dual core v quad core and plug ins.
 

Im reaching the upper end of my dual core CPU (2.8ghz E6300), and want to grab a quad core, thinking 2.66ghz Q8400 and overclocking it a little.

Will Pro Tools, in terms of running plug ins, see these extra cores and make use of them? Given the specs above, what sort of level of improvement could I expect if we had....say a project running at 50% of RTAS CPU, then swapped out for the quad core? Thanks.

Re: dual core v quad core and plug ins.
 

Pro Tools will see all the cores. I have a Q6600 OC'ed to 3.0GHz. For normal sized sessions, my CPU usage is between 20-30%. On real heavy sessions, I'll be lucky to hit 40%!

Re: dual core v quad core and plug ins.
 

You will absolutely see an increase in performance.

Nick

Re: dual core v quad core and plug ins.
 

Oh yeah, a decent quad will stomp any dual core, but I would really try to up the ante a bit. The i7 920, 930, 950 are the best value(need a socket 1366 X58 mobo). The 980x is killer but lots of $$$$. For socket 775, look at the Q9550. Or maybe consider a 6 core AMD?

Re: dual core v quad core and plug ins.
 

I had Pentium Quad Q6600 for almost 2years. Worked really well, kicking the dual core, I had before on my mo-bo.
My new system has AMD six core Phenom II on Asus board, and this thing, in combination with SSD, and 1600mHz RAM would leave my QuadCore system way behind. Takes 25 seconds to boot up for my system now. I don't even OC it, and use 5 cores for ProTools, running it with all bells and whistels in 24bit-96kHz 40+tracks from one drive. I bet, I can run more from SSD...

Re: dual core v quad core and plug ins.
 

To give you an idea of the power improvement; my dual core 3GHz system pulled a Dverb2 score of 104. My i7 quad hit 320. When I moved to Win7 x64, it went to 520:eek:.