New, Updated SonarTest

Tyan K8W that is...

ORIGINAL: tazman

Which K*W are you using? 2885 or 2875?

Thanks,

I was using the 2875. I liked it a lot, but my UAD-1's didn't. I'm now using an MSI K8T Master2-FAR.

you like it? What RAM are you using (specs)?

Thanks,

This is a review and specs of the RAM I'm using. No problems with it.

I have had a few problems with the MSI motherboard. Initially I had a few random lockups while running Sonar. After I uninstalled the Core Center Pro software (allows you to monitor CPU temps, fan speeds, voltage and adjust clock multipliers) that was bundled with it, the lockups went away. Occasionally it hangs on boot also. I'm praying for a BIOS upgrade that will address this soon. When it hangs and I do a cold boot, it fails to switch on my Delta 1010 breakout unit. Clearing CMOS is the only thing that fixes it.

Once I get it booted (the problem happens probably one of every 15-20 times I boot it and seems to be happening with less frequency lately) the machine runs great!

EDIT: I found that these problems were caused by a bad IDE ribbon cable, of all things. This machine boots and runs like a dream now. Solid throughout...

Yo, Boogie, you still liking your MSI mobo.

Your link goes back to this post.

Looking at an AMD Athlon XP 2500, nForce2 Ultra 400 chipset with dual channel support. Would it be worth it for a spare motherboard and processor or should I go with something else. Useing an Intel D845WN 400 FSB and P4 2GHz processor. Thanks,

randy

Doh. Sorry HERE is the right link.

Well, I don't know if my benchmarks are useful or not, but here they are...

ASIO:

5.8ms: 82-90%
11.6ms: 68-75%
23.2ms: 60-68%

WDM:

5.8ms: 82-90%
11.6ms: 67-74%
23.2ms: 59-67%

CPU: P4 2.5GHz, no HT
Mobo: ASUS P4B533-E
Chipset: Intel i845E, 533MHz FSB
Windows XP
Sound card: CreamWare Scope
Sonar 3.1.1 PE

I thought I had a pretty fast computer until I saw everyone else with 3GHz Athlons playing this thing at 5.8ms at 40% CPU, and then I realized I'm quite behind the times....

Shayne

Okay, thanks to everyone's help here, I just built a machine whose price and performance so far I'm very happy with.

Athlon64 3200+ ($279)

Chaintech VNF3-250 mobo w/ the new nForce3 250 Chipset ($77) (I would have got the Gigabyte K8NS Pro, but it was not in stock anywhere, and the chaintech one has been getting pretty kickass reviews on the nerd forums for a little more than half the price, but a little less functionality).

1 Gb Corsair ValueSelect RAM, PC3200 DDR400, ($180) (matched kit of two 512 sticks)

Win XP home ($90)

Floppy drive from Staples ($12)

Antec case w/ 350 temperature-controlled power supply and rubber-gasketed drive bays for quiet ($66, including shipping)

Already had a dual-monitor video card and monitors.

Already had two fast ATA hard drives and a DVD R/W.

Already had cables, mouse, keyboard.

Call it yep's 80/20 rule DAW.

So all told, for about $700, I got a system that can handle practically as many plugins as I can think of using (so far) at the lowest possible latency without coming close to the redline on the CPU. Pretty good stuff, and I tip my hat to you fine folk for the help. For another $200-$300, I could've bought disk space, mouse/keyboard, cables, and a dual-monitor video card (CompUSA currently has a pretty good one for $50, after rebates), and come away with a pretty killer DAW for less than a grand.

Here's the funny thing- I tried the sonar test, and I cannot get my CPU meter to go below 18%, nor above 44%, no matter how I adjust the latency/buffer settings. Like, the 18% is with about TEN SECONDS of latency- doesn't matter. In almost the entire useable range I'm averaging about 35%.

This is all very preliminary- I'm not hooked up to my regular soundcard(s)-- so far, this is all with a Tascam US-428 that I have in my room near the interweb, and the tascam is USB 1.0, so the latency slider bottoms out at 5.8 ms. this is not an "audio engine won't engage" thing, it's just that 5.8ms is what the setting is when slid all the way down when this soundcard is hooked up. I will post more when I can check it out with the Delta or aardvark.

You didnt say what your numbers were at 1.5 ms with this system. Since we have the same proc and memory, I would be curiuous to know,

Thanks,
Steve / Featherlight Studios

Hey Yep

I'm with Steve.

The DAW rig you have just put together is virtually identical to my next rig, so I would -really- appreciate it if you could post your Sonar 3 Test result specs at the differnet latencies + also tell us what soundcard you are using.

Thanks in advance.

Timboe

" I would glady pay you Tuesday, for the datails today"

I can't believe I just spent an hour or so reading all these posts. Quite informative and makes me feel just a wee bit inferior.
I'm away from my system now, which is probably a good thing, cuz I'd go kick it like a flatulant dog (to whom, for no good reason, a beating is given).
I remember thinking I was a BAD ASS when I bought a Mockingboard for my Apple ][+ (with 64k when you added the integer card...). Now I can't even remember why I was so excited.
Thanks to everyone, especially Scott, for all your expertise on all things DAW and computer related. I think I've learned more in the past hour than I have in months of Web surfing.
I think I'll refrain from posting my numbers.....and go buy a large sportscar as compensation....

Athlon64 3400
Gigabyte K8N Pro
1gb (2x512) Corsair TwinX 3200 DDR
Lynx 2 in ASIO
Sonar 3.1.1
Win XP

THIS IS THE EXACT MACHINE I PLAN TO BUILD

HAVE YOU CRANKED DOWN HARD ON IT WITH ANYTHING OTHER THAN THE TEST FILE?

ARE THERE ANY MOBO PROBLEMS HANGS ECT?

ORIGINAL: ScottS

Another data point:

Athlon64 3400
Gigabyte K8N Pro
1gb (2x512) Corsair TwinX 3200 DDR
Lynx 2 in ASIO
Sonar 3.1.1
Win XP


23.2 - 26%
11.6 - 29%
5.8 - 32%
2.9 - 41%
1.5 - 58%
.7 - 93% (although the engine ran you can't really do anything at this rate or the engine will dropout)


Scott

Revised using ASIO. P III 1.4 (s) (overclocked to 1.5)

46.4 44
23.2 48-50
11.6 57-60
5.8 73-77

ORIGINAL: ScottS

Another data point:

Athlon64 3400
Gigabyte K8N Pro
1gb (2x512) Corsair TwinX 3200 DDR
Lynx 2 in ASIO
Sonar 3.1.1
Win XP


23.2 - 26%
11.6 - 29%
5.8 - 32%
2.9 - 41%
1.5 - 58%
.7 - 93% (although the engine ran you can't really do anything at this rate or the engine will dropout)

We have this exact system and I have to say that I am becomming somewhat suspicious of some of these reported specs. We have tried this system with 3 different sound cards ( MOTU 2408, Layla24, RME Multiface ) and in none of these setups have we been able to even come close to these numbers. 10-20% higher in all setups. With Audio Windows XP Pro with all Viper tweaks and NO other apps running. This leads me to belive that must be a HUGE difference between sound cards and their respective drivers. We just finished building Scott's Gigabyte system with a Athlon 64 3200+ and Corsair TwinX3200llpt and could even come close to those numbers he reported. 15% or higher on the exact same system build. The only factors that we can see that are responsible for that much difference is either the sound card or the monitor setup. Most here have shown dual setup with either CRT or LCD. Either way thats a sizeable difference in numbers from just those two factors.
Finished Sid Vicious's build two days ago with a Layla and the gigabyte board and we were 20 points higher!

Hi Featherlight

I am starting to thing as you are re: some of these Athlon 3200+ and 3400+ postings. Somethign is not quite right.

Even if people are running their DDR at slow timings like 3/4/4 as opposed to 2/2/2 that is *not* going to make a 10 - 20 percentage point difference - maybe a point ot two, but thats all.

Featherlight - would you mind posting your 3400+ numbers with the S3 test at all latencies and briefly list your specs and s/card used and if WDM or ASIO ?

Thx,
Timboe

Its an Athlon 3200+ right now ( Set in Bios to default clock speed and voltage )
Abit KV8-Maxx3 mobo
1 gig Corsair XMS Twin X PC3200LLPT at CAS 2.0 2-3-2-6 At 1T ( default voltage 2.6v ) ( increasing to 2.7+ had no effect )
Previously Had Muskin running CAS 2.0 2-3-2-5 At 1T ( No Difference )
System Drive WD 80 gig 8 mg cache 7200rpm IDE 1 UDMA 133
Audio drive Maxtor 120 gig 8meg cache 7200 rpm IDE 2 UDMA 133
Zalman Ultra Quite Fan
500 watt Ultra Q-Platinum Series Enlight Power Supply
4 U Space Rack Case w/4 fan industrial pack.
Windows XP Pro all tweaks+Black Viper
Sonar Producer 3.1.1. No LAN, No Raid, No Internet, No Firewire ( all disabled in Bios & Windows )
I/O buffer size 256 ( smaller numbers produce slightly poorer scores )
No Dither / Full Chase Lock ( trigger and free wheel produce indentical scores )
Sound Forge 7.0a
Waves Gold 4.
No other apps.
NVidia GForce 2MX Twin View 32 MG ( Had ATI 9600 128 Mg DDR..No Difference in Test )
Motu 2408 MK1 ( Test Scores Shown )
RME Multiface ( Test Scores were .05-1 point lower cross the board..newer drivers no doubt )

WDM

1.5 84-86% Plays for 1-2 minutes & Dropsout
2.9 55-57%
4.4 45-46%
5.8 40-42%
7.3 36-38%
8.7 34-36%
10.2 33-35%

ASIO Panel scores the same (+ or - .05 point either way)

Have tried 5 different Memory types all very Low latency 2-3-2-6 or lower
Have tried the Gigabyte K8N PRO
Have tried the Asus KV8-SE
Have tried Intel Pearl w/ 3.0gig P4

All, except the Intel P-4 gave VERY similar results accross the board. Changing only a point or two from configuration to configuration.
From this I can assume that either Displaying two monitors while testing chews up a lot of CPU or Driver compatibility is a HUGE factor.
Though strangely enough, the difference between the New RME Multiface ( fantastic drivers ) and the older MOTU 2408 MK1 was slight at best.
I would be curious to know EXACTLY was memory and CAS settings were used in the faster tests and what mobo configurations as well.
Some of the settings displayed here seem pretty amazing to say the least.

I'd be curious to know that too... i was about to build an Athlon 64 3400 machine, but now I am getting a bit skeptical... Humm!!!

I would be curious to know EXACTLY was memory and CAS settings were used in the faster tests and what mobo configurations as well.

You may be on to something there. Your setup matches both other A64 3200+ desktops posted at 5.8ms latency but curves a little higher as the latency is drawn down.

--------Paul--CP----Featherlight
5.8ms-41%--40%--41%
2.9ms-51%--50%--56%
1.5ms--------72%--85%

Paul posted:
Gigabyte GA-K8NNXP with 1 gig corsair 3200LLPRO

CP posted:
GIgabyte K8NPro with 1 Gig matched Corsair TwinX PC3200

No timings were listed. I suspect a small change in timing is making a large difference at low latencies. However I can't imagine any faster timings than what you've already got.

In either case the chart is not reflecting the reality of those posted A64 3200+ numbers above.

On the bright side, you're matching the P4EE at 3.2GHz for $594 cheaper. Doesn't that feel good?

It would be very interesting to see how well the new Pentium-M:s (1.7ghz-2.0ghz, 2MB cache) perfoms.

Guess it's way too early for anyone to own such a machine.

I'm in the market for a laptop and would like to know if there's any point in getting one with the new processor.

I'm in the market for a laptop and would like to know if there's any point in getting one with the new processor.

I think it'll be between an Athlon64 notebook and a Pentium-M notebook... although I'd be surprised to see the new Pentium-M overtaking the A64s in this test.

-S

Hi Featherlight and wogg

These A64 + numbers are very interesting.

My DAW is a P4 2.6 o/c to 3.3gig @ 13 x 255 @ memory timing 3/4/4/8, XP SP1 fully tweaked and Black Vipere'd, 2 x 512 DDR, Delta Cards wiht .42 drivers, ASIO etc ..... results are as follows:-

1.5 - %88 <-> %91 stable and no dropouts
2.9 - %55 <-> %57 stable and no dropouts
5.8 - %39 steady and no dropouts
11.6 - %30 steady and no dropouts

Surely we are not saying or thinking that a drop in Cas latency to 2 will see a 5 <-> 15 *percentage point* drop in scores - I would *really* doubt that - I beleive there is something else going on here.

** HOW TO FIND OUT IF DDR RAM TIMINGS ARE THE ANSWER **

Featherlight, when you get a chance, run your S3 Test again firstly with your memory at your current [very] tight timings and then change the timings to 3/4/4/8 and post the results - I will be *amazed* if the results change that much.

Timboe
PS:- * If * this *is* the answer, I'll be the first to acknowledge it and say thankyou becase that will mean when I go A64, I will need to get some godd quality low latecny DDR.

Sorry, forgot to post the real numbers- I'll have them up a little later tonight. But as a teaser- for the money I spent, this system rocks!

Cheers.

That would be a good experiment to see the effect of RAM timing on the A64 platform, but won't be a good reference to compare to your P4. There's a whole lot more to the P4 vs. Athlon 64 memory latency than the RAM timings. The controller for a P4 is in the chipset northbridge, on the Athlon 64, it's on the CPU die itself.

www.techreport.com has the most detailed RAM tests I've seen.

In their latest article they have P4's with Corsair TwinX RAM timed at 2/4/4/6 pitted against Athlon 64's using identicle Corsair modules timed at 2/3/3/5.

The memory access latency was 73ns for the fastest P4 vs. 47ns for the Athlon 64. One clock tick at 200MHz only accounts for a 5ns difference, the rest is in the memory controller itself.

Reference

All geekiness aside there's still something going on with Featherlight's numbers...

ORIGINAL: Featherlight

Okay, thanks to everyone's help here, I just built a machine whose price and performance so far I'm very happy with.

Athlon64 3200+ ($279)

Chaintech VNF3-250 mobo w/ the new nForce3 250 Chipset ($77) (I would have got the Gigabyte K8NS Pro, but it was not in stock anywhere, and the chaintech one has been getting pretty kickass reviews on the nerd forums for a little more than half the price, but a little less functionality).

1 Gb Corsair ValueSelect RAM, PC3200 DDR400, ($180) (matched kit of two 512 sticks)

Win XP home ($90)

Floppy drive from Staples ($12)

Antec case w/ 350 temperature-controlled power supply and rubber-gasketed drive bays for quiet ($66, including shipping)

Already had a dual-monitor video card and monitors.

Already had two fast ATA hard drives and a DVD R/W.

Already had cables, mouse, keyboard.

Call it yep's 80/20 rule DAW.

You didnt say what your numbers were at 1.5 ms with this system. Since we have the same proc and memory, I would be curiuous to know,

Thanks,
Steve / Featherlight Studios

Okay... I'm using a MOTU 828mkII which is a firewire interface that uses WDM drivers, so the latency slider settings are not the same as PCI-based ASIO soundcards, so I can't give an exact apples-to-apples comparison, but I used some latency settings that are close to The Test ones (I have a Q10 that would probably work with the regular settings, but it's set up on my old PC in the drum room and I don't want to deal with loading Aardvark's finicky drivers onto the new machine).

45.7ms--28/29%
23.9ms--30/31%
10.9ms--34/36%
6.5ms--38/42%
2.2ms--55/62%


The slider won't go any lower than that (I think maybe because firewire is a little slower than PCI and has a built-in latency?).
I've been using this system for probably 5-6 hours a day average the past two weeks or so and it's a rock. No overclocking or timing adjustments of any kind, very minimal tweaking (disable onboard souncard and network card, adjust system settings to "background services" and "best performance.") I'm happy. Thanks to all who posted and especially Scott.

Cheers.

These are the scores with the Corsair XMS Twin X PC3200llpt timmed at 2-3-3-5 At 1T

WDM

1.5 84-86% Plays for 1-2 minutes & Dropsout
2.9 55-57%
4.4 45-48%
5.8 39-41%
7.3 36-38%
8.7 34-36%
10.2 33-35%

Nearly identical at 2-3-3-5 Vs. 2-3-2-6 ( with the active to precharge swapping 2-3-3-5 & 2-3-2-6 is about the same really )

I begining to think the drivers / mobo combination plays a much bigger part than the 1 or 2 ticks of memory timmings. The RME and MOTU are both heavily reliant on the PCI buss throughput to do thier job and the ABit maxx3 may be a slower buss than the newer Nforce 250 chipset.

Has Anyone had luck with the Newer Nvidia 250 chipset on other boards? If so, with what memory / timmings and soundcard?I fear that the older drivers are really going to suffer with these new A64 systems. Hoping Echo releases some new ones for the Layla24 so we can jump off our aging 2408 Mk1!
Wont be able to try any new boards for a while cause its off to New Orleans for a week for some computer 'de-tox' !!

I finally ran the test:

P4 2.4Ghz, 533Mhz bus
1 gig PC2100 RAM
dual Matrox HDD
2 x Delta 1010's
ATI Radeon 9600SE

14.5ms - 46%
11.6ms - 50%
8.7ms - 54%
5.8ms - 67-69%
2.9ms - dropout

I am wondering why my system is so slow. I figured I would get a bit better performance especially at 5.8ms... Anyone any thoughts?

Cheers,

am wondering why my system is so slow. I figured I would get a bit better performance especially at 5.8ms... Anyone any thoughts?

P4's don't really start shining without the 800MHz FSB or a large cache. The lenghty pipeline creates a huge penalty when a branch is mis-predicted so the larger bandwidth and lower latency involved in getting to cache or RAM, the better the chip can deal with having to re-fill it's pipe.

That also makes them picky on platforms. The 845 chipset for example has only one channel of DDR RAM and can't fill the FSB with the bandwidth it needs, so performance suffers.

I am planning on a major upgrade. The last thing I have to decide is Athlon 64 3200+ or 3400+. From Scott's test they seem fairly close, yet there are $170 difference in price. I am hoping to do the upgrade in 2 months. The worst part of it is that my problem is the graphics perfomrance more than CPU performance. I have yet to hit the limits of my machine... I know the graphics speed issues are due to the CPU not keeping up. I just went from a G450 (32mb) dual head to an ATI Radeo 9600SE (128mb) dual head and on the Sonar Test I got an improvement of ~5%. The projects with graohics slugginesh did not improve by much if any... Oh well...

Cheers,

Can't get the test link to work

Anyone tried to the K8NSPro mobo rather than the K8N Pro?

Cheers,

ORIGINAL: radonato

Can't get the test link to work

Did you click on the Sonar3Test Link?

If so, does it present a dialog box that offers to Open - Save - Cancel, etc?

If not, what do you get?

If so, you have to choose Save and save the Zip file to your H/D and then open it into Sonar 3 - This is Important - the file is designed for 3 only.

Let us know how it works out.

ORIGINAL: tazman

The worst part of it is that my problem is the graphics perfomrance more than CPU performance. I have yet to hit the limits of my machine... I know the graphics speed issues are due to the CPU not keeping up. I just went from a G450 (32mb) dual head to an ATI Radeo 9600SE (128mb) dual head and on the Sonar Test I got an improvement of ~5%. The projects with graohics slugginesh did not improve by much if any... Oh well...

Cheers,

There are plenty of users here using the G450 (or similar 32MB card) who are not experiencing any major problems. Have you seen the thread about the Powerstrip utility? Worth looking into if you're having video-related problems.

JD

Just to let you know I have a Q10 and have to do the same process after chaniging latency settings. I have to shutdown Sonar after resetting and then open it up again in order to get the updated CPU readings. Anyone know why? Just peculiar to the Q10's? The readings I'm getting seem ok starting at 25% usage at 46ms. down to 64% at 2.9ms on a P4 3ghz. All other reading are similar to mrh.

GH

Here are the results from my new LiquidDAW box.

Specs are:

Athlon64 3200+
MSI nForce3 250 motherboard
1GB Corsair PC3200 DDR (2x512MB)
ATI Radeon 64MB DH AGP video
WD 80GB 7200RPM 8MB ATA100 system drive
WD 120GB 7200rpm 8MB SATA150 audio drive
RME Multiface

46.4 ms - 27%
23.2 ms - 30%
11.6 ms - 33%
5.8 ms - 38%
2.9 ms - bounces between 47% and 51%
1.5 ms - bounces between 68% and 75%

Scott, I haven't had a chance to do much music-wise yet, as I'm still copying over files and reloading plugs and such but results so far look GREAT! She's quiet as a spring breeze, too!

Thanks!
Mike

Hey Mike / Zendin

Which brand and specific model motherboard is being used in your new nForce 3-250 DAW ?

Ta,
Timboe

I just built my new machine AMD64 3200+ and I get about the same performance. Cool!!!

Cheers,

ORIGINAL: Paul

Finally got the new system running so here's

AMD64 3200+
Gigabyte GA-K8NNXP
1 gig corsair 3200LLPRO
3 Maxtor 7200 drives
Matrox G450 dual head
MOTU 828MKII

23.2--30%
17.4--32%
11.6--34%
8.7--36%
5.8--41%
4.4--44%
2.9--51%
2.2--57%

The old system

T-Bird 1.4
Iwill KK266+
512 kingston ram
Everything else the same

23.2--64%
17.4--69%
11.6--76%
8.7--83%
5.8--xxx

So all in all I'm satisfied so far with the new system except for a problem I'll post new.

Paul

ORIGINAL: timboe

Hey Mike / Zendin

Which brand and specific model motherboard is being used in your new nForce 3-250 DAW ?

Ta,
Timboe

I think it's the NEO Platinum K8N - is that what you're looking for?

The gigabyte K8nSPro

ORIGINAL: timboe

Hey Mike / Zendin

Which brand and specific model motherboard is being used in your new nForce 3-250 DAW ?

Ta,
Timboe

I was looking for the K8NS Pro mobo several weeks ago and was unable to find it in stock anywhere. The only mobo with the nforce3 250 chipset that I could find at the time was the chaintech Zenith. It was getting great reviews, I got it, and it's great. No problems and excellent low-latency performance.

I've also heard nothing but good things about the gigabyte one. This chipset seems to be a good pick.

Cheers.

Never Mind

I'm liking the MSI board a lot because it's the only one that fully utilizes the nForce 250's integrated SATA controller. The Gigabyte board gives you two channels nForce and two channels using a 3rd party PCI-based controller (why?). The MSI board has four nForce channels (off the PCI bus). The other nice thing about keeping it all consistent like this is that with the nForce3 you can create RAID arrays using any combination of drives... whether they or PATA or SATA.

-S

I know this is a lot to ask, but I'm not only evaluating a new system (and I'm thinking of dual Opteron 242's), I'm also evaluating Sonar Producer 3.0 (I already own Home Studio 2004 XL).

I downloaded the Sonar Producer 3.0 demo, but I lack some of the effects (I DO have the Dreamstation and Triangle). Maybe there's a way I can get the effects and I'm just not looking in the right place.

Regardless, could one of you kind folks possibly create another stress .cwp file that doesn't refer to things that the Sonar demo doesn't have? That way I can see how several systems I have access to will do against the demo version of Sonar which will not only let me assess the system performance but also whether I want to shell out the $350 for Sonar Producer.

If it's too hard to do and/or configure due to limitations in the Sonar demo, then please ignore. If is IS doable, then I would happily report back to you as to how it did with the demo version of Sonar and maybe this would help others out there who are in my similar position.

Also, does anyone know whether Home Studio 2004 can make use of multi-processing or is that a feature that only Sonar has?

I'm about 99% positive that I'm just going to shell out the dough and get Sonar anyway, (since I normally get top of the line stuff), but it would be nice to demo it first and also demo its capabilities on a system of choice.

Thanks for any help!!!

Kevin

You should be able to just use this test file on your systems. As long as they are all running the demo... they'll all be missing the same FX, and the results will be comparable between them.

-S

Ooh...good point. I hadn't thought of that. Thanks! I'll try it!

The problem I see right away is that with all the Sonitus fx missing (not to mention the Lexicon...heh heh!!), I can have the latency set down to 10 msec (as low as it goes on my Audigy) and the higest the cpu gets to is 26% (and this is an Athlon 1800+ against an Audigy...not a very accurate measurement).

Ah well...I'll have to keep messing around I guess.

I am hoping to get completely out of the Soundblaster line of cards as long as I can use something (looks like LiveSynth Pro and/or Dyad) to handle Soundfonts because I have a HUGE library of great sounds (including some incredible (to me anyway!) grand pianos.

I'll keep researching on this forum as to a good soundcard that is not a Creative card. On the other hand, I don't expect to be doing much more than: solo piano work (with some excellent soundfonts) and then later, some multitrack vocal stuff with maybe 4 tracks guitar audio and another 6 tracks of vocal audio coupled to the various soundfonts, and/or DXi instruments (and various effects)...so perhaps the latest Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro would work for what I'm trying to do...I dunno (I do like their inputs and outputs, however, most of the time I just need to get a mic or pre-amp into the computer and the rest is done purely inside the computer and then dumped to .wav...so I don't need a lot of inputs/outputs).

Kevin

Ok, here's the results with my new box.
multiprocessors off:

2.9 ms 43%
5.3 ms 36%
10.7 ms 29%
21.3 ms 27%
42.7 ms 24%

multprocessor on:

2.9 ms 27%
5.3 ms 22%
10.7 ms 19%
21.3 ms 17%
42.7 ms 15%

1.5 ms was N\A with my sound card.

My system is the following:

Dual Opteron 250's 2.4 GHz
MSI K8T Master 2
Echo Layla 24/96
WD 74GB Raptor Enterprise 10k RPM ( for OS and Programs)
WD2500JD 250GB 7200 RPM (audio)
OCZ ECC PC3200 2GB (512x4)
Plextor PX-712A DVD+-R

Dual Opteron 250's 2.4 GHz

WOW! <drool>

Here's mine:

System Spec:
Asus P4800
P4 3.2 HT 800Hz FSB
1 Gig DDR4000 Ram
WD 80gig system
WD 240gig recording
2 Delta 1010's
2 UAD-1

1.5 ms Toast
2.9 ms 64%
5.8 ms 47%
10.7 ms 35%
21.3 ms 30%
42.7 ms 29%

Hi Scott

Here's my Specs for your survey

Intel 875PBZ Bonanza Motherboard
Pentium 4 - 3.2 Ghz Hyperthreading enabled
2 x 512Mb DDR400 Cas 2.5 Ram (Paralell Mode)
Boot drive C: Maxtor ATA133 40Gb
Archive Drive D: Maxtor ATA133 60Gb
AUDIO Drives 2 x 160 Gb Seagate SATA running as Software RAID 0 320 Gb Drive
RME Digi 96/8 PRO Audio Interface
NVidia GEFORCE MX440 64 Mb AGP8x Card running at 88/255 Latency (Controlled by powerstrip)
Realtek 8169 1gb network adapter
Swap Files and Picture Cache on D: Wavedata on E:

Only Available speeds on RME drivers are:

ASIO
5.8msecs = 41% 256kb 32bit
23.2msecs= 28% 1024kb 32bit

MME
11.6msecs = 42% 256kb 32bit
23.2msecs = 29% 256kb 32bit
34.8msecs = 28% 256kb 32bit

One interesting point, I cannot setup the Intel Hardware RAID, it causes random drop-outs with applications that use CD-writer (Nero, Wavelab etc). So far Software Raid doesn't show the same
behaviour. If anyone knows why this happens and has a cure I would be grateful.

This PC also is my office machine, Networked and Internet with ISDN, and also it was on the internet
at the time of test.

Dean

Here are the specs/performance of my new DAW

Specs:
Athlon64 3200+
Asus k8v SE deluxe motherboard
1GB Corsair PC3200 DDR (2x512MB)
Nvidia Ge-Force 4MX4000, 128MB DDR AGP 8x dual monitor
80GB system drive
120GB 7200rpm 8MB SATA audio drive
Lynx Two Model A
Sonar 3.1.1

ASIO
23.2 ms - 29%-30%
11.6 ms - 32%-35%
5.8 ms - 37%-39%
2.9 ms - 47%-52%
1.5 ms - 67%-75%

Yours seems a bit faster than mine (I get 41% at 5.8ms). I wonder if it's the video card, sound card or motherboard?!?

Good question, it may be a combination of all 3. However, the difference is not too big. I actually got one or two spikes at 41% but it stayed in 37% most of the time, with some 38s and 39s too.

AMD Athlon XP 1800+
512 mb memory (Kingston), running 266Mhz
VIA KT266A
SB Audigy


48% on 42,7 ms
54% on 21,3 ms
63% on 10,7 ms
83% on 5,3 ms
Won't run on 2,7 ms

I had to use Sampling rate 48000, and 16bit, though, because Audigy won't work on 41000. Do you think new Soundcard would help (Echo MIAMIDI), I'm considering that.

yes

ORIGINAL: ojc123

My system is the following:

Dual Opteron 250's 2.4 GHz
MSI K8T Master 2
Echo Layla 24/96
WD 74GB Raptor Enterprise 10k RPM ( for OS and Programs)
WD2500JD 250GB 7200 RPM (audio)
OCZ ECC PC3200 2GB (512x4)
Plextor PX-712A DVD+-R

ojc123,

I looked all over but could not find that particular CPU/mobo combination. AMD doesn't list the K8T Master 2 as a valid mobo for 250's. Can you point me to where you bought that gear?

You can find it if you a pricewatch.com search.

My new DAW from Scott Reams at LiquidDAQ:

AMD64 3200+
K8N Neo Platinum MB
NVIDIA nForce 3 250Gb chipset
2GB memory
1 WDC 80MB 7200 SATA system drive
1 WDC 120MB 7200 SATA audio drive
Radeon 9200 Dual Head video
EMU 1820
WinXP Pro SP1

ASIO:

39.9 - 28
20.0 - 30-31
10.0 - 34-35
5.0 - 39-44
2.0 - 57-67