Subject: Re: [linux-audio-user] Processor Recommendation
From: Steve Harris (S.W.Harris_AT_ecs.soton.ac.uk)
Date: Tue Jun 10 2003 - 09:32:27 EEST
On Tue, Jun 10, 2003 at 03:19:32PM +1000, Allan Klinbail wrote:
> On Tue, 2003-06-10 at 11:45, Peter Groves wrote:
> > I'm planning on building a new machine and would like some advice. Right
> > now I think the main application of it's "power" will be in
> > recording/mixing in linux. People have been saying that a dual processor
> > is something to consider,
>
> Worth it if you can afford the $$ it means that while doing heavy audio
> processing your X windows will run cleaner and resources can be
> designated across the processors.
Agreed, but making SMP machines quiet is a real challenge.
> Audio is heavy on floating point calculation, yet I've also seen reports
> that the newer AMD's may actually be better on the FPU stuff, of course
> that is all hearsay.
Athlons (except the very high end ones which are overpriced) from XP
onwards have faster float mangling per $ than PIV's.
> I personally prefer the current Intel chips because they run at a cooler
> temperature so the fans required are less noisy... this was a big factor
> in selecting my current PC The less background noise in an audio
> environment the better, and even with a P4 I'm still looking at ways of
> making a quieter case. . :))))
Yes, I think if I was building a machine today, I'd go for PIV for this
reason, at the time I bought an Athlon XP cos I needed to get as much FPU
performace for my $ as I could. I think some of the slower PIVs can be
passively cooled, with extreme heatsinks.
- Steve
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