[glennaudio]

I'm also curious about these figures. I just recently upgraded my studio mac pro to a 7,1 (see specs in sig) from a 2010 5,1 12-core but kept the PCIe HD Native system with an 8x8x8, purchased in June 2011. I've read before of people being able to run at 32 samples with HD Native but i have NEVER been able to run at the buffer size without stalling, even when my system was brand spanking new.

Even with a decked out 7,1, I am still unable to run simpler sessions with the lowest buffer...this leads me to believe that my PCIe card just isn't cutting it as the nMP is clearly not the bottle neck in my system. I'm considering either:

1) "Downgrading" to a Carbon, and saving a couple hundred bucks a year on pro tools software or

2) upgrading(?) to an HDX1 system to take advantage of the hybrid engine and low latency. Low-latency monitoring on the HD Native system sounds funny and I don't like it. (It feels like the sound is out of phase). I do use some Native Instruments stuff in my sessions and would like to be able to keep a low buffer through the production process until we get to the full on mixing stage. (And yes, i'm aware that all my plugins thus far are non-dsp)

3) cross-grading HD Native PCIe to HD Native Thunderbolt. I did purchase HD Native shortly after it was announced and am wondering if the newer revisions of the hardware perform any better. Again, I have NEVER been fully satisfied with my system, even when it was all top of the line, brand new hardware. I've been envious of those who've been able to boast about how powerful their HD Native systems were.

Forgive the thread hijack. I figured replying to a related post would be better than starting a completely new thread. I'd love to read your thoughts and opinions on these options.