Thanks, I'm excited too. I'm new to amd but I hear great things now regarding these procs and a/v work systems.

I would really love to hear the fine details to some/all of these questions, so hopefully those in the know will chime in.

I'm looking for big gains and effortless audio recording/mixdown (many 24-bit/44.1 tracks and lots of waves plugins)...along with the benefits with video editing, rendering/encoding times, etc with my vid work.

jaydee

I have been using a MSI MB for a while now. I love it. It is a Nforce 2 chipset. I have loved it for the features. However there are a few things that have bugged me about it which are worth noting.

The chipset fan was bad after a year --no 3rd party fans were available anywhere that would fit on the heatsink so I would have to rip the heat sink off and put a new heatsink and fan on it. Luckily they sent me a new one for free.

Then I decided to put more ram in this thing. I was using PC2700 333 even though it was capable of PC3200 400. I had a 512 stick of corsair XMS and got a second one. No problem it brought me up to 1 gig. There are two more slots for memory that are for dual memory mode. I put a third 512 stick in there of the same type and before I knew it I was in serious trouble. It was throwing errors and not saving the registry and long story short I pulled it out and re-installed XP. I managed to save everything but had to re-install all my apps and turns out that i really cant use those slots unless I am in proper dual channel mode. And there seems to be a lot of limitations and incompatible issues. So even though it says it will support 3 gig total it was nearly impossible to get the right combinations. So my best option is to chuck my 512s and get two 1gb sticks and put them in the first two slots. This way I avoid sending it into the "unstable" dual channel memory mode. There are a few postings at Newegg for people with these new MSI boards with similar comments. So make sure you get the right ram for it or you may have issues.

I have a Athlon XP 2800 (barton Core) in this board now. It is 333 with that chip. I could put a Athlon XP 3200 in here and then be at 400 but it is not really worth it. I did just notice that Nvidia has decided to release the 7800 in AGP so I may put one of those in here so AE 7 has a better chance. Then I will wait awhile longer till all the X2 buyers have had a chance to find all the bugs and test everything thoroughly enough. I have heard there are some who are not as thrilled with their X2 performance as they had hoped. I am curious how others on this forum who have upgraded feel about these processors after a little time time test them out in everyday use.


TomE

Hi
I am useing an amd 4400 x2 and geting to use 46 plugins and 50+ tracks audio with sonar p5 with 50 mil/sec. lat. and just getting started in the video editing thing using vegas 6. I went with an asus mb. with pci slots , asus a8v deluxe with 2 gig fast mem. plexstor dvd , msi fx5200 dual video card, 7200 rpm ide drives. two delta 1010 audio cards. The asus mb are harder to get now so I got a spare too.
check out ebay or tiger direct. you will have to put in xp pro sp2, driver update patch for amd, via four in one, and disable all extras in the bios. At the time this combo was the most stable.
Soundcrafters digital studios.

Here are my opinions.

" I am stuck with mobo choices as I NEED 4 32-bit reg PCI slots, and very few newer mobo's offered this other than the MSI mentioned (most have 2-3 PCI at best). But , I also hear on some sites that MSI motherboard chipset are great so that's good, just wanted to check with some of you too."

I prefer Asus or Tyan motherboards. They seem to have the least problems. For ultimate stability you might consider a Tyan server nForce4 Ultra board.

- will vegas6c utilize the dual-core x2's to the fullest?

There is always room for improvement but V6 does a good job loading both cores.

- With audio tracking/mixdown, I run a LOT of plugins on bus/tracks (usually Waves Diamond pack), will this x2 4400 help out drastically in this area? If so can you describe how? Are there any tips for the best dual-proc utilization with vegas 7 and plugins?

No processor currently available will do better than AMD X2 cores. That's all that needs to be said.


- I do understand this sys will help in multiple application (multitasking several apps at a time)...but does one have to specify the cpu utilization/priority?...or is it automatic?

No but you can assign threads to apps if you want to if there is need.

- I'm new to AMD (intel guy since the beginning), but what does the x2 4400 equate to in terms of Intel cpu offerings and power?

Depends on the benchmark but overall the X2 4400 is faster than the fastest available Intel Dual core Pentium 4.

- any tips/advice on my scsi U320 setup and this new rig? I used to use one scsi drive for all os/apps and another for temp/recording drive in my old Intel system nd it was quite nice. Should I do the same with this - or use my planned SATA 160gb drive for OS/apps...then use one U320 drive for the swapfile, temp, etc?

Unless you are working with HD uncompressed streams the SATA drive will be plenty fast. I would use the fastest drive for OS and apps. That's where I'm waiting on drives the most. You might want to consider partitioning it into to logical drives. One for OS and apps only and the other for data. This way the OS and apps are on the outside of the drive, the fastest rotating and performing part of the drive. Also, since you won't be constantly writing/erasing/writing data the drive won't fragment as quickly. And defrags will be faster.

Thanks all for the replies.
Ok AMD , here we go ;)

>>>I prefer Asus or Tyan motherboards. They seem to have the least problems. For ultimate stability you might consider a Tyan server nForce4 Ultra board <<<

Yes, I really was pushing for the Tyan (and asus boards) going thru them all on newegg...but sadly it was either missing some key items I wanted (usb2 and 1394) or it was shy of my PCI slot needs. Damn.
Well, we'll give this MSi a spin and see how she goes.

>>>No processor currently available will do better than AMD X2 cores. That's all that needs to be said.<<<

Well that's good to know, I'm sure it will change soon as tech always does, but I wasn't sure the equivilants between stated speeds (intel and amd).

>>>No but you can assign threads to apps if you want to if there is need.<<<
Great news.

>>>Depends on the benchmark but overall the X2 4400 is faster than the fastest available Intel Dual core Pentium 4.<<<

Ok, great. I was very near diving into Intel dual-core but I heard of heat issues and such, hearing that the tables have turned in that dept.
So I started looking into these x2's.

>>> SCSI: Unless you are working with HD uncompressed streams the SATA drive will be plenty fast. I would use the fastest drive for OS and apps. That's where I'm waiting on drives the most. You might want to consider partitioning it into to logical drives. One for OS and apps only and the other for data. This way the OS and apps are on the outside of the drive, the fastest rotating and performing part of the drive. Also, since you won't be constantly writing/erasing/writing data the drive won't fragment as quickly. And defrags will be faster.<<<

The Sata isn't a raptor series (basic yet quiet 120 gig seagate sata). I am working with uncompressed a/v quite a bit actually. Will this change any opinion you might have at that point?

Ok, I was thinking of either using an ata-ide drive for the os/apps (80 gig ide) and using a U320 for a temp/swap file.... while utilizing the sata-150 for another rec drive.

Or...the sata-150 for os/apps.
Or...continue using one of the scsi U320's for an os.
Hmmm, not sure which route would be the best. Still looking into it.

Well cool, you guys got me excited even more now. The Intel 2.8 has treated me well but it's time (I like Intel and AMD - I don't bother with any "cpu war" stuff) .
I just weighed the need for better multitasking and have been waiting quite a while before my next update, but the time is right now.


to TomE:
I read that with dual channel (and most any 939 mobo) you have to match the ram as best possible. I think that's why you might have had some issues.
Plus loading all four slots with ram may not deliver the full amount in there - not just msi, but many other mobos too (e.g. -what should be 4gig, could come out to 3 gig, etc).
So I went with 2x 1gig sticks of GSkill (dual-ch tested/rated) ddr400 memory (reviews have stated that it may do fine if I indeed OC it one day to near 4800+ x2 - which I highly doubt I'll do. not sure there's even a need basedon the replies I just read).

I would have loved to utilize my agp vid card, but alas this mobo required the pci-e 16x slot. Tack on another item ;) $$
* the 939 mobo's that had Xagp (Biostar was one) had limited agp card support so I steered away from that. Still, the Biostar was getting quite decent reviews from others.

To Lotus:
Hmm, now you got me thinking about buying a 2nd backup msi neo4 plat mobo (if all tests out well over time) and preparing in case these 939 mobos are no longer. That's not a bad plan at all really if all goes well.

I try and avoid anything "Via", I'm pretty sure this msi neo4 plat doesn't require any 4in1's (hope so). True?

thanks for the info guys,
cheers

jaydee,

Good luck with it hope it works out great for you. Please report back after you have it up and running and tell us how everything went ---ie all your pci cards work out alright and the ram and the other on-board features.

-TomE

>>...what does the x2 4400 equate to in terms of Intel cpu offerings...

The 4400+ equates to an Intel Pentium running at 4.4 GHz+.

AMD went with that naming convention since there was so much (consumer) confusion about what was better, thinking that faster clock speed meant more processing power. That is not always true.

The thing is that AMD runs the equivalent to a high speed Intel, but with much less clock speed.

Example: My AMD Athlon 64 3500+ actually runs at 2.2 GHz. AMDs basically get more work done per CPU cycle.

...and that's the story.

Hmmm, uh-oh...

Any maudio people with amd dual-core socket 939 systems have to deal with this SATA problem?
I have two delta 1010's (yep, still need and want them).

Problems with systems (like mine I think) with maudio cards and the use of SATA drives with audio - pops/skipping problem - SOL!!
*i have2 delta 1010's and getting that sys soon. eeeegh.

see links and tell me what you think.

http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.asp?m=333553

(over 20 pages of info) http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.asp?m=45491&mpage=1&key=

*not just cakewalk related btw to the above links, but rahter system/audio card issues.

more:

http://studio-central.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=25211

Eeeew boy, if I can't utlize the SATA at some point, I might be ruturning everything afterall (want and need my delta 1010's) before I ever install it all.

Please advise if I'm wrong and this doesn't apply to my new system (pretty sure it does :(

thanks


http://studio-central.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=25211

"Also, consider getting PATA disks instead of SATA. I've had a lot of problems with this. I know all m-audio pci interfaces suffer from this problem, I hope EMU performs better on this front.

The problem lies with the SATA controller on your motherboard. A lot of SATA controllers used on AMD boards tend to hog the pci bus. This means your audio interface will not get enough bandwidth. The result being: nasty clicks, often rythmically. At one point I had a very loud click on every third beat (no it wasn't a metronome )!

This problem hasn't been documented properly, so it's virtually impossible to predict beforehand. A friend of mine was building a new DAW a month ago, because he was experiencing the problem for a long time, and felt the need to upgrade anyway. We took the greatest caution to make a configuration where this problem would not occur. I thought I had the problem narrowed down to Silicon SATA controllers, so we chose a motherboard with a different controller.

But of course he built the new DAW and still experiences the problem, so he'll either have to switch audio interface or switch to a PATA HD just like me. "

Use the asus a8v deluxe with delta 1010's and ata 7200 rpm drives not the sata.
the msi fx5200 dual video card " with black heat sink" is one that works with no problems. sonar 5 pro. , vegas 6, etc.

Bah, this is a ridiculous showstopper and an maudio issue only (and I've yet to see a reason to move from my two delta 1010's), so I'm looking for a mobo that won't have any issues (IOW: if the asus a8v has the sata issue, I won't get it either).

There's no reason for this, but...there ya go.

Does the asus fit that bill, Is that what you're saying?

thanks again