my method to upgrade my system using synaptic and aptitude? --- no idea :( [...snip...] --- Ralf's answer: --- Hi :) Please let's reduce the thread to the problem with xruns for the moment. What hardware do you use? Which applications do you run when getting xruns? What are the settings for qjackctl? Cheers, Ralf * By Icemouse at 09/27/2008 - 10:20 --- My answer: --- Hi Ralf :) Thanks for your reply. I immediately rebooted into 64studio, started jack and - only had one xrun in more than one hour. Fortunately I didn't have the time to answer immediately: the xruns where back the next time I logged in... Since then I rebooted several times and had xruns most of the time. This time - for example - it seems to be not as bad as the time I wrote my last posting, but not really good either. When I wrote my last posting, I had an xrun basis every some seconds: [...snip...] delay of 8339.000 usecs exceeds estimated spare time of 1417.000; restart ... 13:29:14.483 XRUN callback (1231). delay of 7498.000 usecs exceeds estimated spare time of 1415.000; restart ... 13:29:18.652 XRUN callback (1232). delay of 8356.000 usecs exceeds estimated spare time of 1411.000; restart ... 13:29:20.735 XRUN callback (1233). [...snip...] Currently I have an xrun every 30 seconds: [...snip...] delay of 8313.000 usecs exceeds estimated spare time of 1423.000; restart ... 12:44:37.160 XRUN callback (165). delay of 8308.000 usecs exceeds estimated spare time of 1405.000; restart ... 12:45:07.161 XRUN callback (166). delay of 8314.000 usecs exceeds estimated spare time of 1424.000; restart ... 12:45:37.161 XRUN callback (167). [...snip...] ...still way to much for an audio system in my opinion. Here my hardware:
  • I am on an IBM/Lenovo x60s laptop
    • @ibm http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/migr-62469.html
    • @lenovo http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:X60s
  • I didn't change the settings of qjackctl since I installed 64studio as they seemed to work fine in the beginning - and sometimes still do:
    • realtime
    • priority 10
    • frames/period 64
    • sample rate 44100
    • periods/buffer 3 cat .jackdrc /usr/bin/jackd -R -P10 -dalsa -dhw:0 -r44100 -p64 -n3 ps -lyC qjackctl S UID PID PPID C PRI NI RSS SZ WCHAN TTY TIME CMD S 1000 4217 1 1 80 0 21784 5701 stext ? 00:00:24 qjackctl
  • Currently I started the following programs:
    • emacs
    • a shell
    • a wireless modem (emobil = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huawei_E220)
    • the epiphany web-browser
But the xruns do not diminuish when quitting all of them except qjackctl. For a listing of all running processes see the end of this posting. I wonder if there is some tool to monitor which processes are responsible for the xruns. It would be nice to have some kind of "quality monitor" also which would show some numbers when changing the audio settings etc. The ideal of course would be some optimization tool which finds the optimal setting automatically by itself :) When playing the pd test patch there is an ugly glitch whenever I switched to another window, start a program etc. Is this normal / the same when using some other operating system, a MAC for example? I fear these glitches would make it impossible to use the system in life performances. My laptop has two cores - is there a way and would it make sense to dedicate one to audio processing? Or is it possible to add some external processing unit which allowes to get rid of these glitches? Another question: On the upgrade page ( http://64studio.com/upgrade ) the command '64studio-upgrade' is mentioned - but I normally used the standart debian tools (aptitude, apt-get and synaptic) to upgrade my system. Could this be related to my problem? When looking at /usr/sbin/64studio-upgrade I found the following script: #!/bin/sh apt-get update apt-get dist-upgrade -y aptitude install ~t^cdd$ What exactly is the motivation of the search pattern '~t^cdd$', why is this command line necessary at all and why not simply using synaptic or something like 'aptitude update; aptitude safe-upgrade; aptitude full-upgrade' ? Thanks :) Dietrich By the way: Is there some possibility to leave the whitespace indentation in postings?!? ...the 'code' tag at least is useless... --- Listing of all running processes: ps -ely S UID PID PPID C PRI NI RSS SZ WCHAN TTY TIME CMD S 0 1 0 0 80 0 644 486 - ? 00:00:01 init S 0 2 1 0 -40 - 0 0 migrat ? 00:00:00 migration/0 S 0 3 1 0 -40 - 0 0 posix_ ? 00:00:00 posix_cpu_timer S 0 4 1 0 9 - 0 0 ksofti ? 00:00:00 softirq-high/0 S 0 5 1 0 9 - 0 0 ksofti ? 00:00:03 softirq-timer/0 S 0 6 1 0 9 - 0 0 ksofti ? 00:00:00 softirq-net-tx/ S 0 7 1 0 9 - 0 0 ksofti ? 00:00:00 softirq-net-rx/ S 0 8 1 0 9 - 0 0 ksofti ? 00:00:00 softirq-block/0 S 0 9 1 0 9 - 0 0 ksofti ? 00:00:00 softirq-tasklet S 0 10 1 0 9 - 0 0 ksofti ? 00:00:00 softirq-sched/0 S 0 11 1 0 9 - 0 0 ksofti ? 00:00:00 softirq-rcu/0 S 0 12 1 0 70 -10 0 0 desche ? 00:00:00 desched/0 S 0 13 1 0 -40 - 0 0 migrat ? 00:00:00 migration/1 S 0 14 1 0 -40 - 0 0 posix_ ? 00:00:00 posix_cpu_timer S 0 15 1 0 9 - 0 0 ksofti ? 00:00:00 softirq-high/1 S 0 16 1 0 9 - 0 0 ksofti ? 00:00:01 softirq-timer/1 S 0 17 1 0 9 - 0 0 ksofti ? 00:00:00 softirq-net-tx/ S 0 18 1 0 9 - 0 0 ksofti ? 00:00:00 softirq-net-rx/ S 0 19 1 0 9 - 0 0 ksofti ? 00:00:00 softirq-block/1 S 0 20 1 0 9 - 0 0 ksofti ? 00:00:00 softirq-tasklet S 0 21 1 0 9 - 0 0 ksofti ? 00:00:00 softirq-sched/1 S 0 22 1 0 9 - 0 0 ksofti ? 00:00:00 softirq-rcu/1 S 0 23 1 0 70 -10 0 0 desche ? 00:00:00 desched/1 S 0 24 1 0 58 - 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 events/0 S 0 25 1 0 58 - 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 events/1 S 0 26 1 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 khelper S 0 27 1 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 kthread S 0 44 27 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 kblockd/0 S 0 45 27 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 kblockd/1 S 0 46 27 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 kacpid S 0 47 27 0 9 - 0 0 irqd ? 00:00:00 IRQ-9 S 0 171 27 0 75 -5 0 0 serio_ ? 00:00:00 kseriod S 0 197 27 0 80 0 0 0 pdflus ? 00:00:00 pdflush S 0 198 27 0 80 0 0 0 pdflus ? 00:00:00 pdflush S 0 199 27 0 75 -5 0 0 kswapd ? 00:00:00 kswapd0 S 0 200 27 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 flush_filesd/0 S 0 201 27 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 flush_filesd/1 S 0 202 27 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 aio/0 S 0 203 27 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 aio/1 S 0 317 27 0 -15 - 0 0 irqd ? 00:00:00 IRQ-12 S 0 318 27 0 -16 - 0 0 irqd ? 00:00:00 IRQ-1 S 0 326 1 0 80 0 0 0 - ? 00:00:00 kirqd S 0 776 27 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 ksuspend_usbd S 0 779 27 0 75 -5 0 0 hub_th ? 00:00:00 khubd S 0 799 27 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 ata/0 S 0 800 27 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 ata/1 S 0 801 27 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 ata_aux S 0 809 27 0 75 -5 0 0 hpsbpk ? 00:00:00 khpsbpkt S 0 823 27 0 -21 - 0 0 irqd ? 00:00:00 IRQ-20 S 0 824 27 2 -26 - 0 0 irqd ? 00:00:55 IRQ-21 S 0 825 27 0 -19 - 0 0 irqd ? 00:00:01 IRQ-22 S 0 826 27 0 -18 - 0 0 irqd ? 00:00:00 IRQ-23 S 0 831 27 0 75 -5 0 0 nodemg ? 00:00:00 knodemgrd_0 S 0 834 27 0 75 -5 0 0 scsi_e ? 00:00:00 scsi_eh_0 S 0 835 27 0 75 -5 0 0 scsi_e ? 00:00:00 scsi_eh_1 S 0 836 27 0 9 - 0 0 irqd ? 00:00:00 IRQ-14 S 0 837 27 0 9 - 0 0 irqd ? 00:00:00 IRQ-15 S 0 1171 27 0 75 -5 0 0 kjourn ? 00:00:00 kjournald S 0 1408 1 0 76 -4 1172 680 - ? 00:00:00 udevd S 0 1890 27 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 kpsmoused S 0 1902 27 0 -31 - 0 0 irqd ? 00:00:00 IRQ-8 S 0 2018 27 0 9 - 0 0 irqd ? 00:00:00 IRQ-4 S 0 2031 27 0 75 -5 0 0 pccard ? 00:00:00 pccardd S 0 2042 27 0 9 - 0 0 irqd ? 00:00:00 IRQ-7 S 0 2054 27 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 kmmcd S 0 2122 27 0 9 - 0 0 irqd ? 00:00:00 IRQ-3 S 0 2178 27 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 irda_sir_wq S 0 2423 27 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 kmirrord S 0 2428 27 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 ksnapd S 0 2459 27 0 75 -5 0 0 kjourn ? 00:00:00 kjournald S 0 2461 27 0 75 -5 0 0 kjourn ? 00:00:00 kjournald S 0 2463 27 0 75 -5 0 0 kjourn ? 00:00:00 kjournald S 1 2820 1 0 80 0 348 421 - ? 00:00:00 portmap S 0 3011 1 0 80 0 612 405 - ? 00:00:00 syslogd S 0 3017 1 0 80 0 372 393 syslog ? 00:00:00 klogd S 0 3119 1 0 80 0 556 392 - ? 00:00:00 acpid S 0 3139 1 0 80 0 1844 1129 - ? 00:00:00 cupsd S 0 3146 1 0 -40 - 10724 2681 stext ? 00:00:00 das_watchdog S 103 3151 1 0 80 0 1020 685 - ? 00:00:00 dbus-daemon S 106 3159 1 0 80 0 4800 1642 - ? 00:00:03 hald S 0 3160 3159 0 80 0 1012 747 - ? 00:00:00 hald-runner S 106 3166 3160 0 80 0 844 503 - ? 00:00:00 hald-addon-acpi S 106 3178 3160 0 80 0 852 504 evdev_ ? 00:00:00 hald-addon-keyb S 106 3181 3160 0 80 0 852 503 evdev_ ? 00:00:00 hald-addon-keyb S 106 3201 3160 0 80 0 852 503 evdev_ ? 00:00:00 hald-addon-keyb S 106 3206 3160 0 80 0 852 504 evdev_ ? 00:00:00 hald-addon-keyb S 106 3211 3160 0 80 0 852 504 evdev_ ? 00:00:00 hald-addon-keyb S 0 3227 1 0 80 0 656 465 - ? 00:00:00 dhcdbd S 0 3234 1 0 80 0 1772 1048 - ? 00:00:00 NetworkManager S 105 3252 1 0 80 0 1308 637 - ? 00:00:00 avahi-daemon S 105 3253 3252 0 80 0 472 637 - ? 00:00:00 avahi-daemon S 0 3260 1 0 80 0 1112 778 - ? 00:00:00 NetworkManagerD S 0 3267 1 0 80 0 816 771 - ? 00:00:00 system-tools-ba S 0 3268 3267 0 80 0 1212 652 - ? 00:00:00 dbus-daemon S 0 3280 1 0 80 0 560 436 - ? 00:00:00 inetd S 0 3287 1 0 80 0 1136 1468 - ? 00:00:00 nmbd S 0 3289 1 0 80 0 2504 2263 - ? 00:00:00 smbd S 0 3297 3289 0 80 0 1092 2263 pause ? 00:00:00 smbd S 0 3298 1 0 80 0 692 754 - ? 00:00:00 sensord S 0 3309 1 0 80 0 1052 1232 - ? 00:00:00 sshd S 0 3345 1 0 80 0 1708 3259 - ? 00:00:00 gdm S 0 3354 3345 0 80 0 2588 3379 - ? 00:00:00 gdm S 0 3357 3354 1 80 0 19064 6293 - tty7 00:00:32 Xorg S 0 3359 1 0 80 0 716 488 - ? 00:00:00 hcid S 0 3370 1 0 80 0 488 410 - ? 00:00:00 sdpd S 0 3385 1 0 70 -10 0 0 rfcomm ? 00:00:00 krfcommd S 0 3535 1 0 80 0 492 393 - tty1 00:00:00 getty S 0 3536 1 0 80 0 488 392 - tty2 00:00:00 getty S 0 3537 1 0 80 0 484 392 - tty3 00:00:00 getty S 0 3538 1 0 80 0 492 393 - tty4 00:00:00 getty S 0 3539 1 0 80 0 492 393 - tty5 00:00:00 getty S 0 3540 1 0 80 0 488 392 - tty6 00:00:00 getty S 1000 3582 3354 0 80 0 7324 5085 - ? 00:00:00 gnome-session S 1000 3636 3582 0 80 0 684 1032 - ? 00:00:00 ssh-agent S 1000 3639 1 0 80 0 656 675 - ? 00:00:00 dbus-launch S 1000 3640 1 0 80 0 944 652 - ? 00:00:00 dbus-daemon S 1000 3642 1 0 80 0 4048 1880 - ? 00:00:00 gconfd-2 S 1000 3645 1 0 80 0 812 689 - ? 00:00:00 gnome-keyring-d S 1000 3647 1 0 80 0 3104 10410 stext ? 00:00:00 bonobo-activati S 1000 3652 1 0 80 0 9732 7804 stext ? 00:00:00 gnome-settings- S 1000 3654 1 0 80 0 9404 4241 - ? 00:00:06 metacity S 1000 3667 1 0 80 0 16348 6840 - ? 00:00:01 gnome-panel S 1000 3669 1 0 80 0 18440 16999 - ? 00:00:01 nautilus S 1000 3675 1 0 80 0 5200 4709 - ? 00:00:00 gnome-volume-ma S 1000 3679 1 0 80 0 5188 3453 - ? 00:00:00 bluetooth-apple S 1000 3685 1 0 80 0 9440 5107 - ? 00:00:01 nm-applet S 1000 3687 1 0 80 0 3808 2610 - ? 00:00:00 gnome-vfs-daemo S 1000 3689 1 0 80 0 7972 7907 - ? 00:00:00 gnome-cups-icon S 1000 3692 1 0 80 0 6756 5095 - ? 00:00:00 gnome-power-man S 1000 3706 1 0 80 0 12016 5640 - ? 00:00:02 wnck-applet S 1000 3730 1 0 80 0 12780 6144 - ? 00:00:01 mixer_applet2 S 1000 3732 1 0 80 0 876 641 - ? 00:00:00 mapping-daemon S 1000 3740 1 0 80 0 7568 4783 - ? 00:00:01 multiload-apple S 1000 3742 1 0 80 0 10856 6266 - ? 00:00:00 clock-applet S 1000 3744 1 0 80 0 7432 4737 - ? 00:00:00 notification-ar S 1000 3751 1 0 80 0 2248 1375 - ? 00:00:00 xscreensaver S 0 4034 1 0 80 0 868 681 - ttyUSB0 00:00:00 pppd S 1000 4217 1 1 80 0 21784 5701 stext ? 00:00:25 qjackctl S 1000 4222 4217 3 80 0 20492 5117 322455 ? 00:00:54 jackd S 1000 4486 1 0 80 0 40560 27503 stext ? 00:00:05 epiphany-browse S 1000 4501 1 0 80 0 1628 1282 wait ? 00:00:00 dmacs S 1000 4527 4501 0 80 0 24388 8127 - ? 00:00:04 emacs S 1000 4531 4527 0 80 0 1324 3609 - pts/0 00:00:00 anthy-agent S 1000 4559 1 0 80 0 3444 2864 - ? 00:00:00 xterm S 1000 4560 4559 0 80 0 2096 1371 wait pts/1 00:00:00 bash S 0 4584 4560 0 80 0 1076 1144 wait pts/1 00:00:00 su S 0 4585 4584 0 80 0 1708 1220 wait pts/1 00:00:00 bash S 0 4591 4585 0 80 0 1328 1064 wait pts/1 00:00:00 man S 0 4599 4591 0 80 0 864 997 - pts/1 00:00:00 pager S 1000 4628 1 0 80 0 4616 2863 - ? 00:00:00 xterm S 1000 4629 4628 0 80 0 2188 1375 wait pts/2 00:00:00 bash R 1000 4797 4629 0 80 0 808 1021 - pts/2 00:00:00 ps
‹ NO swap format Can´t find installed program ›

64studio 3.0 alpha intel

  • skullnotions
  • 09/29/07
  • Thu, 01/22/2009 - 04:09
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64studio 3.0 alpha test on intel sound and graphics. PCI Sound and AGP Graphics not used... Testing intel onboard. $ uname -r 2.6.26-1-multimedia-686 $ cat /proc/asound/modules 0 snd_intel8x0 $ dpkg -l |grep jackd ii jackd 1.8+0.71-0.64studio2~hardy1 $ dpkg -l |grep ardour ii ardour 1:2.7.1-2~hardy1 $ cat .jackdrc /usr/bin/jackd -R -dalsa -dhw:0 -r44100 -p128 -n2 qjackctl idles at max 4% open ardour-drumtrack, qjackctl max 11% no-xruns. dave@64studio:~$ cat .jackdrc /usr/bin/jackd -R -dalsa -dhw:0 -r48000 -p128 -n2 qjackctl idles at max 6% open ardour-drumtrack, qjackctl max 12% no-xruns. Both 44k & 48k are using the same drumtrack.wav imported into ardour projects. I always use 48k with my Envy24/96 card it's the default setting. Not bad for an onboard sound test. It's a clean 3.0 alpha install (default settings - no optimizations). Cheers! dave

Aha!

  • Quentin Harley
  • 05/24/07
  • Tue, 01/20/2009 - 19:46
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Your card is like those Creative Audigy cards that insists on using 48k when connecting to jack. Makes sense now! Cheers, Q

no xrun 5.xx ms latency on EMU10k1

  • 64jorge
  • 03/19/08
  • Tue, 01/20/2009 - 16:51
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I had load of xruns. Then I changed 44100 Hz to 48000 Hz resolution on qjackctl and now my system is xrun free. Make Music!!! Jorge

compare onboard snd_intel8x0

  • skullnotions
  • 09/29/07
  • Fri, 10/03/2008 - 12:32
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Hi, Running 64studio_2.1 lenny upgrade with puredyne sources, because it's a test install I'm using onboard sound. The system hasn't been worked hard, it was meant to be a test install/update/upgrade. There are other posts on the forum about hda-intel, sometimes it can be a pain. Since this thread started I've set qjackctl running and just left it to see what happens. $ uname -r 2.6.21-1-multimedia-486 $ cat /proc/asound/modules 0 snd_intel8x0 $ cat /etc/security/limits.conf @audio - rtprio 99 @audio - memlock - unlimited @audio - nice -10 $ cat .jackdrc /usr/bin/jackd -R -dalsa -dhw:0 -r44100 -p128 -n3 qjackctl is ticking over at 3% and has been running quite some time now. After 30 minutes Open rosegarden & let it tickover 7.8% idle. Installed software: xfce4 Desktop jackd...............0.109.2-3 Ardour 2.5......Quentins HowTo Build rosegarden.....1:1.7.0-1 emacs21.........21.4a+1-5.6 emacs22.........22.2+2-3 SuperCollider...(puredyne) source puredata..........(puredyne) source Qjackctl records no xruns as yet, I'll just leave it running and see what happens. You do need to buy yourself a nice Pro sound card. Edit: Rosegarden (idle) was fine with the previous setting. Ardour needed @audio - memlock - unlimited note; onboard graphics card used. No nvidia or ati. Edit2: $ uname -r 2.6.21-1-multimedia-486 1: Using onboard Graphics. No nvidia or ati. This has been the most enlightening part of this project, When dmesg shows: nvidia: module license NVIDIA taints kernel, when using binary/proprietary drivers... This computer is intel based and left basic, for desktop/testing use. Intel graphics with xorg tweaked are working fine and i think play a great part in helping the snd_intel8x0 to function. I am going to look more into intel graphics. This sound driver is no good for pro audio use, but i think it is doing well in these tests. Next install on my main studio i will test the nv driver & sound before installing nvidia drivers. google: nvidia proprietary driver realtime kernel These are other options i use. Not to be used without knowing what they do!. You can break your system. 2: tune2fs -o journal_data_writeback /dev/hda? 3: fstab option "noatime" 4: vm.swappiness 5: Generally optimized for audio e.g. dpkg --get-selections > software | disable unused services | etc., rosegarden qjackctl= 7.8% (idle). emacs22_SuperCollider: Workspace: s=Server.local.boot qjackctl= 7% (idle). Cheers, dave

The WM/DE

  • Icemouse
  • 08/04/07
  • Sun, 09/28/2008 - 13:39
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seems not to be the cause. The laptop runs a dual core processor. Anyway, lesser resources are needed when using Ion2. Ion really makes a difference to GNOME, much more than Fluxbox etc. does. aptitude install ~t^cdd$ I think this is a way to get a list of all packages that should be installed. Sometimes apt-get dist-upgrade only can download, but not install all packages, because of dependencies, then there seems to be the need to run apt-get dist-upgrade again and again. Instead of running it again and again, aptitude might handle automatically the order of the packages to solve the dependencies. I don't know, it's just a speculation. This is for a complete version update, you can upgrade within a version, e.g. within Etch, resp. 2.1, without using the script. But again, you might not get better, but more informations, when also using the mailing lists. HTH, Ralf

Gnome desktop

  • porisija
  • 09/29/07
  • Sun, 09/28/2008 - 12:07
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In my experience the default GNOME desktop is very resource hungry and it has a lot of background processes that make unnecessary interrupts to audio software. Installing and using some lighter windowmanager like Fluxbox or IceWM tends to correct that. Do you use a bluetooth connection to some device? If not, why keep a bluetooth applet running - as your listing states? The same applies to the Avahi daemon - are you on a network with Mac computers sharing files, all the time? I'm at the moment using an old AMD Duron 1,2 GHz machine with Debian that has a realtime patched kernel. My desktop is XFCE4 and I have configured PAM to give the group @audio to receive highest priority ( check 'cat /etc/security/limits.conf') to kernel processes. Qjackctl records no xruns besides when firing up software - that's normal. BTW, Ardour is much better than Audacity when using a realtime kernel and qjackctl. Audacity tends to get quite slow.

A quote

  • Icemouse
  • 08/04/07
  • Sun, 09/28/2008 - 12:02
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'Emacs is a great operating system – it lacks a good editor, though.' :D

1. EMACS is for

  • Icemouse
  • 08/04/07
  • Sun, 09/28/2008 - 11:40
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- Eight Megabytes And Constantly Swapping - Emacs Makes Any Computer Slow 2. If you don't run EMACS and nothing will change, the troubles seems not to be caused by EMACS. 64 frames seems to be critical, you should try 128 or more frames. In most cases you can use 2 buffers, normally there isn't the need to use 3. Which audio applications do you run and are you using an on-board sound device? If you are using an Intel on-board sound device you better stay at 3 buffers, but you also better buy an external sound device, because any on-board sound device isn't made for pro-audio duplex realtime use. Laptops seems to be more critical than other hardware, but I don't know anything about this. Maybe the graphics is using the main memory too. You might get better informations, if you join the users mailing list.