Hardware Recommendations

[jdjurado]

What do you guys recommend for hardware improvements? I just installed Protools LE 8 and it runs just a bit slower than I'd like. Here is what I currently have:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core (4800) 2.5Ghz
4 GB RAM
ATI Radeon X1200 Series Video Card 256 MB memory
640 GB, SATA 3 Gb/s, 32 MB Cache, 7200 RPM Western Digital Hard Drive
Windows Vista Ultimate 32 bit Service Pack 2

Thanks for any input!

[mano111]

What do you mean by "slower"?
Do you have a dedicated audio drive? (its a requirement)

[albee1952]

I don't know if Digi has approved SP2 yet. The intel quads (Q9550 or i7 920) stomp all over any dual core system. Using a second internal SATA drive will perform better than firewire. I generally only use firewire drives to transfer to other studios.

[jdjurado]

Originally Posted by mano111

What do you mean by "slower"?
Do you have a dedicated audio drive? (its a requirement)

Do you mean a dedicated Hard Drive for audio files for Protools to use?
By slower, I mean that, compared to Cubase LE 4, my computer seems to be a bit overwhelmed in terms of CPU resources being taken up

[jdjurado]

Originally Posted by albee1952

I don't know if Digi has approved SP2 yet. The intel quads (Q9550 or i7 920) stomp all over any dual core system. Using a second internal SATA drive will perform better than firewire. I generally only use firewire drives to transfer to other studios.

Albee, so you're saying that a quad core is definitely recommended? How about a better video card, would that do anything for me?

[Keybeeetsss]

Originally Posted by jdjurado

Albee, so you're saying that a quad core is definitely recommended? How about a better video card, would that do anything for me?

Quad core is just better for obvious reasons than what u have to be candid(as I usually am)...

as for a better vid card, it would NOT do it for u...

As in comparing Cubase & PT8 STOP IT!

@ totally different things & remember, or know if u don't, that PT is a REAL-TIME sample based DAW unlike any other which is why it would need more power & ur Cubase can run fan on what u have...Its not REAL-TIME...

[jdjurado]

lol, i appreciate your candidness :) I promise i will never again compare Cubase and PT. Thanks for the tip on the quad core; I just wanted to make sure PT actually took advantage of multiple cores

[jdjurado]

Well I already have an AMD motherboard, so what do you guys think of a AMD Phenom II X4 940?

[Keybeeetsss]

Originally Posted by jdjurado

lol, i appreciate your candidness :) I promise i will never again compare Cubase and PT. Thanks for the tip on the quad core; I just wanted to make sure PT actually took advantage of multiple cores

Well it most certainly is... & No prob

As for that processor, thatz out of my league... Can't be candid on that 1

[albee1952]

If you are familiar with the Dverb test(a stress test to benchmark a Pro Tools LE system), then I can tell you my older AMD 6000+ (dual 3 GHz) topped out at 104. My new intel i7 quad more than doubles that number(other users are doing triple that number). You absolutely must record to a separate hard drive(not a partition of the system drive). USB drives are NOT supported. Firewire drives need an Oxford chipset. Firewire ports(either on the motherboard or on a card) should have a TI chipset(some others work and some others don't). eSATA also works fine but adding an internal drive is the cheapest and best performing setup(nothing beats a good SATA drive at 7200 rpm with 32 meg cache). 10K drives are not worth the extra money(my opinion only) as they offer no real performance boost over 7200 rpm. Poke around the Windows section of the DUC to see opinions on the Phenom quads. Also, check the manufacturer's website for your motherboard to see if its compatible with the newer Phenom II cpu's.