Does a faster computer mean faster Scope loading?

Jez · Post by **Jez** » Mon Nov 01, 2004 5:48 am

I'm thinking of upgrading my trusty 500MHz P3 to a 3GHz machine with latest RAM etc. From people's experience, is this likely to make a big differences to Pulser performance - project load times etc? The PCI limitation and the 60MHz SHARCs suggest to me that it would not, but I'd like to hear from other users who've made a big upgrade.

Cheers
Jeremy

alfonso · Post by **alfonso** » Mon Nov 01, 2004 8:40 am

It will make a difference for sure, provided you find the good mobo (chipset)...

Witch mobo etc. it's a very well discussed topic in the tech and t&t forums on plz.

Stubbe · Post by **Stubbe** » Mon Nov 01, 2004 11:11 am

Hi Jez,

Upgraded from a 650 MHz P3 256 MB RAM to a 3 GHz P4 1GB RAM almost a year ago, and also went from W98 to XP. Got something that feels like a 15-20% drop in project load time (haven't measured - I'm not that geeky

), probably due to the inherent PCI speed-limitations, I haven't regretted for a sec.

Go get your wallet out !
Stubbe

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Mon Nov 01, 2004 6:13 pm

4.5 times the clockrate and 4 times more Ram and you're satisfied with a 20% reduced loading time ???
ok, I'm kidding - SFP is not just the GUI and things on the DSPs need time to take their seats

nevertheless your figures clearly indicate that those giga P4s arent't even close to the performance the clockrate may suggest...

cheers, Tom

Immanuel · Post by **Immanuel** » Mon Nov 01, 2004 6:22 pm

Isn't that a bit like saying, that a Porche is a slow car, when it is on second wagon floor of a ship? Carl Lewis was a fast runner, but if you gave him divers boots, he would slow down. It is not a fair measure Tom - unless you are challenging the uneducated statement, that a faster CPU makes a faster PC - no matter the job.

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Mon Nov 01, 2004 6:45 pm

On 2004-11-01 18:22, Immanuel wrote:
...Carl Lewis was a fast runner, but if you gave him divers boots, he would slow down. ..

you found a nice name for M$'s pride...

sh*t, rest of text vanished by edit...

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: astroman on 2004-11-01 18:52 ]</font>

Rob van Berkel · Post by **Rob van Berkel** » Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:47 am

Disc-speed is most likeley a major factor in the load-time of SFP. By upgrading to a P4 MuchoMHz you are also likely to upgrade your drives and/or their interface-speed (from pATA66 to sATA133). That will make a huge difference.
Cheers,
Rob

Jez · Post by **Jez** » Tue Nov 02, 2004 6:15 am

Thanks for the responses. I suppose I'm asking if it's worth the outlay of an upgrade for a Scope / Cubase setup. Interestingly I note that my machine is below the minimum spec for Cubase SX - however I have two Scope cards so I don't use the audio much. Still, it sounds like although 4 times the processing power and RAM won't make Scope 4 times quicker, it will improve matters by 20% or so (not scientific, of course!)

Cheers
J

Immanuel · Post by **Immanuel** » Tue Nov 02, 2004 6:19 am

If you only want to improve load times, it might be reasonable to considder, if you will ever save as much load time, as you will have to spend earning the money for the new setup (all depending on your situation ofcoarse).

at0m · Post by **at0m** » Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:38 pm

Also, a 5MB project in data files could take 100+MB of memory. I suspect heavy (de-)compression of the concerned files. Compression and decompression is what difference the CPU can make IMO... Then ofcourse some loading and arranging on the DSP's. Harddrive use? I don't think much of that, you can monitor it in Task Manager.

My 2 cents.