# CPU recommendations



## kavinsky (Dec 4, 2018)

Hi.
I'm getting bottlenecked and I feel my Cubase performance is getting worse day by day.
Right now I'm on a 2 years old i7 and I'd really use A LOT more headroom

In the market for a new CPU at the moment.
Not ready to spend $2k on i9 7900X series just yet.
Something around $1k is preferable. What are the best options within this price range at the moment? 
Appreciate any suggestions

Thanks!


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## Andrew Aversa (Dec 4, 2018)

What is your current CPU? Or better yet, your current computer specs including RAM, hard drive(s), OS etc?


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## Damarus (Dec 4, 2018)

Full specs and setup would be a very helpful start.

is this 1k budget just for a new CPU combo?


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## kavinsky (Dec 6, 2018)

zircon_st said:


> What is your current CPU? Or better yet, your current computer specs including RAM, hard drive(s), OS etc?


CPU - i7 6700
RAM - 48Gb
400Gb SSD as a system drive and 3 standard 7200rpm HHDs (4,3,2 Tb respectively)
Windows 10 x64



Damarus said:


> Full specs and setup would be a very helpful start.
> 
> is this 1k budget just for a new CPU combo?



Whatever is best. Preferably something solid and on a budget side of things if possible.


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## Sami (Dec 6, 2018)

8700k or 9900k


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## AdamAlake (Dec 6, 2018)

Wait for Zen2 Ryzens.


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## Damarus (Dec 6, 2018)

kavinsky said:


> CPU - i7 6700
> RAM - 48Gb
> 400Gb SSD as a system drive and 3 standard 7200rpm HHDs (4,3,2 Tb respectively)
> Windows 10 x64
> ...



What motherboard?

That's a very capable CPU... what's running on your HDD's? That might be your bottleneck.


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## kavinsky (Dec 6, 2018)

Damarus said:


> What motherboard?
> 
> That's a very capable CPU... what's running on your HDD's? That might be your bottleneck.


Asus B150 Plus

not much, even very simple mixing projects are struggling ever since I installed 9.5, I'm not running those crazy 1000 tracks orchestral templates
Just lots of different plugins. Sometimes not so many and its still causing problems.


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## jamwerks (Dec 6, 2018)

Your HD's are probably slowing you down. You might consider moving everything to SSD's.


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## Damarus (Dec 6, 2018)

kavinsky said:


> Asus B150 Plus
> 
> not much, even very simple mixing projects are struggling ever since I installed 9.5, I'm not running those crazy 1000 tracks orchestral templates
> Just lots of different plugins. Sometimes not so many and its still causing problems.



Yeah, that CPU should do just fine, it's still good. Your drives are definitely going to be a bottleneck in some way. I would try to consolidate to 1 boot SSD and 1 sample SSD if you can. Less is more.

Also, how is your RAM configured?


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## kavinsky (Dec 6, 2018)

Damarus said:


> Yeah, that CPU should do just fine, it's still good. Your drives are definitely going to be a bottleneck in some way. I would try to consolidate to 1 boot SSD and 1 sample SSD if you can. Less is more.
> 
> Also, how is your RAM configured?


the HDDs are not even being used in the project though. 
Just WAV stems running off of SSD and a fairly high amount of plugins and the project is choking. In my "serious" projects I can't use Cubase without ASIO guard.
RAM is 3x16gb.
I was planning to get another 16gb one but never actually needed that much so forgot about it completely


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## Damarus (Dec 6, 2018)

kavinsky said:


> the HDDs are not even being used in the project though.
> Just WAV stems running off of SSD and a fairly high amount of plugins and the project is choking. In my "serious" projects I can't use Cubase without ASIO guard.
> RAM is 3x16gb.
> I was planning to get another 16gb one but never actually needed that much so forgot about it completely



Could just be a software issue, might just have to reinstall Cubase.

Heres an odd test you can try. Shutdown the PC. Take out one of your RAM sticks (it's a dual channel board so leave slots A2 and B2 populated per the manufacturer)
And disconnect the HDD's to see if they are causing any weird issues (if you don't need them for Cubase). Boot up, and load your projects.

Might not change anything, but removes the idea that the HDDs or RAM configuration is the bottleneck


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## JohnG (Dec 6, 2018)

what buffer are you using?

It is certainly true in my experience that lots of reverbs and delays are usually a CPU issue. Also, mastering plugins can gobble it.

If it's for mixing, you could set the buffer to a large number and it won't be a problem.


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## kavinsky (Dec 6, 2018)

JohnG said:


> what buffer are you using?
> 
> It is certainly true in my experience that lots of reverbs and delays are usually a CPU issue. Also, mastering plugins can gobble it.
> 
> If it's for mixing, you could set the buffer to a large number and it won't be a problem.



its always maxed out which is 2048 with RME Fireface ASIO
I have an idea which plugin or cubase feature could be the cause, but I can't live without them, I'm still planning to upgrade in the near future


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## JohnG (Dec 6, 2018)

kavinsky said:


> I have an idea which plugin or cubase feature could be the cause



Good luck with it. I don't think it's certain the CPU change is going to fix everything, but I guess it can't hurt.

Any chance there is some other setting? Something in Cubase? Real-time plugin rendering or some junk like that? I agree with others who are puzzled, since your computer is pretty powerful already. 

Clearly the buffer is enormous, which should allow your existing CPU to sail through. Could it be something in the BIOS? Some "helpful" power management setting there?


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