Forums Bug Reports mIRC 6.31 is 17 times slower using draw commands

speed

The images are already stored in memory, the decision is whether they should be stored in system memory (RAM) or video memory (the video card's on-board memory). Storing the image on disk (which is what I think you're suggesting) would be several orders of magnitude slower.

mIRC stores to the RAM(im no good with hardware and internal processes)

So if you're no good with hardware or internal processes then why are you attempting to have a discussion about the benefits of using a GPU's processor for speed?

why do u care?

and im not bad with them.. and i asked someone about it.. so, why not

The point is that if you don't know what's going on, offering suggestions just wastes time. Putting a filename in a variable is not going to offer a speed difference. The issue is almost entirely CPU vs GPU. And Khaled already said what he was going to attempt, so that should really end discussion unless someone has a suggestion regarding how to implement what he plans or else knows of some issue that will come up using the method he's going to attempt.

I noticed at one time that after running for a while, 6.31 seemed to be a bit sluggish, so after reading this thread I wanted to see if there was a difference between 6.3 and 6.31, even though I never use background images. On one of my slower machines, I ran 6.3 on four large and busy channels with lots of control codes for an hour. I then ran 6.31 on the same four channels for an hour and there was a very noticable difference in response, 6.31 being very sluggish to respond after the hour. The machine was rebooted before each test and both were clean with no background images. So this change effected display speed regardless of whether or not there is a background image.

Sluggish in what way? I run mIRC 24/7 for weeks or months without restarting it or rebooting my computer. I do have a good machine, so that may be why it works fine here. I'd still like to see what you mean by sluggish, though.

whats ur buffer (lines) limit

that affects it too

also, im thinking that the visual effects have some effect on this, but im not sure

As do I, but I noticed a few times on one of them that after running 6.31 for a few days, it was sluggish. After reading over this thread, I wondered if that was my problem too so I decided to test it against 6.3. That machine is a AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ with 2GB DDR2 RAM, so I figured it would take too long to get 6.31 back to the sluggish point so I tested it on one of the older systems which is AMD Athlon XP 1800+ with 1GB DDR RAM and after an hour, the difference between 6.3 and 6.31 was very noticeable. The system specs really are irrelevant, the point is that there is a major difference in the display speeds between the two versions, regardless of the system.


The buffer was at 1000, but again, that's irrelevant because they were both tested under the same settings, system and circumstances and there was a very noticeable difference between the two versions.

~ Edit ~
Sorry, OS is XP Pro SP2.

I know the dictionary definition of sluggish, but that doesn't in any way show how *mIRC* is acting so that others can understand and test it.

The UI is slow to respond when I click on a switchbar button for example. Popup menu's are slow. Window text is slow when I type something and hit enter. Just sluggish in general. It's not really near as bad here as the OP described, but still a noticeable difference between the two versions.

ive noticed it too... and yes, like i said, its probably the visual fx

Can't reproduce anything like that here... even at weeks of use. Granted, like I said, my computer isn't slow. I haven't run mIRC 6.3x on anything slower than what I have now (AMD64 X2 6000+ w/ 2GB DDR2 800 RAM). So it's quite possible that what you describe just isn't noticeable on this computer.

I'd suggest checking your memory usage of mIRC after that period of time, though. I run mIRC with Invision installed (and that's a pretty heavy memory-use script) at around 12MB. mIRC without Invision (just a bot with trivia, weather, dictionary) runs at 9MB. If you are getting a lot more memory use than that, then the problem may be related to something else (DLL, script, etc). It would at least help narrow your issue down.

I think you're somehow missing my point. I intentionally did the tests on a slower machine. Both had no loaded scripts nor dll's. Both had no background images. No other programs running. Both sitting idle on the same four very busy channels with lots of colors (yes mp3 channels), both on the same machine, both using the same mirc.ini (same exact settings). In those conditions, 6.31 was a lot more sluggish after the hour was up than 6.3 was. System specs are irrelevant when the two different versions were measured under the exact same conditions. Granted, you're running a dual core, 64 bit, 3GHz processor with 2GB PC6400 RAM so no, you may not notice it. I barely noticed it on my dual core, 64 bit, 2.20GHz processor with 2GB PC6400 RAM, but I noticed it enough to to make me want to test it on an older, slower machine where it was WAY noticeable.

~ Edit ~
Have any of you guys tried SeaMonkey? After using this for the past week, Firefox (Bloatware) sucks. I'm really impressed with it. You should try it.

I've been using a P4 3.2Ghz with 3GB RAM running XPSP2 (mIRC with 30000 line buffers in 40+ channels, most fairly busy), and haven't noticed any sluggishness.

.. So, odd ..

You still didn't mention your memory usage. There can be specific reasons for mIRC to run more slowly over time (with any computer) when switching between older mIRC versions and newer. Changes to how various scripting issues are handled is just one of those reasons. If your mIRC is using excessive memory after a few days (20+MB), then there's another problem.

Well I didn't test for memory usage, because the whole point of my reply, was that there was a significant difference in display speed when the two different versions were tested under the exact same conditions. Khaled himself stated earlier in this thread that he had made a change in 6.31 that "clearly had an effect on display speed" so why are we still going on and on about this?

~ Edit ~

Although system specs in this test were irrelevant, I do have a P4 3.2GHz machine with 2GB PC3200 RAM, I'll try and do the same test on that machine later. As I said to Riamus2 earlier, you may not notice something like that, it was barely noticeable to me on the machine I noticed it on, but I notice things like that because it drives me crazy. I noticed a little difference in response after it had been running for a couple days so after reading this thread I wanted to test it against 6.3 on an older/slower machine and there it was very noticeable. I notice things like this like you would notice a fly on your nose, which is also why I reinstall the OS every few months.

And the point I was making is that there are other changes in mIRC that can cause slowdown issues from one version to another. If you have excessive memory use, then it would narrow down the problem. I don't see why it's such a problem to state the memory usage.