Antoni Scott wrote:My question is : Would a 2.3 GHz quad-core i7 be better for Hauptwerk than a new 3.0 GHz dual-core I7 ?
I see used ( and sometimes new) 2011 quad-core MacMini's available. Since my MacPro has had several issues with RAM going bad, a used 2011 might be a better deal since the RAM is replaceable rather than the new ones where it is permanently soldered in.
Hello Antoni,
If the CPUs were of the same generation/technology, and all else was equal, then yes -- I would easily expect a 4-core 2.3 GHz CPU to outperform a 2-core 3.0 GHz CPU. However, successive generations of CPUs get more and more powerful for a given clock speed and number of cores ('Moore's law'). If comparing a 4-year old CPU model to a current one then the current one will have a significant inherent performance advantage because of that.
Overall, my guess is that the 4-core i7 CPU from 2011 would perhaps just beat the 2-core i7 one from 2014, but probably only by a fairly small margin.
Also the current 2-core 3.0 i7 CPU has 4 MB of shared CPU cache, compared to 6 MB for the 2011 quad-core model (
http://support.apple.com/kb/SP633 ). Although that's less overall, it is still more per core.
Since computer hardware typically has a 3-5 year working/useful lifespan (also in terms of support for operating systems, drivers and applications, given that each has to depend on the others), personally I wouldn't buy computer hardware that was more than 3 years old (unless it was very cheap!), since you could fairly soon end up back in your current situation.
P.S. From some quick research on the Internet, it seems that the 2.3 GHz quad-core was actually introduced in late 2012:
http://support.apple.com/kb/SP659 , and also that there was a 2.6 GHz quad-core option. Hence that might skew things a bit more in favour of the quad-core model (being not quite so old, and available with a higher clock speed).
Best regards, Martin.
Hauptwerk software designer/developer, Milan Digital Audio.