I recently purchased a "dream machine" computer with 2.4 GHz Quad Core for about $4,800. After spending this much money and given the reputation of the vendor, I am surprised to find that this machine's performance is quite poor. (I'll withhold the vendor name so that we can focus on the issues) The specs are: - Motherboard: Asus w/975X Chipset - CPU: Core 2 Quad 2.4GHz / 1066MHz Front Side Bus - Cooling: Zalman CPU Cooler - RAM: 3GB DDR2/533 (2 x 1GB, 2 x 512MB) - System drive: Glyph Seagate 80GB SATA 7,200 RPM - Audio/data drives: 2 x Glyph Seagate 3200GB SATA 7,200 RPM "Raid Ready" - Powersupply: Antec 500 Watts - Video: Nvidia GForce 8800 (I think) The biggest problem is instability. When I run ProTools 7.3.1cs2 with a Digi002 firewire on this machine, I regularly get system freezes and/or fatal errors that require a shut down of ProTools. Moreover, I get memory errors when I load memory-intesive RTAS plugins, like Ivory or Kontact. Finally, I get H/W buffer size DAE error messages with only a moderate number of plug-ins running and a reasonable H/W buffer sizes of 512 samples. I noticed from day 1 that when running pro-tools the processor acts "jumpy" - in other words, even without doing anything the CPU indicator jumps up and down to about 35% to 55% of the CPU meter, even though the base-load may be about 10 - 15%. This seems quite random. This isn't a problem until there are several RTAS plug-ins; with these plug ins the base-load increases pushing these jumpy peaks to the top of the CPU meter, resulting in a H/W buffer error. I've been working with the vendor on the issues, but I'm getting the sense that they haven't a clue about the problems. Naturally, since the vendor designed it - they believe that there should be no problems with it. Perhaps there is something they're missing. I've also re-started to the original "factory ship" image of the computer. This image was after Pro-Tools was loaded to the computer along with Native Instruments Komplete 4, Waves plug-ins, and Ivory. Even after the re-start, I still see the same symptoms. Trashing preferences and deleting the digidesign dbs on each drive also seem to have no impact. Looking at the specs, does anyone have any idea why this machine could be performing so poorly? What would you recommend? Some ideas that I've been able to gather from on-line sources: - The computer has only 3GB of RAM. Considering the slots, this means that the computer is not using dual channel mode. Moreover, it is likely that the memory is not a matched pair. This could be the source of some of the memory issues. - The computer also uses cheaper RAM DDR2/553. A more powerful setup would use DDR2-800 RAM Dual Channel - Matched Pair 4GB. Again, this could be the source of the memory issues. - The computer uses a ASUS motherboard, which is not supported by digidesign. (Does the motherboard contain SiS chipsets? I don't know...) - Other possible issues: Memory timing setup incorrect (how do I diagnose?), Microsoft's quad core hardfix patch not used (is there a patch?), and overheating from the video card. Please let me know if you have additional ideas or insight that could help out here!
--------------------- Brian-Charlotte 98 750iL Brian's Jet Black Jet
You should definitely also apply the Microsoft Dual Core hotfix (not hardfix ) as well; I'm almost positive it applies to any multi-core processor running on Windows XP.
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RE: Problems with quadcore rack PC + PT 7.3.1cs2 + digi002
