DAW Processor options

[Marc Cormier]

Motherboard is deceased in my i7-4790 system.  I have used Dell Precision builds successfully for years and am looking at similar machines that have the following CPUs:

• Dell Precision 3630 i7-8700 3.20GHz
• Dell Precision 3620 i7-7700K 4.2GHz
• Dell XPS 8940 i7-11700 2.50GHz

I use Kontakt, SD3, Neural DSP plugins a lot.  Freeze most tracks if there are glitches. 

Overclocking on the 8700 gets within 8700K territory for speed but the 7700K is no slouch, either.  Obviously, the 11700 is much newer technology but all systems are within $200 of one another including 32Gb RAM.  Not planning on upgrading to W11 unless there are obvious advantages.  Is there an obvious choice in terms of latency and processing efficiency? Hard to tell using UserBenchmark.com....

Edited February 20, 2022 by Marc Cormier

[Jack Stoner]

I forgot the exact date but in 2 or 3 years  Microsoft will stop supporting Win 10 and all software vendors are now or will focus solely on Win 11.

From posts on this forum, Win 11 is a non issue for DAW operations.  Win 11 is basically "Win 10 2.0".  

I do support on the Dell forums and I would not recommend the XPS8940 or the newer XPS8950 for DAW work.  Too many reported heat problems with the 8940 and unless you go with optional liquid cooling on the 8950 there can be heat problems on it too.  Latency issues on both too unless you go with the model that uses the Intel  CPU video and not an added video card (just went through this with a user that bought an 8950 for DAW work, he had to remove the NVIDIA video card and use Intel CPU video to eliminate Latency problems).

7th gen Intel CPU's are not (officially) supported for Win 11 so that only leaves the 8700 of the ones you posted (and its not a "new" CPU).

   

[Michael Richards]

I just bought a Dell 8950 with a i7 12700K CPU, NVIDIA 3600ti, 32gb ram and liquid cooling. I have an RME UCXii running Cakewalk at 48kHz. I getting somewhere around 4.5ms. I’m still loading up the new machine (what a pain) but have it running about 10 hours each for the past two days with no signs of any heat issues. I have been testing loading up BFD3, Spitfire Solo Strings, Sampletron2 and 5 or 6 Cakewalk vst programs. So far, so problems and no signs of running the latency too low.

Once all the software is loaded I will bring up some of my older songs. On my older Win 7 computer, which has lasted since 2008, I used an Edirol FA-101 FireWire interface. My round trip latency was 19.9ms, with the RME it was 6.6. I’ll see if I can load Cakewalk with many vst programs and effects and see what happens. One of the things that would bring my old computer to its knees was playing trills in any vst program. It could actually crash Cakewalk. I would love to get this machine under 4ms. Maybe wishful thinking for a USB2 interface. One thing for sure is that it has been rock solid, and expensive.

[Marc Cormier]

Thanks, Jack and Michael. 

Duly noted re: older CPUs, Jack - the 8700 would still be a significant upgrade from what I have now so it's still a consideration.  Are the heat issues you've seen in the XPS machines a result of the CPU or is it a design issue for the model itself?

Jack, interested to hear what you find as you bring up your old projects.  Would you mind sharing what liquid cooling unit you went with?

[Jack Stoner]

The heat issues in most XPS 8940's are due to the small Dell OEM CPU cooler.  Some have also added extra case fans, but space for added case fans is limited and no added fan connections on the motherboard so power has to be piggybacked from some other connection.   Dell fan connections are not ATX standard, which can be an issue on add on fans and special adapters are needed.   

I went with a Corsair liquid cooler on my home built system.  The "hot" 95 watt  i9 9900K idles in upper 30's and I've never seen it go above low 50's under heavy load.   I only have the smaller H80i cooler as I didn't have room for a larger radiator/fan model (which would have been better).