PC Buying Guide 2024

[Danno]

Don’t tell anyone but I forgot to put power to the cpu.

[Danno]

Ok windows is installing. Let’s say I DID bend a pin when attempting to troubleshoot. How would I know? It seems to work so far.

[Pictus]

Don’t tell anyone but I forgot to put power to the cpu.

Ok windows is installing. Let’s say I DID bend a pin when attempting to troubleshoot. How would I know? It seems to work so far.

Visual inspection...

[uOpt]

Ok windows is installing. Let’s say I DID bend a pin when attempting to troubleshoot. How would I know? It seems to work so far.

Bent pins can have very different effects. Many of them are ground pins and one more or less doesn't make much of a difference. Myself I have a dual Xeon board with bent pins which simply doesn't use some of the DIMM slots anymore, but otherwise runs 24/7 without problems. Of course some pins are fatal.

I wouldn't worry about it until thingie misbehaves.

[Pictus]

Ok windows is installing. Let’s say I DID bend a pin when attempting to troubleshoot. How would I know? It seems to work so far.

Ahhh!
Sorry for my lame answer, I was sleepy...
Check https://techyloves.com/will-bent-cpu-pi ... -computer/
To complement what uOpt has said, if the bent pins or bad seated CPU are causing bad contact, you
can also have memory errors, but having memory errors do not mean that you have bent pins.
To test RAM I like to use 3 cycles of y-cruncher tests 17/18/19/20.

-Type 2 + enter
-Type 8 + enter
-Type 17 + enter
-Type 18 + enter
-Type 19 + enter
-Type 20 + enter
-Type 0 + enter

[Danno]

Thanks for all your responses here by the way. I might try your test when I have a moment.
So far, it's almost working great.

I think I've run into the RME+USB+AMD interface problem that I've read about. Sometimes Cubase shows no midi or audio activity unless I tell Cubase to reset the audio engine. I've read about a couple bios settings to experiment with:
https://forums.steinberg.net/t/driver-i ... /907576/33

I also have a USB3-PCIE card in the computer.. apparently using this for the RME instead of the mobo USB can fix this issue.
I'll experiment later today.

[Lerian]

I think I've run into the RME+USB+AMD interface problem that I've read about. Sometimes Cubase shows no midi or audio activity unless I tell Cubase to reset the audio engine.

Its a Cubase problem, not AMD. I have usb RME on AMD with no problems whatsoever in Reaper, VCV Rack, and Ableton Live. Even if you have usb issues, they are most probably motherboard issues, not CPU issues. Even in that thread, many people have no issues in other daws.

I suggest connecting your RME directly to the PC, not via usb hub.

[Pictus]

Thanks for all your responses here by the way. I might try your test when I have a moment.
So far, it's almost working great.

I think I've run into the RME+USB+AMD interface problem that I've read about. Sometimes Cubase shows no midi or audio activity unless I tell Cubase to reset the audio engine. I've read about a couple bios settings to experiment with:
https://forums.steinberg.net/t/driver-i ... /907576/33

I am glad to help, ASRock motherboard?
Plug the RME into the motherboard USB yellow/orange ports.

And do some tweaks.
viewtopic.php?p=8820694#p8820694

I also have a USB3-PCIE card in the computer.. apparently using this for the RME instead of the mobo USB can fix this issue.
I'll experiment later today.

If the USB yellow port/tweaks does not fix, a PCIe card with Texas/Renesas/Fresco Logic chipset is know to work well with older/picky USB stuff.
https://www.amazon.com/PCI-Card-4-Ports ... B08PP4Y737
or
https://www.amazon.com/FebSmart-Self-Po ... B072LS4JH7

[Danno]

I am using one of those orange ports, ya. (And ya, I understand that this is a mobo thing more than AMD cpu) Weird that it's just Cubase with this issue.

My PCIe card is Renesas.. it's an easy thing to test so I will.

That Cubase post I linked to has someone (successfully I think?) turning off legacy USB in BIOS. I've found a few reports of people doing this but to my understanding, this doesn't change anything once Windows is running.

There's also some USB power options listed here that I'll check out:
https://forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.php?id=38688

[vignesh.vijay]

Get this one:
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/HkYcfd

- Gskill 6400 ram because speed helps

I see the ripjaws RAM you have recommended is for intel processors? Is there an AMD version of the same?
Also, I am thinking of getting this one for motherboard. Your comments?
https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/X8 ... IFI7/sp#sp
The only problem is it doesn't have many 4x4 M.2 slots but i guess i could still use the 5x4 ones. Hope there is no performance issue with that.

[Lerian]

Get this one:
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/HkYcfd

- Gskill 6400 ram because speed helps

I see the ripjaws RAM you have recommended is for intel processors? Is there an AMD version of the same?
Also, I am thinking of getting this one for motherboard. Your comments?
https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/X8 ... IFI7/sp#sp
The only problem is it doesn't have many 4x4 M.2 slots but i guess i could still use the 5x4 ones. Hope there is no performance issue with that.

Intel memory controller has some issues with the declared speeds, so if it works for intel has to work for AMD too. Its the same architecture, just the implementation differs.

The mobo looks very good, you have whatever option you want on PCIe, and also lots of I/O. The brand, chipset and the series are also of high quality.

Remember that your UAD card can work as good on the PCIe3 slot as it is on PCIe4 or 5, due to its limitations in processing power. It can't process as many tracks as the PCIe3 bus is able to transfer to/from the cpu. The fact that they decided to use the PCIe4 bus is due to future compatibility of the same board design, not due to the performance of this specific board - UAD Quad. To have the power to process 450+ plugins at the same time, as the number of tracks the PCIe3 bus can transfer, it would need more than 4 outdated chips (I think the quad was released in 2015?). I'm not sure you can run so many even on a modern CPU, especially if they are CPU intensive.

Later edit: Out of curiosity, I duplicated a track 500 times, after I inserted PSP Vintage Warmer2 comp on it, which is a rather old plugin, in Reaper with a latency of 256 samples. My 7950x was hovering around 50% while playing the tracks, at 5.4Ghz speed. Imagine that those 4 cores of the UAD aren't even remotely as powerful as 8 cores of the 7950x (half of the total 16). Which means you will never be able to fill the PCIe3 bandwidth with your UAD-2 Quad card.

[vignesh.vijay]

Awesome, thanks!
Below are the two final builds i am thinking of
BUILD A:
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Fdfgsp
BUILD B:
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/GYNmGJ

BUILD B is $500 less(slightly budget friendly) than BUILD A but not sure how good the motherboard is.

[Pictus]

Awesome, thanks!
Below are the two final builds i am thinking of
BUILD A:
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Fdfgsp
BUILD B:
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/GYNmGJ

BUILD B is $500 less(slightly budget friendly) than BUILD A but not sure how good the motherboard is.

Maybe something like this
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/DVFD3w

I prefer ASRock/ASUS/MSI over Gigabyte.
The AMD X870 motherboards USB-C(ASMEDIA 4242 chipset) are now also Thunderbolt compatible, check
https://www.techpowerup.com/326065/asme ... tification
https://gearspace.com/board/showpost.ph ... ount=22864
The Gigabyte X870E AORUS ELITE WIFI7 ATX AM5 Motherboard is a 6 layers PCB motherboard
and I prefer the models with 8, all current ASUS/ASRock/MSI X870 ATX are 8 layers PCB.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... =755628141
You want to use 6400MHz RAM, then pay attention to this video.

Make sure to mount with Noctua AMD offset mounting bars

Maybe Enable ECO MODE, check
https://gearspace.com/board/music-compu ... d-719.html


For the ASRock X870 Steel Legend WiFi, there are many things at the download page.
https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/X870%20St ... p#Download
But you probably have an audio interface, so better disable the onboard audio/stuff you do not use.
So, what to install? (ONLY if needed, else disable in the BIOS)
The Bluetooth driver https://download.asrock.com/Drivers/All ... 0.424).zip
The chipset driver https://www.techpowerup.com/download/am ... t-drivers/
The GPU driver https://www.techpowerup.com/download/am ... s-drivers/
The Realtek Lan driver https://www.realtek.com/Download/ToDown ... oadid=4342
The WiFi driver https://download.asrock.com/Drivers/All ... .1825).zip
Your printer/audio interface and nothing more!!
WiFi has a tendency to create DPC latency spikes, much better wired LAN.
Be careful with Logitech/Razer/Steel Series bloatware and better leave the
USB polling rate at the default 125Hz or at least not above 500Hz.
Want to crap the Windows? Install everything from the motherboard download page...

As a reminder, install a less bloated Windows 11.
https://schneegans.de/windows/unattend-generator/
(Do not disable UAC and do not enable WDAC policy!!!)

When Windows is working I also recommend.
https://www.w10privacy.de/english-home/

And do some tweaks...
viewtopic.php?p=8820694#p8820694

Btw, for audio interface check:
https://gearspace.com/board/music-computers/618474-audio-interface-low-latency-performance-data-base.html

[vignesh.vijay]

Maybe something like this
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/DVFD3w

I prefer ASRock/ASUS/MSI over Gigabyte.
The AMD X870 motherboards USB-C(ASMEDIA 4242 chipset) are now also Thunderbolt compatible, check
https://www.techpowerup.com/326065/asme ... tification

Awesome.
But I heard x870e is way better than x870?

How about this one? Little pricy but seems solid with features:
https://pg.asrock.com/mb/AMD/X870E%20No ... /index.asp

Or this one for a morse budget option?
https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MAG-X670E-TOMAHAWK-WIFI

[Pictus]

Awesome.
But I heard x870e is way better than x870?

IF you will need the extra features of the X870e, YES.
IF not, then it makes NO difference!
https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/artic ... YiscyeeErm

How about this one? Little pricy but seems solid with features:
https://pg.asrock.com/mb/AMD/X870E%20No ... /index.asp

Or this one for a morse budget option?
https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MAG-X670E-TOMAHAWK-WIFI

I prefer the ASRock Phantom Gaming X870E Nova WiFi.