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8-Core vs. Quad-Core vs. Snow Leopard

Apple Genius said:
BY THE WAY:
My sole decision in making this purchase lies in how well it will run Pro Tools.
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Pro tools runs on mac mini fine. I've seen it myself.

My MBP runs logic beautifully, and since I don't want to buy a specific interface just for Pro Tools it makes sense to use a program that works with all interfaces.

Pro tools couldn't be much more resource intensive... If I'm wrong correct me though.

Like I said, I've seen pro tools run on a 2 ghz mac mini with 2 gb of ram with no problem. Either the quad or octo mac pro will run pro tools just fine for a long time.
 
But if you could get the 2.66 Octo, would you choose that over a Quad 2.93? It's almost like splitting the difference (particularly because going to 16GB on the octo is way cheaper than doing so on a Quad).
 
rickeames said:
But if you could get the 2.66 Octo, would you choose that over a Quad 2.93? It's almost like splitting the difference (particularly because going to 16GB on the octo is way cheaper than doing so on a Quad).
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If the Octo 2.66 was at the current starting price I would have swung for one rather that get the Quad honestly. The apps I use the most (CS4 DP) barely use 2-4 cores (Curse you Adobe!) so the 2.26 was just too slow for the cash vs the Quad 2.66.

I know you can stuff a lot more ram but I've never used up all 8GB yet. =)
 
sbb155 said:
And, again, for the same amt of money...
a 2.93 quad + ssd + RAM will be faster for most tasks most of the time, then the stock 2.26 octo with a regular HD.

the premium for the octo is ridiculous compared to what you can get a in a souped up 2.93 quad.
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Aren't you kind of stacking the deck a bit in favor of the Quad? Whoa I just checked the Apple store. I was guessing there would be a significant amount of $$$ difference between the upgraded Quad and entry level Octo. It's $300.

Plus you have half the amount of RAM slots in the Quad. Confirms my suspicion that the Quad core Mac Pro is amongst the worst value you can purchase.
 
Slightly OT but are the CPUs swappable on the 8-core? In other words, if I bought a 2.26GHz 8-core now, could I replace them with 2.93GHz CPUs in a few years when the price presumably goes down?
 
Bartman01 said:
For a SINGLE CORE render, sure it was faster (one core at 2.93 > one core at 2.26). When using more than one core, the 2.26 is faster based on the chart you are referring to.
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Yup, but now the question becomes: How often will this condition occur?

For the vast majority of users the answer will be: Almost never.
 
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