I'm contemplating purchasing some new hardware to upgrade my desktop Windows PC. I am currently running an i7 4960X with 64GB DDR3 RAM on an X79 motherboard, so it's due an upgrade as its approaching a decade old now, despite still being pretty powerful.

I can get to i7 13900K or Ryzen 9 7950x with 64GB DDR5 in terms of the budget I have available, but am looking to spend as little as possible ideally, and I am wondering which is best at the moment, or whether there is some lower tier CPUs worth considering that's plenty for music production, or even older generation stuff like the Ryzen 9 5950X with DDR4 RAM?!

Any views? And it's a Windows build only, so not interested in any "just get a Mac" type of response

 

I'm on the same journey, Bunford. I'll be following this post with enthusiasm.

 

I would advise you to buy processors from Intel as they are more stable and optimized and many sound software companies use processors from Intel. I am a sad owner of the Ryzen 7 2700x because there are many problems with it. For example, an incorrectly selected motherboard and processor will work at half power due to a lack of power phases, incorrectly selected RAM, and the processor will give less performance and there will be more delay (latency) during recording and playing on midi devices, on Intel is much easier with DRAM and the latency of the processor itself is much lower (DRAM controller inside SoC). Here are my observations...

 

5800x, went from 7600 at 5000 mhz, got around twice the amount of fps ingame and ableton is alot faster. Didnt format eaither.

I suggest Ryzen.

 

What type of interface do you plan on using? My UA Apollo set up will only work on the intel chip. I had to buy a separate antelope z for my ryzen mini PC. Check whatever interface that you are using or plan to use specs to see if there are any issues with the chip that you plan on going with.

That being said my old intel 7700k 64gb, gigabyte ud-270-z build has no lag issues an still runs large cubase sessions without any issues.

My travel Bee-link GTR 5
OS: Windows 11 Pro
CPU: Ryzen 9 5900HX
RAM: 32GB
Lags and runs slow on small sessions.

 

AMD 5,6% better multi-core Performance, Intel 7,7% better single-core performance.

Running neck to neck atm. I would prefer single thread see: https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/articles/209067649-Multi-core-CPU-handling

 

its pretty much neck and neck at the moment in terms of performance tbh. however the AM5 platfrom gives you a way better upgrade path right now than buying a 13 gen Intel chip which is sitting on a dead (end onf line) socket. going with AM5 will probably give you the possibility of upgrading at least a further two generations of CPU. AM5 cost used to be high but they are now in line with everything else since the price of DDR5 has dropped heavily over the past 12 months. I recently went over to AMD for the first time in close to 15 years with a 7950x3d. gives me best of both worlds for gaming and prodcutivity and I couldn't be happier. especially when teamed up with a 4090.

 

Running an Intel i9, 64gb RAM, SSD... smooth as hell! I always run into the limitations of the audio buffer (ASIO), the computer barely blinks these days.

 

I upgraded to AMD Ryzen 5 5600X DDR4 build, once it started going down in price when Zen 4 was launched. Cost me 155 euro before tax. Anything better only offers minimal gains at significantly more power draw and higher temps. I had a i7-3770 DDR3 build for a decade before, so it was a good upgrade.

I was excited about Zen 4 but ultimately it's too early IMO, not high enough a jump in performance, requires watercooling, and 128 GB of DDR5 RAM requires significant downclocking.

It has passed every intensive VST and emulation test I have given it. So unless you're doing insane shit a 5600x upgrade is the cheapest life support upgrade.

Intel is not only far more expensive, but they are also behind on fabs, so they rely on extreme desperation tactics to remain competitive, which ultimately results in insane temps, shorter chip lives, and expensive watercooling solutions.

And citation desperately needed for claims on "more stable and optimized" and all the other BS claims.. MIDI latency? lol what. Having no issues whatsoever with 5600x here. Sounds like pure fearmongering.

Moore's law is dead (RIP). There are no more astronomical jumps in performance, that won't end up melting itself in 3 years and require insane cooling solutions and delidding. So IMO chips of AM5 in 5 years wont be much better than the first ones. And the ones that are 6-11% faster will require more and more extreme cooling solutions. Unless we find alien technology to bring us back to the glory days of geometric perf improvements, that can be cooled by a high quality heatpipe air coolers.

 

Last edited: Apr 18, 2023

That's right, there's plenty of ice in the asteroid belt, now all we need is some of that there alien technology to bring it back to Earth to be able to put in our computers!

 

This is dangerous half-knowledge coupled with gut feeling and no provable evidence. If you don't choose the correct hardware for your CPU, then you will have the same problems in both worlds, Intel or AMD, and the problem is sitting in front of the chair and not behind.
I can tell you my x570 MSI Board with AMD Ryzen 7 3700X is rock stable and I am planning also to upgrade to a Ryzen 5800X3D.
With the budget of the TO and heat and energy costs also in mind I would go for a Ryzen 9 7950X and run it in economic mode.

 

I love you guys, but you're all crazy. ) << And that's comin' from ME!!!!

I have got a quad core machine running 8gb memory, and I can STILL safely run 70 odd tracks at a time (Providing I render to audio a couple of tracks at a time)

My point is, yes that is an extremely ancient way of having to do things, but you are all talking about updating machines that could have many years of usage!

Fit more memory, a better GPU card and bigger hard drives and you can suck the life out of any of those machines for a long time yet

 

Ryzens better value and efficiency in general, Intel is like the apple of processors

 

Dont know what music you create, but Cinematic Studio Strings Full ensemble patch is 6.67gb RAM , you will not lauch it on your 8gb( i know that there is purge). So say what do you use before saying that everything is fine on your poleozoic PC. With cpu i think the same story

 

funny! I'm contemplating upgrade of my X99 system - it's i7-5820K on ASUS X99-S mobo and 32GB DDR4 ram (4x8, quad channel),

question is, what exactly is the reason for upgrade - is it lack of performance, or ageing hardware reliability concerns?

at first let's take a look on costs now vs 8 years ago (I highly recommend you do the same math):

for same price, I can buy i7-13700K,
for same price, I can barely get entry-level ASUS Prime Z790-A or TUF Z790-Plus, those are nowhere near in terms of features compared to my old X99-S (flashback, error display, connectivity...) -if I wanted a noteworthy step up, that's Z790-Creator for 70% higher (!) cost (and still wouldn't get some of those features my old mobo had),
for way lower price, I can get 64GB DDR5 (2x32, 6000MHz at CL36)

there is no equal workstation-tier Intel now
(well, it begins to appear: ASUS Pro WS W790-ACE price is WILD, not even talking about ASUS Pro WS W790E-SAGE SE)

summary - I can get 2 more performance cores and twice as much ram, leverage "savings" into expensive motherboard - is it worth the total cost?

now about the AMD vs Intel thingy - both current platform offerings are kinda fucked up, because Intel uses mixed architecture with retarded cores which DAWs simply don't like, and AMD uses X3D where half of cores is crippled by thermally-constrained cache, resulting in uneven all-core performance too,
Intel power consumption is crazy at load, AMD idle power consumption is 5x higher than Intel, all use cases combined, Intel is more power efficient overall, not joking,

motherboard choice is tricky, because manufacturers decided to squeeze money on useless bullshit like RGB lights and onboard audio, so you're almost always over-spending on features you absolutely don't need, finding reasonably priced motherboard is literally impossible

ram choice is tricky too, because both AMD and Intel are using mediocre memory controllers (Intel being bit better here), forget about using 4 ram sticks at full advertised speeds, hence why best you can get is 64GB (2x32) at DDR5, hopefully 128GB (2x64) is on the way, don't expect reasonable costs at launch though,
Intel still supports DDR4, assuming you sink money into DDR4 motherboard with no upgrade path on the horizon, imo it's not worth it, even if the prices (mobo+ram) are notably lower than DDR5


and now, briefly that another point of view of buying similar performance as older PC:
entry-level i3-13100, despite having only 4 cores (8 threads), it matches (or even outperforms) your 4960X or my 5820K (6 cores 12 threads), so theoretically even lowest-budget PC based on latest 13th gen of Intel still could be considered an upgrade (and also being on par with Apple M1 Mac Mini, which isn't bad when I remember all the Mac fanboys being obsessed about it 2 years ago when it released),
something like i5-13500 could be good value compromise - it doesn't support overclocking, so you can save a lot on motherboard too,

last but not least, let's not forget end of Windows 10 is just around the corner, Windows 11 makes sense on new PC, so that's arguably no.1 inconvenience to decide on.....


I'm personally waiting for reasonably-priced workstation platform (which X79 and X99 were), because there is simply no hurry, I'm not reaching its performance limits in my use cases (using it about 70/30 vs M1 Mac Mini),
and in case my mobo or cpu fails, I can still get second-hand replacement for very cheap

 

I use Cinematic Strings (And their other options) from Omnisphere. Works fine for me.

 

I have a Ryzen 9 3900X*, and it takes a lot to bring that thing to it's knees. But I'd also say don't sleep on the i5-13600K if you're looking to save some money. It really depends on your own needs (i.e. what you're doing - how many and what simultaneous VSTs, process hungry stuff, oversampling, etc.) as far as how crazy of a CPU you need.

I feel like most modern core CPUs can handle a whole lot to the point where it will take a lot before you really need to bounce stuff out, and you can put some money into nicer SSDs, memory, better mobo, audio interface, or other hardware and just have an overall very rock solid PC without breaking the bank just for the sake of having the best of the best.


* - FYI, the reason I have a Ryzen 9 3900X was because it was the (reasonably) best I could get at that time. At the time, I was trading my motorcycle to a friend for computer parts, so I went big on as much as I could, within reason.

 

realistically speaking, "upgrade path" is one big lie,
nobody can predict future platforms, mobo manufacturers tend to keep BIOS upgrades non-competitive against newer boards they need to sell,
processors haven't evolved that much recently,

AM4 released in 2016 was succeeded by AM5 in 2022,
TR4 launched in 2017 disappeared I didn't even notice,
OP has 2013 cpu contemplating replacement now in 2023,

if OP wants new PC for another 10 years, AM5 will be long gone by then,
it always makes way more sense to sell/buy cpu+mobo+ram together, "upgrade path" like throwing cpu away and sticking insignificantly better cpu into old-design board isn't something I could justify myself

 

I currently have a Ryzen 9 5900x on a X570 board, 64 gig memory and it's plenty fast for what I need and I like a lot of VSTs. I moved to it from being on intel for years. I have no regrets about my choice at the time or now. Just make sure you get memory capable of 3600 as its a sweet spot for the infinity cache and maximises your performance.
At the end of the day you pay a premium for cutting edge. Moving from where you are now to a 5950x your not going to be disappointed. I went for the 5900 for a slightly higher single core clock speed, and it saved me a few £s at the time, but the additional 4 cores wouldn't go amiss either. If its in your price bracket I would put any additional cash into buying some decent sized ultrafast storage.

 

In my experience I recommend Ryzen, if as you say you can, go 7950 or 7950x3d if you need that extra performance that the 3d cache also gives you in the audio. You have plenty of multicore power and also single core is good.The more ram you can get the better if you use a lot of kontakt and similar. It's true that SSDs help a lot to solve the problem of samples but not always so the more ram you have the better if you also work with samples.

I can tell you that I have several Ryzen. For audio I mainly use two at the moment, a mini-itx 5700g with 64GB of ram that having the integrated GPU does not create me further problems of GPU choice and also as a iGPU I cool it with the same air cpu cooler and a 5950x with 128GB ram. On this one I had tried with a small NVIDIA GPU but then its drivers gave me some problems with latency and then I put a 6900xt that I already have around (in any case fan are off when GPU its not in use).For audio I have always been better with amd drivers than nvidia for not having sudden transient latency peaks.

I forgot, both of these PCs are with cpu air cooling. Here the difference Ryzen vs Intel is felt, the energy efficiency of the Ryzen is much better and therefore you can get better performance also in relation to the noise you have to generate to cool the system in general (and this comes in handy if you have to use microphones and you have the PC in the same room)

 

Last edited: Apr 18, 2023