Budget Ryzen vs. M1

[Ah_Dziz]

I'd build a PC over time if need be. I know little folks and none of them have had anything like a smooth experience using apple during a transition. Once the new platform is established then it's just the regular x vs y. But one is in the middle of needing to have tons of code rewritten and the other isn't.

As of right now, if you aren't using Mac only software I wouldn't go that way with hardware. Overall if you are doing this for a living or part of a living I consider it matter of personal preference. After watching the transition to Intel on Mac I really really wouldn't want to be in the middle of that again. Just seems like a giant loss of productivity.

[Sidhu]

Thanks Dziz!
I think all considered, i will be settling for a used 7th or 8th gen machine.
I can get something like an optiplex within reason, will not push my budget. Income is zero so cannot justify the cost of a m1 mac (which i still believe to be better value compared to a equal cost PC build at current prices, at least here)

How much of a generational improvement was there between the 7th and 8th gen i7 processors if any one kepps tab ? I know there isnt much between 10th and 11th.

Tjanks a ton!

[Passing Bye]

Which exact CPU's are you comparing?

[Sidhu]

Hey passing bye!
i7 7700 vs. 8700 (non -k)
I see benchmarks are saying like an averag 13% improvement, but in real use for audio work ?
the 8700 tower is available to me at a 30% premium over the i7 7700
Optiplex 7050 mini tower for the 7th gen
Optiplex 3060 tower for the 8th gen.

The 7050 is available for 350USD, would need RAM and storage uogrades

[Passing Bye]

I see benchmarks are saying like an averag 13% improvement, but in real use for audio work ?

You sure about that?
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/In ... 2905vs3099

Here's interesting article
http://www.scanproaudio.info/2017/10/05 ... injection/

[Sidhu]

Clearly mistaken. The extra 2 cores help substantially in multicore. My refernce must be limited to single core performance perhaps.
Hmmm... Ill keep looking then.
Thanks Passing!
Would you consider a 500USD value for a used Opltiplex 8th gn i7 machine reasonable ? Spe'd with 1tb HDD and 16gigs RAM

[Passing Bye]

Would you consider a 500USD value for a used Opltiplex 8th gn i7 machine reasonable ? Spe'd with 1tb HDD and 16gigs RAM

Maybe, If there was reasonably sized SSD in it, but dunno...

Already expanded on other page for how much I can upgrade to Ryzen 5 3600/MSI Tomahawk MAX/Crucial Ballistix 16GB and how much that machine could last me with just an CPU upgrade over time, I could spend even less going for second hand components, but you know your market and needs better... what I recommend to most people that ask me for cheapest computer for music production is i7 3770 based HP/Dell/Lenovo for no more than 150 bucks, 120/240GB SSD, 8/16GB of RAM, I see good value in that one, but you already got something like that, so dunno, for me real upgrade is Zen 2/3, Intel 11th, M1, nothing less than that.

At one point I had same epiphany, maybe I should go for older Intel, but realized it's not good idea and I'm not getting my money worth at all, they are still holding high prices, I tried to find some gem in every Intel gen to base my build, but nothing really worthy anymore, those were high end builds just few years ago and nobody will let them go for peanuts, now budget builds are starting there and with faster RAM and all that, if I could pick up that i7 8700 build for 300 bucks, that would had me scratching my head, but at 500...

[Sidhu]

Ah... You see I should have been clearer.
The only machine i have access to for the foreseeable future is my humble aging HP 8460p Elitebook laptop PC. Half of it has stopped working cause of dropped hardware support (Biometrics and im fairly certain FW), or lack of spares (mousepad, USB ports). The other half cause of dropped software support, my Waves v9 and Amplitube 5 free will not show GUI's in S1.

But most importantly im not being able to do 128buffer on a scarlett 3rd gen with 1 instance of amplitube 4.

So yeah, I really need anything.
Im looking at an i5 8th gen 8500T machine. i5 @ 6 cores ? Intel, im surprised.

[Passing Bye]

Ah I see, if you could get i5 8500 (without T) for 300 bucks or less that could be nice (with SSD), also you could score i7 6700 machine for much less (less than 250 bucks with SSD), very good value for the buck, also for little over 150 bucks, i7 4790 is really great value, maybe even best value for cheaper audio rig.

[Sidhu]

Excellent! Thank you so much passing by! That is just the advice I was looking for. I should be able to score an even older i7 for cheap! Ill keep you posted!

[Passing Bye]

Glad to help brother, keep me posted!

[kingozrecords]

thunderbolt is phasing out at any rate, beyond that I can't comment; but it's interesting the comparison.

[Sidhu]

Yes, im afraid you are right.
I was under the impression that USB4 was TB3, but I was reading specs today and again its all optional, so full spec usb4 will never become commonplace unfortunately enough. Shame really. I do believe it is the best interconnect ever. Cannot believe we still have USB 2 in modern day motherboards, USB 2 dates back to 2000.

[fmr]

Yes, im afraid you are right.
I was under the impression that USB4 was TB3, but I was reading specs today and again its all optional, so full spec usb4 will never become commonplace unfortunately enough. Shame really. I do believe it is the best interconnect ever. Cannot believe we still have USB 2 in modern day motherboards, USB 2 dates back to 2000.

Can't believe we still have keyboards and mice attached to PCs. Keyboards date back to the fifities and mice date back to the eighties

I think USB2 is good enough for keyboards and mice.

[jancivil]

There is a Thunderbolt 4, so I don't know how it's being phased out. I don't know, but I would need that supported by something before I believed it.