CPU purchase dilemma.. i7 950 vs. Dual Xeon 5520's

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sweetjesus
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CPU purchase dilemma.. i7 950 vs. Dual Xeon 5520's

Post by sweetjesus » Tue Nov 16, 2010 5:08 am

Hello fellow nerd brethren,

I am looking at the next CPU upgrade. I'm tossing between an i7 950 (3.06ghz), 4 real cores or a Dual Xeon 5520 (2.24ghz x 8 cores). I will be mainly using the system with a 32 bit OS for the next year or till Live becomes 64 bit.

My main issue at the moment is that I need raw processing power and my current stuff on a quadcore Q6600 maxes my CPU out.

The i7 950 will set me back about $800AUD for a motherboard + CPU and RAM and the dual xeons will set me back about $1500 AUD. I don't mind spending the money if it will truly enhance the performance.

What do you guys think is the smarter option when it comes to price vs results?

Cheers,
SJ

Forge.
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Re: CPU purchase dilemma.. i7 950 vs. Dual Xeon 5520's

Post by Forge. » Tue Nov 16, 2010 5:55 am

what the hell are you doing to use that much power?

Don't be lazy, use freeze once in a while! :P

sweetjesus
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Re: CPU purchase dilemma.. i7 950 vs. Dual Xeon 5520's

Post by sweetjesus » Tue Nov 16, 2010 6:29 am

abletontrainer.com wrote:what the hell are you doing to use that much power?

Don't be lazy, use freeze once in a while! :P
sidechained tracks don't like to freeze!

Earwax69
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Re: CPU purchase dilemma.. i7 950 vs. Dual Xeon 5520's

Post by Earwax69 » Tue Nov 16, 2010 9:38 am

Just get a 930 with a 40$ air cooler and get it over 3.6ghz. 8-cores at 2.2ghz are not gonna help you much.

I have a older i7 860 at 3.8ghz with a 30$ Mugen 2 cooler. Its fast and really reliable. Just be sure the temp are under 70 degrees and voila.

Actually I often reduce the frequency to 3.2ghz to close some of my case fans, making the computer virtually silent, when I need critical listening. I dont notice any difference with Live.

A i7 will kick your q6600 ass anyway. I came from there, big difference especially in After Effects and 3d apps.

leggzter
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Re: CPU purchase dilemma.. i7 950 vs. Dual Xeon 5520's

Post by leggzter » Tue Nov 16, 2010 10:14 am

I currently have the dual Xeon Option, and my main concern is that NONE of my audio applications are even coming close to using the available power.
I'm not sure if the bottleneck are the daws themselves (I use Ableton and Cubase), or ASIO, but there is clearly a reasonable point to be made that Today's top machines are overkill.
Cubase is the program I use that scale the best, but I have project's that are approaching 100% ASIO usage, yet only using 15% of my machines recourse's in task manager.
Of the two processor types, I would probably go for raw horsepower over lots of cores, as Today's DAW's simply cannot scale (use all available cores) very well.
ITS NOT WHAT YOU GOT.........
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The Carpet Cleaner
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Re: CPU purchase dilemma.. i7 950 vs. Dual Xeon 5520's

Post by The Carpet Cleaner » Tue Nov 16, 2010 3:44 pm

sweetjesus wrote:
abletontrainer.com wrote:what the hell are you doing to use that much power?

Don't be lazy, use freeze once in a while! :P
sidechained tracks don't like to freeze!
Then render as audio and move on.

You have to use your limitation as a way to get more creative and get a better result.

sweetjesus
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Re: CPU purchase dilemma.. i7 950 vs. Dual Xeon 5520's

Post by sweetjesus » Tue Nov 16, 2010 3:48 pm

Earwax69 wrote:Just get a 930 with a 40$ air cooler and get it over 3.6ghz. 8-cores at 2.2ghz are not gonna help you much.

... A i7 will kick your q6600 ass anyway. I came from there, big difference especially in After Effects and 3d apps.
This is pretty sound advice. I'm very into the idea of overclocking, but no idea how and where to begin. I may pick your brain once I get the new setup if you dont mind :)
leggzter wrote:I currently have the dual Xeon Option, and my main concern is that NONE of my audio applications are even coming close to using the available power.

This is really interesting! My Q6600 only shows overall 40% cpu usage (about the same per core) when Live is up at 80% etc.

I wonder if the soundcard has any affect on this. I use a Layla3G at the moment, but have an RME Fireface for gigs and could give it a little try sometime.

Caymus Cab
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Re: CPU purchase dilemma.. i7 950 vs. Dual Xeon 5520's

Post by Caymus Cab » Tue Nov 16, 2010 3:51 pm

I am currently saving for a new computer to update this old MacBook Pro i am using know. In reading this thread I had no idea that some apps would not take advantage of multiple core'(I'm looking at the iMac quad core).. so am I just wasting money of I go this route? Can Ableton live take advantage of quad core's? How do I know which apps will take advantage of all core's efficiently and not half assed, is there a spec to look for?

Thanks!
Ableton 8

2be
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Re: CPU purchase dilemma.. i7 950 vs. Dual Xeon 5520's

Post by 2be » Tue Nov 16, 2010 4:00 pm

Go for the i7.
While Live has Multicore support, it's somewhat limited. It tries to split the work among the different cores, which works perfectly fine if you are just using simple routings (e.g. 1 VST per track, no sends/sidechaining). But just by using a common send among several tracks (e.g. reverb), they all get calculated by the same core.
Also, only tracks can be split up, so if you are using huge Instrument Racks, you won't benefit from additional cores.
So in my opinion, you are better of with higher clock speed than multiple cores (2 should be enough).
As the i7 950 has a nice clock speed, 4 cores, and has been dropped in price by a huge amount (was twice as expensive a few months ago!), I can really recommend it. If you are just going straight for best bang for the buck, you will be probably better off with a smaller CPU.

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Re: CPU purchase dilemma.. i7 950 vs. Dual Xeon 5520's

Post by djsynchro » Wed Nov 17, 2010 3:46 am

Maybe go UAD all the bread & butter stuff EQ/comp/reverb delay is SOLID and it does take strain off the CPU?

sweetjesus
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Re: CPU purchase dilemma.. i7 950 vs. Dual Xeon 5520's

Post by sweetjesus » Wed Nov 17, 2010 8:49 am

Thanks for everyone's advice.

I ended up getting the i7 950 with an SSD drive. Installing things now, will see how it goes I guess!

Syncro, A UAD sounds awesome (excuse the pun) except my main issues are with using copious amounts of Guitar Rig, Decapitator (soundtoys) and the synths I use. It's not uncommon for me to have 20 synths in a project, lots of them doing unison and fun things which turn the CPU into a vst brothel.

I figure, the 950 will last me a while longer and at that point, 6-8 core single chips will be affordable.

sweetjesus
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Re: CPU purchase dilemma.. i7 950 vs. Dual Xeon 5520's

Post by sweetjesus » Sun Nov 21, 2010 10:48 pm

Just came back to report.. holy hell.

The 950 CPU + SSD makes for a very impressive system!

The SSD makes launching any application feel like it's immediate and the i7 950 gives Live more CPU than it know's what to do with.

At this point I think if I had spend another $1k on the additional xeon cpus and the additional cost of the motherboard, it would have been a bit of a waste.

#1thelark
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Re: CPU purchase dilemma.. i7 950 vs. Dual Xeon 5520's

Post by #1thelark » Mon Nov 22, 2010 9:14 am

sweetjesus wrote:
Earwax69 wrote:Just get a 930 with a 40$ air cooler and get it over 3.6ghz. 8-cores at 2.2ghz are not gonna help you much.

... A i7 will kick your q6600 ass anyway. I came from there, big difference especially in After Effects and 3d apps.
This is pretty sound advice. I'm very into the idea of overclocking, but no idea how and where to begin. I may pick your brain once I get the new setup if you dont mind :)
Then you might wanna check how much you can get out of your Q6600 first.... I ran mine at 3 ghz that might be a good solution until you *really* need the extra power. If you are still using the boxed cooler go for a new one and maybe those ~30 bucks will be sufficient.

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