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  • Ultimate PC again

    I would like to know if Vienna Intruments does benefit from dual core/dual processor PC.

    For example: can I have a PC with 2 giga RAM and use 1 giga for Ggigastudio while the last giga is in use for the Vienna Instruments so that I have the 1,2 giga limit anymore and each core/processor minds its own task?

    If I use more than a hard disk with say, the Strings Vienna instrument on disk 1, the woodwind on disk 2 and brass on disk 3 is a better choice than using a 500 giga hard-disk?

    As Intel and AMD processors are quite different at the moment. Wich one is the best.

    And last question: what about 32 or 64 bit Operating system?
    thanks
    Sergio

  • Let's see if I can at least take a stab at these...

    Whether VI will take advantage of dual procs or dual core systems depends on two things: if the VIs are multithreaded, and/or if the host you're running them from is multithreaded. For instance, Cakewalk's Sonar sequencer will split hosted VST modules (from what I understand) among multiple threads, and so it will spread a CPU load among multiple processors. I've seen this on my own dual-core, dual processor system. If the VI instruments are themselves multi-threaded and the processing load is balanced properly, then it might balance CPU load even if the host does not. You'll have to wait for a VSL guy to answer definitely, though.

    Oh, and *any* two applications that run simultaneously on a single system will take advantage of dual processors or dual core processors, because there are actually more than one processes running. When someone asks of an application if it takes advantage of multi-processors, it's implied to mean "running by itself, will you see a performance increase with multi processors or multi-core". This is basically asking if a program is "multi-threaded", meaning it's written specifically to operate parallel tasks, and can thus be easily split up among different processors by the operating system. So, yes, a dual core or dual proc system will indeed split tasks between Gigastudio and the VIs, if the VIs are launched from a different application.

    FYI, multiple processors can give a theoretical ~95% CPU performance boost over one processor. A single dual core processor can give an optimal boost of ~30% CPU performance over a single core in general.

    The memory issues is likely a bit trickier. I'm not certain you'll be able to hit the absolute ceiling like that. If VI uses "standard" application-level memory allocation instead of driver-level allocation, then theoretically, you could get much closer to that upper limit. Again, I can't tell you since I didn't program the stuff. Some supposition on my part...

    I have no idea if splitting up the instruments on different drives will help performance. All I know is that it's preferable to keep the instruments on a different physical drive than the system drive. Beyond this, I don't know if there's a benefit.

    AMD vs. Intel - matter of preference. I tend to stick with Intel purely for compatiblity reasons.

    Gigastudio is not supported on 64-bit operating systems. Stick with 32-bit for now.

    Note: let me know if I got anything wrong here... [[;)]]

  • Thanks for your reply.
    I hope that, as posted in another thread, Vienna will give us some PC configuration.
    My PC is getting old but I think it better waiting for the "Instruments" to be debugged before I will buy a new one.
    I don't want to buy my first MAC, but maybe it is a better choice at the moment.
    Ciao
    Sergio

  • last edited
    last edited

    @Sergino Futurino said:

    I would like to know if Vienna Intruments does benefit from dual core/dual processor PC.

    For example: can I have a PC with 2 giga RAM and use 1 giga for Ggigastudio while the last giga is in use for the Vienna Instruments so that I have the 1,2 giga limit anymore and each core/processor minds its own task?

    If I use more than a hard disk with say, the Strings Vienna instrument on disk 1, the woodwind on disk 2 and brass on disk 3 is a better choice than using a 500 giga hard-disk?

    As Intel and AMD processors are quite different at the moment. Wich one is the best.

    And last question: what about 32 or 64 bit Operating system?
    thanks
    Sergio


    Further to the above, a Mac seems to be able to address more memory ATM so if that is the principal concern then go for it, although do bear in mind that you could probably get 3 cheap PCs for the same money. I did post a question about the 3Gb switch, but haven't yet got a reply so I can't be any help there. However, you can't run GS on a Mac, so that would scupper that idea.

    If you are able to run GS at the same time as VI (GS often likes to have its own PC), then you should think about getting more RAM, because AFIAK the 2Gb limit is more or less per application. In this case you ought to be able to use more than 2Gb in total, although probably not as much as 4Gb...!

    DG