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Concerning CPU usage with Hollywood Strings (Diamond)

Thorgod10

Thorgod10

String Library Junkie
I'm not looking to build any monster templates, so when people post on the EW forum that even a 3.6 GHz i7 quad core can't run hollywood strings, and that 64gb of ram isn't enough, I tend to become skeptical.

If I'm just wanting to use HS Diamond economically with good management,
wouldn't a i5 4690K (Quad Core 3.6 GHz) with a 850 EVO SDD be more than serviceable?

What actual limitations would I run into with these specs?

(Asked in the EQ forum twice, waited a while, post never got approved in the hardware section)
Click to read more...
 
It depends on what patches (and how many) you wanting to load up, but it sounds like you will have a modest setup. I would personally avoid an i5 these days, just spend the extra and get an i7 and you'll be good to go for a long time.

Regarding Ram, it again depends on the size of your projects. A lot of users load the patches directly into Ram, which is why some say you can't get by with a certain amount. If you are just streaming (like I do), you can get away with far less Ram. I use HS Gold, and I can get some fairly large templates loaded up (along with other third party VI's) and I'm around 20GB (about 125 tracks). If I loaded that all directly into Ram though, that's a different story, but I never understood the point in doing this. For HS Diamond, I would for sure go with 32GB to start, that is a decent amount.
 
Second wolfie's comment, just grab an i7. If you can grab 6core or higher you'll get longer life out of the system. You could get away with a quadcore; however, you may find that you are not giving yourself room to grow in the future. Cost wise, I would bite that bullet anyday.

There are places where you can save on money and there are those you cant. Cpus are not a place to get cheap, in my opinion.

In the end, RAM amount really comes down to what all are you running on it? Is it only HWO Strings? If so, how many mic positions? How many acrticulations are you actually going to be using? How many can be loaded later? Is your template set up to accommodate this in a quick and efficient manner? Do you want the newest architecture or are you comfortable with ddr3 ram?
 
Wolfie2112 said:
just spend the extra and get an i7 and you'll be good to go for a long time
Click to expand...

Definitely. I would never buy an i5 or i3 to run virtual instruments and definitely not for HS. @chimuelo has built some kind of monster i5 machines -- I would be surprised though if he's using them for HS.

My philosophy is that my time is fleeting, and I would 10x rather have too much computer capacity than be stopped in the middle of something to start unloading patches to make more room, or if I add an extra mic position, I don't want that to bring down the house.

Compared with time, technology is very inexpensive.
 
Definitely go with a 6-core i7. My 5820k runs HS just fine. 64 gigs of ram is also very highly recommended, especially once you load up those microphone positions (which you will, believe me). Let's face it, HS is very good (still the string library to beat imho) but it's a monster of a hog and not the best example of efficiency. The whole Hollywood library together sounds awesome, but it comes at a steep price (not the library itself but the PC you have to built for it).

Protip: either build a disabled tracks template, or a modular one (I have one in Studio One where I can just import tracks from other projects via the browser without any additional loading times, love it). I just shove into my project what I need. With those above specs, and a healthy amount of SSD space, I have never run into a project my PC couldn't handle. This is running the Hollywood Diamond series together with the NI Symphonic Series together with Drums of the Deep and a steep amount of Omnisphere instances. Couple that with some reverbs, delays, Guitar Rigs, multiband compressors, hardware emulations and other stuff, and you'll be glad you have saved up the moolah for this.

These are real life examples. You don't want technical issues to get in the way of your creativity.

Don't go cheap on this. You'll regret it longer down the line.
 
Thorgod10 said:
I'm not looking to build any monster templates, so when people post on the EW forum that even a 3.6 GHz i7 quad core can't run hollywood strings, and that 64gb of ram isn't enough, I tend to become skeptical.
Click to expand...

Like everyone else in this thread, I would suggest an that an i7 of some is the bare minimum for HS. I would also note that I run a full orchestral template-- using the HS "powerful system" patches-- off a mid-tier SSD with only 32GB of RAM (on a slave). If someone is claiming that you need more than 64GB to run it *at all*, I would also be skeptical.

Having said that, I *could* use almost as much RAM as I could get my hands on running these samples. Its a matter of tweaking your settings and finding what works for you.
 
Actually a live performance rig using an i3-8350k.
8000 series CPUs using i3 and i5 monikers are no longer slower parts.
I only needed a Quad and the 8350k is faster than i7-4790k.

The i5 8400 is pretty damn powerful too and 6 Cores.
But most guys here would be better off getting i7 8700k.
It will allow lots of orchestral and synths together.

The i3-8350k is impressive though if you want a Quad.
Using the same Cores as 7000 series CPUs (which are also 8000 series Chips) it’s a powerful fast cheap CPU.
The only quads that are close in performance are the 4.1GHz Xeon E3 1285 v6.
And the i7-4790k. They cost 60% more and are 10-15% slower.
 
chimuelo said:
Actually a live performance rig using an i3-8350k.
8000 series CPUs using i3 and i5 monikers are no longer slower parts.
I only needed a Quad and the 8350k is faster than i7-4790k.

The i5 8400 is pretty damn powerful too and 6 Cores.
But most guys here would be better off getting i7 8700k.
It will allow lots of orchestral and synths together.

The i3-8350k is impressive though if you want a Quad.
Using the same Cores as 7000 series CPUs (which are also 8000 series Chips) it’s a powerful fast cheap CPU.
The only quads that are close in performance are the 4.1GHz Xeon E3 1285 v6.
And the i7-4790k. They cost 60% more and are 10-15% slower.
Click to expand...

hi @chimuelo

I was hoping you'd make a post like this. Can you say whether the i5 and i3 computer setups you're using are best for "lots of notes but not super-demanding (like HS)" or not?

My impression is that you need a very fast cpu -- in other words, a recent i7 -- for:

1. Lots of reverbs, delays and other SFX;

2. Lots of Omnisphere (because the patches often have a lot of reverbs, delays, chorus etc. going on);

3. Quite demanding string patches, like Spitfire's Performance Legato (esp. if you use multiple mics), or Hollywood Strings.

Can you steer us all regarding those questions?

Put differently, when do you think an i7 is a good choice?

Thanks,

John
 
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