I got a PC built a while back and I wish to improve it but I don't know much about hardware. What I'm looking for is working smoothly on projects with a lot of VST and audio plugins (sometimes I have to work quickly so I have do all the mixing on MIDI tracks and only work with audio on the mastering stage). This PC used to be fine but my projects are getting bigger and bigger and sometimes my machine struggles.

These are my PC specs:

• Processor (CPU): AMD Ryzen 5 3600, base clock 3.60GHz, turbo boost up to 4.2 GHz, 32MB L3 Cache, 6 cores, 12 threads, 17858 core rating.
  
  
• Motherboard: ASUS Micro ATX TUF Gaming B450M, supports up to 128GB of RAM.
  
  
• RAM: XPG Gammix D10 Black 3200MHz, 8GB x4, Non-ECC, CL16, totaling 32GB of RAM.
  
  
• Case: Corsair SPEC-05 with Red LED Window, includes a 550W power supply.
  
  
• Graphics Card (GPU): ZOTAC GeForce RTX 3060 12GB.
  
  
• Storage - M.2 SSD: Kingston KC2500, 500GB, PCI Express 3.0, M.2.
  
  
• Storage - Internal Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 3.5 2TB, SATA III, 6 Gbit/s, 7200RPM, 256MB Cache.

Besides that I have an extra 2TB of SSD where I keep all of my VSTs and a Focusrite Scarlett 8i6.

 

Do you know what are you really maxing out, would start from there, look at Task Manager's Resource Monitor, that should give you some insight.

You can upgrade your CPU, there's plenty of good options, depends where you live, something like 5900X is good call for the buck, you should be able to find deals for under 300 bucks.

If you are hammering your RAM too, something like Corsair Vengeance 2x32GB 3600 would go nicely with that CPU and would set you back like 120 bucks.

 

Last edited: Dec 4, 2023

This. And some more RAM, go to 64gb or max it out. I would also consider moving the plugins to your internal SSD. That depends on drive specs.

 

Last edited: Dec 4, 2023

What seems to be the issue you're having exactly? Are you experiencing artifacting or dropouts when recording or playing back? If you're just looking to improve plugins capacity then more RAM would be the answer. More processing bandwidth is accrued with a higher CPU core count. If you're experiencing high audio latency and want to trim that down, suggestions to improve that would be better audio hardware with more solid drivers and possibly a OS rebuild and optimization. I would recommend an optimized win10 build (ghostspectre or tiny10, etc...)

 

Audio kinda stutters when playing parts with a lot of MIDI tracks, the graphics also lag. Sometimes I hit play and see marker moving but lagging and no audio is played so I have to go back and play again that part and again until it's able to play it.

 

And what does the Task Manager show?

 

I wish I had a computer like yours.

 

Look for second hand HP Pro/EliteDesk with i7 8700, that's in that ballpark, I scored one for my friend for 240 euros, 32GB DDR4 RAM, 256 or 512GB SSD (can't remember exactly), great bang for the buck.

 

Last edited: Dec 4, 2023

Before you do any upgrading of your RAM, I would first reseat your RAM. And see if there is any difference. That simple task can seemingly work magic on things you may see as unrelated. Remove the RAM, blow out the case with compressed air, and reinstall the RAM.

You can maybe turn off some animations in your DAW and plugins. But your GPU is far beyond what you need for audio work. But you should ensure that it is running correctly using the correct drivers. ZOTAC are close to an Nvidia, in general; and CUDA is supported. Visit their website and make sure you have correct software and functions from. the card. But it's probably related to the rest of the system performance if your GPU is running correctly. Play a video game, and if it works for that; it's already overkill for your DAW work.

The RAM is the easiest and most inexpensive upgrade you can do, and you only need probably 1 screwdriver to do it. I hate Focusrite software, because I had one and I will never use one again if I can avoid it in any way. (on Mac). Make sure you have your DAW's audio buffer settings at good settings for your computer. But better driver software in Windows will always help performance, even if you are not going to get the full benefit of having a nicer card and DACs because you are not recording external audio sources. You would if you start adding external synths and any other hardware. (later on down the road).

Changing anything else inside the case is work better done by someone with maybe some technical experience, but you could get an average monkey to install more RAM. Just don't walk across a carpet and forget to discharge any static electricity first. It's as easy as it gets.

Without looking at your actual projects, it's not impossible your CPU is causing any problems if you are overloading your channels with cpu-hungry plugins. I would print some stems or multitrack wav render a project you are having issues in. Your project will be running without any plugins on those channels. You can find some Windows system/hardware tool programs that test that sort of stuff. Latencymon, memtest, or whatever others people recommend now for Windows/pc machines.

There is really no such thing as "too much RAM"until you have it maxed out. It is the most sure-fire way to make any system perform everything it does better, or at least with more stability. Unless there is actually something broken to fix.

 

Last edited: Dec 4, 2023

just commit and save money bro. Don't get all ocd

 

i dont know why everybody is saying dont upgrade
if you have some money
Def Upgrade the CPU
The Numbers
Even the 5600x gets you a significant single thread Uplift
But i would, if we want to, keep it on a single Die CPU Complex, Opt for the 5800x
This give you the maximum Single thread Uplift + a Significant Multithread Uplift without
Any Possible Latency penalty.

The "Big Decision" would be if you take the tiny latency Penalty
But gain for instance, a massive Compute Advantage for things like:
AA, Kontakt, Multi-Media like Video/Film Score Processing!!

If you go for The last mentioned CPU;
Upgrade your PSU too to something Like 750W (Gold/Platinum)

 

Last edited: Dec 4, 2023

Unfortunately, usually you decide to upgrade the cpu, but then you need a new mobo too, which doesn't support your old memory, and it all needs a bigger power supply and you wind up doing the whole thing.

 

This is why I vote do the RAM upgrade call it a day. Cheapest option and effortless. His problem is with bigger projects. If the problem was caused by very cpu hungry plugins, it usually will not even matter how many tracks you have in your project. Use it as a second computer when you get a new one. You money towards an upgrade will almost always go further toward a new machine. It's because of Economy of Scale.

 

Yeah, that's usually the case, luckily here, he got plenty of CPU options without changing the mobo, RAM just to be on best terms with CPU, but what he got already shouldn't be too much of an bottleneck, even PSU should handle all of it well (at least on paper). For that kind of money (400-ish bucks) this machine can take few more years of good usage, I would build something like this even today to be my only machine for next 5-10 years.

 

Yeah, but this is the Mighty Ryzen AM4
The CPUs are just a drop in Replacement, maybe a MB Firmware Update.
and a slight PSU Upgrade, if he Goes for the 5950x

 

Agreed on the 5800x

RAM Speed and Latency is also a factor.. 3200MHz CL16 is Great,
but if you want to really max it out 3600MHz CL14 is an option..

 

My best shot:
Change the Soundcard.
I think this is the bottleneck and causing your problems.

 

Dude, if you remove the audio interface from within the SSD enclosure and place it fully outside your PC, both your SSD and the Scarlett will perform more reliably...

On a more serious note, you're placing all your emphasis on hardware only. Are you sure your DAW (you didn't say which) is properly set to utilize your Scarlet's ASIO driver and not the windows MME or WDM drivers? Have you run latencymon to diagnose whether your PC is running optimally for DAW work?

Note also that with NVIDIA cards that it's better to install the driver ONLY (and not the rest of their bloatware) using a proper tool like NVCleaninstall. It's also notable that the latest nvidia driver may not be the most suitable for DAW users. For example, i found on one of my PC's (nvidia 1050Ti), the nvidia 512.95 driver uses considerably less DPC resources on my PC than their later ones, whereas on my main DAW (nvidia GTX 1070Ti) the nvidia 451.48 driver worked best. The beauty of NVCleaninstall is that it allows you the option to choose a specific driver version to install i.e. sweet not sweat...

 

Driver upgrade is the best PC upgrade you can do. Not kidding.

When you pile 20 u-he Divas on 20 different tracks, no PC upgrade as of 2023 will help you to get a smooth performance.

I'm saying this because I've seen what people do and how they produce music. Man, I have a measly i7-6700K and it's plenty. It never chokes. And I use DSP56300 plugins and u-he. Knowing how to optimise your sounds and workflow for the best CPU usage is the key.

Use mono sounds when needed instead of poly. Use one plugin for as many sounds as you can, if it's multitimbral. Render heavier tracks (usually strings) to WAV. Think about how you're using your CPU.

Cheers!

 

You are totally right, exactly that was the breaking point for me when I decided to finally upgrade, am I finally buying escape from worrying about resource usage and workarounding with my workflow. That is kind of thing that justifies investing in new machine these days. But as you said, some workflows aren't possible even today and no amount of upgrades will ever bring that to reality. It's good call to first try to figure out is there anything in ones current workflow that might need revisiting, than deciding how crucial that is to one's creative output. We keep pilling on plugins, probably these days people are hammering machines with Acustica stuff, at one point one should probably aks himself is the CPU hit worth it really or investing money in new machine, upgrade or whatever. You bring really great point here.

 

Last edited: Dec 5, 2023