# Would this not be a great DAW and a great deal?!



## composerguy78 (Apr 15, 2018)

Would this system not be a great deal for a DAW or Vienna Ensemble? 

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAC0F6ZX0940&cm_re=dell_t5600-_-9SIAC0F6ZX0940-_-Product (Dell Precision T5600)

I'm looking to run Cubase 9.5 on Windows on a new machine. 

Or is there something I'm missing? 

Thx

Felix

(I edited this post as it got no replies before )


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## Quasar (Apr 18, 2018)

Too slow clock speed and a graphics card targeted for graphics/video... An non-Xeon 8700k has almost 2x the single thread rating. Just a quick 1st impression.


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## kitekrazy (Apr 18, 2018)

Nope. Maybe if it were an Apple system.


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## composerguy78 (Apr 19, 2018)

Thank you Quasar! 

Would something like this be a good Vienna Ensemble Pro 6 slave? 
Thanks

Felix


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## JohnG (Apr 19, 2018)

Way, way too slow clock speed. Get something with 4.x speed.

You can put together a PC for about that price that has great capabilities. Don't ever buy a Dell either, for music, used or new.


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## composerguy78 (Apr 19, 2018)

Thank you JohnG - the clock speed of that processor comes in at 16802 on this page on geek bench and it has two of them so surely double that no? 

Why 'never dell' for music?! 

I'm considering that model of this https://www.newegg.com/Product/NewProduct.aspx?item=9SIA4GH75R5989&RandomID=85060174445714820180419093613 (one) as a Vienna Ensemble Pro 6 slave. 

Where else can you get that amount of RAM and power for that price? 

Thanks,

Felix


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## JohnG (Apr 19, 2018)

composerguy78 said:


> Where else can you get that amount of RAM and power for that price?



There are numerous threads on this forum in the hardware section(s) that describe how to build a PC slave computer.

All the mass computer makers, HP and Dell included, cheap out on some key component that doesn't affect regular computing but does affect us. Cheap power supply, cheap ethernet connection, cheap motherboard or heat sinks -- they have to make money and still give you "Intel Inside" and "64GB of RAM" and the only way to do that is to save somewhere. They also cause us problems with the indescribably horrible glut of junk software they put on too.

Remember, we need a very steady, fast real time performance, not just muscle. That is not what most computer users need, so what works for most people doesn't work for us. I burned up four or five pre-built "cheap" systems before learning my lesson.

here are a few threads: https://vi-control.net/community/threads/slave-computer-requirements.70209/

https://vi-control.net/community/threads/custom-build-pc-slave-opinion-needed.68553/

https://vi-control.net/community/threads/thoughts-on-this-slave-build.70239/

https://vi-control.net/community/threads/need-advice-on-a-new-computer.70552/


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## Jeremy Spencer (Apr 23, 2018)

I agree, always go custom build for any type of DAW work, especially for a slave machine.


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## DAW PLUS (May 3, 2018)

The problem with refurbished "generic" PCs is that you don't know what kind of wear has been going on. They are refurbished for a reason.
That being said, the CPU's in these systems are older and not having the highest core speed. That doesn't mean they do not offer a lot of power, but especially with the algorithms in synths today as well as the more complex scripting of samples, you might run into a headroom issue sooner than later. Note that a dual 10 core 2.3GHz already does a stunning job, but you want to aim for >3GHz base clock to use lowest latencies as well.
So I agree with the other comments here.

What I don't agree with, is the Geekbench and single core references.
I assume single core was mentioned as "clock speed", in that case it is fine. When meaning the single core Turbo speed, it is misleading as this is rarely used in a DAW. As soon as you start Cubase, DP or whatever DAW you use, all cores are active, even if only a single note is played. From that moment, the max all core Turbo speed is used (unless Turbo is disabled) which is something between base clock and max Turbo (as documented by Intel).
Regarding Geekbench, it is absolutely misleading for audio as all components are involved in its algorithm, meaning that fast RAM and SSDs in newer systems boost their performance even though these do not affect the actual CPU use. The only valuable test for audio is DAWBENCH, and personally I favor Cinebench over Geekbench as it is mainly focuessed on all core Turbo offline values, which means it only focuses on CPU power, but does not take real time performance and latency values due to audio interface buffers into account. It is rather an indication for high buffer mixing, which is still closer than Geekbench IMO.

And that K5000 is a great card, it manages 2 x 4K @ 60 Hz...  although a bit over the top. Good for Ebay though.


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