To Dual or Not to Dual........

Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2003 1:51 am

Hi all. Need some help deciding what to do for a new system. I'm using nuendo, SX with Reaktor/Atmosphere/Stylus, UAD-1, need firewire(896), waves gold bundle. Can't decide if I want to go with the A7M266-D W/(2) AMD MP 1800's or the P4PE-GBL/sata/1394 w/ P4-2.53Bghz.

Any thoughts to get me in the right direction?
Great forum btw! :c:

Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2003 1:55 am

Hi

I'm thinking about going for a dual CPU system as soon as PT 6.0 is out, meanwhile I'm using an Asus A7M266 with a 1800XP, and it works fine, Asus makes great boards; it seems that Fats on this same board has a dual CPU with the same board as you would like to get (A7M266 D) and I guess it kills, maybe he could chime i for some more infos.

Cheers

L.G.

Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2003 6:19 pm

I'm running a dual 1800+ on the ASUS board with 1 gig of ram and it has taken everything I have thrown at it. 24 bit, high track counts, lots 'o plug ins. This system is everything I hoped it would be. I'm at about $2600 for the whole system, 16 in / out converters, sound card flat panel 17" monitor, the whole bowl of wax. It kicks major butt! Everything a TDM system could do at 1/3 the expense. Happy, happy, joy, joy!!! Fats
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tannoy, Dynaudio, Blue Sky, JBL, Earthworks, Westlake, NS 10's Very Happy

, Genelec, Hafler, KRK, and PMC
Those are good. …………………….. Pick one.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2003 7:33 pm

A couple of months ago, I considered buying an A7M266-D, but after a little online research, decided against it.

The A7M266-D was released about a year and a half ago, therefore has none of the newer technologies, nor many features at all. It only supports PC2100, with only two slots useable if it is unregistered RAM. It has five PCI slots, two of which are 66Mhz / 64 bit. They are supposed to be reverse-compatible with 33Mhz cards, but I've read that is not the case (?). It has onboard 1.1 USB. They include a PCI card for USB 2.0, but it comes at the expense of losing a 33Mhz PCI slot. It has no LAN, Firewire, or RAID. The onboard audio is CMI8738. The overclocking capabilities on this card are very limited, including the fact that you must use a jumper on the motherboard to select your CPU voltage, rather than having the ability to adjust it in the BIOS, as on most "modern" motherboards. The total cost for these "luxuries", including the two MP1800+ processors AND two heatsink/fans ... around $550!

On the other hand, the P4PE includes three slots for your unregistered PC2700, six open and useable PCI slots, USB 2.0 (6 total!), Gigabit LAN, SATA, Firewire, ADI1980 6-channel CODEC audio, and it's the overclocker's wet dream. This "deluxe" version, with the 2.53Ghz CPU (retail version, with heatsink and fan), will cost about $374. You could actually buy a 2.8Ghz CPU (retail version), and STILL spend less than the A7M266-D alternative!

I just thought that I'd bring-up some of the facts regarding this comparison, to hopefully help you in making an educated decision.

Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2003 8:56 pm

Hey Fats....
what latency settings can you get down to with the Multiprocessor function activated in Cubase SX? Wait...are you running SX yet? Or are you running regular Cubase VST? VST doesn't support dual processors....
Please let me know. This is the biggest factor in getting a dual system. Dual CPU systems are more for mixing than low latency recording.
In Nuendo with the Multiprocessor function activated getting down to 23ms is the lowest you can go without pops and crackles and other wonderful issues of that nature.
Cheers
Opus

Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2003 9:03 pm

Opus,
I am running VST 5.0. Very happy with it and I doubt I'll upgrade for quite a while. I know SX is a bit better but VST 5.0 is doing everything I want and if it ain't broke .... But if it gets to the point that it's something I feel I need, then I'll take that step. As SMAWG said, if I had it to do over, I would have done the ANUS, live and learn. This works and sounds better than I had hoped. I'm very happy. Oh, latency is down to 6 ms. ..... Fats
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tannoy, Dynaudio, Blue Sky, JBL, Earthworks, Westlake, NS 10's

, Genelec, Hafler, KRK, and PMC
Those are good. …………………….. Pick one.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2003 2:40 am

Quote:

In Nuendo with the Multiprocessor function activated getting down to 23ms is the lowest you can go without pops and crackles and other wonderful issues of that nature.

Isnt this close to unacceptable!!!

23 MILISECONDS. my p3 866 + creamware = 4 ms [actual measured]
with old gadgetlabs 8*24 card 6-13 ms.

I guess you dont use any VSTi's

Maak

Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2003 11:38 pm

Thanks for the response all. I think the winner here for me is gonna be the P4PE route. I got 2 uad-1's going in her. Just using the 1 right now in my P3 850 and all slots full(6)!

Funny thing is SonOfSmawg, up here the prices are a little different. For the P4PE-GBL/sata/1394 w/ P4-2.53Bghz the price is $417 and the A7M266-D W/(2) AMD MP 1800's I can get for $364 right now. There's a deal on the mp's. But I still think it makes more sense for me to go with the P4PE. Gonna need the slots.

So 23ms is the lowest you can go in nuendo with multiprocessor activated? Fats, how are you getting 4ms? Surprised

Posted: Sat Feb 01, 2003 11:17 pm

Fats
Ok, so your OS is taking advantage of the dual CPU's but your audio application is NOT!! You want to see even more power from your system? Upgrade to SX and check it out. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised my friend!
Maak
Well, I believe it was 23ms that was reported to me but I could be wrong. I need to confirm that so that's why I was asking Fats. Maybe they fixed it...still something that I may need to build a system for testing out though!
Cheers
Opus Very Happy

Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2003 11:00 am

Opus,
Would upgrading to Cubase SX give me lower latency?
Other than that I don't really need any more power at the moment. I sure at some point I will... Also wondering if I can use the songs / files I did in VST 5.0 in SX? If not I need to finish my current batch of things I'm doing before I switched.. Thanks, Fats
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tannoy, Dynaudio, Blue Sky, JBL, Earthworks, Westlake, NS 10's Very Happy

, Genelec, Hafler, KRK, and PMC
Those are good. …………………….. Pick one.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2003 4:19 pm

No upgrading won't give you lower latency as that's mainly up to the audio card manufacturer and their drivers they supply you with.
Yes, you can load the VST files within SX!
Cheers
Opus

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