After our initial tests with the new Mac Pro 8-core “Nehalem”, we’re happy to report that the new machine is extremely fast and even quieter than the last generation. Running Pro Tools HD 8.0cs2 with HD3 Accel, we enjoyed super fluent workflow, great graphics speed – even with center playhead – and absurdly fast RTAS performance.
Thanks to the Xeon Hyper-Threading, the 8 cores show up as 16 logical processors in Pro Tools contributing tremendously to the processing speed: in a not-quite-real-world-oriented test we were able to run 500 D-Verbs simultaneously while happily recording on 60 audio tracks. Yes, that was five-oh-oh simultaneous reverbs.
But don’t try this at home as the Nehalem generation is not yet supported by Digidesign. Stay tuned to this page to find out when Pro Tools is qualified for the new speed king.
