Sound Buffs! Dual or Not?

[TheKub]

If you were going to be producing digital music and stuff like mastering would a dual 850PIII system work faster than say a 2+Gig P4 or even a 2000+ Xp system. Also, would it be best to put as much ram a possible into it or is there a sweet spot?

 

[Bulldog7000]

Are you multi-tracking with it or are you merely using it to master 2track (stereo) recordings from DAT or similar to CD?

BDOG

 

[DSTA]

I'm a fan of dual systems, but unless you like tinkering a long time with software and especially driver installs, I'd not choose SMP for an audio only machine. Can be a huge pain in the neck to get to work with 'prosumer' and 'pro' boards alike.

What I'd get is:

* Intel chipset board
* a P4 (any speed northwood will do)
* as much RAM as you can afford (buys you more "undos" if nothing else)

IMO it's more important to get the audio equipment right, cheap mics + on board sound is not a good idea only to be able to pay for a 2.2 P4. I'm sure the resident DAW gurus will chime* in if you need assitance with that.


* Can I nominate this for "worst pun of the week"?

 

[joinT]

<< I'm sure the resident DAW gurus will chime* in if you need assitance with that.
* Can I nominate this for "worst pun of the week"? >>



VOTE #1

 

[jema]

Not all that many sound apps I know are SMP enabled so Id go for a single CPU solution. Things might have changed recently but some mastering apps ran under NT but most sequence software wanted 9x and if you go 9x you'll have no use of the second CPU.

Spend your money on a good soundcard from Terratec, RME or some other manufacturer (just dont buy Creative) and good outboard gear.

 

[Daovonnaex]

<< Not all that many sound apps I know are SMP enabled so Id go for a single CPU solution. Things might have changed recently but some mastering apps ran under NT but most sequence software wanted 9x and if you go 9x you'll have no use of the second CPU. >>

Cakewalk Sonar is fully optimized for SMP.

 

[dj4005]

You're likely to find out that a DAW's limitations are more in the area of disk access than CPU. That being the case, you might want to look at RAID before SMP.

Another consideration - a machine verbose enough to have SMP is likely to need sound-proofing unless in an already sound-proofed control room.

 

[jema]

Forgot to mention that one, fast disks are very important.

 

[Shack70]

Dual Processors depend on the app your running and the OS.

Go with the Faster single processor......I like the XP over the P4, but then again, it's personal choice