The Pentium vs. The Plug-Ins

[batchmister1]

Hello all,
I have a whole lot of plug-ins, that eat up a lot of my 1 gigabyte of memory. Based on the below specifications, would it be in my best interest to get a new motherboard or computer to handle the plug-ins?


Pro Tools software version: Pro Tools 7.1 M-Powered

Pro Tools hardware: M-Audio Firewire 410

CPU: Intel Pentium 4

Processor spped: 2.8 GHZ

OS version: Win XP SP 2

Motherboard make/model: Intel D865GBF

Chipset: Intel 865G.

Ram:1gb

Hard drives: Internal 35gb. External 100Gb

 

[SRR]

How many tracks do you use plugins on? I think my UAD-1 card has 4-6megs of memory, granted thats an apples to organges...but still either you have a few memory hog plugins or something else is wrong.

 

[sixways]

What plugins?

Reverbs eat up alot...you may consider using sends if you're using a lot of verb.

6

 

[Minion]

You must be useing a LOT of plugins because I only have a 2.6ghz system with 1gb of memory in my recording PC and I have recorded 16 tracks with several Plugins for every tracks without any problems accept for a very small delay between when I press the Playback button to when it starts to playback or a small delay if I enable a Plugin when allready Playing back but that is it....

Make sure you don"t have anything running in the Backround that is sucking up resources.....Most Poeple who aren"t very PC savy (Not saying that you aren"t) will have a whole Butload of stuff starting up with there pc without them even knowing it which sucks up resources...



Cheers

 

[2lim]

I thought I would point out that plug-ins eat up CPU time, not RAM. Just so you know, it doesnt matter how much RAM you have, your plugs will still fail when your CPU hits its limit.

Also, I have a 1.2GHZ AMD processor and I can run about 15 waves EQ plugs, and 10 or so reverb plugs without much issue. Assuming I am not using my puter for anythign else.


Simon

 

[DrJones]

I thought I would point out that plug-ins eat up CPU time, not RAM. Just so you know, it doesnt matter how much RAM you have, your plugs will still fail when your CPU hits its limit.

Also, I have a 1.2GHZ AMD processor and I can run about 15 waves EQ plugs, and 10 or so reverb plugs without much issue. Assuming I am not using my puter for anythign else.


Simon

very correct!

When using 3rd party plugins they soak up mass amount of cpu usage. That is why they TDM is useful but expensive. To optimize cpu usage make sure you file your sessions properly ("SAVE SESSION COPY IN" for PT users) and dont over use your plugins. Use your 3rd party plugins sparingly. Your system is very capable of handling the needed plugins.