Solution
In order to increase streaming rates to meet your applications requirements, we recommend going down the list of options you have below. Overall there are multiple reasons that you may experience lower than expected streaming rates. These reasons are as follows, in order of what makes the most difference:
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USB 2.0 vs. USB 3.0
Please ensure you are using the 290x with USB 3.0/USB (SS) to maximize streaming throughput. You can ensure this by opening the NI USRP Configuration Utility and noting that the device says it is connected over USB 3.0.
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Any processing in the same thread as your data stream
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Other processes running on the PC
As USB is host driven protocol, other processes running on the PC can slow down streaming throughput. Please shut down and non-critical process like anti-virus scanners.
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Multiple Channel Streaming
There is additional overhead with each stream so throughput on multiple channels is less than your ideal max of 1 channel divided by 2 for max of 2 channels, 3 for 3 channels, etc. Keeping streams to the minimal amount that your application requires will maximize throughput.
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Overall PC Performance (Processor power, RAM speed, Disk writing speed)
Using a faster PC also has proven to increase streaming throughput due to the nature of the host driven protocol.
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