# Can someone help me choosing a route for new PC build



## madfloyd (May 17, 2020)

Between these trying times with various components being unavailable and my lack of knowledge, I'm having a tricky time.

I have an Intel I-7700 64GB machine that is constantly blue-screening and most USB devices not being recognized (inconsistently). I'm done with trying to work around it and want to get back to something stable. I don't mind spending some money (although I don't want to be gouged).

I keep reading about Ryzen and thought I might want to go that route (and go for 128GB ram with more than one M.2). I was thinking a 3900 but now I'm realizing there's a completely different Ryzen line called Threadripper. 

So my first question is: what's better for audio - Threadripper or the (regular?) Ryzen?

I also have UAD card that I need support for and am hoping to use my old NVidia graphics card and am worried whether these are issues or not.

Thanks in advance for any guidance...


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## Noeticus (May 17, 2020)

An AMD Threadripper is better than a regular Ryzen from the high tech point of view.

Intel and AMD are both great! There are many web pages that compare the two.

Unless you are in need of a Threadripper (which you probably do not need for audio, as audio is not exactly 8K video in realtime etc.) then I would get a high-end Intel.

But equal arguments can be made to do the opposite.


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## vitocorleone123 (May 17, 2020)

AMD > Intel for now. Forget Intel if building a new computer. 

You’d have to give more specifics on the other cards/components to know if they’d work. They likely would.


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## Pictus (May 17, 2020)

This may give an idea about performance





Test Labs | Scan Pro Audio







www.scanproaudio.info





UAD is problematic, but ASRock has launched some BIOS updates








The AMD Ryzen & UAD 2 Thread - Page 8 - Gearspace.com


I am thinking of picking up a UAD quad x4, are the tb3 interfaces working ok on ryzen? I gather it is just the pcie cards which were a problem?



www.gearslutz.com





No problem for the Nvidia, just do this




__





Setting "Power management mode" from Adaptive to Maximum Performance | NVIDIA







nvidia.custhelp.com





You can build something like this: (verify UAD compatibility)





System Builder







pcpartpicker.com


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## Noeticus (May 17, 2020)

vitocorleone123 said:


> AMD > Intel for now. Forget Intel if building a new computer.
> 
> You’d have to give more specifics on the other cards/components to know if they’d work. They likely would.



There are many reasons to buy Intel today over AMD. 

But both companies offer great CPUs.


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## vitocorleone123 (May 17, 2020)

I should say: forget about Intel if building a "home computer". Enterprise/server level stuff, I have no idea.

Yes, Intel makes great CPUs. AMDs are better for the money, currently. I built a 9900K system in November or so of last year. I would not do that now. I've been researching and building my own PCs for decades. I would've waiting for the 3950x or better if my motherboard hadn't died, forcing my hand. I prefer Intel CPUs, though that may be irrational (well, based on ancient bad history with AMD). But a person should get the best CPU for their money. For "home computers", that's now AMD.


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## Noeticus (May 17, 2020)

Here is an example...

I went recently with a high-end Intel CPU because I really needed "Thunderbolt 3" on my PC motherboard. I did not find any AMD-ready motherboards with this feature.

Both Intel and AMD spoil us with their super CPUs.


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## GNP (May 17, 2020)

I have an over-suped up computer, with intel i9, 128 DDR4 ram, and I'm still getting some dropouts, even though CPU and RAM usage have barely gone over 60%.

Go figure.


And I doubt that would change, even if I used ALL my HDs as SSDs.


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## JohnG (May 17, 2020)

GNP said:


> I have an over-suped up computer, with intel i9, 128 DDR4 ram, and I'm still getting some dropouts, even though CPU and RAM usage have barely gone over 60%.



@GNP what's your buffer?

I'm personally still a fan of 2x64GB instead of 1x128GB, even though I recognise the obvious issues.


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## GNP (May 17, 2020)

JohnG said:


> @GNP what's your buffer?
> 
> I'm personally still a fan of 2x4GB instead of 1x128GB, even though I recognise the obvious issues.



1024. I experienced dropouts mainly on Hans Zimmer Strings, during a 200+ track project. I'm not sure if it's my computer, or the HZS player though.


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## JohnG (May 17, 2020)

Kind of hard to know what your issue is -- I have way over 1,000 tracks in my template, although most samples live on different computers, so the processing is spread out across multiple CPUs.

Nevertheless, unless / even if you're playing 200 notes at a time, 1024 should be plenty.


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## GNP (May 17, 2020)

JohnG said:


> Kind of hard to know what your issue is -- I have way over 1,000 tracks in my template, although most samples live on different computers, so the processing is spread out across multiple CPUs.
> 
> Nevertheless, unless / even if you're playing 200 notes at a time, 1024 should be plenty.



I know, right! Weird as hell. I don't normally require that many tracks even.

Anyway, I'm over that project, I'm just glad I got that rendered before any other hiccups coming up.


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## JohnG (May 17, 2020)

Two questions:
1 did you exclude your sample drives from Windows Defender screening?
2 are you using SSDs for samples?

Sorry to digress...


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## GNP (May 17, 2020)

Yes I have. (windows defender thing)

Nope, I can't use SSDs because they haven't reached the 6TB capacity which I'm able to get for normal HDs. Which are much more inexpensive. It's not perfect, but I think I'll be able to live.


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## madfloyd (May 17, 2020)

Thank you for the replies.

Very interesting reading on the performance differences between Intel and AMD. Making me very sad that an X570 motherboard is not to be found and my current PC is dying fast.


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## JohnG (May 17, 2020)

@madfloyd I assume you're aware of PC Partpicker dot-com? It's not infallible but it's pretty helpful as a baseline.


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## wayne_rowley (May 17, 2020)

If you want to continue using your UAD card you should stick with Intel. From what I have read the AMD route would be fraught with hassle, if it even worked with the card.


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## madfloyd (May 17, 2020)

JohnG said:


> @madfloyd I assume you're aware of PC Partpicker dot-com? It's not infallible but it's pretty helpful as a baseline.



I am not familiar with that site but I will check it out, thank you.


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## JohnG (May 17, 2020)

wayne_rowley said:


> If you want to continue using your UAD card you should stick with Intel



good point


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## José Herring (May 17, 2020)

GNP said:


> Yes I have. (windows defender thing)
> 
> Nope, I can't use SSDs because they haven't reached the 6TB capacity which I'm able to get for normal HDs. Which are much more inexpensive. It's not perfect, but I think I'll be able to live.


You have one of the best bios I've ever read. Almost made me what to call and give you my next project


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## Buz (May 18, 2020)

Just wanted to mention how impressed I am with the 3950x. Suspect it's binned because it boosts like a madman without breaking a sweat. So you retain single-core performance but have 16 cores, and the motherboards are cheap since it's not Threadripper.

I mostly just play piano which is nothing compared to other people here, but it gets me to a full room mix at 64 samples without any hiccups.


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## marius_dm (May 18, 2020)

9900k here with an RME Digiface USB. I typically work at 64 samples except when using Spitfire solo strings. For some reason that lib is causing dropouts even though the cpu is barely showing any strain, so I increase it to 128. I always wondered how some guys work at 1024 samples. You can’t be playing things in at that latency, right?


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## madfloyd (May 18, 2020)

Well since my current machine is failing rapidly and I can't do any music at all (nor accomplish work!) I had to bite the bullet and go with Intel since it's the only way I could actually get my hands on a decent motherboard. I'm coming from an i9-7700k and going with an i9-10900x and while I'll probably be happy if it just runs stable I'm hoping for some gains in speed...


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## Pictus (May 19, 2020)

GNP said:


> I have an over-suped up computer, with intel i9, 128 DDR4 ram, and *I'm still getting some dropouts*, even though CPU and RAM usage have barely gone over 60%.
> 
> Go figure.



Check the NVIDIA and Windows tweaks at
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Nvidia Driver, no latency anymore?


Hi all! We all know that AMD drivers have from far, less latency than Nvidia drivers, and for that reason we all recommand an AMD graphic card for audio working. But recently i have dealt with a new install on a PC with an Nvidia graphic card. And when i updated to the latest driver i saw an...




vi-control.net




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## ryevick (May 30, 2020)

If you are concerned about security I would stay away from Windows 10 in general, it's the operating system I'm using and I want to get away from it as soon as possible. If you're going to use it I would stay away from Intel processors as well because of problems with Intel processors and Windows 10. Buy AMD for sure.









Intel CPU Security Alert For Millions Of Users As ‘Unfixable’ Crypto Flaw Revealed


If the unfixable bit wasn't bad enough, any exploit is apparently impossible to detect. Here's what is known so far.




www.forbes.com













Microsoft Confirms Seven Critical Windows 10 Vulnerabilities, And Attackers Are Exploiting Two More


Microsoft confirms a total of seven critical Windows 10 security vulnerabilities and two 'zero-days' that are being actively exploited




www.forbes.com













Microsoft Confirms Serious New Security Problem For Windows 10 Users


Microsoft has now advised customers who want to "stay ahead of advanced data theft" to upgrade to a new PC—here's why.




www.forbes.com


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