Mac G5 Single 1.8GHz or Dual 1.8GHz???

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borntoplease

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i've decided to break down and go digital. im about to buy my computer... deciding if i should buy a single or dual 1.8. im just a singer songwriter, and will mostly be doing vocals and acoustic guitar with some overdubs. maybe some bass and drums sometimes. anyway... i dont imagaine that i will be using TONS of plugins, some here and there. i cant imagine that i will be recording more than 16 tracks, and never live. the most tracks i would be recording live is 4-6, for drums sometimes. so. will the single 1.8 with a 1 gig of ram do the job?
 
borntoplease said:
i've decided to break down and go digital. im about to buy my computer... deciding if i should buy a single or dual 1.8. im just a singer songwriter, and will mostly be doing vocals and acoustic guitar with some overdubs. maybe some bass and drums sometimes. anyway... i dont imagaine that i will be using TONS of plugins, some here and there. i cant imagine that i will be recording more than 16 tracks, and never live. the most tracks i would be recording live is 4-6, for drums sometimes. so. will the single 1.8 with a 1 gig of ram do the job?
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Well Id say so. The mac G5 processors are 128 bit. PCs are still only running at 32 bit. So for example if this G5 cpu was put against a P4, itd probably take on a 3ghz P4. .. maybe even more.
 
I had this same question last weekend...at the Apple store. The guy told me that the single will be more than enough, and furthermore, if you are going to get the dual, you might as well get a 2.0 or 2.5. The single will be more than enough...
 
Kaze said:
Well Id say so. The mac G5 processors are 128 bit. PCs are still only running at 32 bit. So for example if this G5 cpu was put against a P4, itd probably take on a 3ghz P4. .. maybe even more.
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For what you're doing, a single G5 is perfectly fine. People have done amazing things with far less.
 
Polaris20 said:
For what you're doing, a single G5 is perfectly fine. People have done amazing things with far less.
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this is so encouraging.... that means 500 more bucks for mics and staying at the same overall total... fun
 
Kaze said:
Well Id say so. The mac G5 processors are 128 bit. PCs are still only running at 32 bit. So for example if this G5 cpu was put against a P4, itd probably take on a 3ghz P4. .. maybe even more.
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they're only 128 bit if you add both processors up. the mac G5s are running 64 bit a piece...no processor is up to 128bit. there may be two 64 bit processors in a dual system...but it doesn't add up to 128bit register.

And AMD 64s are 64 bit processors for PCs. They have more transistors, more L2 cache, and a faster FSB than G5s.
 
Kaze said:
The mac G5 processors are 128 bit. PCs are still only running at 32 bit.
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The IBM PPC970 is a 64 bit processor. OS X is a 32 bit operating system.
 
elevate said:
The IBM PPC970 is a 64 bit processor. OS X is a 32 bit operating system.
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until 10.4 comes out. Something else that Apple is beating MS to. NOthing new there.

I love my home built stuff, but I sure wish OSX ran on x86.
 
Polaris20 said:
until 10.4 comes out. Something else that Apple is beating MS to. NOthing new there.

I love my home built stuff, but I sure wish OSX ran on x86.
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and that's the problem with Mac, IMO. They update too damn often.
and i'm not too facinated by OSX. Yeah i use it everyday, but I feel like it gives me just as many issues as XP does
 
At least Apple doesn't release multiple security updates weekly, like another company does.
 
noodles2k5 said:
At least Apple doesn't release multiple security updates weekly, like another company does.
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Exactly. They don't tell you about the security problems, or don't fully disclose them, and then charge you $129 to get the update.
 
Polaris20 said:
until 10.4 comes out. Something else that Apple is beating MS to. NOthing new there.
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XP 64 should be out in April. Unless you don't count the release candidate (RC2) you can download now for free.
 
elevate said:
Exactly. They don't tell you about the security problems, or don't fully disclose them, and then charge you $129 to get the update.
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Software Update has a nice little window that tells you the improvements and security problems it fixes. Security updates are absolutely free and are separate from OS upgrades. Minor operating system updates are free for the current version. There've been 8 of those updates for OS X 10.3 Panther. Panther users can get a discount to upgrade to Tiger 10.4 if they like, although it's not mandatory. It just provides a few bells and whistles such as the Dashboard, Spotlight, etc.
 
noodles2k5 said:
At least Apple doesn't release multiple security updates weekly, like another company does.
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how many people out there have actually had a problem with your security on your computer...let alone your audio computer? And if you don't even use the internet (which you shouldn't on an audio computer), you don't even have to worry about security. I've never had anyone try to hack into my computer or send me a virus. And that's what virus and firewall protection are for.
 
bennychico11 said:
how many people out there have actually had a problem with your security on your computer...let alone your audio computer? And if you don't even use the internet (which you shouldn't on an audio computer), you don't even have to worry about security. I've never had anyone try to hack into my computer or send me a virus. And that's what virus and firewall protection are for.
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yup, but I do have my audio computer connected to the net....never know during late nite mixing you just wanna look at some porn during your break. :D
 
Teacher said:
yup, but I do have my audio computer connected to the net....never know during late nite mixing you just wanna look at some porn during your break. :D
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ahhhh, but this is why i have another computer sittin' right next to it ;)
 
What about an iMac G5?

This query drew me in 'cause it's Mac related (currently on an HP sitting next to a dead beige G3), and in considering the replies, I've got to wonder if the iMac G5 would do well, at the center of a home recording setup? I could go for one of the single 1.85GHz G5 towers, but without a finite amount of room to work in (I'll be doing this out of my bedroom), anything that saves some space will definately move higher on my "need to buy" list.

I'm in the process of building a "screamin'" Wintel box (3.4GHz Northwood core P4), since there are some music programs I'd like to use that've yet to be ported to Mac. So once I have my home brewed PC built, and some "flavor" of Power Macintosh G5 bought, I'll be nearly ready to rock & roll...save for actually buying the right software for each machine. :)

Matt
 
Unsprung said:
This query drew me in 'cause it's Mac related (currently on an HP sitting next to a dead beige G3), and in considering the replies, I've got to wonder if the iMac G5 would do well, at the center of a home recording setup? I could go for one of the single 1.85GHz G5 towers, but without a finite amount of room to work in (I'll be doing this out of my bedroom), anything that saves some space will definately move higher on my "need to buy" list.

I'm in the process of building a "screamin'" Wintel box (3.4GHz Northwood core P4), since there are some music programs I'd like to use that've yet to be ported to Mac. So once I have my home brewed PC built, and some "flavor" of Power Macintosh G5 bought, I'll be nearly ready to rock & roll...save for actually buying the right software for each machine. :)

Matt
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A G5 iMac would probably suffice for audio work. It would be a different story for digital video and 3D graphics, though, as you are stuck with what Apple choses in terms of video processing power (which isn't that great).
 
brzilian said:
A G5 iMac would probably suffice for audio work. It would be a different story for digital video and 3D graphics, though, as you are stuck with what Apple choses in terms of video processing power (which isn't that great).
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If I had the kind of money it would take, to delve into digital video and 3D graphics on a somewhat marketable level, I'd go for a dual 2.5GHz G5, max. the RAM to 8 gigs, stuff the biggest and fastest SATA drives I could get ahold of into it, along with the best Mac AGP video card for that kind of work, and go to it. But, I'll awaken myself from that daydream, now.

In all honesty, however, my final decision about which "flavor" of G5 Macintosh will probably be more arbitrary, than needing too much thinking out. The price difference, between FireWire and USB 2.0 music peripherals, and their PCI counterparts, aren't all that significant. Probably the most thought I'll have to put into a Mac setup will come down to "how much latency, and other not so goods will I have to deal with, if I go with x, y or z?" The entry level price might play into it, as well, as with a G5 tower, I'd either have to buy another monitor, or put a KVM switch between the Mac and PC, or go with the 20" iMac G5, and save a bit on not needing another monitor/KVM switch.

Thanks for your input, on this one, although I'll still end up with a tough choice to make...but, that's just my personality talking, there. :)

Matt
 
Unsprung said:
...along with the best Mac AGP video card for that kind of work...
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This is one of the biggest shortcomings in using the Mac for high-end 3D stuff. As far as I know, none of the Quadro or FireGL stuff works on Macs.
 
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