# New Hardware Purchase: Please comment/criticize the following specs:



## imagegod (Feb 26, 2020)

Hi all...I'm contemplating new hardware purchase:
Please comment/criticize the following ADK specs for max output for full
Spitfire/OT orchestra (with a touch of Omnisphere):

Quiet Case: ADK 4U EATX rackmount case - 15 x 3.5 internal drives25" deep.
Power Supply: 1200 Watts
Motherboard: ADK Core x299CX - Up to 256Gig ram,3x PCIe16x, 2x- PCIe1x,
3x NVMe/M2 (3x NVMe requires Core X CPU), 8x Sata 6Gb/s,
USB3.2 Gen 2, USB3.2 Gen 1, USB 2.0, Gigabit LAN
Processor: Intel Core i7-9800X 8-Core 3.8 GHz (Max Turbo 4.4 Ghz)
Memory: 128G 4x32G DDR4 3200
Operating System/Program Drive: Samsung 2TB 970 EVO NVMe M.2 Internal SSD
Project Drive: SAMSUNG 4TB 860 EVO Series SSD
Sample Libraries: 8TB HGST Hard Drive - ULTRASTAR ES, 3.5 inch, 256MB, 7200RPM
Thunderbolt 3.0 port and Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2.0 adapter

https://www.adkproaudio.com/adk-extreme-x2
Thanks!


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## wayne_rowley (Feb 27, 2020)

A couple of thoughts - and these are just my opinions so feel free to ignore. 

- If you are only going for an 8 core processor you could save a bit by going with the 9900K instead of the 9800X and the x299 motherboard.
- I think (though may be mistaken) that with x299 you need a discrete graphics card - I can't see one in your list
- I'd stick to all SSD for your drives, especially for sample drives.


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## imagegod (Feb 27, 2020)

Thanks for the reply!

As far as 'what I'm going for'...I have no idea. I'm looking for the best computer system for orchestral music under 20k. Perhaps I'll open another thread with that question.

Re: Cores: Can I assume from your reply that more is better? Would this also be true in a specifically Reaper environment?

Many thanks!


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## neve (Feb 28, 2020)

I'd also suggest using SSDs for your sample libraries (the 860evo is really good bang for the buck). In my experience, sample libraries work noticeably better on SSDs due to the faster read speeds. Project files also benefit from SSDs, but you can use HDs for recording/writing audio files since writing audio files does perfectly fine on anything over 7200rpm. In any case, SSD prices have fallen so much that in my opinion they're worth using for everything nowadays given their speed and reliability (as in the Samsung evos).

As for core count, in the benchmarks I've seen they don't help as much as single core performance. I suspect that once you go over 6-8 cores, money is better spent on thermals to keep single core performance at top speeds. Having said that, DAWs including Reaper seem to continue to optimise for more cores and the trend is likely to continue in the future given that CPU manufacturers are having a hard time optimising single core performance.


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## imagegod (Feb 28, 2020)

Got it...sounds good, I'll keep that in mind.

Thanks for the help, very much appreciated!


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## Sub3OneDay (Feb 28, 2020)

Echo the above comments- put your samples on SSD.
I use Samsung 860 EVO 1TB drives and have no (touch wood) problems.
I’m a bit old school when it comes to my project drive and have a WD Black 1TB drive - probably because when I built the system there was loads of chatter about resilience of SSD to multiple the read/write cycles you get when tracking audio sessions. That said, I’d probably go with SSD for this if I build again.


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## imagegod (Feb 28, 2020)

Thanks again...

Do you think it's a waste of time to purchase something with two processors (rather than a single fast, 10+ multi-core CPU)? Generally speaking anyway.

(Like for example: Intel Core i9-9900X 10-Core 3.5 GHz (Max Turbo 4.4 GHz) vs some two CPU monster?

Just asking for a friend...thanks!


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## neve (Feb 28, 2020)

imagegod said:


> Do you think it's a waste of time to purchase something with two processors (rather than a single fast, 10+ multi-core CPU)? Generally speaking anyway.
> 
> (Like for example: Intel Core i9-9900X 10-Core 3.5 GHz (Max Turbo 4.4 GHz) vs some two CPU monster?



It depends on the intended use. For work with sample libraries and plug-ins I'd go with 2 CPUs.
The i9-9900X has a fantastic multi-core performance, so it's a good choice if you're doing machine learning with audio. When it comes to single-core which is still more relevant for VIs, its performance is similar to other much cheaper CPUs: https://www.cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html

This is just my theoretical guess, but I think he'd be better off getting two i7-9700Ks (base clockspeed is 100hz higher than the i9) for example, and spending the $300 difference in RAM, and setting up one of the machines as a slave with VEP or Carla.


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## Technostica (Feb 28, 2020)

A 1,200w power supply is not needed.
Four to five hundred is easily enough for most DAW systems.
Look for something that is efficient and quiet I suggest.
I have an EVGA gold rated fully modular unit and it runs in fanless mode up to about 300w output which is much more than my system uses.


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## vitocorleone123 (Feb 29, 2020)

1200 may not be needed, but you want to hit the sweet spot of the power efficiency curve, and also have enough capacity that if you have one with a fan that the fan doesn’t generally come on. 600-800 watts is generally plenty. Higher end of the watts and quality of over clocking (or dual gpu gaming etc).


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## shomynik (Feb 29, 2020)

Core count matters, higher is better, but the same goes for speed as well. If you can afford going over 8 core, do it! Here you can see max Kontakt voice count for different CPUs. The leader is 14core Intel CPU and it's max voice count is double comparing to yours.





You can see other benchmarks here: http://www.scanproaudio.info/

Spitfire libs are pretty easy to drive, but OT are VERY demanding. If you are not planning on expanding to a master/slaves setup, I would definitely go for a system expandable to 256GB of RAM.

As your budget is pretty high, I would look closer to the recent offerings of both Intel and AMD. There is ongoing war between the two we can all benefit from.


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## Synetos (Mar 4, 2020)

shomynik said:


> Core count matters, higher is better, but the same goes for speed as well. If you can afford going over 8 core, do it! Here you can see max Kontakt voice count for different CPUs. The leader is 14core Intel CPU and it's max voice count is double comparing to yours.
> 
> You can see other benchmarks here: http://www.scanproaudio.info/
> 
> ...



Why not go with the 10980XE, or 10920X? They seem to top the list.


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## shomynik (Mar 5, 2020)

Synetos said:


> Why not go with the 10980XE, or 10920X? They seem to top the list.


Exactly, why? Good start for the research for sure if one goes for a DIY build, and in case of OP, a good question for his builders.


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