Minimum Athlon processor speed

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cindyp16

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What would people say is the min Athlon processor speed I should aim for if I want to run say 12-20 tracks with a reasonable number of plugins without the system dieing. I aim to use this pc just for music, so will try and optimize windows xp for recording and not have any extra crap on there like anti-virus stuff etc.?

thanks

cindyp
 
I used to get by OK on an 1800+, but if I was looking to put together a budget daw now, I'd probably go for an XP2600+.

Having said that, if there's one part of a daw that should not be skimped on, it's the mobo/cpu. Yo should really get the fastest cpu you can afford
 
cindy - it would be really nice to know exactly how many plug ins in total.
if you search under my name ive posted many tips in the past few months about amd systems. i also found out recently apparently there are free tutorials , you might want to check out . i looked at them the other day, and very usefull for folks new to recording.
look in the support section at pgmusic.com. very nice tutorials.
if you post your total anticipated plug ins i'll suggest a confign.
peace.
 
Manning1

Okay, and this is going to be a rough estimate; lets say I have 16 tracks, assume eq on 85-90% of the tracks (in the past when I had a PII I used to pre-process a lot of individual tracks, but I would prefer not to do this if I can help it as what sounds good in isolation, might sound 'not so good' in the context of the mix) maybe 2 different reverbs, chrous/delay and the like on say 50% of the tracks and compression on maybe 70% of the tracks. On things like backing vocals I guess I could submix to reduce the number of overall tracks, but again in an ideal world I would prefer not to do this, although if I have to then so be it. Not decided on software yet, in the past I used Cubasis, but am open to suggestions

thanks for your help

cindyp
 
cindy. i would say if you want REAL POWER consider then the top athlon 64.
512 ram and two fast hard drives. 7200 rpm.
one small one for windows. one larger for tracks.
DONT PUT ANY CARDS IN PCI SLOTS other than a pci sound card. STAY AWAY FROM networking cards, fancy video gaming cards, and tv tuner cards.
if you want a nice multitrack software . i use powertracks.
pgmusic.com. 49 bucks for 48 tracks. just try the demo and youll see why i love it. also check out free tutorials in the support section.
if you need advice on mixer, sound card or anything else just ask.
or search under my name. loads of tips posted in past year.
peace.
ps....if you find the 64 too pricey. demo a barton athlon.
but i would opt for a 64 if i could. NOTE...use an nvidea chipset.
 
64?

I've heard that some software isn't comptible with the 64 processor - true or bull****? On a similar subject Windows XP SP2 - is it a bad idea for the same reason?
 
on the former point. i cant vouch for every software on the planet cindy. THAT would be impossible. but by and large with modern software its bull imho. the whole needing a 64 bit os is bull as well.
tons of people are running xp fine on the 64.
just read through the back posts on this bbs from people running 64 systems (eg..teacher). provided your current software runs under 98 thru xp, whatever you have. it should run on 64 fine, the only difference is it will run smoother and faster as the 64 is a powerhouse of a processor.
the only areas you will see improved performance are processor intensive tasks like processing reverb round a track for example or the number of plug ins you can run. if your leery. get a normal athlon. huge installed base.
the best way is to take your current software and run it on a 64 and see.

on sp2...whole other story. i'm not keeping up with it.
some folks on here seem to have probs with it. but others i know havent.
its a crap shoot. peace.
 
I've not any any problems with SP2,
with anything; music related or not.
 
cindyp16 said:
What would people say is the min Athlon processor speed I should aim for if I want to run say 12-20 tracks with a reasonable number of plugins without the system dieing.
Click to expand...

I get that track count easily with my AMD Duron 1200. And that's a cpu that hit the market years ago.

Any AMD cpu that's on the market now will do.
 
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