Hi,

I'm really not into ICT, but I like to build a new pc mostly for music production (and a bit gaming). I was going to hold off until the gpu's dropped in price. But there is a new RTX 3050 launched at a decent price (however they are scamming us for € 200 asking + €400 when the MRSP is like €290) and I probably can not hold it anymore.

I'm definitely looking for one of the top CPU's which are the Ryzen9 5950X and the i9 12900K(F).
Which one would you take (and maybe why)?

Thanks for the advice.
Furthermore I'm needing a lot of space (working with big libraries like Hans Zimmer collection, Hollywood Orchestra Opus Edition, ...) is taking a lot of space. Preferably SSD. I'll be willing to spend up to € 4K (max at 4,5)

Thanks for the suggestions.

Cheers,
Niels

 

The 12900KF. Better single core performance (which is what matters most for music production) and is a gaming beast too if you are into gaming. Also get a lot of ram (at least 64 gb) if you're producing orchestral music or use the libraries pretty heavily.

 

Last edited: Feb 19, 2022

Cheers!
So I've been fiddling around with some stuff. And what I got right now is this.

From what I've been reading the DDR5 ram could easily be switched, since that isn't gonna make a lot of a difference (except for the price). Don't know if that's true? If so, I'll be switching it up.
I'm also going to buy the 8 TB SSD seperately because it's €40 cheaper. So that would come to the big total of 3907,46.

I know it's a lot of money to spend on SSDs, but I just need it so bad. The loading times from my HDD is killing me. Batch resaving is fine in kontakt but sine, spitifire audio player are a big oof and lately I'm using these more than kontakt.
Since I'd like to game a little bit from now to then I'd like to keep it a bit more seperate.

I don't know if you'd have any suggestions in pushing the price a bit down?

 

it doesn't matter. U If ur after specifics, both will give u over 200 tracks + effects, which I fully doubt u will ever exploit.

 

Thanks. Changed the MOBO and got some cheaper DDR4 RAM. Looks good.

 

First of all, with this budget, you don't buy and Intel Core CPU, you buy a Workstataion CPU with a high core count (Xeon W) and a suitable Workstation/Server Board and don't waste money on an 8 TB SSD… instead use an NVME drive for the system and a mechanical drive for data (samples and such). A lot cheaper, lasts longer.

 

What are the specs for your currents system?

I would start with the SSD upgrade in you current system.

 

Tell me more? Server board as in an advanced mobo?
I'm definitely not a tech wizard. I actually do need the SSD space, not for samples but for my orchestral libs. Waiting nearly 2 minutes to load a patch is killing the buzz.
I assumed I need the fastest single core speed I can?
If you tell me to get the highest core count as possible, I'd go for Ryzen9 5950X?

 

Now I'm at a i7-4790K w/ 16 GB of ram. I have a small SSD which runs my system and a small one where I have some projects stored + some libraries.
For now my bigger libraries are stored at a mechanical drive and they are loading very slow. The ones on the SSD are faster but I'm quickly getting getting spikes and crackles and stuff.
Not even the big libraries (spitfire, orchestral tools, EastWest) are the issue, but I like to use Serum or Avenger from time to time and the loading time is really too long... Not talking about minutes but just 7-8 sec... I'm just over my limit of patience.

EDIT: Okay I checked a nice video about workstation vs desktop.
Jesus... That makes a lot of sense... The fact you can upgrade the components constantly is cool! I wasn't aware of that.

 

Last edited: Feb 21, 2022

More specs:
mainboard?
M.2 in slot on mainboard or PCIe ad-in-card?
how many memory modules and what make/model?
current OS?
current DAW being used?

I am asking this to help you determine how to upgrade. In stages or all at once.

I currently would go with:
Intel Alder Lake CPU for desktop
AMD ryzen 9 6000 series or Intel Alder Lake APU/IGU (same diff) for laptop that supports 64GB of RAM. The better laptop options will keep up with current desktops usually for less or, equal costs while offering the most up-to-date options without spending around $1000 for a mainboard.

Don't be eager to give away money to scalpers & greedy retailers for a 3050. A 3050 is not worth more than $250 on a good day.

 

My 6yo build contains following parts:
i7-4790K
MSI Z97 Gaming 5 with 16 GB DDR-1600
No M.2 but just 2 500 GB SSDs and a big mechanical HDD.
MSI GTX 960 (not important)
I'm on Win10 and I use Studio One and Cubase.

I'm definitely going for a pc since I'm not the travel type.
About the 3050... Yes I know, but what is the other option? The GPU market is too expensive and I can't really hold it off. Actually I could until the summer (if rumours are true that the prices of GPUs will go down), but the store where I usually buy stuff is charging €100 to assemble the thing and for next week they'll do it for free. 100 is still 100 even for me and even if I have the budget for this beast/workstation/whatever to call it. I defintely need a GPU because I like to relax and game a bit from time to time. My GTX960 isn't sufficient anymore for some stuff.

 

Last edited: Feb 21, 2022

Definitely time to upgrade. The mainboard & memory are your limitation for now. The GTX 960 can be used to hold you over for now when gaming at 1080p for most titles.

The best option for getting a GPU is with a pre-built system (desktop or laptop) or, a parts bundle where the GPU priced is reduced to a normal level (closer to MSRP).

There are new laptops that can replace a PC desktop (when still plugged in) giving you the additional screen and, can also be used in clam shell mode (lid closed, keyboard, mouse & monitor connected.

For a pre-built/custom build desktop, search for Custom Audio PC makers in Europe.

 

Intel is the way to go for music production.

I used to run Studio One 5 on Ryzen 5 3600 oced to 4.4ghz (extremely stable on Asus TUF x570). It's ok until I switched to 12600K (TUF Z690 Wifi D4). It's night and day difference. I know you may say that on the spec number, 12600K is much higher than 3600 (which is 2-3 yo). But IMHO, Intel is much friendly with audio production than AMD.

For more detail, I use HWinfo and task manager to see how the core spread out to those threads. In AMD system, 2-3 cores max can be taxed at all and other cores are really relaxing. When S1 reports 80% cpu usage, Task Manager only shows 40-45% usage. When I switched to 12600K, ON THE SAME PROJECT, S1 report ~40-45% usage and Task Manager shows ~35-38%, which is close enough between the two.

Another example: some Waves plugins really like Intel (even the older gens like 9th). On my AMD 3600 system, only ONE SSL EV2 instance can be tax as high as 10% cpu load. I even borrow a new zen 3 5600G to see how it behaves but no luck at all, 9-10% cpu usage like 3600. But on 12600k, it's only ~2%. As we know, 12600k is not x5 more powerful than r5 3600 (may be x2 max if I OC 12600k to 5ghz allcores only). But in this case we can think of DAW and plugins optimization. It's really important when you run a lot of plugins in realtime.

In music production, the ceiling will be the single core performance. After that, how the DAW can spread the load on those CPU cores/threads is really important. In this field, I feel that DAW devs, plugin devs are really favors Intel.
So in the end, for other fields like 3D modeling, rendering...I don't know. But for DAW usage, go with Intel for the safe route.

But remember, when you go with Intel 12th, you should reinstalling Windows 11. I've tested the same projects, the same plugins on the same DAW version (S1 v5.5) and Windows spread out the load on my 12600K better than Windows 10 a little bit. It's not much but it's worth the upgrade to w11. And for Windows 11, I recommend going to https://teamos-hkrg.com and try some FBConan builds. I'm using Windows 11 Pro Plus (updatable version) with really good and smooth experience.

About the storage, on my TUF Z690 D4, WD SN550 is not that friendly if I plug it straight into M.2 slot on the mb. It randomly disconnects. I do some research and other people report the same problem on their (mostly) WD SN850 and some other Asus Z690 motherboard. The other two ADATA SX8100 and SX8200 are rock solid here without any problem. So it may be the problem with SSD controller and new BIOS (especially new PCIe Gen 5 compability). But it's not a big deal for me. Just find a M.2 NVMe to PCIe x16/x4 adapter and you will be fine.

 

Last edited: Feb 21, 2022

agree that Intel is the way to go for now. AMD & Intel will be playing leap frog for the next few years between Raptor Lake,Zen 4 & Meteor Lake, Zen 5. There will also be the desktop APU offerings from AMD with improved graphics performance.

The other player in the game is of course Apple. Once Apple works out the scalability & feature set of Apple Silicon, that platform will be an ever more solid reason for using Apple Mac for serious production work once again.

@Niels, needs substantial resources for the workload described. If not for the gaming aspect, I would have recommended M1 Pro & a gaming console. The console is a good way to go period (imho).

 

I use the latest Intel generation, I confirm, it runs perfectly! I have nothing against AMD, nor against MAC, I am a pc(music) and mac user, so no need to make sterile comments....

 

DO NOT Buy Amd for Audio Intel only

 

hackintosh : INTEL only (and select the right mobo)
That's why my last build was INTEL and hackintosh compatible : i run OSX and Win

Apart that, i've seen too many sh1tty software incompatibility with AMD ... so no way for me.
I already tried "alternative" to intel and always go back into INTEL

I've got 30 years of computer maintenance for my job AND myself.
too much time lost for gaining some percent performance ... WHEN IT WORKS

 

AMD users recommend AMD
INTEL Users recommend INTEL

P.S: AMD is cheaper than INTEL

 

12900K all the way. To me AMD fanboys is a bunch of lying scum. Just like Linux fanboys.
As to motherboards I will pick a creator board, either:
Gigabyte Z690 AERO D (native thunderbolt)
or
ASUS ProArt Z690-CREATOR (native thunderbolt)

 

Last edited: Feb 21, 2022

Had it not been for them we would still be using 4C/8T over expensive i7s. Intel's on its way to redemption.