Ermz
¯\(°_o)/¯
So his method of disabling the page file goes beyond simply disabling it in the virtual memory section of the control panel?
Home studio this way comes!
- Thread starter The Recorder
- Start date
Ermz
¯\(°_o)/¯
Yeah I know, I've already done the whole tweaking thing. But I never read anything where anyone had suggested disabling the page file - apparently that results in reduced performance despite PC specs.
Moonlapse said:
What I understood that some apps expect a pagefile and go BSOD if they don't find one. Apps that don't ask = no prob.
Disabling the pagefile stops some threads WinXP calls for when it likes to, one of the reasons crackle during lo-latencysettings occur.
anyway, here Bob Lentini (SAWcoder) rants about it. The guy knows his stuff (including marketing).
Ermz
¯\(°_o)/¯
Mulder said:
Thanks Mulder! This really got me interested and I'll consider this option in (near) future.
The Recorder said:
You're welcome
Some other tips: Get a good powersupply, Antec Truepower or something. Costs only a few oirohs more and can be a lifesaver. Also get fast 10.000 rpm discs (WD raptors) if you do a lot of samplestreaming. Don't use anything 'onboard' that is connected to the PCIsystem (like extra RAID, onboard audio & stuff). The Asus P4C-E has its networkconnector on top of the northbridgechip, no PCIload there that gets in the way of the audiocard.
And Matrox (millenium) makes graphiccards that don't tax the system that much in terms of PCI-latency. An average 3D-monster will claim the cpu about 4 times longer than a Matrox, that's why they're so popular amongst DAWpeople.
I have a 6800GT -love to go on vacation in San Andreas- and I use a tool to set its PCI latency from 256 cpu'cycles down to 64. (This means that the cpu has to grant a videocard a minimum of 256 cycles to finish its whatever it does, when you set that latency to 64 the DAWsoftware gets a change to kick in after only 64 cycles of srceenredrawcalculations, avoiding pops & crackles)
Ermz
¯\(°_o)/¯
That software, Mulder. Is it called DoubleDawg by any chance? I recall using it and it allowing me to reduce the PCI latency. Could definately push the system harder to get more out before the crackles and pops came.
It's good to see that you're a gamer aswell. I've been meaning to build a machine that's a powerful DAW and also a powerful gaming machine. Is there any chance I could get a list from you of all the components you would suggest to put into a machine suited to these two purposes?
It's good to see that you're a gamer aswell. I've been meaning to build a machine that's a powerful DAW and also a powerful gaming machine. Is there any chance I could get a list from you of all the components you would suggest to put into a machine suited to these two purposes?
Moonlapse said:
I've got 'PCI Latency Tool v1.02'. I remember using DoubleDawg but I couldn't locate it anymore in the mess that my disc is and found this one instead. Does exactly the same.
It's just stuff I picked up googling..
I choose to use overclock parts because they're often very stable. At the moment I'm running ProTools with a Digi 001 on an Abit IC7-MAX3. Total overkill for common use, but not that expensive and indeed very stable. I'm running a year old Bad 3.4 Ghz Xeon that was repacked & sold as an 2.8Ghz P4 (you could see it in the code on the box: SL6Z or something) so I clocked it back to 3.5 Ghz with 1 Gig of DDR500 Corsair Twin memory at 1Ghz FSB. Nvidia 6800GT for fun and a couple of raptors for DAWspeed. Very stable PSU: Antec Truepower. 550 Watts.
In a couple of weeks I'll replace the memory, CPU and mobo for a Pentium-M 730. Fast (1.6/533) cheap (less then 200) overclocker (2.4/800). Together with an Asus CT-479 adapterboard it will run on an Asus P4C800-E mobo which is also a great known overclocker. At the moment it is better to steer away from the newest PCI-e stuff, seems that the PCIsystem on those mobo's isn't that great, an RME Hammerfall -best ASIOcard outthere- runs better on a 875 based board.
The PM 730 proc runs at 1.6Ghz/533 stock speed but can easily reach 2.4/800 on stock voltage. With the 800 FSB the mobo has the common speed of DDR400 so I can put in a pair of 1gig sticks to double my current RAM. Working with Vienna and DFH Superior eats your RAM away.. Good RAM is also very important, Corsair XMS 3200 cas 2 is very good.
Although it should be possible to run the 730 faster than 2.4Ghz with higher voltage & better cooling I'll keep it at 2.4Ghz for stabillity. It rivals an FX-55 at that speed anyway.
Well, this is how I decided it. Reading (dutch) tweakerforums and picking components that have a great margin and I use 75% of that xtra speed so everything keeps stable. The speed is needed for the lowest latency (I'm a keyboardplayer) on my setup, I need my machine to behave as an instrument. I also choose to pop in a 6800GT because some guy was busy writing audioFXstuff for it (reverbs etc) but the only thing he coded so far is his webpage. Turns out the 6800GT also runs HL2, D3 and FarCry excellent.
Oh, a friend of mine also got me a very good 24" widescreen SGI monitor. Working (and gaming!!) at 1600 by 1024 is awesome.
So at the current moment the intel 875p based mobo's are best for audio, Pentium-m 730 on Asus P4C800-E runs fastest with no hassle, Corsair XMS3200c2 best memory. I'll place my RME Hammerfall in this new machine, and my digi 001 will move to an Apple G4 running Altiverb and some sony/metric halo stuff. I'm curious if I will be able to run 1 Sony Oxford eq on the G4 and Q-clone it on every freezable channel on my pc.
MKS
Member
- May 24, 2005
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Disabling the page file gave me a few errors with various software. My favorite solution was to create a small 2GB partition just for the pagefile. This works great and keeps your main OS partition from fragmenting.
Don't worry about using a PC. PC's have come a long way in the world of Digital Audio Recording. And I'll put my dual opteron against a mini-mac anyday.
You must have a second HDD for audio data.
You must have at least 1GB of RAM but 2GB preferred. Anything above 2GB in XP is a waste unless you're running a multiple processor PC.
OT: Sonar actually performs better with slower processors.
Just my 2 cents.
Don't worry about using a PC. PC's have come a long way in the world of Digital Audio Recording. And I'll put my dual opteron against a mini-mac anyday.
You must have a second HDD for audio data.
You must have at least 1GB of RAM but 2GB preferred. Anything above 2GB in XP is a waste unless you're running a multiple processor PC.
OT: Sonar actually performs better with slower processors.
Just my 2 cents.
Ermz
¯\(°_o)/¯
Thank you very much!
Is there any reason in particular you preffer the Intel chips over the AMD 64-bit stuff, or is it just becasue the 875p based mobo's seem to be the best for audio?
Is there any reason in particular you preffer the Intel chips over the AMD 64-bit stuff, or is it just becasue the 875p based mobo's seem to be the best for audio?
Hopkins-WitchfinderGeneral
we are children of god
You can get 64bit AMD's pretty cheap now, and i'd recommend AMD over intel every time. Far better performance and none of the fucking hype either.
Ermz
¯\(°_o)/¯
Ermz
¯\(°_o)/¯
I don't understand. The benchmarks show that it got its ass kicked by the FX-55. The thing that puts it ahead is a lower price, in spite of that, right?
Moonlapse said:
Well, in D3 its the pentium m that kicks..
And it's much cheaper, runs much cooler (uses less power).
An Athlon Venice is also very good with an MSI Neo2 platinum. Steer away from the Nforce 4 boards, according to the folks at Nuendo.com there's trouble with PCIthroughput. NForce 3 ultra is the way to go with A64. Buy a 3200+ and clock it up, but then you need 4x512 MB DDR500 and most mobo's don't like it when you stick more than two ramchips in them, that's why I prefer the Pentium-m, it runs blazingly fast at 800 FSB enabling the use of two 1gig 3200 sticks. At this moment there are -afaik- no 1gig 4000 sticks..
Ermz
¯\(°_o)/¯
Just did a search of some local retailers and damn... those high-end CPUs are insanely expensive. Some are the price of a whole decent rig.
The Pentium M 735 definately looks like a budget conscious option that can still keep up with the competition.
The Pentium M 735 definately looks like a budget conscious option that can still keep up with the competition.
Moonlapse said:
Yeah, that's why..
And the expensive ones come from the same productionwafer as the cheap ones. Once I knew that I never bought a highend cpu anymore, always clocked'em up.
Woa, it's the 730! Every Pentium-M with a '5' on its end is a 400 Mhz FSB chip, and you want a 533 Mhz FSB. Those are the '0' chips.
Anyway, also because it runs so cool you can fit it in a small box, even have a large slow fan on it. And with progs like Nuendo (and FXfreeze) you can freeze your tracks if you fall short of cpupower.
