Hi , I 'm thinking upgrading my pc and i have a few options for second hand ( pretty good deal ) : First option is Broadwell Xeon , 12 cores( 24) CPU or 22 cores (44) cpu , freq is almost the same . Second option is mini pc AMD Zen2, 4 cores (8) cpu . Third option is Comet Lake Xeon 6 core (12) .cpu I 'm tempted to Broadwell but i want to hear some opinions about these 3 options . Thanks . Last edited: Jan 23, 2026
Comet Lake Xeon 6 core (12) seems the best solution, because xeons are too SLOW on each core (base frequency). So running some aggressive plugins will glitch on ONE single core easily. And Zen2 has less cores, whatever frequency. If it is your only criteria, it is an easy choice.
depends on so many more things than just cpu: what connectivity (pcie lanes, ports, networking etc..) ? what ram and disk ? is it some HP/DELL/Lenovo shit with nonstandard everything ?
See this: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark.html Under the scalable processor lists, look for those with a minimum of 8 cores & a 3.20GHz base speed (3.40GHz is the ideal minimum base). This will help with selecting the correct workstation/CPU combination.
I have an older Lenovo S30 That has served me well. Thinking about turning it into a DSP server. Also have a HP Z6 G4 that chews through everything thrown at it.
I looked it up and I agree. Unless you need many cores (unlikely), Comet Lake Xeons are way faster (2016 vs 2020). They both support avx2, which is more required by the month. Kind of surprised the older Xeons already supported it.
6134 Gold, 8 cores @ 3.20GHz base. system idles around 3.3GHz & sustains around 3.5GHz for most DAW operations with the occasional boost between 3.7 & 3.9Ghz with heavy track & plug-in count. Possible upgrade path once price drops to level that makes sense : 6144 Gold 8 cores @ 3.50 GHz base, 4.20 GHz Turbo Boost 6242R Gold 20 cores @ 3.10GHz base, 4.20 GHz Turbo Boost 6244 Gold 8 cores @ 3.60 GHz base, 4.40 GHz Turbo Boost 6246 Gold 12 cores @ 3.30 GHz base, 4.20 GHz Turbo Boost 6246R Gold 16 cores @ 3.40GHz base, 4.10 GHz Turbo Boost 6250 Gold 8 cores @ 3.90 GHz base, 4.50 GHz Turbo Boost 6256 Gold 12 cores @ 3.60 GHz base, 4.50 GHz Turbo Boost The Z6 G4 also has the option for adding another CPU via a carrier board which also allows for expanded memory using 12 channels instead of 6. There is also a slightly larger Z6 G4 Dual (2 CPU) model with a different layout.
If you have older PC's that are powerful enough and meet all your needs go for it, you save a lot of money. You don't need the ultimate most powerful in the world PC if you cannot afford it and it empties your savings or put you in debt , just for bragging or other BS. Last edited: Jan 23, 2026
Maybe setting two machines with Audiogridder isn't that bad idea, considering prices of components these days. Last edited: Jan 23, 2026
6 cores is a sweetspot for most people, you get fairly high per-core clock while also decent amount of multithread performance, just for reference, my 2014-old i7-5820K (6 core 12 thread, overclocked to 4.3GHz) scores 12490 and 2478 single core, honestly I care more about sufficient PCIe connectivity and ideally quad-channel ram support - unfortunately that aforementioned W-1250 is limited to 16 PCIe lanes and dual-channel memory just like any other consumer cpu which also explains why it's rather cheap https://www.intel.com/content/www/u...cessor-12m-cache-3-30-ghz/specifications.html also for most casual workloads, stay away from dual cpu configurations, there's too much overhead
Yeah, technology evolves, what once was mid level, becomes entry level in few years, only difference is that you have more upgrading options going with later.
