Intel Quad Core vs. i-series

[solidwalnut]

As far as an optimum PT machine and running Win7, what are your comments as far as utilizing a quad core and stoking up the RAM. I just completed building this set-up for the home office with a 10,000 RPM HD and 8G of RAM and this thing screams!

Would this be a smart way of saving some cash for a PT rig, yet squeezing the most out of the previous generation?

Steve

[Hotcrazyfruit]

Any Intel quad will scream in all honesty. The i7's will obviously be even faster. Its all in what you need though, if going with a cheaper quad means getting a better interface, then absolutely do it.

Nick

[sunburst79]

Did you go with Win 32 or Win7 64?

The Core 2 Quad stuff is actually aging pretty gracefully as these things go.

[solidwalnut]

Win7 64. And a Q9450.

[albee1952]

That should be a solid PT system. One way to maximize your performance would be to record to internal SATA drives. SATA drives(internally) will be much faster than firewire(and as of recently, Avid is NOT recommending firewire drives for Windows 7 users). I do all my sessions on internals now(I just drag them off the external drive first).

[solidwalnut]

Yah, internals is the only way I would go at this point. I might look into a 10,000 RPM or two for audio drives as well to see if that makes a difference. Who knows, by the time I'd be building that system, SSHD write times might be good enough to try them. I don't know, we'll see.

The deal is that I can get a another Q9450 for a good deal next fall (Intel employee thing. I'd snap it up now except I just did that and can't get another one at that price for another year.). We'll see how the world is turning at that point in time. Alot could change between now and then, but the system is stable and capable as it is now. So I don't feel the need to rush into a change.

[sunburst79]

Originally Posted by solidwalnut

Yah, internals is the only way I would go at this point. I might look into a 10,000 RPM or two for audio drives as well to see if that makes a difference. Who knows, by the time I'd be building that system, SSHD write times might be good enough to try them. I don't know, we'll see.

The deal is that I can get a another Q9450 for a good deal next fall (Intel employee thing. I'd snap it up now except I just did that and can't get another one at that price for another year.). We'll see how the world is turning at that point in time. Alot could change between now and then, but the system is stable and capable as it is now. So I don't feel the need to rush into a change.

My Core 2 Quad XP system was actually running so good I was loathe to move to my i7. I was saving it for the big changeover to Win7 64. Now were here.

Definitely keeping it as a backup machine and may try using it as a rewire slave for stuff like Ivory at some point.

[solidwalnut]

Originally Posted by sunburst79

...Definitely keeping it as a backup machine and may try using it as a rewire slave for stuff like Ivory at some point.

Sounds like a wise approach.

Have you found much of a difference, in your situation, with having the extra RAM above 4GB?