The relevance of a high cache on a CPU

[Woody Aki]

Hi all...

I'm just 2 weeks and a couple of DJ gigs off from a new DAW (I know itsplayed, it's been that long coming, but I've been through some heavy financial times of late!). The following is how the setup will be like, minus the type of CPU, for this query hinges upon the choice of the latter...

Mobo: MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum nForce3 Ultra (Socket 939)
RAM: OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC3200 Dual Channel Platinum Series EL-DDR CAS2 (OCZ402048ELDCPE-K)
OS HD: Samsung Spinpoint P HD040GJ 40GB SATA-II 8MB Cache
Data HD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 80GB SATA + NCQ 8MB Cache*
Soundcard: ESI Waveterminal 2496*
Graphics: Gigabyte Radeon 9250 AGP8x 128Mb/64-bit GV-R925128DE*

The asterisked items are what's saved from my old PC, as you could tell by the idiosyncratic choice for HD's. In the future, I intend to replace the graphics card and the data HD - I'm quite happy with the performance of my soundcard so far.

My budget wouldn't allow me to afford an AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ at the moment, so my final choice rests on a AMD Opteron UP 146 San Diego 2.0GHz with 1MB Cache. Whilst I'd like to hear your expert opinion on this CPU's capability as a DAW, I'd also like to know all about how relevant a CPU's cache is to a DAW setup, especially when it gets to run a combination of VSTi's as well as (to a lesser extent) .wav files together on Cubase SX3. Whilst I await your answers with anticipation, I'd like to thank you all in advance for your kind attention.

Regards,

[itsplayed]

Good choice in the MoBo and ram. As far as the hard drives go, NCQ has so far been proven worthless for audio and takes a cpu hit to use. Personally, I'd opt for an ATA133 unit for the OS and Apps. such as the Maxtor DiamondMax 10 6L040P0 40GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache IDE Ultra ATA133 Hard Drive(or the 80GB) and a 160GB or better SATA150 drive w/16mb cache such as the Maxtor DiamondMax 10 6L200S0 200GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive one for the audio drive and if your planning on streaming samples a third (SATA) drive should be used for this purpose. If your budget doesn't allow for this upgrade now, you should plan on this being the first upgrade you perform in the future. Just partition your SATA drive to accommodate your sample library for the time being.
As for the Opteron, yes it would be best to choose the processor with the larger L2 cache. The larger cache has been proven to be a performance boost for DAW's(Cubase), which is why I belive the intel Sonoma chip performs so well in the DAW environment. Other than choosing the X2, the Opteron is a good bet.

[Woody Aki]

But I've heard so many sob stories about Maxtor drives...are they more reliable nowadays? The reason why I was going to purchase a Spinpoint HD for my OS was because of their silent operation. What would your reply to this be?

[itsplayed]

Yes I believe it's mainly a matter of 'Apples and Oranges' when dealing with todays top drives from all manufacturers. Truth is, I personally prefer using Seagate drives overall. I migrated (in the early '90's) from Western Digital drives which are making a strong comeback as well and would also make an excellent choice. As a matter of fact, I believe that Western Digital sports the lowest return rate of all drives and always gives high performance results. I only suggested the Maxtor drives based on the fact that their performance ratings are top notch and one of the only drives available with the ATA133 interface. Maxtor's issue today is more along the lines of heat, not so much noise. All drives are fairly matched in the noise issue, each falling with 1 or 2bels of each other. If you have reservations on using Maxtor drives, then I would suggest using Seagates or Western Digitals. The big plus to Seagates are their warranty.... at 5 years. If you head on over to any forum based on building 'Silent PC's' you'll find many different opinions on every drive. This brings us back to the 'Apples and Oranges' statement I made earlier....it truely is!

[Woody Aki]

Hmm...based on what you say, I think I'll go for a WD Caviar Special Edition 40GB 400JB ATA-100 8MB cache for my OS HD. Suffice to say that I was pretty stunned by your admission that ATA-100/EIDE drives make the best OS HD's!

Thanks for your invaluable tips itsplayed! :D

[itsplayed]

Yes, I always recommend an IDE drive for the OS. Besides for not providing any significant increase in performance, Sata can cause OS install issues and tie up valuable Sata ports that's best used for your audio and sample drives.