Quote:
Originally Posted by plaid_emu
I bought a new Mac mini 2.6GHz quad core i7 in January, installed dual 128 GB SSDs and maxed out the RAM to 16GB. The thing can handle anything I throw at it. I use Reaktor and Absynth a lot too, in addition to the TI. I can feel the fan working fine but I can't hear it. Doesn't seem to be smoking when I push it real hard.
It's an amazing little machine, and if you can't make music on it without setting it on fire, then you probably have 150 tracks in your cluttered song with 42 instances of Diva and CPU hungry multiband compression plug-ins on every instance.
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Problems with lack of proper air flow only become apparent with time. And it's not directly related to the performance, or how much this machines can handle. Just that the components tend to wear out pretty fast if you're using this computers for serious audio work. Myself, I can reach 150 tracks on a project without it being cluttered at all. Multiple instances of multi-band compression isn't needed, as that's better suited for the mastering stage (if at all, when you're talking about your own tracks)!
Some high quality plug-ins can be demanding, like analogue-modeled stuff. Even equalizers, but most specially high quality Reverbs (often used to benchmark audio related stuff). But you shouldn't take it for granted that just because a new machine does handle your needs well and the fan isn't even making a lot of noise, it's got good airflow. Just check the design on their Mac Pro related to air flow and you'll see what I mean. For example: the i7-3370 processor is (still) one of the fastest around and many people have it on pcs with dedicated coolers (even water based) and a lot of air flow. That's the processor used on the latest highest grade imac, yes, even thiner then before... Not only it has a huge tendency for overheating - like all previous models! (owned them from the G5) -, but you're in luck if you don't have to replace some of its components during its lifespan. So yeah, owned macs and still have them and I dare say "there's simply not enough air flow to them, except the Mac Pro"!
Cheers