Clock Speed vs # of CPUs in RTAS VIs

[brianjanthony]

I am looking at upgrading my Mac. I use a fair amount of RTAS VIs. Actually, I use a lot of RTAS in general (guitar sims and melodyne). And I use Addictive Drums, Xpand, Strike, etc.

Before I moved to HD 5 years ago, I remember something about the Faster the CPU, the more RTAS plugs you could get. So my G4 933mhz ran a lot more plugs than my G4 400mhz. I understood all that.

Now, we have dual quad, quad dual, dual dual, oct quad, and a partridge in a pear tree. Yet, the actual speed of the processors hasn't gone up all that much. (I have a dual 2.0 G5, and the big seller is the MacPro 2.66 for instance).

I've been a Mac user for 20 years. I've owned every incarnation possible. (Except the new ones). But I am a little rusty on how all the new processors and CPU speeds tie together in the Pro Tools "Need RTAS POWER" environment. Is an 8 core machine going to give me 4x the performance (or number) of RTAS plugins. Granted, I don't need 20 melodynes a session. But if 8 cores will make for a more stable experience, I'll save the pennies.

OR, is it better to wait for even a Quad Core 3-4ghz machine, if such a thing will ever come out. Again, I'm a bit ignorant when it comes to how all the stuff folds together any more.

Some have said to run Logic on another machine (or in the background) for VIs and such. I have no idea how to do this. I could look it up on the DUC, I am sure.

But if anyone can help explain or sort out the Quad/Oct/CPU speed considerations in terms of RTAS, I'd appreciate it.