Quad Core Intel CPUs cheap now, anyone using em?

[love_tempo]

I see that Quad Core Intel CPUs have got cheap now (£170), anyone using em?
Trying to decide between trading in my old laptop for a core 2 or just building a new quad core DAW. Anyone using either? I'm tempted by the Quad but then the core 2s are so fast already they are probably plenty?

i've used Core 2 Extreme Quad for gaming and it runs like a dual core on most games - its all about whether the software is quadcore enabled - i'd check that the software you're using can thread across n-cores.

quadcore Core 2 technology are definately the best desktop processor on the market at the moment - AMD's barcelona is an embarassment and gets killed in every single test I've seen...

think of quadcore like extra thick pipe rather than extra fast water down the pipe. you can do more things at one time but not everything you want to do can be divided across the thicker pipe... if you see what i mean?

[love_tempo]

I looked at the Ableton forums and it sounds like Live can thread across 8 cores. I suppose something like 150% the capacity of the equivalent dual-core would be reasonable to expect. Not sure if I need all that much, but they are such good value at the moment, it seems like it would be worth paying the £80 difference. I suppose at the very least it would allow me to start running at 96k with a handful of different convolutions reverbs, good channel EQ and com plugins etc...

Then I wonder if 10k rpm drives are worth £80 extra too and it all starts to add up

Ableton is worth getting a Core 2 Quad for... other applications may run slower than a Core 2 Duo = this is because each core in a quad has a lower cycle rate to maintain power efficiency. So great for n-core enabled software not so good for solo or dual core enabled only.

[love_tempo]

do you think a 10k rpm western digital raptor would be worth the extra outlay? I'm a little bit concerned that it might be noiser and hotter as I'll be trying to build a quiet workstation. But then I think the hard disk must be the big bottleneck now? and 96k sampling means bigger files.

[ckpqerjwrpwp]

yeah drive is definitely the bottleneck... although what reality that supposed extra RPM makes who knows.. it'll definitely heat your machine up a lot. I'd leave that purchase until you see what it's like with a 7200rpm if I was you.

[love_tempo]

maybe for production an extra 2gb of ram would be cheaper and probably more effective once the OS had booted, Live had started and all samples were loaded into ram. at least I could do that later, or add the faster drive as an audio only drive if and when I can afford it.

as it is, buying a good case and silent psu, fans etc... is expensive enough.

TINA EAT THE HAM ha ha

i'd spend money on RAM and CPU befoe going above 7200 rpm drives...