should I upgrade?

iskra · Post by **iskra** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 2:20 pm

I currently run win 98 & have 512 mb RAM

I had been thinking of upgrading because I have the money to do it now & because I had occasional glitches during recording, but yesterday I unexpectedly solved the glitches problem (a BIOS issue) I am now wondering what would be the advantage of upgrading?

my PC rarely crashes, so stability is not a huge issue which would be one reason for xp upgrade
& I can now get playback & recording of 24 audio tracks in my latest project (& I wouldnt often use more than that) working smoothly

are there any other benefits that more RAM & XP would give me? people are always saying that you cant never have enough RAM, but if my PC is working should I leave it alone?

symbiote · Post by **symbiote** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 3:24 pm

if it's not broken, don't fix it =P

alfonso · Post by **alfonso** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 3:31 pm

If you use XP it will use more RAM just to run.....but you can put much more.

Regarding Scope there is no advantage with XP instead of 98se that is evident, except for the use of a STS sampler that uses samples loaded in the RAM, and 98 isn't capable to manage all the RAM that XP can.

The main advantages can come with the other softwares, daw etc.
A lot of stuf doesn't run on 98 anymore, and if you need more computer power you should upgrade. It brings advantages but some work to tweak, if you upgrade follow the HW suggestions you'll find on PlanetZ.

Post by **hubird** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 3:35 pm

RAM profits from PCI bus traffic (reverbs/delays, GUI) and use of samples in software samplers/romplers/Giga etc.
So it depends on 1. what you're used to load in Creamware (STS, Masterverb, delays, looking forward features) etc. and on 2. use of Batterie, Kontakt, etc in your native sequencer.
If it now works with 500 MB, then I'd wait.
Specially if you don't have to upgrade the software to a new (XP) version

cheers.

edit: Alfonso was faster

funny, same arguements, different conclusions somehow

iskra · Post by **iskra** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 3:50 pm

thanks all for the quick answers (funnily enough I still havent made up mind), I wasnt aware RAM helped PCI traffic, I assumed scope stuff except sampler would just use dsp, I have just bought a third card so will be loading more creamware stuff in general, so that is something to think about...but maybe I'll play with my new set up for a week or two & then decide

I think generally with decisions where I cant quite make up my mind it probably doesnt matter either way (ie if it works without upgrade then good, but if I spend the money & get a bit more power/perfromance then I havent really lost anything)

Counterparts · Post by **Counterparts** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 5:00 am

Adding some more RAM never hurts.

Bear in mind that Microsoft no longer support 9x versions of Windows.

Having said that, I still run Windows 2000 and M$ don't support that either any more!

Post by **garyb** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 12:34 pm

a newer computer with xp should give you a lot better performance, but if you aren't up against the limits of what the current machine will do, then....

if you're going to get another 5 years of use and you have the money for a current mobo and processor(or even a p4 with a d865perl), then it might be cool to go for it.