Roon and RAATServer consuming over 300% and 100% CPU on Mac Mini

[Gordon_Fortune]

Core Machine (Operating system/System info/Roon build number)

Roon Core is on a Dell Optiplex running Ubuntu - nothing wrong here its using 4% CPU on that box.

Mac Mini is running Roon Remote and Bridge
Roon 1.7 build 511
Mac Mini 2018 3.2GHz 6‑core 8th‑generation Intel Core i7
Mac OS Mojave 10.14.6
32Gb RAM 2666MHz DDR4
256GB SSD storage

Network Details (Including networking gear model/manufacturer and if on WiFi/Ethernet)

185Mbps DL via Comcast DOCSIS 3 connected to
Unifi Security Gateway In turn to
Unifi 16 port managed switch
1Gbps connections on wired Ethernet to the core and library
Library is on a 6 disk Netgear ReadyNAS with dual bonded 1Gbps to the Unifi switch
3 Unifi AC-Lite access points on 2 and 5GHz provide wifi
Google CCA connected via wifi
Macbook Pro connected via wifi

Mac Mini and the Dell running ubuntu are on ethernet on the same lan segment and switch

Audio Devices (Specify what device you’re using and its connection type - USB/HDMI/etc.)

Roon Core on Ubuntu/Dell → WiFi > RAAT → Roon Bridge on Macbook Pro #1 → USB → Peachtree Nova Amp
Roon Core on Ubuntu/Delli → WiFi > Google CCA → Toslink → B&W Zeppelin Air

Description Of Issue

Using Roon all morning no issues.
Stop and restart Roon, immediately goes into high CPU usage. It’s done this before, but this time I could catch it in the act and collect data.
Nothing is playing on the Mac Mini, only Roon activity is from the Dell Core to the Google CCA, the roon on the Mac Mini is just browsing the GUI and monitoring now playing. CPU continues to run high regardless of activity performed.

Being a software engineer and having read a few of the mac CPU threads on here are some points of data for your dev team. Let me know what more you need. :-

• Having Roon open vs minimized does not change the CPU usage.
• Screenshot below with Activity monitor and Intel Power Gadget is below
• Link to the roon log on the MacMini Roon Log
• Link to the CPU usage sample for the Roon process and threads Roon Sample
• Link to the CPU usage sample for the RAATServer process and threads RAAT Sample
• Output of ps -M -p 63534 -p 63547 ps output

[Gordon_Fortune]

Hi,

Sounds like this is very similar to the issue reported in Roon 1.7 causing MacbookPRO 2018 to run fans at high speed

To answer the questions you posted in that thread @noris

Roon 1.7 causing MacbookPRO 2018 to run fans at high speed

• What is the model of the Macbook Pro and from what year is it?

Mac Mini 2018 3.2GHz 6‑core 8th‑generation Intel Core i7
Mac OS Mojave 10.14.6
32Gb RAM 2666MHz DDR4
256GB SSD storage

Roon 1.7 causing MacbookPRO 2018 to run fans at high speed

• Do you notice consistent 200% CPU usage or would you define them more as “spikes” that go up and down?

It’s consistent for hours no matter what you do in the app.

Roon 1.7 causing MacbookPRO 2018 to run fans at high speed

• Does rebooting temporarily resolve this issue?

Yes it does

Roon 1.7 causing MacbookPRO 2018 to run fans at high speed

• What is your networking gear model/manufacturer and how is the Core connected to the network (WiFi/Ethernet)?

Ubiquity -
185Mbps DL via Comcast DOCSIS 3 connected to
Unifi Security Gateway In turn to
Unifi 16 port managed switch
1Gbps connections on wired Ethernet to the core and library
Library is on a 6 disk Netgear ReadyNAS with dual bonded 1Gbps to the Unifi switch

Core is on a dell linux server connected on 1Gbps ethernet
Mac Mini is also connected on 1Gbps ethernet on the same switch
Google CCA is over Unifi AP on wifi

Also note that I have recently moved the core to its own Dell Linux box, the high CPU on the Mac happened both while it was the core and after the core was migrated and the mac is only a client. Once the core migrated to Linux, I removed the Roon dir in the Mac Mini Library and re-installed roon on the mac to clear any old lingering core things. The CPU going high issues was present (but intermittent) both before and after the re-install.

[wizardofoz (Mr Fix It aka The Wiz)]

I have similar issues on mbp 15” 2018 i9 and also have tried with and without it as a core. It’s frustrating as I travel and run as core, but normally only run as remote.

[noris]

Hi @Gordon_Fortune,

Thank you for your report and for providing the additional details from the other thread, it is much appreciated!

I brought your report up with QA and they are looking into this behavior and compiling similar reports at this time.

Once the reports have been compiled, I will be sure to let you know of next steps in our investigation and how you can help, it may be a few days until then though.

[Benson_Margulies]

I just hit this and reported it. No updates?

[Bryson_Derbyshire]

I have a similar problem with high cpu usage.

[spinaltap]

FWIW, on 2012 quad-core i7 Mac Mini Server, my CPU usage is <15% - and typically utilising < 560MB memory.

[Benoit_Mahe]

I have a similar issue on a MacBook Pro 2020, Catalina 10.15.5.
Roon app used as remote only taking huge amount of CPU (Roon and RAATServer processes)

[noris]

Hello All,

Please see Dylan’s update on this issue here:

High CPU Usage on Mac Mini 2018

Hi everyone First, I’d like to say that we appreciate your patience as we’ve continued to investigate this issue. After gathering data from a number of reports, as well as our own testing, we’ve traced this issue to a specific chip that appears to not be handling Roon how we’d expect. While we don’t have this resolved just yet, our QA team is in the process of acquiring this specific hardware for further internal testing in our labs. With this specific hardware in house, we believe we will be …

[Trevor_Slaney]

I have exactly the same problem running core on a new MacMini 2018 core i7 with Roon 1.8. The power impact is insane at an additional 80w of mains power. If the MacMini is rebooted the problem goes away but if Roon is stopped and restarted the high CPU and power usage returns. I have an older MacMini which never suffered from this issue.