i7 Builds - Specs and Results

[YYR123]

Ever notice that the spinners most famous song is...... Wait for it

I'll be around (Spinner drive)


And samsung's motto is The next big thing is here!!!! ( Flash )

[kyluigi]

So I recently found out as a university student, I get an Apple Discount so I'm researching MBP either used on Ebay or new. If I buy new my only choice budget wise is a dual core i7. Is there a huge difference between the dual core i7 and the quad core i7 performance wise? With pro tools 11 taking advantage of ram, what is the performance difference track count-plug-in wise between the dual core and quad core? I do this on the side, and honestly never even have 50 track sessions, usually anywhere from 15-30. In other words with having smaller sessions than say a pro studio, will the quad core make enough difference in my home studio to warrant purchasing it?

Here are the specifics, the model is the only non-retina MBP in the apple store. 2.9GHz Dual-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz
8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM — 2x4GB, 128GB Solid State Drive

P.S. (I still want to build an i7 desktop eventually, just looking in to all of my options )

[albee1952]

Originally Posted by kyluigi

So I recently found out as a university student, I get an Apple Discount so I'm researching MBP either used on Ebay or new. If I buy new my only choice budget wise is a dual core i7. Is there a huge difference between the dual core i7 and the quad core i7 performance wise? With pro tools 11 taking advantage of ram, what is the performance difference track count-plug-in wise between the dual core and quad core? I do this on the side, and honestly never even have 50 track sessions, usually anywhere from 15-30. In other words with having smaller sessions than say a pro studio, will the quad core make enough difference in my home studio to warrant purchasing it?

Here are the specifics, the model is the only non-retina MBP in the apple store. 2.9GHz Dual-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz
8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM — 2x4GB, 128GB Solid State Drive

P.S. (I still want to build an i7 desktop eventually, just looking in to all of my options )

Is there a huge difference between 2 and 4 cores? Yes. Do you NEED the extra power for 30 track sessions? Probably not, unless you want to use several VI's (plugin instruments). How much RAM? 4GB is minimum, but should handle your modest sessions okay. 8GB is better. If you go with PT11, then it can use all the RAM you can stuff in there(but PT10 and lower are all 32 bit apps and will not use the extra RAM over 4GB anyway). For my money, a used MBP i7 quad, with 8GB of RAM, firewire AND Thunderbolt would be the ideal laptop

[CME]

I always recommend getting the most powerful CPU you can. And yes a quad-core is a big jump over the dual. The dual-core would probably work now. But in the future who knows what you'll be working on.

That said do you have to have a laptop? A Mac mini is a nice small semi-portable rig. And power per dollar a self-built PC is hard to beat.

But if you need a laptop I would highly recommend trying to get the quad-core.

[kyluigi]

Well the plan now is to get a laptop upgrade to either a macbook pro or another i7 quadcore laptop. I spoke with the owner of a local professional studio the other day and they were actually using the Asus Republic of Gamers G-75 with PT 11 and no issues! I know pc laptops are a crapshoot but this model from HP has some pretty decent specs, although I would upgrade that hard drive to the one in my current laptop, a new 7200rpm drive. All for $900 ish. Again still weighing my options, although this one is a tempting one for the price.

4th generation Intel® Core™ i7-4700MQ Processor (2.4GHz, 6MB L3 Cache)
NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M Graphics with 2048MB of dedicated video memory
17.3-inch diagonal HD+ BrightView LED-backlit Display (1600 x 900) Non touch
8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
1TB 5400 rpm Hard Drive
Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner
Backlit Keyboard
HP TrueVision HD Webcam w/ integrated digital mic
802.11b/g/n WLAN [1x1]

[cruisemates]

I seem to have gotten myself in trouble by asking this question in different places - because I needed advice on more than just a new build....

However just for purposes of this thread. I am in the same situation as the previous poster who said he had an ElevenRack and a Digi 002 running on pt8.

I know I want to upgrade to PT 10. I will also get a new interface to replace the 002.

Given a budget of $800 to $1250, what system would you recommend for the most stable, maintenance-free (once you get it working, of course) Windows 7 system for PT 10? (I can go higher it it adds significantly, but I have pretty modest needs).

My needs are for home recording, rarely more than 2 tracks at a time. I use midi, samples, automation and most sessions end up 20 to 30 tracks. (I only mention this to help qualify what I might need for optimal system performance with the least amount of latency).

I would really like to have easily swappable hard drives. The system drive would only hold system files (including drivers for 11R, for example). I would prefer not to use firewire drives (i have had problems with them going to sleep and not waking up, plus they can be noisy).

Questions - what is the best way to allocate files on different hard drives for maximum performance? For example, I know all sessions and samples should be on separate drives (and definitely not the system) drive, but what about the actual system files for plugins, such as Sampletank, Waves, etc.?

I hope this is clear enough. Its been a long time since I've gone down this road.

[Shan]

Originally Posted by cruisemates

Given a budget of $800 to $1250, what system would you recommend for the most stable, maintenance-free (once you get it working, of course) Windows 7 system for PT 10? (I can go higher it it adds significantly, but I have pretty modest needs).

I'd recommend one of the i7 builds in the first post of this very thread. mykhal c, guitardom, TOM@METRO, albee1952 and many others all have successful solid systems with their full specs listed. These will work, and have worked, with PT 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11. OS optimizations will vary slightly depending on the OS. Windows 7 Optimizations are found here. This will also be essential reading.

Originally Posted by cruisemates

Questions - what is the best way to allocate files on different hard drives for maximum performance? For example, I know all sessions and samples should be on separate drives (and definitely not the system) drive, but what about the actual system files for plugins, such as Sampletank, Waves, etc.?

You'll find that Disk Allocation that we use to do back in the day is no longer needed like it use to. That said, the feature is still there and set up the same way as documented in the reference guide. Since your sessions don't exceed 30 playback tracks and 2 record tracks, you'll be way more than fine with low latency recording and quite happy with the performance. The standard one drive for a system drive and a separate one for audio still applies as you know. Some will use another separate drive for large sample libraries that get streamed via plug-in VI's. Let the plug-ins(and PT) etc install to there default locations(which will be the system drive). I wouldn't advise changing that.

Others will chime in with swappable drive solutions and other advice.

Shane

[cruisemates]

Thank you! Forgive my skepticism, but the first post of this thread is almost five years old. Is it really true that so little has changed in the last five years in terms of what processors/motherboards are optimal for PT?

I am sure they would work, but I can't help feeling some specs/options have changed since February 2009.

[Shan]

The content of the first post gets updated regularly and kept up to date by mykhal c. :

Originally Posted by mykhal c

**** builds are listed from the most recent to the earlier ones *****

Shane

[cruisemates]

Originally Posted by Shan

The content of the first post gets updated regularly and kept up to date by mykhal c. :

Shane

Okay - thank you! I had seen weeks ago that they were listed chronologically, but I did not realize that meant they had been added to the original post at later dates (there are not actual date-stamps).

Good to know - thanks for the help.