Best Processor Upgrade?

[chrisrulesmore]

I am pushing my system to the max at the moment and am looking to upgrade my Processor, Motherboard, and RAM. Currently I'm using a Pentium IV 2.0 ghz and I am maxed out at a gig of RAM. I'm also using two hard drives as recommended by digidesign.

I have a good friend who is a computer specialist, but I have no idea about the best processor for doing pc based audio production. Or should I be running dual processors instead?

I'm sure this has been discussed ad nauseum, but I would welcome any quick recommendations.

Or if you think the Pentium 4 2ghz is sufficient, perhaps I could get away with a new motherboard allowing more RAM?

-Chris

[manning1]

you might provide info on your current track and plug in counts your maxing out out at. ..so folks can make a more informed recommendation.
it might only be a simple upgrade needed to your current system. like maybe a better recording hard drive with faster full throttle transfer rates.
it might help me to help you also if i new what hard drives your useing currently.
please supply model numbers. and how much disc cache they have ?? 2mb ??
8mb ??
one possibility on lower track counts if your maxing out it might be that your useing a drive with a smaller cache. memory can help also of course.
you might also check that DMA is enabled on your hard drives in control panel....often overlooked basic stuff.
please reply with more info.
if you wanted to upgrade typically folks would look at amd 64 and opterons.
and dual cores etc. but you might not need to. need more info.

[catfish11]

p4 2ghz is not sufficient
that being said if you are using digidesign hardware
the best place to ask is the digidesign forum

that being said , again

what's is not sufficient
track count, plugs, vsti's ?

more info is needed

you do not change the motherboard to put the old processor back in, there are different chip-sets and what not now-a-days, different ram, new hard drive protocols

your processor is from the last century, dude

to run digi stuff a costco hp or dell would give you a lot of bang for the buck, check the DUC (digi forum) about what other's are using

[aussie_techie]

the best desktops threat on the DUC might be a good place to start

[allencollins]

Originally Posted by catfish11

p4 2ghz is not sufficient

not always true. What kind of hard disk(s) do you have?

The bottom line is CPU has only little to do with playing back pcm files on a hard disk. I think a 2hzgig is ample for most applications. SCSI bus mastering harware and a 10k to 15k spindle speed hdd is more vital to pcm play back than cpu speed.
Sure they all play a role in performance as does ram and your os but 90% of playback performance is based the hard disk and the hard disk controller.

A good bus mastering full duplex i/o card is essential. CPU has more to do with effects performance and midi playback. I have done extensive tests in this area.

A 2gig cpu with an say an adaptec 3940uw and a 15k spindle hdd will allow you to play back around 250+ tracks of audio. A 3.6 gighz with a 5k spindle speed ide drive would give you 40 tracks if you lucky.

Though cpu, ram and hdd speed all play a role in overall performace, HDD speed and a good i/o card is what allows you to playback lots of tracks. I have not done any test with seta harware but scsi hdd will give you 20x the performance of an ide setup