Is DP8 faster on a PC than on a Mac?

[HCMarkus]

Hardware Speed Thoughts:

The built-in 2012 Mac Pro SATA ports are SATA2 (3 gb/sec). Only the fastest SSDs can saturate the SAT2 bus, but if the user thinks it will make a difference, any Mac Pro can run SATA3 (6gb/sec); just install an appropriate PCIe card. Current Mac laptops (and iMacs & Mini's, too, I think) support SATA3 natively.

Mac RAM for current MPs is 1333 gHz. From all I've read, faster RAM offers a nominal speed boost. Moving from 1033 to 1333 reportedly yields a barely-perceptable 1-3% increase in performance (under Westmere Xeon CPU), but going to RAM that operates much faster will make a bigger difference, especially when paired with the latest CPUs.

OS 10.8 has support for a large number of GPUs, including some of the latest and greatest, but GPU speed is not a big deal in music production. I am not a gamer, and my aging ATI 5770 runs three monitors just fine.

The big difference is CPU... the 2010-2012 MP uses Xeons with the Westmere architecture. The current Xeon offered by Intel is Sandy Bridge, which I understand can provide a significant boost in performance for many tasks given equivalent clock speed/core count, and SB is available with up to 8 cores per CPU. The newer CPUs also can use faster RAM. It all costs more, though!

One does not need Xeon processors unless one wants to run multiple CPUs, however, and Ivy Bridge CPUs (which are already being replaced by the next-gen Haswell) are even faster than Sandy Bridge, and are used in current Mac Minis and iMacs.

Haswells are currently found only in the very latest MacBook Air; the early Haswell releases by Intel are aimed at the low-power mobile market. This explains the new Airs' fantastic battery life.

Ivy Bridge EP (Xeon) is coming from Intel very soon; the new Mac Pro (MiniTrashcan) will most likely use these; up to 12 cores per CPU, but it looks like there will be no dual-CPU options.

Don't forget you can upgrade 2009 (4,1) Mac Pros to be, for all intents and purposes, everything the 2012 can be with a simple EFI hack and CPU/GPU/Memory swap.

[PG]

Steinberg has claimed for years that windows is faster than OSX. Especially running on small buffers with low latency the difference is significant in a DAW. But Steinberg uses ASIO on windows. Things could be different for DP. But I wouldn't be surprised if on the same hardware DP would run more efficient on windows. Just like Cubase does. Especially on low buffers/latency.

[dewdman42]

Well an ASIO vs CoreAudio discussion would indeed be interesting. But I don't know how you can do a very accurate comparison test there. Too many other factors involved. The most you are going to be able to say out of that test would be that ASIO might be able to achieve lower latencies somehow, but even if that were true, that does NOT equate to "faster computer"...super low latencies drain CPU resources. I get low enough latencies with CoreAudio, and I don't want to go any lower because I don't want to burden the CPU with more than necessary... So... Whatever claim stated by Steinberg I would have to say is just them pitching for their own technology with very little evidence to back it up... Also just because they were not able to make Cubase Mac run as fast as their Windows version does not necessarily mean that CoreAudio is the fault.

Chad didn't mention ASIO by the way, he talked about hardware for the most part.

[James Steele]

For anybody who wants to watch it, I'm putting it here (and testing my YouTube tag, which I may update soon):

[dewdman42]

Another thing he just said really drove home something...he said he's a gamer. That also explains a lot. Most likely his system is overclocked, even though he didn't mention it.

[James Steele]

Another thing he just said really drove home something...he said he's a gamer. That also explains a lot. Most likely his system is overclocked, even though he didn't mention it.

That probably accounts for why he's become adept at putting together PCs. I hear gamers are pretty fanatical about computer performance and graphics cards, etc. Also another reason scoring a video games is a good fit for him!

[dewdman42]

most of the overclocking intelligencia comes from avid gamers that are always trying to push the current hardware to the brink.

[James Steele]

Truthfully, I am concerned about what's going on over there at Apple. I'm not sure the little black trash can is going to take the world by storm, and it seems Samsung is pretty much clobbering Apple's iPhones in features, etc. If the next iPhone release is a let down... well...

[dewdman42]

Very valid points I can't deny. For now I'm pretty happy with OSX and there is plenty more hardware then what I can afford, so I'm not too worried about it for now...but...the day may come.....

Apple decided to make iOS be exclusive to their hardware, just like they did for Macs and time will yet show how well the new phones come out for windows or android that better Apple's, and how well Apple will step up to meet the competition. Apple is still a very large company with a LOT of money and a lot of desire to stay that way...so don't give up just yet.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Little black trash can? Lets not prejudge before its released. It could be the most amazing machine ever released. Or not.

[bayswater]

Steinberg has claimed for years that windows is faster than OSX. Especially running on small buffers with low latency the difference is significant in a DAW. But Steinberg uses ASIO on windows. Things could be different for DP. But I wouldn't be surprised if on the same hardware DP would run more efficient on windows. Just like Cubase does. Especially on low buffers/latency.

It could also be a matter of optimization. I recall early releases (x.00 or x.01) of Cubase for the Mac would sometimes display error dialog boxes that looked just like Windows in German. It was pretty clear that the Mac version was a port from Window.

[James Steele]

Little black trash can? Lets not prejudge before its released. It could be the most amazing machine ever released. Or not.

I didn't mean "trash can" as in it was no good. It was purely the aesthetic and I used the term because I was sitting around chatting with two video editors to day who make their living with Macs and one of them referred to it sceptically that way. Some guys are still wary after the Final Cut Pro X broohaha. I hope Apple is successful and I hope the new machine is wildly popular and prices on used 8-cores drop like rocks.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Well, it does resemble a trash can... or an oil barrel. Actually, it's probably more like Darth Vader!

Mini... I'm you father! Join me and together we can rule the universe - or at least the market share

[James Steele]

It looks really cool. Just nervous about Apple dragging us kicking and screaming (once again) toward a new paradigm.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

It looks really cool. Just nervous about Apple dragging us kicking and screaming (once again) toward a new paradigm.

I hear ya. That's precisely why I snagged an 8 core that is ML compatible when I did. Should last at least a few more years if the new Macs suck. I hope they don't and pro users will continue to be a target market.