# March 2021 - PC/Main System Upgrade



## Crumbfort (Mar 19, 2021)

Hi all!

I'm looking to upgrade my main system and have (more than) a few questions. First, my current setup:


*Main System:*

Hackintosh (Mojave 10.14.6)
i7-4770k
32gb RAM

*PC Slave:*

Windows 10 Pro
i7-6700k
64gb RAM

*DAW:*

Reaper v6.25

*Audio Interface:*

RME UFX


I've grown fairly weary of hitting the limitations of my main system and have been doing quite a bit of research regarding possible upgrades. I have little to no desire to stay on Mac OS as there's nothing really keeping me here and I'm just fine with Windows in general.

The 5950x looks REALLY enticing but alas, seems fairly impossible to purchase at a non-scalper price at this time. I have various parts around that I can use (850w corsair PSU, old GTX 770 GPU, various Samsung SSDs, a few full tower cases) so I'm thinking I just need a new CPU/motherboard/RAM/OS drive combo.

What do you think I should do at this point? Try to tough it out a while longer with my current setup? Go a different route than I had (vaguely) planned?


Thanks so much for your time and help!


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## Pictus (Mar 19, 2021)

Build with a AMD 5800X, later you can buy a 5950X
The 5800X is wayyyyyyyyyyy faster than your i7-4770k





System Builder







pcpartpicker.com





- RAM, Crucial Ballistix DDR4-3600 is the clear choice.





128GB (4x32GB) vs. 64GB (2x32GB) DDR4 RAM on AMD Ryzen Performance Benchmarks Report | APH Networks


Recently, one of our readers, Nate1148, wrote to us on Reddit inquiring about the performance difference between four sticks of DDR4-3600 32GB modules and two on the AMD Ryzen platform after reading my Crucial Ballistix DDR4-3600 2x32GB review.




aphnetworks.com





- Motherboard, check if the Gigabyte B550 AORUS MASTER meets your requirements


Some of the USB ports are connected directly to the CPU, good for the audio interface. 






- CPU cooler, make sure it fits your case


- IF want a new case


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## Crumbfort (Mar 19, 2021)

Wow, thank you so much for the thorough and prompt reply! This seems like an excellent direction to go in (and it will save me endless hours of agonizing over the 5950x, hah!).

Thanks again! :emoji_beers:


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## Crumbfort (Mar 19, 2021)

Ah, yeah! As far as switching from Mac to PC goes:

Are they any system/OS/BIOS tweaks and/or optimizations that I'll need to take care of? What do you think I should use for an unobtrusive firewall program? (I've been using a Mac as my main rig since about 2009 )


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## Pictus (Mar 19, 2021)

You are welcome, check 





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...




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Clean Your System and Free Disk Space | BleachBit






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NSudo | System Administration Toolkit | NSudo


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## Crumbfort (Mar 19, 2021)

Wow, noice!! Thanks again, Pictus!


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## Virtuoso (Mar 19, 2021)

I just bought a 5950x yesterday after trying to get a retail one for 3 months. The scalper prices aren't _that_ bad really. There are 4 for sale on Craigslist locally ranging from $950 to $1000, which is only a slight premium on what I'd have to pay anyway ($799 +10% tax).

The premiums on RTX3900s are far worse - $1400 cards are going for $3500!!


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## Hendrixon (Mar 21, 2021)

Crumbfort said:


> Wow, noice!! Thanks again, Pictus!


Pictus is actually the #1 pc build help support bot since 2020


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## Pictus (Mar 22, 2021)

Hendrixon said:


> Pictus is actually the #1 pc build help support bot since 2020


Huahuahuahaua
Good is that I am not alone!


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## Hendrixon (Mar 22, 2021)

Pictus said:


> Huahuahuahaua
> Good is that I am not alone!


Buddy, the help you give ppl online, out of your own free will and time... and not just on this board but on others as well... is parallel to none.

You are good ppl


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## sonic (Apr 9, 2021)

Virtuoso said:


> I just bought a 5950x yesterday after trying to get a retail one for 3 months. The scalper prices aren't _that_ bad really. There are 4 for sale on Craigslist locally ranging from $950 to $1000, which is only a slight premium on what I'd have to pay anyway ($799 +10% tax).


Can you pls share the config and experience so far?


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## Virtuoso (Apr 9, 2021)

sonic said:


> Can you pls share the config and experience so far?







__





The Beast


This should be fun! It's taken months and a lot of hassle to source everything but here I go down the AMD rabbit hole... :grin: AMD 5950x 16 core 128GB 3600 RAM 3x 2TB Gen 4 Sabrent Rocket NVMe 4.0 SSDs Gigabyte Aorus Master X570 Noctua NH-D15S CPU cooler RTX 3090 FE Corsair RM850x (couldn't...




vi-control.net


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## mscp (Apr 9, 2021)

Pictus said:


> Build with a AMD 5800X, later you can buy a 5950X
> The 5800X is wayyyyyyyyyyy faster than your i7-4770k
> 
> 
> ...



This looks nice. Does Pro Tools fare well with AMDs?


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## Pictus (Apr 9, 2021)

Phil81 said:


> This looks nice. Does Pro Tools fare well with AMDs?


Sorry, I have no idea.


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## Crumbfort (Nov 25, 2021)

So, I'm contemplating upgrading from my 5800x to a 5950x.

The question is: is the performance boost for music work worth roughly $750?


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