Single core vs. dual core vs. quad core

[John Peeples]

Can anyone comment on whether there would be any significant performance increase if I move from a system with 2 Xeon single core CPU's running at 3.8Mhz to either 2 Xeon Dual Core CPU's running at 2.66Mhz or 2 Xeon Quad Core CPU's running at 1.86Mhz?

I know that neither Xpress Pro or Pro Tools are optimized for Dual or Quad core CPU's so I wasn't sure if it was worth the money to move to a newer system.

Any comments or guidance would be appreciated.

John Peeples

[sunburst79]

Can anyone comment on whether there would be any significant performance increase if I move from a system with 2 Xeon single core CPU's running at 3.8Mhz to either 2 Xeon Dual Core CPU's running at 2.66Mhz or 2 Xeon Quad Core CPU's running at 1.86Mhz?

I know that neither Xpress Pro or Pro Tools are optimized for Dual or Quad core CPU's so I wasn't sure if it was worth the money to move to a newer system.

Any comments or guidance would be appreciated.

John Peeples

PT has been optimised for Multicore since 7.0....The more the merrier.

[Che_Guitarra]

Agreed - I moved from a 3GHz P4 CPU PC to a Core 2 Duo 2.33GHz iMac and the flexibility has increased dramatically. That said - If I run a 10 track session with a couple of MIDI tracks and lotsa plugins i'll max the iMac's CPU clock pretty easily. Go for the quad core if you can - if you're runnng a digital workstation the more power at your fingerrtips the better set you'll be for the future when more powerful applications arrive. And make sure you have at least 2 Gig of RAM - the best investment you can make.

[accession]

Agreed - I moved from a 3GHz P4 CPU PC to a Core 2 Duo 2.33GHz iMac and the flexibility has increased dramatically. That said - If I run a 10 track session with a couple of MIDI tracks and lotsa plugins i'll max the iMac's CPU clock pretty easily.

Really? Something doesn't sound right with your system/figures.

I just completed a session on a Mac Book Pro C2D 2.4GHz with around 30 or so tracks, over 50 plug-ins, and it only ran up a 1/3 on the CPU meter.

Going back a few years, I used to run 32 tracks and around 25-30 plug-ins on a 450MHz G4 too.

[samplaire]

G4 = 7200RPM drive; MBP = 5400 (or 4200?) RPM drive - that is your problem.

[accession]

G4 = 7200RPM drive; MBP = 5400 (or 4200?) RPM drive - that is your problem.

Actually the G4 was 4200 and the MBP is 7200...

...but that wasn't my point.

I'm highlighting the seemingly lack of power of the previous poster's iMac when comparing it to the power of machines I've used over the years. The iMac should be yielding a better result.

[samplaire]

uhm... Sorry

[samplaire]

Actually the G4 was 4200

You mean the PowerBook G4, don't you? My G4 tower (AGP/400) was equipped with a 7200RPM HDD.

[accession]

You mean the PowerBook G4, don't you? My G4 tower (AGP/400) was equipped with a 7200RPM HDD.

LOL no, I don't mean the PowerBook, I mean the tower. I may not mean the drive speed (actually thinking back, I thought it was a 5400RPM, but as per yours, all google can come up with is 7200RPM so not sure now).

What I do know is hard drive speed ain't issue here.

[samplaire]

!
Now I get it! Thanks for sharing the soundpunk pt forum, nice tips there!