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Advice on a new PC for Cubase/film work. i7, i9, AMD, Xeon...

A

alfred tapscott

Member
Hi all!. I came to look for a bit of advice, a bit lost on what's out and what works well now for Cubase / VEP setup for filmscoring.

I've been jumping around the forums, so I would not repeat a lot of answered things, and still have some clear doubts.

I have an i7 5820k around 3 years old with 2400 64gb of RAM and some SSDs on my RME card. It's been doing ok, but must say I get spikes and weird things every once in a while, I'm sure was not installed in the most efficient way for audio, but my years of a computer geek went past some years ago. I built it myself and it's been doing ok. I've been using my 32gb or an older i7 as a slave to put some of the vienna stuff, even though I end up usually running on my main machine.

I'm thinking of getting a new machine as my main machine, and using this one as a VEP slave with 128gb of ram, and switching my 64gb of ram to the new machine.

So...I don't want to spend a fortune, but I want something that will work clearly better and more reliable than what I have. Around 2-3k$ I believe.

Chip...was going to go with a top i7...I feel i9 7900 is a bit too expensive, around 600$ seems enough for something not overpriced at the moment. I'm seeing the AMD Ryzens perform really well on tests. Anybody suggesting them? Pros/cons?
Threadripper 1950X at 619€ right now ona blackfriday salen and seems to perform similar to i9 7900x. I know about the xeon/i9 battle, but I don't feel like spending the difference if it's not that clear that everything will be so much better.

Mobo...a bit lost here. anything with 128gb support and some m.2s would be fine for me. good value/price suggestions? (I know delends if I get AMD or Intel)

Graphics card I would put my geforce GT740 that gives me my 4 screens.

RAM, I'd get the cheapest 128gb kit I could, maybe 2666. My idea, even though might be unpopular, would be to put these on my old machine, that supports up to 3333mhz, and put my "old" 2400mhz 64gb on the new machine (I believe the speed difference would not make a huge impact??). Would anybody advice to put 4 older dimms and 4 newer dimms on my slave and put the other 64gb of new ram on the new machine better?.

I would get an m.2 for the system, and some ssds for libraries. Whatever cooler is ok for it, and that's it.

Win 10 home or pro? any real differences?. My idea is to get everything and have somebody build it and fine tune the installation so it's efficient, if I can find somebody in Barcelona.

I know I threw in a lot of info, will be great if anybody wants to jump in and throw some advice or experiences :)

Thanks again!
Click to read more...
 
Last edited:
Might also be worth checking out this page for a bit of dawbench results.
https://www.scanproaudio.info/tag/dawbench/

Dawbench-Vi-Test-Chart.jpg
 
Pictus said:
Setting all cores to the same speed may help a bit with your current system.
A clean system installation with updated drivers/bios may also help...
Click to expand...

This is good advice. If you aren't really having performance issues, you might be wasting money on a new build, you'll always get weird spikes in Cubase. Have you tried hosting VI's inside VEPro (on the single machine)?
 
Wolfie2112 said:
This is good advice. If you aren't really having performance issues, you might be wasting money on a new build, you'll always get weird spikes in Cubase. Have you tried hosting VI's inside VEPro (on the single machine)?
Click to expand...
Yes, as I said, I use VEP also on my main machine, but am also retaining myself a bit to not load tons of stuff to avoid problems. I'd like to have a machine that allows me to work fast and put much more stuff without worrying too much.
 
alfred tapscott said:
Thanks very much to all of you!.

So, why are you recommending 1151socket chips instead of 2011 chips, if they don't allow me to have 128gb of ram and the 2011s do? @Sami , @Pictus , @oivind_rosvold
Click to expand...
The current 1151 chips have support for 128gb of ram (z390 chipset). You just need the new double capacity (double height) RAM modules. Socket 2011 and the chipset were never my favourite to be honest. Intel has a propensity for screwing up the HEDT platforms in a strange kind of "two steps forward one step back" way. The 8700k was already the CPU I recommended to everyone but now the 9900k has taken that place. I still recommend a custom delid and overclocking (the chip cannot be trivially delided like it's predecessors) to maximise the benefits and you need to look into proper cooling (NH-D15 or a >280mm rad or custom) and power delivery (i.e. a solid board and a good PSU).
 
Pictus said:
You are welcome, for 128GB go for the socket 2066, but wait a bit and get the new Intel Basin Falls Skylake-X Refresh
https://www.anandtech.com/print/13539/the-intel-core-i9-9980xe-review
Click to expand...
Do you have a specific reason for recommending the basin falls chips? It's really easy to get hold of a skylake x pre-refresh CPU and delid it for pretty much the same performance and much better performance per watt from what I read so far. I usually recommend the 7900x to most people and have built 4 systems with it already, from my (obviously anecdotal) experience, it's very easy to run it at 45 all core sync under liquid metal with an air cooler and retail pricing has come down a bit, certainly more attractive than the basin falls ones.
Cheers, S.
 
Sami said:
Do you have a specific reason for recommending the basin falls chips? It's really easy to get hold of a skylake x pre-refresh CPU and delid it for pretty much the same performance and much better performance per watt from what I read so far. I usually recommend the 7900x to most people and have built 4 systems with it already, from my (obviously anecdotal) experience, it's very easy to run it at 45 all core sync under liquid metal with an air cooler and retail pricing has come down a bit, certainly more attractive than the basin falls ones.
Cheers, S.
Click to expand...
Because does not need to delid...

Btw, something is odd, they are only using the new RAM with motherboards with 2 slots...
https://www.anandtech.com/print/13579/in-the-lab-double-capacity-2x32gb-ddr4-from-gskill-and-zadak
 
Does anyone know when the new i9 X series processors will actually ship from Intel? I can’t fjnd information anywhere and two Intel reps also told me they don’t know (found that surprising).

I’ve been looking at the i9 9920x.
 
ok, thanks very much!

but still, I don't see cheap 32gb ram dimms, so it'll be pretty expensive to get 128gb on these 1151 machines, but if you think they are really so much better I'd go with 64gigs of ram for the moment, I believe.
 
I apologize if this has been discussed at any great length, but I don't see many people around here talking about AMD chips very seriously. I've been pretty married to building an i9 system, but my tech guy suggested I check out the AMD Ryzen Threadrippers. They are literally half the price with about the same specs.
 
Breitenbach said:
I apologize if this has been discussed at any great length, but I don't see many people around here talking about AMD chips very seriously. I've been pretty married to building an i9 system, but my tech guy suggested I check out the AMD Ryzen Threadrippers. They are literally half the price with about the same specs.
Click to expand...

Check:
https://techreport.com/review/34214/amd-ryzen-threadripper-2920x-cpu-reviewed/7
https://www.scanproaudio.info/2018/...bench-just-a-little-bit-of-history-repeating/
 
Ok, so I guess I'll return my 1950x threadripper I got for a good deal, and go for a 9900k. Just worried to get now 64gb of ram and to have to get rid of them by when 128 are affordable, since it's only got 4 slots. Any advice on what motherboard?. And what ram and cooler would you get?? Thanks very much!!
 
Sami said:
Buy a 9900k with 128gb of ram (it’s coming). Forget the rest.
Click to expand...

Do you prefer the 9900k over something like the 7960x mainly because of the price? It seems like the 7960x outperforms the 9900k.

I'm wondering if I should bite the bullet and go for the 7960x to just have a beast machine.
 
alfred tapscott said:
Ok, so I guess I'll return my 1950x threadripper I got for a good deal, and go for a 9900k. Just worried to get now 64gb of ram and to have to get rid of them by when 128 are affordable, since it's only got 4 slots. Any advice on what motherboard?. And what ram and cooler would you get?? Thanks very much!!
Click to expand...

-The minimum cooler is Noctua NH-D15 https://pcpartpicker.com/product/4vzv6h/noctua-cpu-cooler-nhd15

-For RAM can go with this https://pcpartpicker.com/product/bXbkcf/gskill-memory-f42666c15q64gvr

-For motherboard if you need Thunderbolt:
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/yc...ignare-atx-lga1151-motherboard-z390-designare
If do not need, have 3 to choose: (Can add Thunderbolt card later)
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/fy...ter-atx-lga1151-motherboard-z390-aorus-master
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/n6...ltra-atx-lga1151-motherboard-z390-aorus-ultra
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/MV...us-pro-atx-lga1151-motherboard-z390-aorus-pro


WARNING!
For audio works you do not want a motherboard with PLX chip(higher latency).
You do not want the ASUS WS Z390 Pro and SuperMicro C9Z390-PGW.

BTW, he forgot to mention the Gigabyte Z390 DESIGNARE with build-in Thunderbolt
ports and the VRM +- the same as the Gigabyte Ultra/Pro/Elite.
 
Pictus said:
-The minimum cooler is Noctua NH-D15 https://pcpartpicker.com/product/4vzv6h/noctua-cpu-cooler-nhd15

-For RAM can go with this https://pcpartpicker.com/product/bXbkcf/gskill-memory-f42666c15q64gvr

-For motherboard if you need Thunderbolt:
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/yc...ignare-atx-lga1151-motherboard-z390-designare
If do not need, have 3 to choose: (Can add Thunderbolt card later)
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/fy...ter-atx-lga1151-motherboard-z390-aorus-master
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/n6...ltra-atx-lga1151-motherboard-z390-aorus-ultra
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/MV...us-pro-atx-lga1151-motherboard-z390-aorus-pro


WARNING!
For audio works you do not want a motherboard with PLX chip(higher latency).
You do not want the ASUS WS Z390 Pro and SuperMicro C9Z390-PGW.

BTW, he forgot to mention the Gigabyte Z390 DESIGNARE with build-in Thunderbolt
ports and the VRM +- the same as the Gigabyte Ultra/Pro/Elite.
Click to expand...


Wow! Thanks very much @Pictus !!. That was really useful. I am just a bit hesitant cause this would be a not super expensive build that seems pretty powerful, just so bad that I only get 4 slots for ram. I guess I can still use my i7 5820k with 8x8GB of ram as a VEP server, and 4x16 on this new machine will be fine till 4x32 become reeally cheap.
I guess it makes sense, since a similar performing machine on the 2066 architecture that allows 8 dimms of ram would be maybe a 7920 or 940, which are double the price, plus a more expensive board, etc.... Makes sense?

And by the way, the noctua you are talking about, is it not too noisy?. Would a liquid system be better in that case?.

Thanks again for your great help.
 
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