PC Specification advice

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I'm looking at upgrading my music PC and would appreciate any advice.

Here are my needs:

PC
64-bit
Windows 7 Professional or Windows 10 Professional
I work mostly in the box, using virtual instruments, sample libraries and plug-ins
I work on instrumentals of varying size
I work on cinematic pieces (via virtual instruments and sample libraries)
I need to improve upon the current PC performance I get
I need a PC that will work well with both Firewire or USB 2.0 audio interfaces
Must work well (good performance) with Cubase 9, 8 & 7.5.

I will be getting 32GB of RAM, but what I really need advice on is the motherboard / chipset and processor.

My current PC is an Intel i7-4770 (NOT the K one) on an Asus Z87-A motherboard.

However, I have run into performance problems with my current PC and DAW.

I would appreciate any recommendations with reasons why etc.

Thank you in advance.

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dman2014 wrote:My current PC is an Intel i7-4770 (NOT the K one) on an Asus Z87-A motherboard.

However, I have run into performance problems with my current PC and DAW.
i7-6900k ( 8 core ) , i7-6950x (10 core) or sell a kidney and get an xeon e7-8894v4 with 24 cores :D

not going to be cheap, but the current gen 4 core i7s just aren't enough of a sped bost over 4770 to be worthwhile ( the 4770 is about the 9000 region here so aim for something around the 18000 mark : http://m.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html )

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Why not just get another machine to host some stuff/spread the load.

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=473423
This entire forum is wading through predictions, opinions, barely formed thoughts, drama, and whining. If you don't enjoy that, why are you here? :D ShawnG

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jdnz wrote:
dman2014 wrote:My current PC is an Intel i7-4770 (NOT the K one) on an Asus Z87-A motherboard.

However, I have run into performance problems with my current PC and DAW.
i7-6900k ( 8 core ) , i7-6950x (10 core) or sell a kidney and get an xeon e7-8894v4 with 24 cores :D

not going to be cheap, but the current gen 4 core i7s just aren't enough of a sped bost over 4770 to be worthwhile ( the 4770 is about the 9000 region here so aim for something around the 18000 mark : http://m.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html )
Sadly, the i7-6900k is outside my budget. What about the i7-6800k (6 core) or i7-5930k - would either of these be worthwhile (obvs on new m/b too) ?

Thanks

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dman2014 wrote:Sadly, the i7-6900k is outside my budget. What about the i7-6800k (6 core) or i7-5930k - would either of these be worthwhile (obvs on new m/b too) ?
It's 30% increase over what you got already, so no, you will hit the wall with it soon too, there's no benefit in upgrading CPU in your case, but actually adding another machine. :tu:
This entire forum is wading through predictions, opinions, barely formed thoughts, drama, and whining. If you don't enjoy that, why are you here? :D ShawnG

Post

Zexila wrote:
dman2014 wrote:Sadly, the i7-6900k is outside my budget. What about the i7-6800k (6 core) or i7-5930k - would either of these be worthwhile (obvs on new m/b too) ?
It's 30% increase over what you got already, so no, you will hit the wall with it soon too, there's no benefit in upgrading CPU in your case, but actually adding another machine. :tu:
I would not know where to start with adding another machine, or if it would exceed my budget

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Zexila wrote:
dman2014 wrote:Sadly, the i7-6900k is outside my budget. What about the i7-6800k (6 core) or i7-5930k - would either of these be worthwhile (obvs on new m/b too) ?
It's 30% increase over what you got already, so no, you will hit the wall with it soon too, there's no benefit in upgrading CPU in your case, but actually adding another machine. :tu:
How do I add another machine?

What hardware and software is needed?

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Already left you link for a thread that deals with that, study it and decide are you up to it, some awesome answers can be found there, maybe even post there if you decide to go for it.

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=473423

Also, instead of getting new pricey CPU and mobo, would just get second hand machine with something like i7 3770k and 32 gig's of RAM, saw some amazing offers around, that will serve you good until market settles with new Ryzen and prices start falling down considerably.
This entire forum is wading through predictions, opinions, barely formed thoughts, drama, and whining. If you don't enjoy that, why are you here? :D ShawnG

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Last edited by Obsolete317542 on Sat Jul 18, 2020 5:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Eclectus, could you please give a quick run-down of things that should be done to tweak one's system for maximum performance? I could really use a run-down to make sure I am doing everything I can, and I am not sure I am. Thanks!
Mark Swanson, guitarist and luthier
Click to visit Swanson Guitars
http://www.MarkSwansonMusic.com

Post

dman2014 wrote:I'm looking at upgrading my music PC and would appreciate any advice.

Here are my needs:

PC
64-bit
Windows 7 Professional or Windows 10 Professional
I work mostly in the box, using virtual instruments, sample libraries and plug-ins
I work on instrumentals of varying size
I work on cinematic pieces (via virtual instruments and sample libraries)
I need to improve upon the current PC performance I get
I need a PC that will work well with both Firewire or USB 2.0 audio interfaces
Must work well (good performance) with Cubase 9, 8 & 7.5.

I will be getting 32GB of RAM, but what I really need advice on is the motherboard / chipset and processor.

My current PC is an Intel i7-4770 (NOT the K one) on an Asus Z87-A motherboard.

However, I have run into performance problems with my current PC and DAW.

I would appreciate any recommendations with reasons why etc.

Thank you in advance.
I'd like to hear the complete specs of the current system like drive setup and specific resources before making a suggestion. If you're heavy into large track count templates and streaming samples, etc... I have suggestions but need to hear more how you like to work.

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Mark Swanson wrote:Eclectus, could you please give a quick run-down of things that should be done to tweak one's system for maximum performance? I could really use a run-down to make sure I am doing everything I can, and I am not sure I am. Thanks!
In BIOS the settings are things like speed stepping that will throttle CPU speed at idle and the like. The switch between states is too slow for audio.

In Windows, set up a custom power scheme. Don't just choose Performance, things still are set to power off. Open Advanced Power Options and go down the list of devices and choose Never in the power down after X minutes boxes. Save this and back it up.

If your DAW forces it's own scheme like Cubase's ASIO Guard, still go through that scheme and make sure everything's correct. Save it as itself if needed/possible.

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Last edited by Obsolete317542 on Sat Jul 18, 2020 5:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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If Cubase is good at multithreading and money is tight, you might also consider the new AMD processors, the best of which is about 500 dollars or so.

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