Topic: Extent of multicore support?
I undertand that Pianoteq 2.1 is enabled for dual-core threading on cpus such as Intel Core2Duo.
What is the situation regarding quad-core cpus like Intel Core2Quad, now that these are becoming available at a reasonable price (and I find myself with the pain of having to put together a new desktop machine)? Is there a comparable performance advantage with more than two cores and/or processors?
In view of the problem that Microsoft admit here (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932370) that "The number of physical hyperthreading-enabled processors or the number of physical multicore processors is incorrectly reported in Windows XP and in Windows Server 2003", how is it possible for an end-user determine that Pianoteq is actually utilizing more than one core on XP?
I am reluctant to go to Vista until it is mature, and until it becomes clear how the innovations in Vista (particularly the DRM security, but also the new driver model) affect the performance of audio peripherals and applications, and for that reason intend to stay with XP SP2. I woud be interested in comments about running PT on Vista compared with XP. (From a recent "Sound on Sound" magazine article reporting the opinions of hardware designers from RME, M-Audio, etc, I read between the lines of a certain gnashing of teeth that they do not necessarily want to megaphone in public).
Thanks.