processor speed vs cores ?

[Gwalchmai]

hi,

i will apologize in advance if a similar thread exists on this subject but this is specific to digital audio production.
i'm about to pull the trigger on a brand new mac,my G5 PPC imac is 5 years old and still working but showing it's age...so here's the question,what is more important processor speed or the number of cores?
I'll be running logic express,ableton live 8 suite and garritan orchestra.
I'm only a hobbyist, no 48 track intensive sessions going on here.
The advice i'm looking for is,which do you think would be suitable,fast 3.33GHZ dual core imac or 2.66GHz quad core imac.I'll be loading the machine with 8gb ram.
I would appreciate any advice on this...

 

[seisend]

hi,

i will apologize in advance if a similar thread exists on this subject but this is specific to digital audio production.
i'm about to pull the trigger on a brand new mac,my G5 PPC imac is 5 years old and still working but showing it's age...so here's the question,what is more important processor speed or the number of cores?
I'll be running logic express,ableton live 8 suite and garritan orchestra.
I'm only a hobbyist, no 48 track intensive sessions going on here.
The advice i'm looking for is,which do you think would be suitable,fast 3.33GHZ dual core imac or 2.66GHz quad core imac.I'll be loading the machine with 8gb ram.
I would appreciate any advice on this...

Logic can take advantage of mutliple cores. So therefore I recommend the 2.66 ghz quad core system. Logic can't use more than 4GB Memory Ram because of the 32bit limit. The dual core isn't a bad choice too, but I'd go for the Quadcore because the future is multicore .

 

[thejadedmonkey]

Re: Ram limits. Just because a program can only use 4 gb of RAM doesn't mean you shouldn't get more. If the program uses 4 gigs, still get 8, so your OS and any other programs have another 4 gigs to play around with.

But you might not want to get the 8gigs from Apple

 

[seisend]

Re: Ram limits. Just because a program can only use 4 gb of RAM doesn't mean you shouldn't get more. If the program uses 4 gigs, still get 8, so your OS and any other programs have another 4 gigs to play around with.

But you might not want to get the 8gigs from Apple

I didn't say buy 4 gigs , I just said the limit is 4gigs so he can decide for himself. But you're right about your point.

 

[Ca$hflow]

Definitely focus on multi-core. Also the best way to future proof yourself.

 

[ChrisA]

Go with the more cores. Logic can use all those cores.

Maybe Logic can only use 4GB. But I'll bet you a lot that you will also be running other software at the same time as Logic. For example Mac OS X with it's large disk cache and buffers and so on.

That said 4GB is likely enough unless you run large sample libraries. Then buy 8GB. I think to make a big difference you need to double the RAM size Buyt e computer with a minimum amount of RAM and then buy the upgrade RAM from a third party. Apple charges to much for RAM.