hello.. I recently bought a new mother/chip/ram set, a i5 intel 9400f with 8gb RAM and an ASUS motherboard I left in my past a really solid i5 3rd gen also with 8gb RAM. I did my job, installed all the software I use( Cubase/Kontakt, Nexus, Waves and a couple more) opened my last project and....big surprise, the new equipment popped and cracked worst than my old one. So, after many tests and trials..I decided to return the new set and get my money back After some reaserch I discovered that my new chip was slower than my old one ( 9400f: 2.9ghz i5 / 3erd gen: 3.1 ghz) so maybe I should go for a new chip with more velocity. And I found this one: i3 9100f 3.6ghz My question is... for music production, can the i3 work better than the i5 9400? 6 cores against 4, and a higher cache ( 9 vs 6 ) Thanks in advance!
I think you did get a bad i5 or you needed to reconfigure your system after the swap. On paper the i5 is superior to the i3 and that is confirmed on every test. http://hwbench.com/cpus/intel-core-i5-9400-vs-intel-core-i3-9100 9% higher single threaded performance. Much higher multi threaded performance (around 23% higher). This allows for higher performance in professional applications like encoding or heavy multitasking. Around 16% higher average synthetic performance. https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i5-9400F-vs-Intel-Core-i3-9100F/m699058vsm796379
I agree with @The Pirate - that's a decent chip. You didn't say which version of Cubase or windows you're using. Pops & crackles could be BIOS related btw i.e. speedstep etc or OS related, esp WIN10...
In addition to what @The Pirate already stated, I'd just like to warn you that some software (e.g. some latest Native Instruments products) specify Intel Core i5 as the minimum system requirement (Mac and Win). Always check it for SW that you use - you are buying a comp for certain SW to run, not the other way around..
The i5 should be better. My guess is it's something with the way you have your system configured. Do some google searches on optimizing your pc for audio production. I have 2 shortcuts I made that change my computer from low powered for browsing the internet, etc, and one for high powered for production. If I produce on the low setting I get all sorts of crackles and pops and it's awful. Switch to high powered and it runs like a charm. By default windows will configure itself to not run as powerfully as it can, as most people don't need it at top shape, but for us audio engineers, it's essential. Google "optimizing windows for audio production" and you'll get some could results.
i3 or i5 tells you nothing nowadays. It's all about the CPU generation! To compare performance numbers in a way that is useful for audio production, you could use something like https://www.cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html The single-thread performance is what limits the use of very demanding synths and fx that, by DAW design, cannot use more than one CPU core, while the number of cores makes a difference in how many of such plugins you can use on different tracks. For today's plugins, everything above something like 1,700 or 1,800 should be more than sufficient but what you really need highly depends on which and how many VST, VSTi and DAW FX you will want to use simultaneously.
Thanks a lot for all the answers I'm using the old and realiable ( till now) Cubase 5 with a MAudio 2x2M The motherboard ASUS 310 the CPU Intel 9400f and a Geforce 730 with 8mb Mushkin RAM 2400 What I noticed is: blue screens with the PAGE FAULT IN NONPAGED AREA. When I use some WavesVST plugins ( not the Abbey road just some eq and light reverbs) crackles and pops before the blue screens, the CPU marker ( the one at the transport bar)at 40% using a couple of Kontakt, nexus and Addictive drums for example and 6 audio tracks. This is just an example. Yesterday I discarded Win 10 and installed Win 8.1, followed the instructions for optimization, and installed just Cubase/kontakt/ addictive and nexus.. no waves. The CPU is in 10 or 20% in the same song I started to think that the video can be a problem, I bought a cheap videocard because I didnt consider the importance, but seems that waves/arturia are big video eaters.. My last idea is to buy a 8600k with 16gb RAM ( integrated graphics) this one seems to be more powerful than the i3, but the integrated graphics ( low quality again) can put things in the same place as Im now... As yu can see I'm a bit lost and to complicate things a bit more I don't have a big budget Thanks again! Any help ..
That blue screen error message points to a hardware or a driver problem, but it could be anything. Have you installed the latest drivers and running the latest BIOS? Especially the chipset drivers here. There's a fine tool called "WhoCrashed", https://www.resplendence.com/whocrashed , that can tell what driver (if any) caused the bluescreen. Read the docs on that page, esp. https://www.resplendence.com/whocrashed_enablingdumps , then make the system crash and run the tool. Let us know if anything noteworthy pops up. Good luck!
Thanks a lot I'll try the whocrashed tool Yes, all drivers are updated, but NVIDIA ones not, because the last one from them( many users has the same problem) dont recognize the video card so I'm using the last one that work fine. What I noticed is: if I use the ASIO drivers supplied by Cubase the system works better and the CPU meter is super stable, but I have loads of latency so impossible to work with those drivers. When I turn to the Maudio asio drivers ( updated to the newest) the CPU meters moves a lot from 10 to 30%.. Maybe Maudio drivers are not working good, but what makes some noise in me is that with my old CPU ( the Intel 3330) and Win 8.1 i dint have this problem so noticeable. yes maybe the meter marked some movement but I was able to use waves/arturia/ and many plugins with the charge in 80% and no crackles and pops and no blue screens
Hmm, if you're having audio driver issues, giving asio4all a go might be worth a shot? I've got an old Alesis Multimix 4 USB that comes in handy from time to time, and I can get 128 to 64 samples latency normally, crackle free.
yes, asio4all is a chance..but honestly I'm a bit reticent ..I always consider them less pro than the native ones. But of course I can try, I'm open to anything that can be useful to improve my system Thanks!
Have you got the latest ASIO drivers from m-audio: https://m-audio.com/support/download/drivers/Install-M-Audio-M-Track-2X2M-1-0-14 If you increase the latency/buffer size on your ASIO control panel it'll use less CPU... WINDOWS As @Clayton123 mentioned, you must ensure your windows power plan is set correctly: 1. CONTROL-PANEL --> Power Options --> Power Plan = "High Performance" BIOS: 2. When you first power-up the PC, hit the delete key until you enter BIOS. 3. Make sure you're in 'Advanced Mode' (hit the F7 function key). 4. Locate the 'CPU Power Management' screen - which on my Asus motherboard is found under: Advanced --> CPU configuration --> CPU Power Management. On that screen, make sure the following are set like this: Intel (Enhanced) Speedstep = DISABLED Turbo Mode = ENABLED Automonous Core C-State = DISABLED Intel Speed Shift Technology = DISABLED If you haven't done so already i also recommend you disable the built-in audio chip - which should be under: Advanced --> Onboard Devices Configuration --> HD Audio Controller = DISABLED. 5. Save the BIOS settings and reboot into windows. 6. (Optional) - If your PC is online (especially if it uses WI-FI to connect to the web) DISABLE the network interface while using cubase. Your PC will now definitely work better for music production! Last edited: Jul 14, 2019
Oh well now u tell me do u think it was a that much of a big up from 3rd gen to 9th gen . Honestly man my suggestion is going to be different.when u already refunded u did a good job. Now get urself a either second gen or third gen ryzen .trust me u will see noticble different in performance. U can go for like this r5 2600 wiwith 16 gb ram or 8 gb ram and 3600
Is your cubase 32 bit or 64 bit? Which windows do you use and is it 32 or 64 bit? 32 bit cubase is limited to 4 gb RAM, no matter how much RAM you have installed.
Thanks everybody I'm using Cubase 5 32 bits now, (after deinstalled Win 10 because of the high CPU measurement in Cubase and the repeated blue screens) in Win 8.1. I have less consume of CPU but I didnt know the 4 gb thing about it. So i will install the 64 bit Elements I already have and see what happens What I noticed is that the problem is this: If I start a clean song in Cubase, record anything...put some vst..and change the driver in the setup window, when I change between ASIO and M-Audio there I have the blue screen and the crash. I used the suggested Whocrashed program but I didn't get and answer, intentionally I crashed the PC with that software and I just got a messaged that said to look after whocrashed.sys in google and I didnt get anything there. But in Reason everything is going smooth...I can change between all the drivers and nothing happens! no crash and no blue screens! Problem is that I have all my songs ( and are really many) in cubase and for worst I'm really acustomed to that interface, is really comfortable for me. I tried with Maschine/Ableton/FLoops even cakewalk...and Cubase is realy cool and smooth. So, I dont know what to do, I have till tomorrow to return all my bought, but seems that the computer works fine I don't want to lie to my sellers, the computer is good and fast if I don't use Cubase...today I'll try to do the BIOS thing that @Paul Pi suggested and I'll install Cubase Elements to see what happens...and will let you know. Thanks again for all the help!
why are you getting garbage low-end cpus and ancient 32bit DAW ?! Intel Core i3-9350KF runs at 4GHz base, boosts to 4.6GHz and pls get some up-to-date efficient DAW, like Reaper for ex.
