Nehalem or Harpertown?

[Compression Records]

Buying yet another PT HD3 system. I have a few doubts, I hope your skill and knowledge can help.

Compare a Harpertown 3.0GHz 8-core to a Nehalem 2.66GHz Quad. Using with PT I'll have to reduce the core count to, respectively, 7 and 3. Is a 3-core Nehalem better than a 7-core Harpertown?

RAM: Harpertown up to 32GB. Nehalem up to 8GB. That's a big difference.

Harpertown has FW 400. Nehalem doesn't.

It would seem Harpertown is better. Can someone argue in favor of Nehalem?

Thank you.

[JFreak]

Nehalem Quad can eat 16GB memory, it's just that 4GB sticks are still expensive. And that FW800 port can handle FW400 devices just fine, only annoyance being that you need an adapter for it.

I'd vote for Nehalem, it has significant architectural advantages over the old generation, and my Nehalem Quad has been performing very well (with "only" 6GB installed)

And because of Nehalem's hyperthreading, it will show 8 cores to PT.

[MASTERLINKSTUDIOS]

Running HD 2 with harpertown 5 gig ram and all is smooth without switching any cores off. Just my experience.

[drenkrom]

All cores are not created equal, so the 7 to 3 comparison doesn't really hold water. Nehalem has crazy-fast access to memory, while Harpertown has more cores that are bottlenecked at the Front-Side Buss. I doubt you'll see that much of a difference in everyday PTHD use, but all other things being equal, I'd go for the current architecture.

[D'Animation]

Buying a brand-new Nehalem will mean Snow Leopard so just be careful that all your software/plugins will/can be updated. Would love a Nehalem for the faster FSB but thats just being greedy - my 8 core Harpertown is doing just fine
D

[JMDNYC]

Between Nehalem or Harpertown I'm choosing Gulftown!

Sorry, I know I sound facetious. But I was looking to buy a new computer by the end of the year, and I've decided to wait until early next year when the Gulftown comes out. Sure I'll have to wait for Digi to approve them, but my sales rep tells me that usually the software changes (i.e. Snow Leopard) take longer for Digi than the hardware changes. And I read that the Gulftown processor is supposed to drop into the same machines as the Nehalem. Therefore, if the machines come out in January then maybe by March for Digi?

If nothing else, the introduction of Gulftown will drop the price of existing Mac Pros. So if you can wait a few more months then you might wish to.

Of course, all of the above is based on rumor, so maybe I'm foolish to put any stock in it. However, I can wait to find out. My Quad has at least a few more months left in her, but I'm getting way too many CPU overload messages.

[Compression Records]

With regard to the OS question, even if Nehalem ships with Snow, I suppose I could re-install Leopard, correct?

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by Compression Records

With regard to the OS question, even if Nehalem ships with Snow, I suppose I could re-install Leopard, correct?

Correct.

BUT you will need at least 10.5.6 installer, if you have older disc (for example, the original 10.5.6 DVD) then you will need to install it via another host computer. This is because drivers for current MP hardware were not there on the initial release.

But it is doable. I installed Leopard to my new Nehalem Quad, but I had to use my old MBP for running the installer. After upgrading to 10.5.8 MP boots fine.

[theaero]

IMHO, Harpertown. Hyperthreading isnt ideal for audio, even though you can turn it off.

Not to mention, the Nehalem MPs have a slower sata bus, and Apple cut corners in a few other areas as well.

I have a 2.93ghz 8-core Nehalem, and a 3.2ghz 8 core Harper, both with 16 gig ram, and a 8800gt and 2 super drives, and I find the 3.2 to outperform the nehalem in many aspects, despite what benchmarks say.... especially for audio operations.