HELP! Mac Pro 2.66 Quad Core or 2.26 8 Core for HD Native/Pro Tools 10

[sws2h]

I need to purchase a new Mac Pro soon. I'm torn between the 2009 2.66 Quad Core and 2009 2.26 8 Core. I'm running 16 I/O, monitoring and headphone mixes are though a console. Most sessions are 8-16 tracks, sometimes I get up to 32 if there's strings or lots of vocals.

I don't use a lot of virtual instruments, just Kontakt for drum replacement and virtual keyboards.

Is it worth the extra $6-700 for the 2.26 8 Core?

[rtcstudio]

Originally Posted by sws2h

I need to purchase a new Mac Pro soon. I'm torn between the 2009 2.66 Quad Core and 2009 2.26 8 Core. I'm running 16 I/O, monitoring and headphone mixes are though a console. Most sessions are 8-16 tracks, sometimes I get up to 32 if there's strings or lots of vocals.

I don't use a lot of virtual instruments, just Kontakt for drum replacement and virtual keyboards.

Is it worth the extra $6-700 for the 2.26 8 Core?

Yes.

My sessions are bigger than yours, so that's different, but still, for the long run, I'd get the bigger faster machine. I'm on an older dual quad 2.66 Mac Pro (8 core) with 17 Gig RAM, and although playback is near instantaneous because of the new Disk Caching, other stuff like drawing automation, muting, un-muting, etc is sluggish on my older machine. I have to keep it at least at 512 on the H/W buffer to be happy.

My next purchase will definitely be a newer, more powerful and faster Mac Pro.