Dual Core or Quad Core? Is Multicore worth it?

[jbfunk3]

Also as far is the IGP on the 790gx chipset, it comes with 512MB of memory for video, which should be more than adequate for integrated graphics of an audio workstation.
Cheers

Yes, but is that SHARED memory???

The motherboard comes with 512MB of memory for the graphics processor. That memory is in addition to whatever memory one would put on the motherboard itself. These are nothing like the old intel motherboards with "integrated graphics." The new intel H55, H57 motherboards emulate the AMD series. The AMD 780g, 785g, and 790g motherboards are pretty sweet. The best is the 790g. The guys over at Gearslutz who use AMD really like'em. They give you great bang for your buck when building an AMD based DAW.

[wehkah]

hej Folks...

I use an ASUS P5QL-Pro Board with Intel E8400 and 4GB PC1066 Kingston HyperX with an older Gforce 6600, my nice M-Audio Delta 1010LT and it works really stable. i do not prefer a amd system for making music.

cheers
T

[Imaulle]

http://www.microcenter.com/single_produ ... id=0302727

Intel i7 920 for $199


why buy anything else? lol


if you can wait though.. the hex-core chips from intel are coming out soon....

[jbfunk3]

http://www.microcenter.com/single_produ ... id=0302727

Intel i7 920 for $199


why buy anything else? lol


if you can wait though.. the hex-core chips from intel are coming out soon....

I wouldn't because I'm still paying about $200 for a decent 1366 motherboard, $150+ for DDR3 triple channel memory and a graphics card + $200 for the cpu. For hundreds less, I can assemble a Phenom II X4 965 system with integrated graphics that gives me roughly 90% performance of the I7 920. Not to mention I'll be able to upgrade to a 6 core AMD cpu which will most likely be far cheaper than Intel's Gulftown 6 core which rumors are already saying will be over $1000 for the cpu. I don't criticize people for getting i920's. It's all a matter of choice and philosophy, but at this point, my money's with AMD.

[Imaulle]

AMD blows hard. Intel or nothing.

[jbfunk3]

AMD blows hard. Intel or nothing.

Hey tiger...you get on with yo bad self. It's your world, I'm just livin' in it.

[kitekrazy]

AMDs are great for the budget.

I have a Phenom x4 9950, Intel Q6600 and the only thing noticeable is they reduce rendering times for video. My other 2 are DC systems. I haven't noticed anything remarkable using quads over dual cores in audio.

I haven't even come close to choking the resources on my systems to merit moving up to the newer generation of processors. An Intel Q6600 is still a great processor.

[epjl2000]

Hey jbfunk I'm wondering exactly the same thing..

If live doesn't benefit from say, core7, it seems such a waste to get it if the main purpose is to maximize live's performance.

[McQ714]

AMD blows hard. Intel or nothing.

do you work for Intel??? or do they give you handjobs for slamming AMD?

STFU! you have no idea what you are talking about...

here's the performance test results for my self-built custom AMD daw pc:

1. Ableton Live CPU Meter: 20-21%
2. Desktop: Custom Rackmount DAW with Asus M3A79-T Deluxe mobo
3. OS: Windows 7 Pro 64
4. Ableton Live version: 8.1.1
5. CPU Make, Model, and Speed: AMD Phenom II x4 955 overclocked to 3.61 GHz
6. Amount of RAM: 8 GB DDR2
7. Soundcard: RME HDSPe Multiface 2 and PCIe card with 3.08.2 drivers
8. Hard Disk Drive Speed: 10K rpm
9. Number of playback tracks: all 8

at 256 samples, meter read 22%
at 128 samples, meter read 23%
at 64 samples, meter read 27%
at 32 samples, meter read 35%

[cotdagoo]

yeah.. if you're saying amd is shit.. please back that up with ... well something at least?

got myself the lower x6 (2.8ghz) but read that the 3.2ghz amd x6 pretty much beats most i7 processors up to like i7 980 or whatever the top of the line i7 is. at that point they are fairly close to even - just the 3.2ghz x6 costs much much less!

running 2 htpc's with dual core intel cpus.. more intel on my laptop c2d -- but absolutely loving amd's phenom line for my main DAW/desktop. had an amd phenom x4 9850 2.5ghz prior to the x6 for my main DAW as well. never had any issues, or felt i needed to go intel for any reason. only used intel dual cores in my htpc's because they were clocked a little higher than amd's for decoding 1080p content, etc. happy with both!

[ewistrand]

with windows 7 the 4 cores / 8 threads from HT is 99.99999999999999999% the same as having 8 physical cores

Not so as far as audio apps go. Sure, the app might read your system as having eight cores, but it's eight cores running at half the speed of a normal core. And, NI apps do not like hyperthreading.

The i7's a good processor for both Live and your NI plugins. Just disable HT.

Your NI forum moderator,
ew

[McQ714]

so in NI's tests, have AMD's phenom II processors run better than Intel's i-series?

[3dot...]

and how do you turn off HT?

[LoopStationZebra]

Re: turning off HT to get better performance:

I'd like to see some hard data performance tests to back up that claim or STFU/GTFO.

To hyper thread or not to hyper thread has been an endless debate in terms of DAW usage. Some devs tell you it's best to disable HT based on their in-house tesfs and data. Yet to my knowledge not one has publically provided test results. I'm ready to be corrected, however. It's just not enough to say "you should turn off HT because on my system I noticed drop-outs, lol.

[ewistrand]

so in NI's tests, have AMD's phenom II processors run better than Intel's i-series?

No. If HT's disabled, i7s are hard to beat, period. I use a Phenom II myself, but that's mostly a budget consideration on my part.

ew