In another thread, about synthesizers, mention was made of computer power, and number of cores, and whether to buy an i5,i7 or i9 processor.
I don't know the answer - and I don't know how cheaply making up a powerful machine using Win PCs could become.
If one simply goes to Apple, it's relatively easy to get some idea of what's possible, and also the costs. Configuring an iMac with most bells and whistles, and a turbo charged processor can be done for around £5k. I think that might end up with an 8 core model.
Now try configuring an iMac Pro - which starts at around £5k. Eventually one can get an 18 core model with masses of memory - and the cost will be upwards of £12k.
There are are couple of questions which emerge from this. Firstly, does having more cores really make a difference? This will depend on the software. My understanding is that if the software one is going to use doesn't have significant multithreading, that having more cores is effectively a waste of money - unless one is perhaps expecting to multi-task. However, worrying about doing multi-tasking on an expensive machine which has perhaps been bought for music production or video editing, does seem somewhat irrelevant.
The other question is about how the Xeon processors compare with the i5/i7/i9 processors used in other systems. Are the Xeons significantly more powerful? They do run at a higher clock speed. Are there any non Apple machines using Xeons? What's the pricing like?
I don't know the answer - and I don't know how cheaply making up a powerful machine using Win PCs could become.
If one simply goes to Apple, it's relatively easy to get some idea of what's possible, and also the costs. Configuring an iMac with most bells and whistles, and a turbo charged processor can be done for around £5k. I think that might end up with an 8 core model.
Now try configuring an iMac Pro - which starts at around £5k. Eventually one can get an 18 core model with masses of memory - and the cost will be upwards of £12k.
There are are couple of questions which emerge from this. Firstly, does having more cores really make a difference? This will depend on the software. My understanding is that if the software one is going to use doesn't have significant multithreading, that having more cores is effectively a waste of money - unless one is perhaps expecting to multi-task. However, worrying about doing multi-tasking on an expensive machine which has perhaps been bought for music production or video editing, does seem somewhat irrelevant.
The other question is about how the Xeon processors compare with the i5/i7/i9 processors used in other systems. Are the Xeons significantly more powerful? They do run at a higher clock speed. Are there any non Apple machines using Xeons? What's the pricing like?
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