1 Topic by Baschop (edited by Baschop 2011-02-12 14:56:05)

  • Registered: 2010-09-13
  • Posts: 5

Topic: PCI Express latency and performance today?

Hi. I was just wondering if there will be an advantage in having the newer motherboard chipsets and PCI Express chipsets when it comes to running my Multiface 2? I know or at least I'd hope to see a benefit in moving, eventually, from a Core2Quad Q9550 to an i7 or similar but the chipsets alone, do they give a good boost in performance, irrelative of the actual CPU and memory  performance?

Will there be less impact on the CPU at lower latencies purely as a result of an updated PCIExpress functionality due to the newer motherboard chipsets?

I'm quite happy with my current system, EP45 UD3, Q9550 @ 3.4GHz and 4GB DDR2 RAM @ 800MHz so I'm just wondering how much of a benefit I'd see when purely running my HDSPe Multiface2.

Many thanks, can't remember if I've posted before but have meant to say it's great to be part of RME and be using their equipment.

Thanks now.


EDIT: ahh, on posting I can see this is my first post. Been using my Multiface2 for about 6 months now. Love it.

  • vinark
  • DAW Mastermind
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  • Registered: 2009-06-05
  • Posts: 2,658

Re: PCI Express latency and performance today?

Hi
I use roughly the same system as you, with a HDSP9652
Also a Q9550 overclocked (to 3.6Ghz here)
I have done lots of benchmarking and am in contact with lots of other DAW performance geeks.
The short answer is no.
Slightly longer, the new chipsets run DDR3 and a memory controller on the cpu which results in higher ram speed/bandwith. In situations where ram speed is the bottleneck, this is an improvement. Situations the might include this are, running a lot of convolution reverbs (really a lot like 20) and sample streaming from ram, This is only an improvement when ram bandwidth is fully used, as long as the old system is not limiting this way, the new won´t improve. Speaking in general since the i7 are somewhat faster you will also achieve a little better low latency performance, but not as a result from the PCIe buss or new chipsets.

I´m not sure what the advantage is of thinking of the pcie bus/chipset separate from the complete system (since there is no other chipset available for our cpu/ram). Maybe better think of the whole system price/performance/gain.
BTW a stock i7920 performs equal to our overclocked Q9550 so for a real gain a an i7980x is minimum. There are some good reports for the new sandy bridge but to manny issues right now.

Vincent, Amsterdam
https://soundcloud.com/thesecretworld
BFpro fs, 2X HDSP9652 ADI-8AE, 2X HDSP9632
  • Registered: 2010-09-13
  • Posts: 5

Re: PCI Express latency and performance today?

Hi, vinark! Yeah as suspected I'd have thought my system will be fine for some time to come. I am fine with the latency after overclocking, too. I was beforehand, really.

Thanks for the reply!