G4 upgrade not too noticable

[EddieRivas]

I just upgraded my G4 2X450mhz to a 2X1.6ghz and I haven't noticed much of a difference when running DP 4.61 I have 1.25 ghz of RAM. Mainly what I hoped this would remedy was being able to adjust plugins in real time while DP was playing back but I notice when I bring up lets say the compressor i get the never-ending spinning ball...I usually run between 8-20 tracks and don't use a ton of plug ins or automation pretty minimally, and most of the time no time dealy type plugins but rather eq and dynamics.

Any suggestions beside upgrading to a G5?

Eddie

[Frodo]

Eddie:

It's the same thing on a G5 in that regard pretty much. The most important aspect of improving performance on any machine is having as much RAM as possible. The other major consideration is the HD bus speed.

DP 2.7 ran flawlessly on my Performa 200 Mhz. It was the sluggish (inadequate) bus speeds and RAM limitations that kept me from doing much audio on it. I could master audio, but the best thing a better CPU did was to speed up rendering and bouncing tasks.

The heartbreak with your situation as I see it is that you've already spent money on a CPU upgrade which didn't solve all of your concerns. There's not much else short of getting another computer that can be done-- however, keep your current one and use it as part of a network to run VIs, and then slave it to a newer computer. Prices for G5's will be dropping once the Intel Towers are announced. I wouldn't recommend another CPU upgrade.

I anticipate some news about Intel Towers over the next month or so (June is a big month for new Apple products been announced). It could also be that Steve Jobs would wait until the end of the year-- since we already know that there's much hype about running Windows on a Mac, and that Windows-Vista has been delayed to November or December. But, Tiger is still in full swing with Leopard on the horizon, so Vista compatibility may not be a prerequisite for the release of the Intel Towers.

In any case, a 2.7 Dual or Quad might be had for very reasonable prices very soon.

I wish I had a better suggestion-- perhaps someone else can chime in? In the meantime, I'm feeling your pain big time.

[EddieRivas]

Thanks Frodo. I have a Dual 2.0 G5 at home but since i have the G4 set up with all the plugs and everything else in there I'm not ready to put it in the studio although now it seems i may have to. We'll see.

thanks again.

Eddie

[zerosin]

Most upgrades above 1.4GHz use 7447s/7457s. I have used these in a dual 1.2GHz upgrade and was not very happy. I transitioned from a single 1.2GHz 7455 Sonnet Tech to a dual 1.2GHz 7447 Powerlogix and some performance aspects actually got worse. Particularly with buffer requirements and latency issues. I think the 7455s are a more robust processor and the 2MB L3 cache on most certainly doesn't hurt. My stock 466MHz currently in my Digital Audio G4 performs better as far as latency and buffer needs than the Dual 1.2 7447 I used to have. That processor has 1MB L2 and no L3. That says something about the raw power of the 7410 in comparison. Try setting the host bus multiplier to 2 and the work priority to low. That should help. The oldies use more power and generate more heat but there is no replacement for displacement, so to speak.

[jgest]

I just upgraded my G4 2X450mhz to a 2X1.6ghz and I haven't noticed much of a difference when running DP 4.61 I have 1.25 ghz of RAM. Mainly what I hoped this would remedy was being able to adjust plugins in real time while DP was playing back but I notice when I bring up lets say the compressor i get the never-ending spinning ball...I usually run between 8-20 tracks and don't use a ton of plug ins or automation pretty minimally, and most of the time no time dealy type plugins but rather eq and dynamics.

Any suggestions beside upgrading to a G5?

Eddie

I hate to add insult to injury, I had the same issue with my dual 500......
My understanding is that the buss speed of 100/133 depending on that model plays an imortant factor with realtime automation tweaking....

I'd say get the g5 and ram!

[EddieRivas]

Try setting the host bus multiplier to 2 and the work priority to low. That should help. The oldies use more power and generate more heat but there is no replacement for displacement, so to speak.

How do I do this? I really don't know my way around OSX all that well yet, I started on a mac LCII running System 7 but OSX is still a strange beast for me.
Also how can I slim down my computer so that the only things running are the necessary elements for recording, what files should i get rid of that don't help with performance, I don't need a screensaver or network...etc..



Thanks,
Eddie