AMD Phenom II X4 955 w/ XITE-1

[dawman]

I just might stray from the Intel platform.
I pray it works, but if it doesn't, my son can have the parts swapped in his box.

I always used Intel because of the stability of the chipset, and the whole IRQ thing.
But with a single little PCI-e 1X, I don't see any big issues.
I can have the fastest AMD w/ 12GB's of the fastest DDRIII 1600+ RAM, and a stable Gigabyte UD3 mobo for 550 dollars less...........
I feel scammed by the X58 mobo's being 100 dollars more and having less parts than ever???
If I wanted the fastest i7 w/ the same parts above, it would actually be 1350 USD more than the AMD.
I only need to stream samples from the HDD's,..............that's it. No fake cheezVerbs or any VST effects. Just the fastest memory subsystem and a strong quad.
The gamers I know and even my sons friends are beating the crap out of their amd BOXES AND HAVING ZERO ISSUES.
So seeings how it's tough to get ahead in the bad economy and I was thankful to Bowen and SC for taking my greens early, I am going to try the new AMD build.
Besides, they were 64bit long before Intel, and many Pro DAW builders explicity say if your only streaming, the AMD is the way.
All of the OctoQuad MacPro guys use PC slaves run on AMD now too.
I hope it works, but I will be the 64bit AMD Guinnea Pig...................

AMD Phenom II X4 955................225 USD ...........3.2GHz
GSkill 8GB's DDRIII 1600 @ CL8 w/ Vista 64....300 USD
Gigabyte UD mobo........................85 USD

_____________________________________


Intel i7 945................................550 USD ...........i7 965 1000 USD @ 3.2GHz
OCZ 12GB's DDR III 1600 @ CL8 w/ Vista64.....500 USD
Gigasbyte UD4P...........................275 USD

______________________________________________

Pretty easy decision if it works, if not I'm fucked for a month................

[David]

I saw this price advantage as a big plus for the AMDs, making it easier to add large amounts of quality RAM and get a top notch Mobo for the price I'm looking to spend

I don't see it as a problem as I see Scope users on this forum using AMDs but it too will be my first foray away from the Intel stable.

You go first and don't forget to let us know how it goes

[netguyjoel]

Better u than me..

hey...let's get Jimmy...he'll build it...he'll try anything....

Hey look...he likes it.....hey Jimmy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ow5cHJx43i0

[dawman]

I thought it was Mikey from the Cheerios commercial..............

I was shocked at the benchmarks for Kontakt being a dead draw.
But even more impressive are the benchmarks that seem to be similar to streamimg apps.
For example Sony Vegas Pro, the AMD is 35% faster.
Multithreaded Compression, Photoshop, every single DivX Bench, every 3dsMax, even Windows Media Encoder......
Pro DAW builders make more money on the i7 builds, but they have many more AMD sales for Kontakt, and other Streamers.

EDIT: I AM A MORON, PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE VIDEO/COMPRESSION BENCHMARKS, THEY WERE MISREAD. THE STREAMING BENCHMARKS ARE ACCURATE.

These benches were the X4 955 against the i7 965 Extreme too............

http://www.anandtech.com/bench

http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www. ... N1CJ3GvaLA

I've seen enough to give it a whirl.

The best thing though, is I can OC the RAM seperate from the CPU just to juice up the throughput from the cache of the HDD's.
I have a German soundcard, a German streaming app, why not a German CPU.......Just cause it was designed in Texas don't mean a thing.

Ya'll Come Back ....Heya?

[netguyjoel]

the benchmarks are impressive..I don't do a lot of streaming stuff.

Just bear in mind..the catastrophic failure rate per 10,000 CPUs vs Intel. Hate to see that during a gig.

I'll drop the coin when the time comes, cuz u know brotha'...everything gets cheaper, & cheaper, & cheaper.

If you can't wait...it might be worth the old college try! Give it a spin and we'll all sit and wait..same Bat time....same PlanetZ channel

[Neutron]

I dont think the XITE will be nearly as fussy as the PCI cards, If it can work on laptops, which have compromised chip sets to save power and heat, it will probably be fine with AMD,
And if its going to work on OSX those laptops have an Nvidia chipset, which is the real problem in intel vs amd, not the CPU itself.

[netguyjoel]

I all stems from the chipset..like you said. NVidia or VIA...oh no!

But it also parallels with the other components too..including motherboard etc etc

[dawman]

Yepp...............streaming is simple.
The CPU doesn;t even need to be OC'd.
SPD settings in RAM come @ CL7/8 and 9 already for 4 x times the price of the 1600's.
A simple RAM tweak to save another few hundred.

I guess I am getting cheap in my old age.
Either way my son gets his own Computer in August for school. I can easily buy him an i7 and take it back if the AMD seems to be a problem.........

I just think the old adage of Intel only can be overlooked.
I only say this because I have seen impressive resluts from guys who stream audio for a living.
Naturually they are Mac guys because they don't have DSP needs, and have decent FX on their OctoQuads. They love Intel too, as long as it's inside of a Mac.

I have nothing to lose by trying.
AMD guys beat the piss out of their boxes by overclocking and tweaking their cards.
My meger overclock is for streaming and not even gaming.
Besides, the X58's are designed for gaming, and I would think stability comes from a simple mobo design that doesn't have 3 x PCI-e 16X slots for triple video cards and all of that nonsense.
If Intel would just quit pushing new technologies down our throats and keep things simple, I would stay in their camp.
But their new mobo has nothing but issues with it's PCI slots, and it appears as though they have lost their " stability " crown in that respect.
I even noticed my DP35DP had to have a USB port w/ external power just to use a small percentage of the advertised bandwidth.
If this is what audio/video houses are doing, I see no problems following the trail they are blazing.
If I was bringing in the cash I am use to making, I wouldn't even consider the extra wasted money, but common sense tells me the underdog is desperate to please...........

I will be happy to embarrass myself, or succeed.
It's a win win either way you look at it....especially since I already have the most powerful soundcard ever made by humans. Nothing can take that away...........

[netguyjoel]

True...slammin PCI cards @ 33Mhtz in its raw forms, has its days numbered. Still effective, yet popular..hell, I still use it. Patient & cooler heads will prevail in the end. Jimmy...you have heard me say this in the past....I NEVER jump....I'm sure G-Money feels the same. Planning for the future. Once in a great while...the present, does not outweigh the solid, and tested past..

Still luv ya brotha'

[dawman]

Holger Ralf & Jurgen.jpg

[netguyjoel]

domo arigato mr robato

[dawman]

GuinnessBrilliant.jpg

[Warp69]

I was shocked at the benchmarks for Kontakt being a dead draw.
But even more impressive are the benchmarks that seem to be similar to streamimg apps.
For example Sony Vegas Pro, the AMD is 35% faster.
Multithreaded Compression, Photoshop, every single DivX Bench, every 3dsMax, even Windows Media Encoder......

There's no AMD CPU that can beat an Intel Core i7 in any benchmark, so I would appreciate if you could show me that test for Sony Vegas Pro. But AMD is not trying to compete with the more expensive Core i7, so you can easily get a pretty cheap system which have an awesome performance.

[dawman]

It's the link above and I apologise for misreading the benchmarks.
The benchmarks are correct, but my excessive hours of programming and playing turned me into a mush head as the graphs for those tests are shown in lower seconds being the winner.

I should erase or edit but I prefer the reminder of a moronic moment...

The streaming tests are still correct, but not the compression and video.
I am still determined to build a streaming DAW based on the Kontakt benchmarks though.
Thanks for slap............

[winger]

I have run my old pulsar I on both amd and intel with no problems in either. I know that some of the via chipset were a problem even if you had an intel cpu, but I never had one of these.

Now I am running an amd athlon 64 x2 with a pulsar II and a scope pro (21 dsps) with no problems. So I know you can use the amd successfully.

I use the AMD because I have been cheap for a long time (yes old too).

[Sounddesigner]

I'll drop the coin when the time comes, cuz u know brotha'...everything gets cheaper, & cheaper, & cheaper.

Prices are dropping for i7's and discounts will come.

Here's a huge discount if you live near Micro Center for 920 model, worth calling them to investigate 940 price if one is interested - http://microcenter.com/single_product_r ... id=0302727

The prices have been dropping with some pro builders. Cyberpower only charges $729 now to build a 920 set-up - http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Inte ... figurator/

[dawman]

Thanks Bro I appreciate the tips and the links for saving a buck or two.
I think it's just a rebellious streak I am feeling from having an XITE-1.
I have always had Intel and have always seen Macs/DP or Logic ProTools rigs in every studio since '93 when ADAT was born.
But I have never had the pleasure to say I went with the lowest bidder, I'll probably get over it.
But having AMD w/ a single PCI-e 16X just for my single video card, and super fast RAM w/o making claims to having Triple Channel DDR is a phase I must experience.
Maybe I just want to push the envelope and see if I can weather a crash during a gig and get through the night with a monophonic analog synth and spare EMU hardware sampler as back-up...
Whatever the reason I must see it for myself.

So It Shall Be Written, So It Shall Be Done...............Yul Brenner as Ramsees II in Exodus, 1956 MGM/Universal.

yul%20brenner.jpg

[netguyjoel]

I shal pray to the Great Egyptian Pharaoah Hound God.... statue .....thingy

for pure success

[David]

Good luck Jimmy, You boldly go......!

[dawman]

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/2772/g ... index.html

Here's the review I have been waiting for. This is the AMD board DAW builders are using.
It has 2 x PCI 32bit slots for 2 x Luna cards w/ all of the extra MIDI channels I will ever need.
I hear so many people love USB MIDI, I also love it, but only for powering up a USB controller. PCI MIDI is the way to go for what I do since I use MIDI in extreme amounts.
This board has the PCI-e 1X for the XITE-1 and uses the high quality Japanese capacitors.
Now that we are using audio from a much more bandwidth capable buss, I doubt I will have to worry about any IRQ troubles, etc.
I had troubles choosing AMD in the past mostly because of 3rd party chips being made. I always believe nobody knows the CPU better than the company making it.
I can expect this to be even cheaper when 64bit drivers from SC are available.
8GB's of RAM will load everything no troubles, the CPU Quad core will hardly be used.
Fast 1600MHz RAM and a new video card 8800x or better is all I will need.

If it so much as coughs on me while using it, I'll drop it like a hot potatoe.
But for the ridiculous price of these equally fast parts, at least for streaming that is, I feel compelled to go with the underdog.
Intel has been cheap because of AMD, it's time I show them my gratitude, while saving 700 bucks on a build.

AMD 3 & XITE-1.JPG