This month's hot topic is processors — lots of them! Martin Walker goes into OverDrive.
Many computer owners exist in a permanent state of creeping featuritis — very rarely content with their current hardware capabilities, and always looking forward to the next upgrade. Part of the problem is that, due to economies of scale, today's luxury becomes tomorrow's necessity, and no sooner have we bought our latest toy than the next generation arrives. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the world of PCs, where the intense competition drives prices ever downward and makes dealer margins ever smaller.
Intel's latest MMX processors are a case in point. Suddenly, many people feel the need to upgrade existing machines or buy new ones, either through feelings of system inadequacy or even anger at Intel for daring to introduce a product 'better' than their existing one. However, despite its excellent potential for the future, what does the MMX version actually give PC owners now, beyond the basic 10% speed improvement over the standard Pentium chip? Apart from a few games, and a couple of enhanced graphics packages, very little software is yet available that takes advantage of the new features, and of course software developers will have to be careful to ensure that their latest masterpiece still has good performance on the vast majority of non‑MMX machines out in the field.
One of the most important features of music software is its stability — when you spend so many hours using the product, the last thing you want is a hastily released MMX‑compatible upgrade with all the stability of a novice tightrope walker. Nevertheless, if you're thinking of upgrading your PC anyway, then it's only sensible to opt for an MMX processor — but don't forget that some mail‑order suppliers will offer you a trade‑in price for your current processor (and more if you buy the new processor from them as well). This must be better than putting the old one in a cupboard and forgetting about it.
MMX Overdrive Upgrade
Many of the most recent motherboards can use MMX processors as direct plug‑in replacements for their existing processor, but only if they allow 2.8V operation (see your motherboard manual, or ask your supplier whether you have MMX compatibility). If not, you may be interested in the new MMX OverDrive chips, which are now available as direct plug‑in replacements for Pentium 75, 90 or 100MHz processors. There are two models available: the first takes a Pentium 75MHz or 90MHz processor to 125MHz MMX or 150MHz MMX respectively, and the second upgrades a 100MHz processor to 166MHz MMX. Each is basically just a normal MMX processor with a voltage regulator to provide the required 2.8V supply. Talk seriously to your supplier before taking the plunge, as the OverDrive chips cost about £100 more than the standard MMX versions; if you do have an older motherboard, you may get more of an improvement by buying a standard MMX processor and a new motherboard for the same total price. The advantage of the OverDrive is that it only takes five minutes to install.
Amd K6 MMX Processors
Meanwhile, the other processor manufacturers are not resting on their laurels. AMD have, in the past, tended to target the lower end of the market — last year they introduced the K5 series, designed as lower‑cost replacements for Pentium 100 and 133MHz processors. This time they've leapfrogged the competition by introducing a threat to Intel in the shape of the new K6 processors, which started to ship in April. These are designed to out‑perform Intel's follow‑up to the Pentium Pro — known as the Pentium II (although still widely referred to by its development name of Klamath), which is due to be launched in May.
Both the Pentium II and the K6 use designs based on RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer), renowned for high speed. Each instruction is translated into a small number of RISC operations, and the overall efficiency of the translation will determine how fast the processor will run. Intel have optimised the Pentium Pro and follow‑up Pentium II for 32‑bit operations, resulting in a processor that's slower than normal Pentiums when it's running 16‑bit code (this is why Pentium Pro machines always run the primarily 32‑bit Windows NT operating system, rather than Windows 95). AMD, on the other hand, have ensured that the K6 works well with both, giving it wider application. The K6 also incorporates full MMX implementation (under licence from Intel), but Intel did take exception to 'MMX' being emblazoned on the K6, and tried to prevent AMD using the term in advertising. A federal judge has denied Intel Corporation's request for a temporary restraining order while legal proceedings are considered. Cyrix are still working on their forthcoming M2 processors, but are providing MMX compatibility for these by re‑engineering the code, rather than using identical licensed code from Intel.
Versions of the K6 are initially available at three speeds — AMD‑K6‑166, AMD‑K6‑200, and AMD‑K6‑233 — and there are promises of yet higher speeds to come. Much is made of their full compatibility with the Pentium Pro range by AMD, but Intel have opted for a completely new physical design for their Pentium II, which sits on its own plug‑in circuit board with a larger associated cache memory. Although the performance of the II is extremely good, a completely new motherboard design is needed to accommodate this new plug‑in board. In contrast, the K6 range will plug into most existing Pentium motherboards as a direct replacement for a standard Pentium, but giving better than Pentium Pro performance. As long as the motherboard supports the necessary supply voltage, the only change needed seems to be for the BIOS to correctly report the processor name — no functional changes to the BIOS are required.
Initial tests of the K6 must be worrying for Intel, as not only do AMD's 166 and 200 versions out‑perform the equivalent Pentium MMX models, but they are also perilously close to Pentium Pro performance even when running Windows NT, without having to use a different motherboard. As always for musicians, compatibility with standard Intel designs seems to be as important as anything else, but the K6 could be an interesting option, especially as the competition should force all processor prices to drop. All things considered, AMD look set to do extremely well with the K6 range — if music software manufacturers can give us the OK, it should be well worth contacting your supplier to see whether your current motherboard is up to scratch.
Thanks For The Memory
This month I upgraded my PC's RAM from 16 to 32Mb — memory is not likely to get any cheaper than it is currently, at around £60. Besides, many people have claimed that having the extra 16Mb is more worthwhile than getting the next higher processor speed; for any of you out there wondering what the results really are, here's what I found.
First of all, as I fully expected, it's extremely unlikely that this kind of upgrade will make a single application run any faster, unless it's so big that it won't run effectively within your existing memory. After all, adding memory makes your PC bigger, not faster. My initial findings are that where you will get big improvements is in loading speed. The load time for Cubase Score v3 on my machine went from 11 seconds to just four!
When you're running more than one application simultaneously, you'll see huge improvements in the time taken to switch from one to another, which makes it a lot easier when you're running sequencers and synth editors, for instance. This improvement is because Windows 95 has to spend far less time shunting data back and forth to the swap file, which acts as virtual ('pretend') memory when needed. Having more RAM available means that the swap file itself also becomes much smaller — since upgrading I have found anything up to 10Mb more space on my hard disk, previously taken up by the swap file. If you find, after booting up and before you run any applications, that you have a swap file that is already several megabytes in size (Windows 95 itself swallows quite a few megabytes for system files and drivers), then you'll probably benefit greatly from a memory upgrade.
The MMX Crystal Ball
I quizzed several manufacturers about their future plans for MMX products. Steinberg are currently more concerned with finishing their Cubase VST model than in producing an MMX version. Cubase VST is due for an August '97 release, and this will be the first version native to 32‑bit Windows 95. Now they've shown what improvements are possible by taking this route with WaveLab — real‑time EQ and effects — this should be a major step forward, even if the Mac version did come first! Emagic have no specific plans to release new versions of Logic with MMX support, as far as their UK distributors Sound Technology are aware; in fact, Sonic Foundry, the makers of Sound Forge, think that MMX is a bit of a red herring altogether for high‑end audio, since it processes parallel 16‑bit data streams. With the advent of 20‑ and 24‑bit audio, MMX is not ideal, and their boffins predict that MMX will not be adopted widely for high‑end PC audio software applications.
Tiny Tips
It's amazing how many little PC tips you pick up over the years — little tricks that I use all the time meet with blank stares of incomprehension when other people see them, and the inevitable 'How did you do that?' swiftly follows. First up, for all those who entered the PC arena post‑DOS: at any time during bootup, you can pause the screen by pressing the key marked 'Pause/Break' (above the cursor keys). This is one way to give you time to actually read the screen full of data provided by your BIOS, which details the hardware it's found as well as listing the results of processing the AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files — which in turn tell you whether your soundcards, CD‑ROM drives and so on have been configured correctly. Press any other key to resume when you are ready.
Hands up all those who usually press the Apply button after changing something in a dialogue box, and then press the OK button to exit. Actually, the only difference between the two is that OK also shuts the window. Apply 'saves the changes you have made without closing the box'. OK 'closes this dialogue box and saves any changes you have made.' So, pressing Apply then OK is superfluous — just OK will do exactly the same thing!
Most of you will probably already know that you can change the width of data columns in programs such as Explorer by clicking and dragging (the cursor changes to a dividing line with horizontal arrows when you move it over the column position). What you may not have realised is that, if you double‑click at this position instead, the column width will automatically adjust to exactly the correct width to show whatever data is in the column.