Which is more useful, single or multi core performance.

[zerocrossing]

I’m really struggling to figure out which processor I should get in my new PC.

[ghettosynth]

Both are important. If you are choosing from top of the line processors I think that it doesn't matter as much as you might think. Single core performance will impact the top end performance of products that really push that, e.g., Reaktor. Multicore performance will impact your music production overall. The thing is, they are not independent and so pushing Reaktor to the brink will have some impact on on your music production overall.

One thing to keep in mind when ordering pre-built computers is that their cooling solutions are seldom designed to allow the processor to achieve its full potential. Your CPU will often throttle because of heat before you get to the stated maximums for your CPU. Watch some gaming vids to see some detail on this, those guys are fanatical about performance and cooling, single core vs multicore, and CPU/GPU tradeoffs.

Current advice on intel, AFAIK, is i9-10900k, the 11 series desktop parts are a disaster at the top end. If I were building a desktop today I would buy an AMD 5900 series part. The problem is finding one, even in a pre-built. If you want to stay intel and are looking for a price performance bargain, the i5-11400 is supposed to be a decent choice.

[Shabdahbriah]

I’m really struggling to figure out which processor I should get in my new PC.

Budget? Pre-built/custom-built, or DIY?

[zerocrossing]

I’m really struggling to figure out which processor I should get in my new PC.

Budget?

$2-3K USD (including everything)

Pre-built/custom-built, or DIY?

I’m not sure. I’ve always been a bit timid about building my own computer. Not the actual building part, but I worry about choosing the right components. I’d do it if someone said, “buy x, y and z, then put it together.” I’d probably be better off just buying the best off-the-shelf thing in my budget. Not really sure.

[zerocrossing]

Current advice on intel, AFAIK, is i9-10900k, the 11 series desktop parts are a disaster at the top end.

In what way? Bad performance?

If I were building a desktop today I would buy an AMD 5900 series part. The problem is finding one, even in a pre-built. If you want to stay intel and are looking for a price performance bargain, the i5-11400 is supposed to be a decent choice.

I had heard that AMD was good, but I worry about compatibility. Like, I know Massive X requires a specific chip feature. Am I wrong to worry about this?

[Pictus]

I had heard that AMD was good, but I worry about compatibility. Like, I know Massive X requires a specific chip feature. Am I wrong to worry about this?

AMD is the TOP dog now, the only compatibility problem you can have is with UAD stuff...
I do not know what works or not, but you may check at UAD forum/support and
https://gearspace.com/board/music-compu ... ad-12.html

I’m not sure. I’ve always been a bit timid about building my own computer. Not the actual building part, but I worry about choosing the right components. I’d do it if someone said, “buy x, y and z, then put it together.” I’d probably be better off just buying the best off-the-shelf thing in my budget. Not really sure.

I did that in viewtopic.php?p=8081813#p8081813

[zerocrossing]

I had heard that AMD was good, but I worry about compatibility. Like, I know Massive X requires a specific chip feature. Am I wrong to worry about this?

AMD is the TOP dog now, the only compatibility problem you can have is with UAD stuff...
I do not know what works or not, but you may check at UAD forum/support and
https://gearspace.com/board/music-compu ... ad-12.html

I’m not sure. I’ve always been a bit timid about building my own computer. Not the actual building part, but I worry about choosing the right components. I’d do it if someone said, “buy x, y and z, then put it together.” I’d probably be better off just buying the best off-the-shelf thing in my budget. Not really sure.

I did that in viewtopic.php?p=8081813#p8081813

Hm, that seems to be about UAD PCIe cards. I’m using a FireWire PCIe card and an older UAD FireWire interface.

[ghettosynth]

Current advice on intel, AFAIK, is i9-10900k, the 11 series desktop parts are a disaster at the top end.

In what way? Bad performance?

Yes, the 11900K has worse performance than the 10900K and, IIRC, is more expensive.

If I were building a desktop today I would buy an AMD 5900 series part. The problem is finding one, even in a pre-built. If you want to stay intel and are looking for a price performance bargain, the i5-11400 is supposed to be a decent choice.

I had heard that AMD was good, but I worry about compatibility. Like, I know Massive X requires a specific chip feature. Am I wrong to worry about this?

[/quote]

Probably. AMD supports the AVX instructions. There are some compatibility issues but that's not one of them. Most of the issues that I'm ware of raise their head when you're doing virtualization. I'm not an expert on that by any means so I'll let others chime in, but, unless you're running virtual machines and doing hardware passthrough, and/or some other narrow development/virtualization tasks that are not music related, you are unlikely to run into any issues.

[Pictus]

Hm, that seems to be about UAD PCIe cards. I’m using a FireWire PCIe card and an older UAD FireWire interface.

If it is the case check https://pcpartpicker.com/list/PMntF8
Just add a CPU(Ryzen 9 5900X ?) and your stuff, but if want to reduce the price
change to a 2TB SSD model https://pcpartpicker.com/product/vMFKHx ... 000gm3a002
and 64GB(2x32) RAM.

[zerocrossing]

I had heard that AMD was good, but I worry about compatibility. Like, I know Massive X requires a specific chip feature. Am I wrong to worry about this?

AMD is the TOP dog now, the only compatibility problem you can have is with UAD stuff...
I do not know what works or not, but you may check at UAD forum/support and
https://gearspace.com/board/music-compu ... ad-12.html

Thanks for that. I do see someone with my Apollo there that’s not having a good experience using a PCIe FireWire card with the AMD, so I think I’ll pass because that’s pretty important to me.

I’m not sure. I’ve always been a bit timid about building my own computer. Not the actual building part, but I worry about choosing the right components. I’d do it if someone said, “buy x, y and z, then put it together.” I’d probably be better off just buying the best off-the-shelf thing in my budget. Not really sure.

I did that in viewtopic.php?p=8081813#p8081813

Ah, thanks for that!

[ghettosynth]

I had heard that AMD was good, but I worry about compatibility. Like, I know Massive X requires a specific chip feature. Am I wrong to worry about this?

AMD is the TOP dog now, the only compatibility problem you can have is with UAD stuff...
I do not know what works or not, but you may check at UAD forum/support and
https://gearspace.com/board/music-compu ... ad-12.html

Thanks for that. I do see someone with my Apollo there that’s not having a good experience using a PCIe FireWire card with the AMD, so I think I’ll pass because that’s pretty important to me.

I’m not sure. I’ve always been a bit timid about building my own computer. Not the actual building part, but I worry about choosing the right components. I’d do it if someone said, “buy x, y and z, then put it together.” I’d probably be better off just buying the best off-the-shelf thing in my budget. Not really sure.

I did that in viewtopic.php?p=8081813#p8081813

Ah, thanks for that!

That's a great thread. There's some stuff in there on the 11900k. It's too bad that there are some weird issues with Pcie/Firewire because AMD is the way to go right now. In any case, the guy with the big hair does gaming tech talk. I can't remember his name or his channel name, but, other than he's a bit longwinded, he's good to follow to keep up on performance in CPUs/GPUs.

[codec_spurt]

mjk.;

[Pictus]

I've got an old box I'm quite fond of. It's got a 4690K chip in there which can be taken up to 4.6GHz sometimes on air with a serious overclock. I've not tried o/c'ing it yet. It took me enough fuss to just put on the Hyper 212 Coolermaster - https://www.coolermaster.com/catalog/co ... o/#gallery

It's a beast (the cooler, and maybe the chip as well).

The 4690K is a 4 core CPU, for a CPU with 8 core or more the hyper 212 evo
is not up to the task, needs a more capable cooler
https://youtu.be/JtWr15on6OU
A less expensive option can be the Thermalright Frost Spirit 140
https://pt.aliexpress.com/item/1005001476494179.html
https://forums.guru3d.com/threads/therm ... st-5901891

I used some old Arctic Silver I had that had not been put in the fridge. Seemed ok to me. Took me three or more swipes to get it right. In the end you just don't worry. Jesus, what a fuckin' mess.

The good old silver!
But today we got better thermal paste that is also not conductive.
https://youtu.be/t0pNHTiNOrs

[roman.i]

I’m really struggling to figure out which processor I should get in my new PC.

A single track uses one core for serial processing while it's running in parallel with other tracks each one using one of the cores. When your CPU "run out of cores" the OS will use a core for two tracks etc.
So you need a CPU with good one core performance, but number of cores is much more important. Also, some heavy plugins can use multithreading in a single instance.

[jancivil]

I think if the goal is something on the order of VCV Rack, it hammers on one core so clock speed is crucial and cores means nothing. The way I work uses cores and distributes, even is part of the setup, 'threads (not the same as cores of course, but related) per instance' in VEP. Don't know if a higher clock speed would benefit or not, that was a pricing choice and there wasn't that much difference for the mo' money.