Moving to Mac

[Carl Fuehrer]

Hello. I am currently a Mac user for my home computer but I have a Windows machine I built for my studio years ago for Pro Tools. I am looking to move to a Mac for my PTLE rig that would eventually support an HD3 system down the road. I wanted to get some info first. I am considering a refurbished Mac Pro single 4-core machine. I tend to run allot of plug-ins when mixing and wanted to get opinions on whether I would be just fine with the 4-core and 4Gb of RAM or if I would gain a major advantage with a dual 4-core machine?

[Eastwood]

I don't think you can go wrong with a Mac Pro. My system is rock solid (see specs) although Pro Tools doesn't seem to use multi-processors to their fullest potential, I'm sure that will change. I say go get that Mac Pro.

System Specs:
Mac Pro 2 x 2 GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon (2006)
4 GB ram
160 GB SATA (OS 10.4.11)
80 GB SATA (OS 10.4.9) dedicated for Pro Tools
80 GB SATA (audio)
400 GB SATA (for samples and backups)
OWC Mercury Elite Pro 80 GB (audio backup drive)
Digi 002R
Pro Tools LE 7.4cs5
Command 8
Focusrite OctoPre
Presonus Eureka
DBX 386
ML-9600 Masterlink
Presonus Central Station
Alesis Prolinear DSP Monitors
Event 20/20 sub-woofer
(various plug-ins)

[Carl Fuehrer]

So what about using a single vs two quad-core for PTLE?

[schpilkas]

Originally Posted by Carl Fuehrer

So what about using a single vs two quad-core for PTLE?

good question...

[Carl Fuehrer]

If the dual quad-core won't really give me anymore plug-in performance than a single quad-core, I'd rather stick that extra $500 or so into plug-ins I need. Assuming I had 4 to 8Gb of RAM in the machine using PTLE 7.4 would I get significantly more RTAS plug-ins in the dual chip?

[albee1952]

As said in your other post, that's a catch 22. More plugins might want more cores. In any case, I have a quad 2.66 with 1 gig of RAM(for sale in the buy/sell section) that I just ran a test session as follows:
32 audio tracks
2 aux tracks with 2 Dverbs
16 4 band EQ plugins
16 BF76 plugins
1 inst. track with ezdrummer
session on a Lacie D2 160 drive
buffer set at 64
The session went into record instantly and rolled for nearly 5 minutes when I hit STOP. Feels like really solid "real world" performance. I must say though that you can never have too much power so if 8 cores fits the budget.....

BTW, the test setup wasa done on Tiger 10.4.11 with a 002R.

[Barry Johns]

You will find that when you do to HD, that you will be able to run a ton of plugs in RTAS saving you a lot of money using RTAS vs TDM plugs. VI's are only going to become more and more processor intensive. So, spend the extra money and get an 8 core, you will be happier down the road. FWIW, I run next to now TDM plugs on my HD system, mostly RTAS, which is due to the power of my MacPro.

[Carl Fuehrer]

Wow! Thanks Barry. Now that's the kind of info I am looking for. So do RTAS plug-ins run off the host or HD cards?