Athlon 64 vs Pentium 4 HT?

[dynomike]

Hey guys.

I never post on this board, but I'm looking for a new PC to run Sonar 2.2, possibly sonar 3, and Wavelab. I am really interested in how the new AMD Athlon 64 chips stack up against the P4 Hyperthreading chips for Sonar... I just read that sonar 3 is compatible with HT but I don't know if it really makes use of the 64-bit processing that the AMD offers. Cost is an issue as well, so keep that in consideration. I'd love to hear if you guys have any insight.

I have a MOTU 2408 and a sblive that I hardly use (occassionally for soundfonts)

Mike

[markpar]

Until a 64-bit Windows comes out, no Windows program can take advantage of a 64-bit processor. But, since there are programs that can take advantage of multiproc systems, I'd advise you to go in the multiproc direction.

-mark

[mtw]

There does exist a version of 64 bit windows xp. Until applications are compiled with a 64 bit compiler they can't take full advantage of the capabilities of a 64 bit chip.

That being said, the 64 bit athlons are wicked fast. Personally I would wait until the market matures a bit more before spending the cash.

[mrc]

HT is best left off for audio applications. Steinberg and now Sonar 3.1 balance the load with dual processor systems. Duallies kick ass. There is a Tyan Tiger dual 64 bit board for under $250, but I haven't heard how it works with audio, yet.

[drliebs]

Too much smoke and mirrors from the two sides as to which is fastest, best. It will be 64 bit eventually but not today, and the prices are not worth it until they start to become mainstream, by then you will probaly be ready to upgrade again. I would hold off and get the fastsest non 64 bit chip, fastest bus and lots and lots of RAM.

[brew]

I am really interested in how the new AMD Athlon 64 chips stack up against the P4 Hyperthreading chips for Sonar

What's better, a GMC Jimmy or a Chevy Blazer?

[dynomike]

What's better, a GMC Jimmy or a Chevy Blazer?

Come on...

[dynomike]

Would an older Athlon MP (dual, 2600 or so) or a single Athlon 64 (3200) be better then.. considering they would cost around the same, probably a little more for the MP system, I'm not sure if its worth it.

I've heard that the 64s are extremely fast from so many people I tend to be leaning that direction.. but also have heard from more audio people that the interface in sonar runs a LOT faster on a dual processor system even when you've got a lot of plug-ins running.

I think I really need an LCD monitor most of all.. damn crt making my pickups buzz. A whole system upgrade perhaps, well I do have a tax return coming my way... thanks for all the replies by the way.

mike

[stillafool]

The one I've found recommended most on the digi, cubase, and sonar forums is the ASUS p 4 800 board (three year warranty, firewire, all sorts of shit), with a pentium 4 cpu (800 fsb), and 1024 megs of ram. I'd probably go with a western digital 8mb cache drive. I know alot of people swear by different configurations -- liquid cooled cases, overclocking, scsi/raid/blah blah -- especially when they want to sell you something. I get intel because I know it's always going to be compatible. With athlon, there's always a small chance that something won't work the way it's supposed to.

[mtw]

Would an older Athlon MP (dual, 2600 or so) or a single Athlon 64 (3200) be better then.. considering they would cost around the same, probably a little more for the MP system, I'm not sure if its worth it.

My personal recommendation would be go with the dual system. The performance increase gained by using 2 processors would be greater than the 64-bit chip. This has a lot to do with the fact that Sonar isn't itself a 64 bit application, so it can't take full advantage of a 64 bit CPU.

By the time 64 bit chips become mainstream it will be time to upgrade that dual CPU and the cost will have come waaay down.

[apropos of nothing]

Wish my soundcard (aardvark) worked with dual procs. I'll be doing 64-bit for my next upgrade.

[Mr. Dipity]

HT is best left off for audio applications. Steinberg and now Sonar 3.1 balance the load with dual processor systems. Duallies kick ass. There is a Tyan Tiger dual 64 bit board for under $250, but I haven't heard how it works with audio, yet.

Could you expand on that, or point us in the direction of your info?

Thanks!

[mrc]

Hi, My name is mrc and I'm a gear slut. I broke yesterday, and bought a Barton and msi board. I'm gonna push the 333 chip to 400 and get 3200 cheap. I can feel a software purchase coming on as well, so I can use my old duallie system to run vst stuff. Oh man, 5+ghz with fxteleport waz just too much to resist, man, I feel so wasted, man...wasted...18 maybe...but yeah here's the info of the tyan:
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[getreel]

I run a dual PIII 1gHz system. I know it's kinda old now being a PIII and all but I like it. I was wondering what audio apps take advantage of both processors? I am running Sound Forge 7 which I know does use both CPUs. I also run Nuendo but can't seem to find out if it is using both CPUs. It seems fast enough. what else is there? Sonar 2.2 does?

[drliebs]

This seems like it would be a great topic and would probably get more responses if you posted it seperately.