Cpu Vs RAM

[ShredderForhire]

As i get more serious about mixing and loading plugins,vsti,etc. Ive noticed that I am eating up way too much cpu and physical memory as i load more plugs. Which i know in turn will happen as more cpu and physical memory is demanded by the plugins. Im running Pentium 4 2.6ghz and 1gb of ram. Should i upgrade my cpu or my ram first?

 

[Damphire]

RAM. You're on the very limit of minimum requirements for most heavy VSTis.

Most of VSTs will load the samples on the RAM, so RAM is what you need. Plugins such as compressors, complex EQs and others are more CPU intensive.

 

[ShredderForhire]

Thanks i notice in cubase my cpu meter is about 3/4 of the way full when i load compressors and such. Im looking into quadcore processors.

 

[aortizjr]

I think it is both really. RAM and CPU's are cheap. These days I have no idea how I survived with a single core CPU and 1 Gig of RAM. Allthough my quad-core and 4GB of RAM don't sweat much at all.

 

[ShredderForhire]

Can you point me in the direction of some cheap ram and a cheap quadcore?

 

[fade_2_black]

I wouldnt go for cheap RAM - there is a definite quality increase that is closely related to the increases in price for RAM. As far as a CPU goes - I would recommend something like a core2quad - I recently got a Q8200 and its awesome!

 

[Damian B]

Can you point me in the direction of some cheap ram and a cheap quadcore?

http://www.newegg.com

Processor:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017

RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134730

Remember you need to have a motherboard that is compatible with the processor and ram. What you are running now is probably a socket 478 board with DDR1 memory slots. To run the quad core and new ram you need something with a socket 775 and DDR2 capability.

Good luck!

 

[Fox Mulder]

If you are using Windows, chances are Billy Goat is hogging up your shit more than you want him to. Go to Run>Services.msc and turn off all unnecessary services going on in the background (I'm not really talking about processes that you can view by CTRL+ALT+DEL).

I wouldn't recommend that you tweak it without extra-resources

Head over to http://www.blackviper.com

Look for "Windows XP Super Tweaks" or "Blah Blah Blah Super Tweaks"

You're gonna find lots of useful stuff there along with the services crap. And I can 100% guarantee that you will not be disappointed. It even took care of my latency issues.

Do this even if you upgrade. There's nothin to lose at all. It's about gain.

Defrag your hard-drive even if it tells that you dont need to after you press "analyze".

Get a copy of Diskeeper. That's some good shit. It's got this "frag-shield" thing in it that works wonders.

Oh and yes, try to keep at least 25% free space in each drive.

You can save upto 20% processor usage this way. 20 fuckin % :Smokin:

 

[Fox Mulder]

please, double please and triple please create a system restore point before doing anything.


cheers!

 

[Black neon bob]

I think it is both really. RAM and CPU's are cheap. These days I have no idea how I survived with a single core CPU and 1 Gig of RAM. Allthough my quad-core and 4GB of RAM don't sweat much at all.

It is both.. i had the exact same specs on my previous PC before i upgraded.. first i upgraded to 2GB RAM, and yes it worked pretty well.
But the CPU is just as important, i would look into upgrading both.

 

[::XeS::]

Nowadays there isn't cheap ram and expensive ram.....all the ram is very cheap than some years ago. I bought 2 x 2Gb of ram (Crucial) for my macbook pro and I spent 40€

 

[Metaltastic]

One thing the CPU is definitely essential for is convolution plugs! (AKA impulses) My friend's laptop has like a 1.6 GHz Celeron processor but a not-insubstantial 1.5 Gigs of RAM, but after like 3 instances of TSS/Wagner/Boogex it started squawking like a chicken

 

[ShredderForhire]

Wow thanks for all the replys guys im definately going to look into new hardware my cpu socket is 775 pin and my ddr slots are ddr 1 and ddr 2.

 

[GuitarMaestro]

RAM. You're on the very limit of minimum requirements for most heavy VSTis.

Depends heavily on the type plugins as you say. I dont use many samplers / virtual instruments. But for a full band mix with 30+ channels a ~5 plugins each I never exceed ~800MB of Ram in Cubase SX 3. Depends on the type of plugins really. Most mixing plugins like EQ, Comp, Reverb, Delay dont need much ram. They need alot of CPU processing power though. For sample libraries, etc. you need the ram - sure.

 

[gabriel g.]

dual core processor
2gb ram
7200rpm harddrive

and you are on a good way