Computer Specs Pro Tools LE? BFD Lite, Guitar Rig 2 etc.???

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Jackbh241

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Hey.

Ive been recording for a while now using a Pro Tools Mbox2, running protools LE7 (upgrading to 8 when my computer is up to standards. Basically i've started using lots of RTAS plugins, primarily Guitar rig2, reason and hopefully BFD soon and my computer can no longer handle it. I'm planning to upgrade the CPU and RAM and was just wondering what you guys think? what is a decent step up with out spending $1,000's and 1,000s. I'm not looking for super computer, just enough to run this shit relatively fast.. :).

Currently:
AMD athlon 64 Processor 3000+
1.81 GHz, 960MB of RAM.

any other suggestions to speed up my computer on a budget? to run such applications, i understand BFD eats away at your ram, so any suggestions.

Any help would be amazing :). Thank you.
Jackxx
 
What kind of mobo? I'd suspect from the ram and CPU speed that it's a older PC which would be a good chance the ram is already maxed out.
 
hey, what is mobo? Motherboard perhaps? in which case i believe its a Gigabyte S series, amd 64 athlon x2 . not sure how else to describe the motherboard lol.
its not that old, but at the time that i built it i wasn't into recording, not any further than acid pro and a computer mic atleast haha. and yeh the RAM is definately maxed out, i was just wondering wether it would make more sense to upgrade the CPU aswell as the RAM. do you think just an upgrade in RAM would be beneficial?
thank you :)

any help would be great :).
Thanks xx
 
you'd really be best asking this in the Pro Tools forum. There's lots of compatibility issues which need to be addressed for this...
 
First thing, if you are just mixing with these plugs....see if your hardware buffer size is maxed out (or as high as it can go without crashing the app).

If you are looking at an AMD 64 3000 as a possible upgrade I think your board might be rounding the bend in terms of upgradability. Also if it is using DDR1 RAM, don't even bother as that type is past its prime and its pricing sweet spot :)

I personally find it a better long run investment to upgrade the mobo, CPU, and RAM simultaneously as I have been disappointed by the performance gained vs. money spent of upgrade paths in the past. The few times I did try to max out my board, I didn't really see much improvement overall in daily use and found myself quickly longing for another upgrade. Also, spending money on a single core at this point is kind of a waste as more and more programs are taking advantage of multi-core processors. Here is a possible starting point for a rock solid upgrade that should get you years of use (I would personally use these parts for maybe 3-4 years at least) without breaking the bank.

CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115036

Mobo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128359

RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146784

SATA Hard Drive(s) (Optional depending on need)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148262

Video Card (Optional depending on need)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130419

This is a pretty respectable little rig and assuming you bought everything above would only be $440 and that is if you didn't send in the rebates :)

I am an AMD fanboy myself, but as of late their budget/midrange selection just doesn't hold a candle to Intel's performance for the same price range. They supposedly have a few things in the works that look great...so here's hoping! I am currently running my reccomp on an Intel chip and very happy with the results.

One thing to note though, IDE controllers on motherboards are going away so take inventory of not only how many IDE devices you actually have...but where they are in your case as well! The mobo I put up also doesn't have an integrated video card, but there are others in the same price range that do.

Hope that information helps. You can flex the above parts as necessary to meet your budget and needs. If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to post!
 
Jackbh241 said:
hey, what is mobo? Motherboard perhaps? in which case i believe its a Gigabyte S series, amd 64 athlon x2 . not sure how else to describe the motherboard lol.
its not that old, but at the time that i built it i wasn't into recording, not any further than acid pro and a computer mic atleast haha. and yeh the RAM is definately maxed out, i was just wondering wether it would make more sense to upgrade the CPU aswell as the RAM. do you think just an upgrade in RAM would be beneficial?
thank you :)

any help would be great :).
Thanks xx
Click to expand...

Yeah RAM alone won't do it. You'd be better off replacing the MOBO, CPU and upgrading to better RAM. Ilantis picked out the exact board I'd recommend, and the CPU is killer. I know first hand how well the E8400 performs so.
 
ow sick, thanks heaps for the help :).
i spoke to a guy today who said pretty much the same thing :).
another thing, opinions on upgrading to either duel-core or quad-core... is the quad core worth the extra investment? is it THAT much better than having a duel core? im defs not a expert at CPUs haha.

thanks so much guys, im using your recommendations as a guide line. that motherboard definitely looks worth it :).

thank you all so much
Jackxx
 
I would stick with Dual core for now as programs are still a little slow to take advantage of 4 cores. You will get a faster clock speed for the buck that way and ensure that your clutch apps are being shoveled through in the fastest, most optimized way possible. When you outgrow that setup, only then will Quad be likely be the way to go.
 
I'll second Ilantis. At the moment I see no reason to go Quad, the E wolfdales are beasts already.
 
Personally I like Quad Q9450 is a good start for a "Performance Quad" large cache, reasonable speed out of the box and a very easy "in spec" overclock to 3.2 GHz if you have a self built rig with a decent MOBO.

Cheaper Quad is a Q6600, Smaller Cache and 65nm so not quite as efficient but good speed out of the box and a gain a nice overclocker if you really need to bump it

If you got the $$ i7 965. the extra bandwith in the RAM combined with a very fast chip, well let me say very nice you have to work pretty hard to max it out

I don't know how well Pro Tools utilizes multi core however. I know that the software I'm using is doing a nice job of spreading the load across all 4 cores by monitoring the cpu loads and temps on a test machine before I do my builds. I know Reason does better on a Dual right now so Maybe Pro tools is the same way
 
aww thanks guys that helps heaps :). Yeh for now i think ill probs stick with duel core. as if im gonna upgrade the mobo, ram and everything the quad is a little outa the question financially haha. however i will buy a motherboard that has that capability and perhaps in the future i can upgrade as i see fit. sound like a good plan? :).


xx
 
Jackbh241 said:
aww thanks guys that helps heaps :). Yeh for now i think ill probs stick with duel core. as if im gonna upgrade the mobo, ram and everything the quad is a little outa the question financially haha. however i will buy a motherboard that has that capability and perhaps in the future i can upgrade as i see fit. sound like a good plan? :).


xx
Click to expand...


Yeah, you'll be OK going that route. :)
 
Jackbh241 said:
aww thanks guys that helps heaps :). Yeh for now i think ill probs stick with duel core. as if im gonna upgrade the mobo, ram and everything the quad is a little outa the question financially haha. however i will buy a motherboard that has that capability and perhaps in the future i can upgrade as i see fit. sound like a good plan? :).


xx
Click to expand...

Just make sure your hardware is supported by digidesign. Check their compatibility page ;)
 
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