Specifications

CHAPTER 2
different programs at once that each take up 16 MB of RAM, technically,
two of those applications shouldn’t be able to run. However, Windows
simply uses virtual memory to handle that extra 32 MB load. Because
virtual memory uses your hard disk for storage, and your hard disk
provides much slower access than your system’s RAM, all that “swap
file” processing makes your computer run more slowly. That’s why your
system runs faster with more RAM installed.
Hard Disk Drive
The speed of your hard drive is one of the single most important factors
in determining how many audio tracks you’ll be able to use during
playback with SONAR. Hard drives can be connected to a computer
using different types of interfaces: SCSI, IDE, and E-IDE. In terms of
performance, SCSI is better than IDE, but a good E-IDE drive can be
almost as good as SCSI. A few specifications to look out for are average
seek time (which should be as low as possible, preferably 9 milliseconds
or less), rotation speed (which should be as high as possible, the average
being 5,400 rpm), and sustained data transfer rate (which should also be
as high as possible, with at least 5 MB per second being a good start). One
other factor to avoid is hard disk controller cards that connect via an ISA
expansion slot inside your computer. A PCI-based connection is much
better. By the way, using the System Monitor, you can test your hard drive
performance the same way you can test CPU usage (explained earlier).
Aside from your upgrading to a new hard drive, one Windows tweak
might get you a little more speed from your current drive. It’s a setting for
DMA access for your hard drive controller. This setting gives your hard
drive direct access to your computer’s memory. This way, the data doesn’t
have to be processed by the CPU first and thus provides a bit more speed.
If your hard drive supports DMA, you can activate it like this:
1. Open the Windows Control Panel, double-click on System, and click
on the Device Manager tab in the System Properties dialog box.
2. Under Disk Drives in the list of devices, select your hard disk drive.
It might read something like “Generic IDE Disk.”
3. Click on the Properties button, and then click on the Settings tab in
the hard disk drive’s Properties dialog box. The dialog box should
look similar to Figure 2.10.
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Getting Started with SONAR — Chapter 2
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