PC Upgrade

T

TornadoTed

New member
I'm considering upgrading my processor from a Intel P4 2.66 GHz to a new 3.06 GHz processor. Is it really worth it?

I don't know enough about computers, how much difference will I notice, will it be significant?

I guess numerically it just doesn't seem that much of a jump, any thoughts?
 
What about a 128/256 Mb Graphics card to replace my Radeon 7000 64 Mb one?

Will this speed up the window re draws or is this determined by the software?

By the way I'm running Cubase SX3
 
You are the only judge of whether or not a processor upgrade will be worth the bang for the buck, however, the video card issue is a no brainer. Go with all of the VRAM you can afford.
 
You are right; PCs do not scale up in a straight-line fashion. (The problem is Windows...)

In most cases you have to make a BIG jump to see any difference at all.

You may be better off maxing out the ram and running 2 very fast hard drives.
If plug-ins are causing you problems, think about off-loading them to a UAD or Powercore processor card or by ethernet to another PC using Cubase's SystemLink or www.fxteleport.com
 
There are lots of different factors that go into processor speed as well that you would need to consider: Front Side Bus Speed, how much cache memory they have, also the core of the chip (Prescott I think is the newest P4). If your current processor is not keeping you from using plug-ins or something, then I wouldn't bother with an upgrade, and you probably wouldn't see that much difference in that step anyways. With processors it's always a game of holding out as long as possible, then snatching up the best thing you can afford when you do decide to jump. Also, on your next upgrade, I would consider going with a 64 bit processor to prepare for the future.
 
TimO was going in the same direction I'm thinking...what's the mission? What are you going to do with the machine? Strictly as a DAW? If so, what applications are you running and what OS? The 3.06...is it a hyperthreading version? Some applications will take advantage...other's won't. What other components do you currently have in the pc?

Tell us a little more about what you have, what you want it to do and what doesn't it do well for you now.

Not bustin' your chops but your question was something of a can of worms with a number of directions for us to lead you.
 
Pretty much what I thought. I've already ordered another gig of RAM (1 to 2 gig) and was gonna change the video card. I thought the processor would be the least effective upgrade. I've got 2 UAD-1's already and I'm gonna get a magma and 2 more and hold off on the processor.
 
Make sure to check your motherboard manual to get the correct type of ram chips and/or new processor chip. Not all motherboards are the same nor can handle any ole type of component yu want to install.
 
Yeah I got a free programme off the net called Sandra Lite which gives you all the information about your PC. I've then gone on the Intel site and sought all the technical specs and compatible processors for my motherboard. I know a little about computers, just not much about upgrading as I've never done it before. I've only ever owned 2 PC's, one in the studio and one in the house for internet, word processing etc and never upgraded either of them.

I guess I want to know what difference I will experience going from a 2.66GHz processor to a 3.06GHz one or a 64Mb Graphics card to a 128Mb one for example.

I know that a RAM boost is probably the biggest bang for the buck, got them babies coming in the post.
 
Actually,
A big fast video card is the LAST thing you want since it will tend to suck all the bandwidth off of your bus. A low end card should be fine (or the one you have). Get more RAM, you are not going to see hardly any improvement going from 2.6 to 3.0 Ghz unless you go up a generation in chipset
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top