New Build For An Older Man

[T on Y]

I have a fair number of questions but don't know where to start...?

I'll put some context  here though . 

I am about to retire and fancy a newer Windows based PC  to make music with.

I will only be recording myself so my needs are modest compared to some.  And whilst it would be nice to have 13th gen i9  64 mb ram etc  my first question is what's going to suit my needs

But a little more specificity to my questions

What cpu should I start with 

 

Edited May 3, 2023 by T on Y

[abacab]

Start with the fastest CPU that you can afford, and build on that!

[Jack Stoner]

You don't need an i9.  Its way overkill.  I could have easily used an i5 or i7 CPU.  The i9 generates more heat to contend with and on mine there are cores that are never used.

Thus my suggestion is either an i5 or i7 12th or 13th gen CPU.

Memory is overkill too.   I have 16GB and rarely use over 8 GB.

SSD's for OS and programs and data.

Unless you are into gaming or high end graphics, the built in CPU graphics are all that's` required.

 

[mettelus]

I agree with Jack on this. If just using a DAW, i7 with 16GB will suffice. Those machines also have cheaper RAM upgrades if you get into bigger sample libraries (like $100 for 32GB). Even with the more CPU-intensive FX, an i7 is fine. That is more dependent on the system configuration and separating tracking from mixing (some FX will cause havoc during tracking).

[Jim Roseberry]

Hard to make good recommendations without more specifics about the types of projects the OP plans to do.

If it's larger scale Orchestral Composition (using the likes of Hollywood Strings, Orchestral Tools Ark series, Spitfire's BBC Symphony Orchestra, etc), an i9 CPU with 64GB RAM isn't overkill in any way.

If it's simple 24-track song-writing demos... with just a couple of small Virtual-Instruments, then the i9 and 64GB RAM are totally overkill.

[T on Y]

Thanks for all your  thoughts chaps

Historically the stuff ive written in the past would fall into the '24-track song-writing demos' category (20 ish VST instrument )  but in the last year Ive written a few 'Orchestral ' tracks (30  kontakt)  instruments all on a 6th Gen  I-7

I just want to have a better machine than I currently have.

So if my old system can deal with what Ive already done then a new one should be a great improvement

The question then becomes do I do What Jack did and buy the biggest CPU I can but rarely use it to full capacity ? ..... or

or go the I-7 route which will be less costly !!

[mettelus]

I have an i7-8700K, and the only things that will peg the CPU are benchmarking (obviously), video rendering, and encryption tools. With a dedicated graphics card, some of the CPU hit from VSTs with complex GUIs will be mitigated, but efficiency in workflow often matters more regardless of machine. Even with background processes running, it blips to 1% CPU usage from zero about every 10 seconds. What I have noticed much more is that applications do not release allocated memory properly. iObit's Advanced System Care has a performance widget that I leave running that will also clear RAM. I have had instances of running things then clearing nearly a GB of RAM after closing things out.

Practicality aside, many purchase choices come down to personal preference and disposable income.

Edited May 7, 2023 by mettelus

[T on Y]

I'm based in UK and looking for a reasonable site/company to build this for me  . . . . any suggestions

 

[msmcleod]

20 hours ago, T on Y said:

I'm based in UK and looking for a reasonable site/company to build this for me  . . . . any suggestions

 

I've heard Scan are pretty good - not that expensive (but obviously not as cheap as a home build), however they do build PC's specifically for DAWs:  https://www.scan.co.uk/3xs/custom/daw-digital-audio-workstation-pcs

I have used them in the past, but it was literally decades ago.  IIRC their customer support was excellent.

[JoeGBradford]

I chose between Scan and Chillblast - I went for Chillblast in the end as a) my old PC built by them had been rock solid apart from needing a replacement CPU fan and b) they have a much better guarantee than Scan. They did overcharge me a bit for an additional 2Tb M2 drive that I specced but other than that prices were similar. 

This was my spec
1 x Intel Core i7 12700 Alder Lake-S CPU

1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (2x 16GB) 3200MHz DDR4

1 x ASUS GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Dual Mini 8GB OC GPU

1 x Samsung 980 PRO 1TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe SSD

1 x Corsair RM850x 850W Modular 80+ Gold PSU

1 x Microsoft Windows 11 Home Advanced

1 x Chillblast On-site Warranty - 5 Years (3 Years Parts, Labour and Callout, 2 Years Labour only)

2 x Noctua NF-A14 PWM chromax.black.swap 140mm Case Fan in Black

1 x Noctua NF-S12A PWM chromax black swap 120mm Quiet Fan

1 x Noctua NH-D15S chromax.black Tower Air CPU Cooler

1 x Samsung 870 QVO 2TB 2.5" SATA III SSD

1 x Fractal Design Pop Air Mid Tower Case - Black

1 x ASUS Prime Z690-P WiFi D4 Intel Motherboard

1 x Choice DVD Writer Optical Drive

1 x Samsung 980 PRO 2TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe SSD

Seems to work pretty well with very low CPU hit but my projects are mostly pretty lightweight - though a few were struggling on my old i5 with 8Gb RAM

[T on Y]

So what is the better for music production 

 

i5-13500 Processor, 14 P Cores , 6 E Cores,  Pcore Base Frequency  2.5 GHz

i7-12700 Processor, 6 P Cores,  8 Ecores, PCore Base Frequency  2.1 Ghz

 

Its a moot point if purchasing from Chillblast as their music production PC only offers the i5

 

 

[Colin Nicholls]

> So what is better for music production

It depends but I think the priority is something like this:

1. CPU Speed
2. Number of Cores
3. SSD all the way
4. RAM

Oh, and wild card:
0. Motherboard supports hardware of your audio interface of choice (i.e.a free PCIe slot), and room in the case

Edited May 29, 2023 by Colin Nicholls

[AndyB01]

I have a Scan laptop (it's just a re-badged Clevo under the hood). I've had quite a few issues with it - overheating being the main one and random shutdowns for no good reason. It's an i7 7700 running 32Gb RAM with twin SSDs - about five years old.

Getting a new thermal pad fitted and a thorough professional clean has helped - but not eliminated - the random shutdowns and even after five years, I still have no idea what causes them. It was RTB after a few weeks and came back to me as 'no fault found'.

All in all, they seem to use decent components but mine also has a pretty noisy fan - I work almost exclusively on cans so not much of an issue in my case but would no doubt drive some others insane.

Their desktops may be better, personally I wouldn't use them again based on my experience both from a product and after sales point of view.

Andy

Edited May 31, 2023 by AndyB01