MAC PRO or The Allenstein "Quadzilla" Machine ????

[hws]

I wanne get a new computer. Which would be the fastest? Forget about price.
APPLE MAC PRO 2.66 or The Allenstein "Quadzilla" Machine which consists of the following:
CHENMING CMUI-601AECB-U Charcoal Black 1.0mm SECC Server Computer Case 55.99


ASUS K8N-DL Dual Socket 940 NVIDIA nForce4 Professional Extended ATX Server Motherboard 177.99

AMD Dual-Core Opteron 270 Italy 1000MHz HT 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket 940 Processor - Retail 471.99 x 2 = 943.98

CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM ECC Registered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory = 297.00

ATI Radeon X700 256Mb DDR 16X Dual Video Card 129.99

Western Digital 80GB 7200RPM 8MB CACHE Hard Drives 58.00 x 2 = 116.00

[Loudnoize Ent.]

You know, I'm not sure about the Quadzilla as I've never given it a go but my brother just purchased the Mac Pro this week and I have to tell you, it's GREAT! Little example, I personally own a G5 2.0 and I added 32 mono tracks and instantiated as many Waves SSL Channel plug-ins as I could. The total ended up being 43 and it was seriously choking by that time. Settings were 1024 buffer, 2 Processors, 90%. The Mac Pro ran amazingly with 160 SSL plug-ins, same settings and configuaration and the guage was a little under half. I should mention I only have 1.5 gig of ram but the MP and even lower at 1 gig. He plans on adding another 2 gigs. Then I could only imagine. Time for me to go shopping as well...

I hope this helps a tad.

Cheers!

[hws]

Thanks. I must say, I think the Mac Pro that I have seen at a friend of mine, ROCKS

[nikki-k]

Hi!
That Quadzilla will do about ~165 Dverbs, and a Mac Pro 2.66 w/ 4G (4 1G sticks) will do ~190 Dverbs.

Personally, I prefer the Mac Pro. It is quieter than you will be able to make the Qudzilla (without liquid cooling). Both machines are in line for the 4-core chips coming out (unsure if that specific ASUS motherboard is though; some others are).

The Mac Pro is lacking in plug-ins that are Mac Intel code ready, comparitively. Chances are, some (or many) of your fav plugins are not out yet. BUT, most devs have versions right aorund the corner. With AES in a few weeks, I would expect most popular PT plugin devs to be up. Some, such as NI, are showing certain available now, while others are slated for Oct and later for release, while some simply never see Intel compat on the Mac.

The Quadzilla will take some care to follow the instructions and findings presented by the first owners/builders of those machines.

Either choice is an excellent one! Tons of power...native is really smokin'!

[sunburst79]

I'm tossing about the same question in as much as I will soon ditch my P4 system for a Quadzilla or Mac Pro.

I haven't gone back to wade through all of the Quad posts but wasn't there some sort of issue with the Quads during the bounce to disk operation? Did It get resolved?

Mac Pros will be fully supported by Digi.

3rd part developers will presumably support the Mac before before the Quads

190 Dverbs, Dang Nikki the last time I looked at the Quad thread you were talking about upgrading to 4GBs.

I like my MBP, I would really like a Mac Pro.

I am however blessed with lots of PC hardware so there is temptation to upgrade and reuse it.

Or get out while before I throw more money away.

190 Dverbs.....

[JCBigler]

Quadzilla, all the way.

Why spend twice as much money on the Mac Pro, to get as much performance as you can out of a Quadzilla?

I guess it really comes down to two questions:

1) how much disposable cash you have,

and 2) how much you are attached to the prestiege and ego boost you get out of a owning an Apple.

To me, the Mac Pro (and the varous previous generations of Apple Macintosh computers) are alot like the Hummer H2--big, bulky, expensive, and you look good driving it. But fundamentally is it any different from a family sized minivan?

[JCBigler]

I haven't gone back to wade through all of the Quad posts but wasn't there some sort of issue with the Quads during the bounce to disk operation? Did It get resolved?

I DID read all of the first thousand or so posts on the Quadzilla thread, and a good portion of the rest. There was no bounce to disk problem on any of the systems that follwed the original system specs as specified in Shan's first post. The problem arose when people would try to short cut those specs and use something different to savae money, or do something else that was not part of the original purpose of the Quadzilla.

All you really need to know from the Quadzilla thread is encased in the very first post of that thread.

Read it, live by it, love it.

[Rock_Artist]

In power-terms the MacPro is faster.
Current AMDs far behind the new Intel line.

If it's money than you'll get nice bang for the buck with the Quadzilla.

However,
If you plan on creating Xeon based PC Apple got sweepstakes from Intel right now.
To current similar product to the Mac Pro by yourself would actually cost the same or more...

Another point,
No one has tried the Mac Pro under boot-camp...
So you'll get the actual power v.s. with the same OS.

[Shan]

I wanne get a new computer. Which would be the fastest? Forget about price.
APPLE MAC PRO 2.66 or The Allenstein "Quadzilla" Machine which consists of the following:
CHENMING CMUI-601AECB-U Charcoal Black 1.0mm SECC Server Computer Case 55.99

Being the originator of the Quadzilla thread, I'd thought I'd chime in here with some real world numbers and facts.

Here are screen shots of a 48 track session with 10 Aux returns. The H/W buffer is at 64 with 18 tracks(The max physical inputs allowed in PT LE) ready to record from my 002 and Alesis AI-3.

The Tracks.

The Aux Returns.

The Plug-Ins.

You will notice I am using some plug-ins that are quite the CPU hogs. AC2 and SSL Channel strip on ALL 48 mono tracks, 1 SSL comp on the Master Fader, and 4 Rverbs, 1 Dverb, 1 Waves Doubler, 4 Digi Extra Long Delays, 2 Digi 1 band, 1 Digi 4 band on the Aux Returns with about 25% CPU left over. And just for kicks, I routed the 18 tracks to the Hall reverb. And this is at a buffer of 64 with 25% CPU left!!

With a buffer of 1024, the CPU meter drops to 1/3rd.

Not bad for the 'slowest' Quad Opteron 265 we have out there. As you can see, you will probably have more power than you will use. Even in the 'slowest' Quads.

And by the way. I can attest that this Quad is 100% rock solid stable with no issues at all. There are no 'bounce to disk' problems at all. The one reported problem we did have was caused by a VST plug-in using the wrapper. When the plug-in was removed, the Quad was flawless and solid.

The Opteron 265 w/4G RAM gives us 134 Dverbs, Opteron 285 w/4G RAM is 176 Dverbs and the MacIntel Xeon 2.6 w/4G RAM with OSX is 190 Dverbs. One thing to note is that more RAM will give you a higher plug-in count. We discovered this one on the Opterons.

The MacIntel Quad running XP got a way lower Dverb count then when running OSX. I'll have to dig out that figure again as I cant remember it from the top of my head.

Very doubtful that you will max out any of those systems. So...do you really need "the fastest" Quad?

Now having said that, I am currently bulding the next gen Quad Opteron. The beauty of this, is that when the Barcelona(4-core CPU) is released, you'll be able to just plop in the new CPUs and have an 8-core monster. This is also true with the current MacIntel Xeons which is VERY cool. Intel and AMD have finally seen the light when it comes to stuff like this.

These days it comes down to personal preference. But either way, these Quads and very soon 8-cores, are absolutely amazing! You'll be VERY happy with whatever Quad you choose. Very happy.


Hope that helps.

Shane

[DrummerGuy09]

Hey Shan, I have a few questions if you dont mind...

I have a Mac-Pro 2.66 w/3gigs of ram.. I've been trying to install pro tools & most of the plugins that you mentioned you had running on your system all night and it seems like i have done something wrong. What did you install to get yours running because it seems like we have the same set-up. I installed 7.1.1 and then 7.1.1cs1. After i did this i restarted and then it kept comming to this "error" screen telling me to restart. This screen comes on within 10 seconds of turning on the computer. There is no way for me to get around it. Did I install the right update for the system? Also, How do i get around this message? I cant even turn the computer on!

any help would be greatly appreciated!
-Blake