quad-core or 8-core for LE

[ilovemyssl]

I am currently setting up our "B" room at the moment with a 003 Rack+ system. I am in the process of hunting down a mac pro to run it. The room will mainly be for editing and tracking, but not a lot of mixing.

I've come across a quad-core machine that's about a year old for a killer price (i know the owner so i know it's legit). I've also read that having an 8-core is not that beneficial as PT cant' use all 8 CPU's.

Is there any (major) benefit in shelling out the extra few thousand $$ for an 8-core, or will a quad do me fine?

Thanks.

[se.audio]

Quad core will be more than fine to track and edit only... For mixing, 8-core will definitely be an advantage (especially for the 96k stuff).

Protools can read all 8 cores but cannot read (currently, until a 64bit version is released to go with snow leopard) more than 4GB of RAM. On any computer there is...

[albee1952]

I would actually take a slightly opposing view here and say the 8 core is better for tracking. The reason for that is; with the 8 core, you can keep your buffer set at 32 or 64 for lower latency during tracking and overdubs. Most any machine will mix lots of tracks with a high buffer. For a casual user, the quad would be fine, but you are running a business and the extra power is a legitimate business investment IMHO.

[Obsidian Dragon]

I'm not sure where people are getting the idea that Protools does not use all 8 processor cores. It absolutely does. Perhaps the confusion comes from setting the number of processors dedicated to real-time RTAS plugins. The rule of thumb is to set this at 1 less than the number of processor cores you have. (if you have 4, set it to 3; if you have 8, set it to 7). This is not saying that the other processor core is not used. It is simply not reserved for real-time plugins only. It is left free to handle non real-time plugins that exist and other Protools and OS chores. So I'm suggesting to get an 8 core Mac Pro if you can afford it.

[685]

I'm still lost in all the crazy debates over whether or not the newest Mac Pro (Xeon Nehalem) are actually faster than the previous Macpro for Protools LE (& other native DAWs).

Some say the previous dual quads may be a better buy(used prices) if one is looking to buy the new single Xeon Nehalem. And that the newest dual Xeon Nehalem is not a true advantage over the single for Protools LE (& other native DAWs). Then they's the $2600 jump from dual 2.26 to dual 2.93.

Some say "Screw Mac" and build an i7 system. LOL again...I'm lost.

I'll search the site for MacPro Dverb results.