what to get in a new computer

[Karmamechanic]

Have to get a new DAW computer. Lifetime Cakewalk/Sonar/Bandlab user.  Desktop. Any recommendations on CPU? The vendor I'm looking at offers i9-11900K (8 cores) or an upgrade to a i9-10980XE (18 cores but lower ghz). The extra expense is no problem. I tried to upgrade computers a few months ago, but the new one choked on the same projects the old computer could play smoothly in spite of every effort, and every setting change, by me and the vendor to get it to not choke. Here's that thread if you're interested...

My best guess at this point is that my project had a lot of plugins on one track, Cakewalk was running all those on one core, and since the new laptop had lower Ghz per core than the old, it choked even though it had more cores. Or that Cakewalk couldn't use the 12th gen CPUs correctly. So now that I'm trying again, I wonder if I should go with the CPU that's faster per core, or the one with way more cores. The extra expense is no problem, I just don't want another brand new wonder machine that can't play what my dirty old obsolete one can, or that can't play what a cheaper one could. I finally have the means to afford something good, so I understandably want to know which machine will just run my stuff. Any recs on these two processors and whether Cakewalk can use them? Or another CPU? Thanks!

[Michael Vogel]

Welcome to the forum. 
If you are going to buy then assemble your own components, I recommend getting in touch with Jim Roseberry (Purrfect Audio) who’s a forum member and long time Cakewalk user. His company builds computers specialising in DAWs. 
I’ve built several DAWs over the decades, starting with a 30 min consultation resulting in a component list, linked to suppliers. Jim is constantly testing the latest components and as a musician he’s well placed to build a DAW or recommend components for you. 
Just use the forum’s Direct Messaging service to search for and message him. 
Jim’s a great resource and many Sonar/Cakewalk users have used his services. His consulting is modestly priced and full built bespoke DAWs are very competitively priced also. 
Hope that’s of help. 

[Will.]

20 hours ago, Karmamechanic said:

The vendor I'm looking at offers i9-11900K (8 cores) or an upgrade to a i9-10980XE (18 cores but lower ghz). The extra expense is no problem. 

I believe you have answered your own question. Dont just think "DAW." You have to consider the plugins you'll be using too. Vst and Vsti such as iZotope and Omnisphere requires a powerful system. 

[Karmamechanic]

2 hours ago, Will. said:

... requires a powerful system. 

Yes. The problem I ran into several months ago is that the virgin, perfectly configured, powerful system did not run the projects as well as the junked-up, obsolete computer I was using, and am still using since I returned the new one that would not run my projects. So now I am wondering if power is really all there is to it, or if the system has to be catered to the way Cakewalk uses the power. If spending $1000 more on a system that has better specs will result in worse performance, then I would like to know that up front, understand why it has worse performance, and instead get a system that performs better.

[Karmamechanic]

17 hours ago, Michael Vogel (MUDGEL) said:

...I recommend getting in touch with Jim Roseberry (Purrfect Audio)...

I'll check that out. Thanks.

[Max Arwood]

I would also recommend Jim. He is the best audio computer guy around!!

 

[hockeyjx]

I've noticed historically that the processor is the last thing to worry about if you are fairly current. The bottlenecks, for me, were always memory(now I have 64GB) and drive speed(spindle, then sata), I now have multiple NVMe drives. YMMV.