most efficient computer for live?

andrew_ · Post by **andrew_** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 3:34 pm

i'm looking to get a computer that will run live the most efficiently, ie i dream of building songs with 150 tracks and lots of plugins running simultaneously. any suggestions? is it ram or processing power that's more important for this?

also i've heard that live is less efficient on mac than pc, is that true?

nate_D · Post by **nate_D** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 4:08 pm

150 tracks and plugins simultaneously?

mac has 8 core processors and i think you can load them full of ram.
cool song names btw

zappen · Post by **zappen** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 4:25 pm

it's true

andrew_ · Post by **andrew_** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 6:39 pm

yeah i'm definitely thinking of going mac pro, kind of wondering if anything else compares, and also can't remember where i heard that in general live runs smoother on a pc platform...

nate - re song names you mean at songstowearpantsto.com? click the titles to hear!

nate_D · Post by **nate_D** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 7:13 pm

My macbook runs Ableton Live smoother than my PC (3.4 ghz, 1 gb ram) ever did. BUT, for my pc's defense, its only a single core and I use it for games/music. So really my opinion doesn't count. My mac is just for music really.

nate_D · Post by **nate_D** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 7:15 pm

And yeah, sad sad toaster made of glass...

Michael-SW · Post by **Michael-SW** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 7:22 pm

If you really want the maximum horsepower, you want the fastest Intel quad core you can afford. I have no idea of Apple's pricing, but if you build your own PC, a quad core CPU is less than USD 100 more than a dual core (for a 2.8 or so GHz CPU).

What counts for speed is the CPU, not the OS. Perhaps PCs run Live a tiny bit faster, but that doesn't really matter.

bassreflex · Post by **bassreflex** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 10:55 pm

Michael-SW wrote:If you really want the maximum horsepower, you want the fastest Intel quad core you can afford. I have no idea of Apple's pricing, but if you build your own PC, a quad core CPU is less than USD 100 more than a dual core (for a 2.8 or so GHz CPU).

What counts for speed is the CPU, not the OS. Perhaps PCs run Live a tiny bit faster, but that doesn't really matter.

yes thats right... it is less than 100 more!