Is the I9 9900K overkill for music production?

[jdoo]

Quick question here. Are there many audio/music, focused software that takes full advantage of multicore systems? I get that there are OS features which combined with software running concurrently on them, will see some advantages... but actual multi-threaded music applications, which utilize the available cores? Asking, because when I was doing benchmarking years ago.. multi-core systems had outpaced the software which was meant to run on them. Saw far more benefit (with music related applications) from SSDs and faster processors. Perhaps things have changed, and software has been re-written to be multi-threaded, multi-core aware.

[DJ Warmonger]

All DAWs that I know of (and some but not all synths) can utilize many cores, but it's never 100% utilization. Audio projects can't be separated into completely independent and balanced tasks for perfect parallel processing.

[EnochLight]

Shit, even Reason utilizes as many (actual) cores that you can throw at it, and it's probably one of the worst performing (VST-hosting) DAW on the market currently! But yeah, virtually all DAW that I know of utilize multiple cores. Multiple threads? YMMV...

[jdoo]

Yeah... the cpu cores are being utilized. I was poking at the software ability to utilize multi-threading, and execute instructions in parallel, to specifically take advantage of parallel execution. IIRC, it takes specialized software to take full advantage of more than four processor cores. I don't believe any DAWs are actually written to specifically provide parallel execution swimlanes for thread execution. Maybe multi-threading has been made a lot easier to implement since I was actively involved.

[Kaine]

Not quite enough juice to justify a new build quite yet at least at the price point I hope to come in at.

I'm running the 3960K at home and whilst recently I've found myself needing to bounce clips a bit more recently (I normally never do (yes... lazy)) it's otherwise still hanging on in there. I'm not suggesting my usage reflects everyone's requirements, but I can imagine we're not the only ones with that generation of hardware who continue to mull this over.

Yeah... the CPU cores are being utilized. I was poking at the software ability to utilize multi-threading and execute instructions in parallel, to specifically take advantage of parallel execution.

Still the same, you still can't split channels and parral process more efficiently than just running them 1 at a time as each thread becomes free. You can spread the workload across the threads, of course, you just can't cross process.

[Kalamata Kid]

looks like the i9-9900k I ordered from CompSource https://www.compsource.com/pn/CM8068403 ... 403873914/ will be delivered late November.

So now I will wait for Black Friday to get the Z390 motherboard, 32 GB RAM, and Cooler (liquid?) and paste. I have the case, PSU and video card. Yes I may slightly OC.

I am hoping to check out a few reviews to help me make my decision what parts to get. All are welcome to make suggestions for parts and BF sales.

Also may buy an SSD and Hard drives if the sale is too good to pass up. Yes I am making a list and checking it twice.

Do all the Z390 MB have the UEFI BIOS?

[EnochLight]

looks like the i9-9900k I ordered from CompSource https://www.compsource.com/pn/CM8068403 ... 403873914/ will be delivered late November.

So now I will wait for Black Friday to get the Z390 motherboard, 32 GB RAM, and Cooler (liquid?) and paste. I have the case, PSU and video card. Yes I may slightly OC.

I am hoping to check out a few reviews to help me make my decision what parts to get. All are welcome to make suggestions for parts and BF sales.

Also may buy an SSD and Hard drives if the sale is too good to pass up. Yes I am making a list and checking it twice.

Do all the Z390 MB have the UEFI BIOS?

Liquid cooler? Hell no. Pick up a be quiet! BK022 Dark Rock Pro 4 air cooler, or a Noctua NH-D15 and a case big enough to house either. The Noctua NH-D15 time and time again out performs many AIO liquid coolers. Do you plan to overclock? If so, what's your desired target clock?

[Kalamata Kid]

looks like the i9-9900k I ordered from CompSource https://www.compsource.com/pn/CM8068403 ... 403873914/ will be delivered late November.

So now I will wait for Black Friday to get the Z390 motherboard, 32 GB RAM, and Cooler (liquid?) and paste. I have the case, PSU and video card. Yes I may slightly OC.

I am hoping to check out a few reviews to help me make my decision what parts to get. All are welcome to make suggestions for parts and BF sales.

Also may buy an SSD and Hard drives if the sale is too good to pass up. Yes I am making a list and checking it twice.

Do all the Z390 MB have the UEFI BIOS?

Liquid cooler? Hell no. Pick up a be quiet! BK022 Dark Rock Pro 4 air cooler, or a Noctua NH-D15 and a case big enough to house either. The Noctua NH-D15 time and time again out performs many AIO liquid coolers. Do you plan to overclock? If so, what's your desired target clock?

I LIKE What you said!
No liquid cooler for me!
I just needed some encouragement and some advice.
will use this case: COOLER MASTER RC-692-KKN2 CM690 II Advanced Black Steel ATX Mid Tower

Do all the Z390 MB have the UEFI BIOS?

I am looking at Asrock and Asus for motherboards.
I kind trying to avoid Gigabyte as my previous miusic computer had issues and the motherboard may be the reason.

And to stay on topic I hope this 9900k PC will be an overkill. I may do a little OC.

[EnochLight]

I LIKE What you said!
No liquid cooler for me!
I just needed some encouragement and some advice.
will use this case: COOLER MASTER RC-692-KKN2 CM690 II Advanced Black Steel ATX Mid Tower

Do all the Z390 MB have the UEFI BIOS?

Pretty much all motherboards have UEFI BIOS these days. No clue about your case, though. You might want to look at the interior specs and see if the cooler you choose will fit.

I am looking at Asrock and Asus for motherboards.
I kind trying to avoid Gigabyte as my previous miusic computer had issues and the motherboard may be the reason.

And to stay on topic I hope this 9900k PC will be an overkill. I may do a little OC.

Can't go wrong with either, imho!

[egbert]

@KK
Any particular board you had issues with? Gigabyte have a range of boards - the UD3/UD5 range has worked well for me and have been well built.

[Kalamata Kid]

@KK
Any particular board you had issues with? Gigabyte have a range of boards - the UD3/UD5 range has worked well for me and have been well built.

Used the GA-X58A-UD3R v2. I only have a small suspicion that this motherboard maybe partially or mostly the cause of my problems. I will abandon it and make a new music Computer. I spent too much time trying to figure that cause of my occasional black screen. I do not want to spend any more time on it. From now on I will look forward to my new music PC.

My Motherboard specs:]
Music creation and Photoshop. No games!
Z390 Motherboard. Must be ATX. Asus and Asrock. No Gigabyte and Supermicro
Fan Cooler
Must have USB 3.1 and/or Thunderbolt 3 or support Thunderbolt add-on card
Nice to have 12 or more USB ports. But can add a PCIe with four or five USB 3.0 ports. I hate hubs.
Do not need video. Prefer no video on the board.
Need Realtek or other audio or the like.
32 GB DDR4 RAM but can expand to 64GB.
Good or great BIOS prefer to be able to save multiple BIOS setups. UEFI firmware
PCIe 16 for my current GTX 970 GPU.
Wi-Fi not required and better if not included.

Have
850 watt PSU
ATX case
PCIe GTX 970 GPU

[egbert]

I have a system with the UD5 edition with that X58 chip set which has fortunately been fine.

Of course, there are many other components that can screw with things. If a PSU is not up to providing the current load - and remember they lose power output over time - you can get all kinds of trouble. For example, I had an Antec 550W PSU in my Athlon dual core box - adding a 4th 7200 rpm hard-drive exceeded its capacity on one voltage rail which led to corruption of system files. Take out that last drive and the current draw on spin-up of the disks was no longer an issue. Stable as.

[Kalamata Kid]

I have a system with the UD5 edition with that X58 chip set which has fortunately been fine.

Of course, there are many other components that can screw with things. If a PSU is not up to providing the current load - and remember they lose power output over time - you can get all kinds of trouble. For example, I had an Antec 550W PSU in my Athlon dual core box - adding a 4th 7200 rpm hard-drive exceeded its capacity on one voltage rail which led to corruption of system files. Take out that last drive and the current draw on spin-up of the disks was no longer an issue. Stable as.

I suspected the PSU and the video card. I am looking forward to my new set up. Yes a few components will remain in my new setup. I just hope that they are ok.

[Pictus]

My Motherboard specs:]
Music creation and Photoshop. No games!
Z390 Motherboard. Must be ATX. Asus and Asrock. No Gigabyte and Supermicro

To select the proper Z390 motherboard, pay attention to the features you want and the VRM capacity.
A good reference for the motherboards VRM is this chart from https://www.overclock.net/forum/6-intel ... st27657582

Only 3 Asus Z390 have Thunderbolt header:
ROG MAXIMUS XI EXTREME https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/ROG-M ... fications/
and
PRIME Z390-A https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/PRIME-Z390-A/
and
WS Z390 PRO https://www.asus.com/us/Commercial-Serv ... fications/

The Asus BIOS is the best, but the ROG MAXIMUS XI EXTREME is too expensive
and the other 2 VRMs are a bit lacking for overclocking...
A modest overclock and proper airflow over the motherboard VRMs should be ok.

The ASRock Z390 Taichi has better VRM than the Prime/WS, but the BIOS is not mature?
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/as ... 858-4.html

[Kalamata Kid]

Oh, This is what VRM is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRRODHoQAHI

Very good info.
ROG MAXIMUS XI EXTREME $330 at NewEgg.
I had allotted $250 for the motherboard.

Will not likely do any extreme OC so the
PRIME Z390 and WS Z390 PRO may be ok.

Any Chance that there will be a Black Friday deal on these MB's?