Allenstein OctaPC(8-core) and Quadzilla(4-core) *OS Update

[Shan]

I know this is the quad thread, but I thought some here might like to know about the D-Verb test with PTLE 7.1 and PTMP 7.1 on the same machine with the Music Production Toolkit.

I have an 002rack and an Audiophile 192 installed on my computer. AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+, ASUS A8N-E Mobo, 2 gig ram, SATA system drive, IDE audio drives - It's pretty much the Allenstien machine.

I'm not sure I did the D-Verb test per the standard, but I did it the same way with both LE and MP. 5 D-Verbs per track just as they come up on selecting the insert (no adjustments). I used a mono audio track so the D-Verb had something to work on. I duplicated this first track until I ran out of CPU. HW buffer was at 1024, session was 24 bit, 44,100 Hz. I got 75 D-Verbs before I hit the red with both systems.

There really didn't seem to be much difference performance-wise. I loaded a fairly heavy PTLE session into MP to compare CPU usage (the session was at 24 bit 48,000 Hz). Both PTLE and MP used about 75% CPU on this session.

There was a difference sonically. The AP192 definitely had more high end. When I heard it, my first inclination was to reach for an EQ and start to cut at about 5 kHz and up. This can only be due to the AP192 converters since the AP192 output is routed through the same monitors as the 002rack. I'll have to bounce and burn the session and listen to it an a few other playback systems to see which one seems more accurate. I will try the Null Test within the next few days to see if MP nulls better or worse than LE.

Maybe quads are different, but the software seems to perform nearly identically on my system.

Thanks,
Greg

Wow!! Greg, shoot me an email regarding this. I'd like to give you a call and we can do a few more tests if you dont mind.

Shane

[Shan]

Okay, I'm so damn close to building a new ProTools workstation I can taste it.

Shan, you mentioned some time ago that you were planning on testing your quad set up with just one Opteron CPU. Have you had a chance to do this yet?

I'm looking at either a regular AMD64 X2, or a one CPU Opteron 270 (I'm going to buy through Newegg, but they don't have the 265). I can't afford the whole quad set-up just yet, but will likely be able to get the second CPU and RAM in August/September.

I'd really like to see a performance test of the Athlon 64 4400+ X2, vs. one Opteron 270.

Yes I did mention that and still havent done it yet. It's a time thing for me at the moment. I will try and do this sometime this week. It is a very common question and probably a really good route to take since it can be upgraded quite easy. There are a few areas we are looking into to save a few dollars for lower budgets.

Shane

[Shan]

I know this is the quad thread, but I thought some here might like to know about the D-Verb test with PTLE 7.1 and PTMP 7.1 on the same machine with the Music Production Toolkit...

Great to chat with you on the phone Greg. I'll send you the Maudio drivers that 3J has and we'll see what happens.

Shane

[Shan]

Just noticed we're clockin' almost 10,000 views with a 6 week old post.

Shane

[Bob Legs]

Hi Shane, and everyone,

just curious, i noticed this in the compato docs;

Compatibility Alert — New HD PCI Express Cards Currently Not Compatible with Windows XP Systems:

is this true? are you running a hybrid quad with a pcie in the quadzilla ???
or a pci version...

cheers.

[Shan]

Hi Shane, and everyone,

just curious, i noticed this in the compato docs;

Compatibility Alert — New HD PCI Express Cards Currently Not Compatible with Windows XP Systems:

is this true? are you running a hybrid quad with a pcie in the quadzilla ???
or a pci version...

cheers.

You are correct. The HD PCIe cards wont work with XP at this time. I just talked with the Digi North West rep regarding this a few days ago. The HD core card I use is regular PCI. It will be awhile until PCIe is supported on XP because not many motherboards have it yet compared to the new Macs. Digi will continue to sell both so you will need to get the PCI version of the core card. It all works the same.

And just as a side note, we have a few more hybrid systems in the making. HD 1 + Quad Opteron = smokin'! Bring it on.

Shane

[Shan]

I got a few emails from some of you guys who are not only Digi users but die hard gamers asking about the Tyan and games. (No worries, I wont reveal who you are.) Although my gaming is in retirement after pulling all nighters playing orginal C&C , I asked around and the Tyan board seems to be very good for the gamers. Probably best to do a dual boot though.

Hope this helps some of you gamers.


I might end the gaming retirement if they ever release Duke Nukem Forever. The longest vaporware app I have ever seen.

Shane

[JonnyGinese]

Lol... After recording my friends band the other week and only using 50% cpu while i used all the effects i wanted(including: 6 Dverbs, 3 Guitar Rigs, and all the other plugins that were needed to do the mix)... And if i were to bounce down the Guitar Rig plugins(which i did to see the difference) I was onyl using about 20-25%... Soo.. I think I'm going to TRY to hold off until the Am2 socket comes out with Quar-COre on 1 chip... Or until the new opterons support quad cores... Because I know I'm not goign to be happy with just upgrading to a X2 4400+... Even though taht would only cost me like 450... But then again i coudl get a opteron dual core setup for 600 and get another chip later... It stinks to not be able to make up yoru mind with this stuff. ha ha. Although any of them will be a big improvement from my 3700+

[Shan]

I think you just need to jump in their and get your Quad built Johnny. The one CPU 4 cores will still be awhile and the entry prices will be pretty high to start out with. By the time that happens you could build a Quad based on the yet unreleased Opteron 290 for next to nothing and you'll have more power than you'll need for quite some time.

Shane

[Kris75]

Just thought I would chime in about the quad performance here. If there are any non believers out there, suck it up. I just started a mix last night using the Music Production Toolkit. WOW. I have 39 Tracks(10 of wich are stereo), 8 versions of the Amplitube LE, and 5 versions Hybrid plus all the regular compressors and eqs', and two versions of TL Space Verb running, oh yeah and one verison of sampletank LE running as well. My cpu usage is still under 50% and the system responds lightning fast. I have not had one single crash in the entire time I have used it, and I am still able to record at a buffer of 64 if I want to do OD's on this mix . (I did it last night), and the system is still resoponds lightning fast.
On my 001 with my P4 this would never have been possible, and I am not sure it would be possible even with the dual core systems out there. And yes, I am streaming all of my audio off of 1 7200rpm SATA drive, although I have run tests off of regular IDE drives and had no problems. I will be transfering this mix over to a regular drive (IDE) to see how performance will be.
Peace out. It's time to go quading!