Does Live take advantage of 8 cores?

[polyslax]

Well.. i didn't find any really proper answers or an answer by some ableton employee. That's why i started this thread.

I don't understand why an Able-person hasn't just stepped in to answer this question?

[Daim]

L7 supports up to 8 cores on a Mac. L8 will support up to 64 cores on a Mac.

that's from the 2nd of those 3

[nebulae]

I recall that when Live went multi-core capable (v6), it was tested with 8 cores and worked fine. The issue is that each track is mapped to one core. So if you overload that one core with like 100 inserts on a track, then the other 7 cores won't get much use. In all likelihood, this is a very rare situation. You should be ready to kick some ass with an 8-core machine.

[Daim]

So it really comes down to how you use Live. I think for me it's more useful to get the 8 core version since i'm mainly using audio tracks or one synthplugin with only a few native effects after it. And i usually have more than 8 tracks I think.

Propably Live 8 will have better use for an 8 core Nehalem Machine than Live 7 because it is 'seeing' 16 cores due to Intel's hyperthreading technology.

[nebulae]

^ I won't speculate on what Live 8 can or can't do, aside from what we know from the Betas. Also, not a good idea to speculate about new technologies like the new intels. Last time they tried hyperthreading, it was a horrible idea. Bottom line is that if you do a lot of multitracking, the more cores the better.

[Daim]

here are some benchmarks.. don't really make the decision between 2x2,26 and 1x2,93 easier

[rbro]

here are some benchmarks.. don't really make the decision between 2x2,26 and 1x2,93 easier

Yeah, I've been checking it out. Think I'm gonna pull the trigger on the 2.26 Octo tomorrow.....

[Daim]

How much RAM will you get? I wonder how Nehalem handles 4x2GB in comparison to 6x1GB.

Trichannel access is faster but when does it happen? Will 4x2GB be handled like 2x2dual channel (which would make 6x1GB a better decision) or like 1 trichannel + 1 single channel.. so many questions..

[rbro]

How much RAM will you get? I wonder how Nehalem handles 4x2GB in comparison to 6x1GB.

Trichannel access is faster but when does it happen? Will 4x2GB be handled like 2x2dual channel (which would make 6x1GB a better decision) or like 1 trichannel + 1 single channel.. so many questions..

I'd like to get 4x2GB so I have 4 slots free, but then I have to wait 3-5 weeks. Still waffling on that.......

[Daim]

Hm after those latest results I think i'll go with the 6x2GB option. Propably it could be a bit cheaper to get the 4x2GB version and upgrade it afterwards with another 2x2GB but I'm too lazy for that.

[ekwipt]

For the 2009 Quad stick 3 x 2Gb stcks and you'll run the ram at full bandwidth (26Gb/s)
For the 2008 8 Core stick 6 x 2Gb stcks and you'll run the ram at full bandwidth (26Gb/s)

Fill the 4th and it only runs at 8Gb/s
Fill the 7th and 8th they only run at 8Gb/s

So the others are a major waste of money especially for Live or Logic for that matter as they are only 32bit apps

[rbro]

Interesting thread here:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=666626

[rbro]

Hm after those latest results I think i'll go with the 6x2GB option. Propably it could be a bit cheaper to get the 4x2GB version and upgrade it afterwards with another 2x2GB but I'm too lazy for that.

I'm thinking the same thing now. You'd save $50-60 by buying 4x2 from Apple and the rest from Crucial, but I may just bite the bullet and get it all from Apple.

[nebulae]

Hm after those latest results I think i'll go with the 6x2GB option. Propably it could be a bit cheaper to get the 4x2GB version and upgrade it afterwards with another 2x2GB but I'm too lazy for that.

I'm thinking the same thing now. You'd save $50-60 by buying 4x2 from Apple and the rest from Crucial, but I may just bite the bullet and get it all from Apple.

Why save money when you don't have to! Give it to Jobs!

[tw1nstates]

I recall that when Live went multi-core capable (v6), it was tested with 8 cores and worked fine. The issue is that each track is mapped to one core. So if you overload that one core with like 100 inserts on a track, then the other 7 cores won't get much use. In all likelihood, this is a very rare situation. You should be ready to kick some ass with an 8-core machine.

It's not that rare once you get into sends.

It happens to me a lot. . .

*BOO*

The killers are - Minimonsta or the Arturia V collection stuff, then amp modelers, especially when you have 4 or 5 running in parallell (split down into stereo racks so you atre actually talking about 8 or 10).

That's your puter finished