PC Buying Guide 2024

[runamuck]

Pictus,
I read over at Gearslutz that you're no longer posting there but that you could be found here. Just wanted to say hi and , again, thank you for everything you've helped me with.

[Pictus]

Pictus,
I read over at Gearslutz that you're no longer posting there but that you could be found here. Just wanted to say hi and , again, thank you for everything you've helped me with.

Hello, you're welcome!
I'm also on vi-control.net

[vignesh.vijay]

Pictus,
I read over at Gearslutz that you're no longer posting there but that you could be found here. Just wanted to say hi and , again, thank you for everything you've helped me with.

Hello, you're welcome!
I'm also on vi-control.net

Yes, thanks @pictus for all the help you are doing.
So I heard on some youtube channels that 32 or 64 gbs of RAM is enough and anything over that is over kill for audio production. But I hear a different view from you.
Just for my understanding- what exactly does RAMs do for music production and why are you recommending higher RAM size?

Thanks again.

[BertKoor]

Just for my understanding- what exactly does RAMs do for music production and why are you recommending higher RAM size?

You know how much storage one minute of audio takes? So how many minutes fit in eg 32GB?

But actually, you can find this ram stuff out empyrically - by experimenting.

First google "windows monitor ram usage" and get aquainted with the performance monitor.

Restart your computer, and watch how much free ram you have.
Open your DAW with a fresh empty project, and watch how much free ram you have.
Load the biggest moddafukka project you have, and watch how much free ram you have.
Add 100 tracks with a virtual analog synth eg synth1, and watch how much free ram you have.
Add 100 tracks with your best grand piano sampling library, and watch how much free ram you have.
Add 100 tracks with 5 minutes random recorded audio, and watch how much free ram you have.

When does used ram increase most? Can you explain why?

[Pictus]

Yes, thanks @pictus for all the help you are doing.
So I heard on some youtube channels that 32 or 64 gbs of RAM is enough and anything over that is over kill for audio production. But I hear a different view from you.
Just for my understanding- what exactly does RAMs do for music production and why are you recommending higher RAM size?

Thanks again.

I am glad to help.
DSP stuff like u-he/Arturia/Gforce/Synapse/Valhalla/Fabfilter does not need lots of RAM.
BIG orchestral Kontakt libries does, the film composer guys wants/needs lots of RAM.
https://vi-control.net/community/thread ... st-5577336
https://vi-control.net/community/thread ... st-5619357

[uOpt]

Just for my understanding- what exactly does RAMs do for music production and why are you recommending higher RAM size?

You know how much storage one minute of audio takes? So how many minutes fit in eg 32GB?

But actually, you can find this ram stuff out empyrically - by experimenting.

First google "windows monitor ram usage" and get aquainted with the performance monitor.

Restart your computer, and watch how much free ram you have.
Open your DAW with a fresh empty project, and watch how much free ram you have.
Load the biggest moddafukka project you have, and watch how much free ram you have.
Add 100 tracks with a virtual analog synth eg synth1, and watch how much free ram you have.
Add 100 tracks with your best grand piano sampling library, and watch how much free ram you have.
Add 100 tracks with 5 minutes random recorded audio, and watch how much free ram you have.

When does used ram increase most? Can you explain why?

That is not a good test.

An OS should aggressively use RAM that isn't hard allocated by applications for other things. Free RAM is wasted RAM.

The only real test is to limit your RAM in the OS to different levels and see how it performs and when it starts paging.

[vignesh.vijay]

I am glad to help.
DSP stuff like u-he/Arturia/Gforce/Synapse/Valhalla/Fabfilter does not need lots of RAM.
BIG orchestral Kontakt libries does, the film composer guys wants/needs lots of RAM.
https://vi-control.net/community/thread ... st-5577336
https://vi-control.net/community/thread ... st-5619357

Thanks a lot. That makes sense. As you recommended, i can start with 96 gigs of RAM to start with and expand later. I wanted to clarify one more on processor if you don't mind.

I see intel i9-14900 doing significantly better on VI testing based on scanpro which is my primary focus for the amount of VST insts i might be using.
https://www.scanproaudio.info/2024/09/12/5075/
But you have recommended Ryzen 9950x. Is it due to the durability(tendency to bent) or is Ryzen better in performance also?

I thought of reaching out to you on private message but thought this might help others in the community. Keep up the good work!

[Pictus]

https://www.scanproaudio.info/2024/09/12/5075/
But you have recommended Ryzen 9950x. Is it due to the durability(tendency to bent) or is Ryzen better in performance also?

You are welcome.
Which ASIO buffer do you use?
Up to 128 ASIO buffer the difference is small, no reason to choose Intel.

Do you trust Intel that the problems of the i9-14900 are really fixed?
I do not, but for AUDIO workloads maybe is fine, for gaming/3D/video, NO WAY.
You want? Go ahead, but I do not recommend.
Better wait and see how the Intel Ultra 9 285K will behave for DAWBench VI.
In a month or so SCAN will post something.

[Pictus]

Again?
Arrow Lake CPUs can still get bendy despite revamped socket
https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-compone ... y-up-to-6c

[uOpt]

LOL. Bend it like Beckham.

[osiris]

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/
FL forum pointed to a good site

It's a little much but I did find my PC and turns out my little i3 is pretty powerful.

[Kaine]

No idea how it will behave, it is now TOO UNSTABLE, need new BIOS/DRIVER/Windows updates.
One day there will be a bench at https://www.scanproaudio.info/category/test-labs/

Yes, there was a notable performance jump from the initial release BIOS to the one released after launch. I'm still waiting on 285K stock currently, then I'll look at a round of testing on whatever BIOS is available once that has arrived.

[Danno]

Following here.. I was looking at an Ultra 7 265 but am now thinking to save a few $$ and go for the i9-12900k.

I'm currently with an 8700k but I've have a few bluescreens this week. (I'd overclocked it to 4.7 2 years ago.. even tho the temps are fine, I still think the OC is the problem)

[Lerian]

I don't understand why people keep gravitating towards intel when it is clear for many years already that AMD took the lead in every aspect. Intel had to sell their SSD business, which was the most lucrative, so they can cope with their big problems. Many intel 13gen cpus are just rebranded 12gen. Corners were cut to achieve speeds to compete with AMD, which now many people feel in their pocket.

AMD 7950x is a beast for audio, and now its less than $500. Pair it with a x670e mobo with DDR5 and PCIe 5, and you're good to go for many years from now.

As for RAM I suggest you get only 2 DIMMs, as four can see performance decrease. 2x32gb or 2x48gb should be fine. Even kontakt libraries can't use that much RAM - they have one instrument loaded at the time, and probably you won't use more than 10 separate libraries in a project. Last time I checked, I loaded 3 libraries - one violin, one full orchestra and one piano, all in hi-res and playing at the same time, and the RAM load was around 1-1.5gb.

[uOpt]

I don't understand why people keep gravitating towards intel when it is clear for many years already that AMD took the lead in every aspect.

Intel still has a couple of advantages when it comes to software, namely their performance and profiling tools. AFAIK you can't even measure PCIe bus saturation on AMD.

And I think that strictly speaking an Intel P-core alone is a bit faster than an AMD core for many applications and if you don't have or don't need the large L3 cache.

(just listing, myself I am in the AMD camp right now, even for laptops)