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Hi!

I'm having some problems...I use a hercules 16/12FW interface and my computer is a old amd 2800+ with 2 gb of ram. It's having a hard time working with 48channels and vst:s, so I figured I'd upgrade it.

Here's the deal: for me to go into brand new technology it would require a new interface since the herc does'nt work with 64-bit systems. So I wan't to build a "monster" from the ages I guess duh So a machine running win xp 32-bit is what I want to build. So 2:nd hand products is what I would be searching for.

I must say that I'm not that into computers that I would have noticed had been great products under that era. So I started with the processor and found a pentium 4 3,2Ghz but single core. That one was 32-bit but after some reading I found out that under some time manufacturers made processors 32/64-bit compatible that was capable of running with 32-bit OS. After hours with google I think I need some help...

Could someone give me some pointers on witch processors would be capable of running win xp 32-bit that would be multiple cores and say +3Ghz speed? Once I find a good processor to build from I think I'll find some motherboard and ram to go with it+cooling, so I just need help with choosing processor.

Appreciate any help!

Regards,
Fredrik

Comments

Boswell Fri, 03/15/2013 - 05:33

Almost any processor will run Win XP 32-bit; the 64-bit processors simply run in 32-bit mode. In terms of the number of processors and cores, Win XP Home edition only uses a single processor, but it can be dual-core. Win XP Pro can support two processors, each multi-core (up to quad). Note that the core scheduling algorithms in XP were very primitive compared with later versions of Windows, so you may not get very efficient operation of more than one core.

My recommendation would be to look at getting a modern PC running Win7 Pro (32-bit or 64-bit). You need to check that the processor has [="http://www.tomshardware.com/news/windows-xp-mode-virtualization-intel,7709.html"]Hardware Virtualization[/]="http://www.tomshard…"]Hardware Virtualization[/] capability. From there you can download the [[url=http://="http://windows.micr…"]Win7 XP mode[/]="http://windows.micr…"]Win7 XP mode[/] and run it almost as though it were a (fast) XP machine.

Guillemot Corporation might know whether their old Hercules interface is supported under the Win7 XP mode, but that's a bit of a long shot. There is a good chance that it will work, but it's not guaranteed. A lot would depend on the FireWire chip set on the motherboard and its drivers.

Nutti Sun, 03/17/2013 - 13:31

alright, I need to check into that!

I got a hold of a machine with asus p6t deluxe motherboard, i7-920 witch I overclocked to 3GHz, a huge heatzink, 6gb ram, a radeon hd5870 graphic card, a huge 1000w powersupply and 2 western digital black hdd:s. I also got a fractal design soundproof case to all that, so it's very cool and quiet! cpu temp @ max 59'C under stresstest :)

Nutti Wed, 05/15/2013 - 20:44

Yes I did! :) I got 64bit win7, tweaked the processor up to 3,2ghz, 60gb ssd, 24gb ram and presonus firestudio daisychained with presonus firestudio project :)

I just got one thing bothering me though, if I activate hyperthreading on the processor my daw (studio one artist) freezes and windows hits blue screen in a few minutes. Very frustrating since I get aprox. 20% of processor usage down with hyperthreading.

Ive read on the presonus forum that they recommend turning it off and that it could possible be supported in newer versions of studio one but I don't know if they did anything to this with the 2.5 version. Any thoughts on this?

godchuanz Wed, 05/15/2013 - 21:50

Hyper-threading is good, but unfortunately could be too unstable for audio. I'm not sure the latest versions would solve this, as the problem may be partly with how the OS kernel handles threads, especially real-time sensitive threads. Some people even have to disable EIST to get audio working stably. We can only hope the future CPU architectures take into account how real-time audio/video should be handled.

Do try to set Windows to optimize performance for "Background services" and see if it helps. Also try and disable those unused LAN ports and other bells and whistles on your mainboard in BIOS and see if you can get HT to work satisfactorily.

anonymous Thu, 05/16/2013 - 05:38

Boswell, post: 402158 wrote: Almost any processor will run Win XP 32-bit; the 64-bit processors simply run in 32-bit mode. In terms of the number of processors and cores, Win XP Home edition only uses a single processor, but it can be dual-core. Win XP Pro can support two processors, each multi-core (up to quad). Note that the core scheduling algorithms in XP were very primitive compared with later versions of Windows, so you may not get very efficient operation of more than one core.

My recommendation would be to look at getting a modern PC running Win7 Pro (32-bit or 64-bit). You need to check that the processor has [="http://www.tomshardware.com/news/windows-xp-mode-virtualization-intel,7709.html"]Hardware Virtualization[/]="http://www.tomshard…"]Hardware Virtualization[/] capability. From there you can download the [[url=http://="http://windows.micr…"]Win7 XP mode[/]="http://windows.micr…"]Win7 XP mode[/] and run it almost as though it were a (fast) XP machine.

Awesome info.

I love this place.

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