Whats the fastest computer out there

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CyanJaguar

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I see 2100 mhz out there. This is good, but not good enough. I know that in another year we'll be talking 3500 mhz.

Right now, is there a way to put 2 or maybe even 4 2ghz chips on one motherboard?

If so, where can I find this?

thanks.
 
You need a dual motherboard (you could go with either Pentium IV or Athlon MP, but if you want raw power the Athlons will give you more tracks and plug-ins)

Note however that 2 cpus at 2Ghz will NOT give you 2 times more processing power than 1 cpu at 2Ghz. In practice the difference is often much smaller than that as the system can't take full advantage of both cpus.
 
What exactly do you want this PC to do???? Will you be running CAD, Photoshop, Quake and SETI computations at the same time??

Most commecial software today cannot take full advantage of the hardware thats currently available! A 2.2 Ghz CPU with 1GB of DDR Ram, a MB with a 500MHz bus, a 64MB 4x AGP card(w/DDR) and 2 80 GB scsi Hard drives (10,000rpm) would probably do you fine if you want the absolute fastest thing available, but even then. Id say in about one (two) year/s, If you could find, and use, a piece of software that would make this hardware obsolete, Id be REALLY suprised. Pro tools and sonar both can run great on half of whats listed, if not lower.

If you really want to go for the gusto though, buy a Server with 4 xeon processors and 4 GB od RAM. I dont know what you would do with it, but it would probably satiate the gear yearning your feeling.

Todd
 
hey,
thanks. I would like to get the dual motherboard thing for the dual 2200mhz.

gbondo,

A five minute, 32 stereo tracks, at 96 khz will run the baddest computer to the ground right now, I believe. If you want to run any plugins at least.

I like the specs you posted. two 10,000 rmp scsi drives with I gig ddr ram would be exstasy.

where can I find a sever with 4 xeon processors?
 
A 4x Xeon server with 2x 80 Gb 10000rpm SCSI hdd and 4Gb registered memory will cost you more than a Pro-Tools station :eek:

And if you don't like Pro-tools, I believe Radar or Paris or any other dedicated audio system would cost less than a very high end server machine...
 
www.cdw.com
www.pcconnection.com
www.insight.com
Im sure there are many others.

I think a 'workstation' would probably be the most affordable way to go. Somthing like this:
http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.asp?EDC=366921
I hope the link works
Its upgradable to Dual Xeon Processors (which are server processors). The RAM is upgradable to 4GB (although is is just RD Ram). Its got a 400MHz front side bus.

The major upside to a workstation is this though, they are made for people running Processor and Memory Intensive apps (such as CAD, or Multimedia), and the are not $10,000-50,000, like most servers. You will definatly want to go with Windows 2000 though. Mabey XP Pro, But i dont have enough experience with that one reccommend it. 2000 utilizes CPU and RAM better than all the others. If you are serious about this, I hope this helps.

Your other option would be to build it yourself. It would be a little cheaper. Basically just grab all the specs and part names off of a PC/workstation/server you like, and buy the parts.
Building a workstation or a server though would be rough and frustrating work though. Ive only ever built PC's, and those can be a pain in the as sometimes.
Anyway, Good luck.
Todd
 
www.cdw.com
www.pcconnection.com
www.insight.com
Im sure there are many others.

I think a 'workstation' would probably be the most affordable way to go. Somthing like this:
http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.asp?EDC=366921
I hope the link works
Its upgradable to Dual Xeon Processors (which are server processors). The RAM is upgradable to 4GB (although is is just RD Ram). Its got a 400MHz front side bus.

The major upside to a workstation is this though, they are made for people running Processor and Memory Intensive apps (such as CAD, or Multimedia), and the are not $10,000-50,000, like most servers. You will definatly want to go with Windows 2000 though. Mabey XP Pro, But i dont have enough experience with that one reccommend it. 2000 utilizes CPU and RAM better than all the others. If you are serious about this, I hope this helps.

Your other option would be to build it yourself. It would be a little cheaper. Basically just grab all the specs and part names off of a PC/workstation/server you like, and buy the parts.
Building a workstation or a server though would be rough and frustrating work though. Ive only ever built PC's, and those can be a pain in the as sometimes.
Anyway, Good luck.
Todd
 
I just called some retailers and the case for a quad xeon is about $1500.

I want to spend about $1000 on the motherboard, processor and case.

I think Ill go with dual pIV with 1.7 gigs. Or maybe a single xp athlon 2200 with 1 gig of ram. I'll like to do the 10,000 rpm scsi though.

I want to go full 96khz and never look back.
 
Im sorry, Checked the specs again, and it is in fact RDRAM, (rambus), running at 800MHz, so thats great. Its even faster than DDR. It seems it on the way out though due to its price in the market. You can still find it though.
Later,
Todd
 
I'll like to do the 10,000 rpm scsi though
Click to expand...

Have you checked the price on these? Scsi is very expensive, especially if you want a decent sized hdd (40 Gb at least)...

I honestly don't believe pc's are powerful enough for 96/24 recording yet. My advice would be to spend a reasonable amount on a reasonable system (say an XP1800+, 512 DDR, 80 Gb hdd) with which you could easily achieve 32+ tracks with lots of plug-ins at 44.1/24. If this can keep you satisfied for a year or 2, you could then upgrade to a 4-5Ghz processor with insane amounts of 400Mhz DDR ram, serial ATA, and all the other goodies that would have come out and be cheaply available...

There is no such thing as 'never looking back' when it comes to pc's ;)
 
Just a heads up - 2.4Ghz P4's were released today, and I think the bus speed is upped to 533mhz. I think this now means Intel has takes the performance crown - though probably just temporarily.

An alternative to getting SCSI drives would be an IDE RAID setup. You should be able to get comparable or better performance for less money.
 
Changes

Greetings,

The Athlon AMD line is going to 0.13 micron transister size (or soemthing like that) with their chips and should be able to catch up to the P2.4 this summer with an AMD 2400+ chip.


Even the FSB of motherboards and ram is going up all the time for DDR its all about the 166 (333). Its insane, I have a fantasy about getting something that can run a small country by itself.

Aren't the high end pentiums like 500$ a piece? that is just not worth it right now.

What the hell is a server processor? How can it be that much better then a normal destop processor?

SirRiff
 
Using a dual XP1600+ with a dual channel SCSI U160 and 10.000rpm disks. It's overkill for my music stuff, but doing a bit of rendering pushes the cpu to 100%.
 
What the hell is a server processor? How can it be that much better then a normal destop processor?
Click to expand...
Server processors generally have more cache. I don't know about the latest batch of Xeons, but you used to be able to get Xeons with 4MB of cache. The extra cache is there to handle the overhead of having more than one processor - I believe Xeons can be configured in up to 8 cpu boxes. The extra cache is also just a good thing to have, if you can afford it.
 
but P4 chips arn't fast, the 2gig P4 isn't faster than the athlonXP 1700+ i tested my 1600+(i'll have a 1900+ on friday) with my dad's 2.2gig P4... its not much faster. he's getting a dual athlonXP 2000+. his server is real nice its a quad i think....
the fastest CHIP will be out this summer, 3.4gig and 4gig AMD Hammer...the new 4gig intel chip is something like 28-35% slower than the amdand i read something the other day about the new ide hard drives with 8 and 16mb cache... they're much faster than 10,000 rpm scsi and not much slower than 15,000rms scsi drives
 
Another solution...

A Universal Audio UAD-1 dsp card on a high end system (say XP2000+, with scsi or RAID drives) should be able to run a fair amount of track at 24/96 if you only use the plug-ins on the UAD-1 (which are excellent from what I've heard)

Just an idea...
 
This thread has the potential of never ending. By the time I hit the submit button on this post the computer that I will buy next week will be obsolete.
 
dang! I'm reading about 3.4 gigs and 4 ghz pcs. That is extreme madness, but exstasy for those in audio. Finally, 24/96 will become a crisp,clear, reality.

I've fallen way behind on computers. I used to be up to date, but I am still thinking in the world of the 566 celeron. Time to start reading up.

All I know is that I need speed. My next pc must be able to handle 48 tracks of 24/96 and bounce it in realtime without a hiccup. Thats a hard demand
 
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