G5 Experiences..tell me about it.

[pinosmuse]

Ok,

Here's my story:

I currently run PT 7.1 on a PB 15" /1.67 GHz/ 1.5 GRam
It runs fine. I'm able to record up to 18 channels at once at buffersize 128.
That's ok for tracking/overdubbing, while using an external mixer to port all the channels to for headphone balances.
Only when mixing the in the box, the processor will not dig everything I want it to do.

Using Altiverb, Waves and URS stuff sounds great (IMHO), but it sucks on the CPU.
I'm not using very much softsynths or stuff like Reason (just some incidentally, mostly plain audio up to 32 tracks-48KHz, pretty high edit density)
I'm pretty fed up with making bounces just to free up CPU.
About time to upgrade to a G5 I suppose.

My Q is:

What will I experience when moving up to a G5 processor?
What will a single or dual 1.8 give me (they're dumped at the 2nd hand market at very reasonable prices)
And so on for all the more powerfull CPU's available.
Any difference between dual and dual-core?

A quad is out of my financial reach, so I'm not very interested in that setup.

I hope to gain a 100% increase over the PB. Will an 1.8 dual G5 do (hence PT 7), or do I need up to a 2.5 (just seen one for a good price..)
Don't start about RAM I understand that part. Just interested in CPU performance.

Thanks a lot!!!

[CME]

I just got a dual core and love it. As far as which one for you. I think your main focus should be dual proc/core systems. Since PT7 now takes advantage of this use it. I had considered a dual 1.8, but the new music production kit recommends dual 2.0 or higher. So I ended up getting a refurb 2.0 dual core. Basically here are the differences to look at. The first couple of generations G5's had DDR ram. I believe up to the dual core which have DDR2. DDR2 is faster and these systems can have up to 16 GB while earlier versions 8 was the max. How much difference this makes I'm not sure. The next major changes are the PCI slots. They started out as PCI, then PCI-X, and now PCI-e. Now as far as CPU goes they've continually upped the bus speed and L2 cache, and the newest ones are 1 GHz+ fsb with 1MB cache per core. So I guess in the end get the fastest you can afford. But you should see a pretty good increase in performance.

[pinosmuse]

Thanks for responding!
But I'm actually wondering how much I gain from upgrading to a G5 processor(s) compared to the G4 single setup I have now.
Are there any benchmark-like tests with PT?

[pinosmuse]

Post deleted by pinosmuse

[LoZion]

From barefeats.com:

Some of you have asked which G5 Power Mac models are most desirable. Whether you buy a new, refurbished or used G5 Power Mac, I recommend getting a model with 8 memory slots, 100/133MHz PCI-X slots, and 600W Power Supply. The table below gives the model number, etc., of these most desirable G5s.

Model Number clock speed processors intro date
M9031LL/A 1.8GHz single June 2003
M9032LL/A 2.0GHz dual June 2003
M9393LL/A 1.8GHz dual November 2003
M9455LL/A 2.0GHz dual June 2004
M9457LL/A 2.5GHz dual June 2004
M9748LL/A 2.3GHz dual April 2005
M9749LL/A 2.7GHz dual April 2005

All other models have only 4 memory slots, 33MHz PCI slots, 450W Power Supply, and slower frontside bus speeds.

Also check out apple's refurbs, you can get a dual 2.7 (in the US) for 2149$ Fastest mac after the Quad.
Alternatively, wait until May and run PT on a new intel mac...

[JFreak]

when mixing the in the box, the processor will not dig everything I want it to do

Well, what did you expect? I have a Quad G5 and even that beast is not digging everything I want it to do, and neither are the most powerful HD systems. You will just always want a little more than your system can handle. Just like with the old-skool analog consoles and outboard gear, plenty is just never enough; this fact leads to better decisions, which leads to better sound, which often leads to using _less_ gear than before. Only that you tend to buy better gear once your definition of good sound gets better. But that's another story.

Yes, G5 systems are more powerful than G4 laptops, but nothing is a Holy Grail if you want to eventually be free of limitations.

[pinosmuse]

Well, what did you expect? I have a Quad G5 and even that beast is not digging everything I want it to do, and neither are the most powerful HD systems. You will just always want a little more than your system can handle. Just like with the old-skool analog consoles and outboard gear, plenty is just never enough; this fact leads to better decisions, which leads to better sound, which often leads to using _less_ gear than before. Only that you tend to buy better gear once your definition of good sound gets better. But that's another story.

Yes, G5 systems are more powerful than G4 laptops, but nothing is a Holy Grail if you want to eventually be free of limitations.

Hey man,

"I hope to gain a 100% increase over the PB"
From my initial post.

I started out doing all that stuff on analog and am very aware of the benifits of limitations.
Right now I'd like my PT (for in the box stuff) to be able to act like a regular console.
Eq every channel and maybe some compression.
3/4 reverbs, some modulation.

Whatever, I'm just fed up with premixing the drums and a lot of other stuff to save up CPU.
It takes too much time.

All I like is twice the power I'm having now (not unlimited) and I'll be one happy camper.

[JFreak]

Quad Powermac can instantiate a hundred Waves IR reverbs, so if that's enough for you, just go for it and buy one. I was happy with G4 laptop but this G5 desktop is even nicer; however, I can bring them both down on their knees if I want to -- it's always about knowing the limitations.

(you could very well be fine with your laptop as well. external reverbs via spdif i/o saves a lot of cpu power, a trick that extended the laptop usage for me significantly. eq and delays don't eat a lot of power and compression is still better done analog. but if you want to be completely in the box, there are tools available. it just costs some.)