Benchmark ArcPro vs 64-bit background vs parallel processing - P.P. wins

[barbarayassin]

I have ArcGIS 10.6, Windows 10, 32 GB RAM, Intel Core i7-5930K CPU @ 3.5 GHz and ArcGIS Pro 2.2.1

I ran the Clip tool (under Data management/Raster/Raster processing/) on the same local data multiple times with these times:

1. 32-bit ArcCatalog 12 parallel instances (parallel processing 100%) *** 11 minutes

2. ArcCatalog with 64-bit background processing installed (no PP) *** 17 minutes

3. ArcPro *** 21 minutes 

This goes against all the advise I've gotten on why to move to ArcPro.  I understand this is only one tool, but it made me wonder which type of tools are better in Pro or ArcGIS for speed. 

Another odd note - The rasters created with the 64-bit process #2 were twice as large!  I reused the same clip command from the results window to make sure nothing was changed except the output name. 

[PaulLohr]

Thank you for running this test and passing along your results, Barbara. I've never done a test like yours but it matches up with my experience with the three scenarios. I think 64-bit processing is beneficial when the normal 2 GB per process RAM limitation is met but not so much in execution speed.

This is me guessing, but it sure seems like ArcGIS Pro and 64-bit background geoprocessing comes with extra baggage that slows the processing down. Maybe there's no way around the extra baggage, or it adds value in other scenarios.