Looking for advice on upgrading my existing AMD build for music production. (updated)

[musikmachine]

I was recommended one for Hackintoshing but it's an i5 3470. My current build is an FX8320 oc'd to 4.7ghz which does ok. I've been AMD for a while so I'm not up on intel processors at all. I don't plan to wait for the next gen I just want a fast and relatively silent system with a small footprint that I could potentially Hackintosh but I'll dual boot either way. I believe there's an i7 system as well but i can't remember the name.

Thinking about turning my existing machine into a media center rather than upgrade it but this is the system I was considering:

https://microdream.co.uk/gaming-pc-hp-8 ... mt_uai69hE

Byt the i5 is similar in performance to the 8320 so i can't really see the gains in peformance. So yeah thought i'd post here to get some ideas, main point being the system can be dual booted to mac os for music production which i know can be done from scratch but i have health issues so looking for the path of least resistance. Open to alternatives, wanna keep the options open.

Budget £500-700

Cheers!

[musikmachine]

I'm looking at the available options and I'm wondering if I'll be better upgrading my pc as my CPU is kinda struggling. Obviously, i'm giving up the option to run mac os but I want a fast system that's not gonna be a bottleneck cause I like to run lots of tracks and plugins, I'm constantly hitting the FX8320s limits which is oc'd to 4.7ghz.

I have to freeze tracks quite a lot and I'm running at 512. SSD is a Samsung EVO850 but swapping out instruments in Live is quite slow. 16gb DDR3 1600 Kingston HyperX black IIRC.

I prefer to know what components I'm putting in my system cause it's for audio, I know there are new AMD stuffs coming out this year but I want to upgrade now.

Yes, intel would be great but the price to performance ratio leans me towards AMD usually and I've been able to produce mix and release tracks with my budget AMD build but what would be a good upgrade on both platforms currently to allow me to work at 128 and be fast and responsive?

I've got a good case as it is, it's big but quiet (also why I was considering the 8300; small form factor) so I could simply upgrade the components and put the mobo etc in another case...

Current build is:

Asus Sabertooth 990FX2.20
AMD FX8320@4.7ghz
Antec Truepower 550w PSU
16gb DDR3 1600 HyperX Black
Samsung EVO 850 240gb SSD

Need me to clarify anything just ask. Thanks!

[musikmachine]

Seriously any pointers would be good i'm so out of the loop!

Fast and responsive with plenty of CPU headroom to demanding plugins like Repro-5 in polyphony at low latency. What's the minimum CPU I should be looking at? What about the PSU?

I'd like to run a couple of monitors, maybe one at 4k. Probably gonna get a gtx 1050/1060.

I may not but all the components right away but I want a system I can upgrade for a few years yet. It's things like the mobo, PSU, and ram I'm not sure about... I also want the system to be efficient. I already have a decent CPU cooler.

[standalone]

If you want a significant upgrade from what you have right now, you need a R5 1600X processor at the very least. You don't need a new PSU, the new processors are very power efficient. Ryzen processors use AM4 motherboards, even the cheapest ones are great, but you'll need DDR4 RAM, and right now it is very expensive. AMD plans to use the AM4 platform until 2020, so it's relatively future-proof.

[musikmachine]

Thanks, that's really good to know re the PSU. I ordered a 1050 yesterday as i needed a GPU but the R5 looks good. On the intel side the i5 8600k looks like a good cpu for my budget. I actually thought Intel were still far more efficient.

Blimey, i see what you mean about RAM! So i'll be looking around £5-700 if i want 16-32gb ram but at least I could put the money for the CPU into that. Might wait for the prices to drop though!

Cheers!

[Debutante]

WOW!! Where've you been man???. AMD came aroarin' back and exist in a completely different dimension compared to 6 months ago. They've closed the gap pretty much to naught - so yeah, once again you CAN'T beat the price/performance index with a new Ryzen cpu.

In your case I'd get a new mobo/cpu combo and a second/third ssd. I think you could go Ryzen 1700 within budget depending on where you buy in the UK... and half as much on a graphics card:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 1700 3.0GHz 8-Core Processor (£236.95 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Asus - PRIME X370-PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard (£124.35 @ Box Limited)
Memory: Kingston - FURY 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (£166.99 @ Novatech)
Storage: Samsung - 860 Evo 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£89.43 @ Ebuyer)
Video Card: Palit - GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB KalmX Video Card (£155.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £773.71
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-02-17 05:23 GMT+0000

Your graphics card eats alot into price, and since you change mobo, you'll need new memory as well, which apparently costs quite a bit more over there... and you can nix the second ssd for a while at least.

Check that first link - price fluctuations are wild out there.

[DJ Warmonger]

^The above is very close to my current setup. Just I have regular GTX 1050, now there are even cheaper and power-efficient models if you need one. GTX 1030 with passive cooling might be somewhat interesting for serious studio work.

[EnGee]

I have assembled mine just about two weeks ago (NZ):
- Ryzen 5 1600X
- Be Quite! Pure Rock (CPU Cooler)
- Asus Prime B350 Plus
- EVGA GTX 1060 3GB (I play games!)
- Kingston Fury 16GB (2x8) DDR4 2400
- Crucial MX500 - 500GB (SSD)
- Fractal Design Define R5 (Case)
- Fractal Design 650w Gold (PSU)
- Windows 10 Home 64bit

The most expensive part was the graphic card, but I bought it for a discounted price (last Christmas).

I don't overclock, actually I like to use Balanced power options. The most demanding CPU VSTi I have is Korg ARP Odyssey which some presets did maxed out my cpu. But in general it is a great CPU (it is an upgrade from i5-4570, which still a good CPU). The combination of the case/cpu cooler/fans is great and silence. The Asus has a very nice utility to adjust the fans of the cpu and the two case fans speed with very quite (but not very cool) to very cool but at full speed (even at full speed, it is less noise than my previous PC built in idle mode!).

However, I'm not sure you can do Hackintosh with AMD build! I think only with intel CPUs because Apple doesn't use AMD CPUs. Anyway, that was years ago when I did my hackintosh, but I don't know for now! Maybe there is a hack to it! For me, I use Cubase mainly, so I don't need OS X. Windows is fine

[fedexnman]

Have u guys checked out the new Ryzen APUs ... Ryzen 5 2400g and Ryzen 3 2200g ... The Ryzen 5 2400g is $169 seems pretty badassed .... I may have to build soon .

[EnGee]

The Ryzen 5 2400g is a very good budget cpu/gpu and compared well with Ryzen 5 1500X as CPU, between the two I would pick the 2400g Still it is less than Ryzen 5 1600 or 1600X in computing or even i5 8400. The GPU is comparable to nVidia GTX 1030.

Anyway, I think it depends on what are you going to use your build for and if it is for music production, what kind of plugins do you have or intending to use.

This is a review that compares with other Ryzen CPUs:
https://hexus.net/tech/reviews/cpu/1149 ... n-3-2200g/

[fedexnman]

I won't be upgrading or building till something breaks down . I mainly use drum samplers and record audio for my songwriting music hobby , and for gaming I like retro games emulators type of stuff . My system is still good a tad older but still good enough . i7 920 nvidia 9800gtx . It just blows my mind you can get all that in a APU now and then the smaller mobos with built in WiFi , Bluetooth, and m.2 SSD pcie storage... Kinda blows my mind what a budget PC build is now and how compact it can be . I will say RAM and graphics cards are friggin expensive right now .. EnGee that's a nice graphix card u got .

[EnGee]

I bought the graphic card first of all the components It was discounted about $60 NZD, so I bought it, then it immediately went up in price!

Anyway, I had a good build of i5 and GTX 750 card (1GB not the Ti version), and I didn't have any problem playing modern games, which anyway not a big fan of except few! But I gave the whole system to my mother to use it in the living room (mostly watching her TV series and movies that I download them from various places). It performs very well and fast because it is just Windows and Chrome basically!

If I want to make a living room build, I would sure use this R 2400g APU with small motherboard and case. The only expensive components still is the DDR4 memory but I really think 8GB (2x4) is still more than enough for such purpose. Anyway, the Ryzen 2400g is a great for someone who is using 'light' plugins and/or playing light or old games (me mostly! ) Synths like FM8, Massive, Sylenth1 ..etc are a good match for such CPUs. Actually, just few plugins I have demands a lot of CPU like Korg Arp Odyssey, but to be honest, I can live happy without it

So, yes, in the end, I agree, it is an economical built that still has good power if you know what you are getting

[standalone]

The 2200g, at just $99, is only 10% less powerful than the $169 2400g, according to Geekbench. 10% less FPS is also the difference that the gaming benchmarks show. It's like a i5-7400 paired with a GT-1030 or a RX-550. And it can be overclocked. Insane value for money.