New computer - 4 core 3.2 GHZ or 6 core 3 GHZ?

In the market for a new computer.  Would like advice on whether to spend $ on 4 core 3.2 GHZ or 6 core 3 GHZ?

RB (regular at Sonar X1 and 8.5 forums- first time here)

tomixornot


i7 2600k.

4 cores, multi thread, X1 shows it as 8 threads.

HI, thanks for the response, Tom.

A computer guy is putting my new machine together for me, but he's not a music guy.  So I'm needing to weigh his advice with that from my Sonar community.

Please speak to me as someone who doesn't get all the computer lingo - To show how naive I am, I thought all computers could support "multi-thread."-- Could you perhaps explain in layman's terms everything you just replied with?

Randy B.

Hey Randy,
    ADK's website has some really great benchmarks.  The new Sandy Bridge processor ( I7 2600) is benchmarking pretty close to the 6 core 980 processor.  On top of that it is much cheaper. 

    I believe with the motherboard you need for the Sandy Bridge there is a lower RAM limit (12 or 16 gigs I believe?).  Since I know you use alot of soft synths this might be something to confirm and look into before making the decision.  Other than that I have read great things about the Sandy Bridge..which is 4 core.
 
EDIT to add link
Benchmarks from ADK website
http://www.adkproaudio.com/benchmarks.cfm
 
(Thanks Scott for the benchmarks)

Randy,

The AMD 6 cores at 3 GHZ, I suppose it's a AMD Phenom II 1090T (the current top AMD).. Initially I wanted to build a system using this processor, but after checking the forum here and reading some benchmark report, the Sandy Bridge (which is i7 2600k current top) is the way to go - better performance.


EDIT : Correction..current top AMD is Phenom II 1100T.

jcschild


the 2600 sandy will drastically outperform the AMD for just a little more.
if you have to save money then get the 2500 sandy
NO AMD
if you checked my benchmarks page you would see what i mean..

the 2500K is what I went with and I am extremely pleased with it.  I saved some money over the 2600 for now, but my motherboard supports it so I can always upgrade later, too.  but my 4 cores are happily humming along at 3.3GHz+

Rubbish!! Z68 boards take 32Gb (or would if you could find 8Gb slabs of RAM)

 
Current P67a mobos support 32GB of RAM.
BUT... you can't currently buy 8GB sticks... so you are (for the time being) limited to 16GB.
When 8GB sticks are first released... they'll be expensive.  

Thanks to all, Mike, Jim, Twig, Beagle, Scott, and Tomixornot for your valuable input.  I've passed the info on to the guy building my 'puter, including the benchmark test results at ADK - thanks for that, Scott.

Getting a new computer is pushing the envelope big time here, budget is so tight it really doesn't exist - I'm just going to have to squeeze the expenditure into the household budget somehow.  So I can't go totally whole hog - just need to get the best I can on a budget.  As swell as the i7-2600k is, it's twice as much as the AMD Phenom II-1075 we've been considering.   - I'll look forward to upgrades in the future.

Still not sure what I'm doing, but your help is much appreciated.

Randy B.

with my upcoming PC build, I started with Core i5 2400, then went to 2500... But then the best value for me seemed to go to the Core i5 2500K which has better overclocking ablilities. If I had the $$$ I would go for the Core i7 2600K.... but I don't. :)

jbow

A computer guy is putting my new machine together for me, but he's not a music guy.

 
Randy, take nothing for granted, even what your computer guy says because if he isn't a "music guy" he is probably a "gaming guy" and what makes a killer gaming computer does not necessarily make a great DAW. 
I have seen it firsthand with someone who works with computers all the time, but he is a gamer. He even works for Google nw but he know's squat about building a DAW but... he does not know that he does not know what would make a great music computer.
 
This is just my opinion and I reserve the right to be wrong..
 
Julien
 
 

Good advice, Julien - Thanks for it!

RB

Gaming computer vs DAW computer... Isn't the only difference that a gaming computer has a $200+ graphics card (Nvidia/ATI) installed?

 
RR, I don't know. My point is just that... I don't know and I have seen computer guys who didn't know. I do know I would run everything by someone who knows music computers. I wouldn't assume anything because something I might think would make no difference may just make a whole lot of difference. I've read a little bit about mobos etc and I learned enough to know that I don't know enough to choose the right one especially considering how fast things are changing. For instance USB 3.0, I would absolutely want a mobo that was capable of adding it if it did not have it.
There is just too much I don't know and I (personally) wouldn not be comfortable with someone who doesn't know music computers building me one unless I ran all the specs by someone who knows DAWs like some at gearsluts or someone like Jim R... I could be wrong, but it is just what I would do. There may be no difference other than the video card.. but if I wasn't sure, i'd find out.
Maybe someone will chime in who knows, maybe you know and were saying so in a polite way.
 
It just seems like when it comes to running something like Sonar and a controller with a bunch of tracks and plugins.. if the computer has any conflicts it just makes everything crazy and hard to figure out. I have hit too many walls and bottlenecks trying to do computer recording, laff.
 
Julien

RRabbi

jbow

A computer guy is putting my new machine together for me, but he's not a music guy.

Randy, take nothing for granted, even what your computer guy says because if he isn't a "music guy" he is probably a "gaming guy" and what makes a killer gaming computer does not necessarily make a great DAW. 
I have seen it firsthand with someone who works with computers all the time, but he is a gamer. He even works for Google nw but he know's squat about building a DAW but... he does not know that he does not know what would make a great music computer.

This is just my opinion and I reserve the right to be wrong..

Julien

Gaming computer vs DAW computer...  Isn't the only difference that a gaming computer has a $200+ graphics card (Nvidia/ATI) installed?  Seems like a nice vid card is all that separates a good gaming PC from everything else. I'm building my PC for both, but I'll have two separate hard drives, each with their own instance of Win 7 Pro 64bit to dual boot.

It seems to me, the DAW PC benefits the most from how it's tweaked and configured for audio, not necessarily the hardware inside. (aside from making sure you have a TI firewire chipset PCI or PCIe card if you want to use firewire interfaces, having separate HD's for audio, o/s, samples, etc.) Am I wrong? Cuz if there's something I'm doing with my PC build that somehow is going to make it not so great as a DAW I'd want to know... :)

well, and with that $200+ graphics card you have to have a much more powerful power supply which is also a lot of extra $ you don't have to use if you're not using that big graphics card.  gaming machines also tend to have more fans/cooling and are not concerned with noise of the system.

Beagle

RRabbi

jbow

A computer guy is putting my new machine together for me, but he's not a music guy.

Randy, take nothing for granted, even what your computer guy says because if he isn't a "music guy" he is probably a "gaming guy" and what makes a killer gaming computer does not necessarily make a great DAW. 
I have seen it firsthand with someone who works with computers all the time, but he is a gamer. He even works for Google nw but he know's squat about building a DAW but... he does not know that he does not know what would make a great music computer.

This is just my opinion and I reserve the right to be wrong..

Julien

Gaming computer vs DAW computer...  Isn't the only difference that a gaming computer has a $200+ graphics card (Nvidia/ATI) installed?  Seems like a nice vid card is all that separates a good gaming PC from everything else. I'm building my PC for both, but I'll have two separate hard drives, each with their own instance of Win 7 Pro 64bit to dual boot.

It seems to me, the DAW PC benefits the most from how it's tweaked and configured for audio, not necessarily the hardware inside. (aside from making sure you have a TI firewire chipset PCI or PCIe card if you want to use firewire interfaces, having separate HD's for audio, o/s, samples, etc.) Am I wrong? Cuz if there's something I'm doing with my PC build that somehow is going to make it not so great as a DAW I'd want to know... :)

well, and with that $200+ graphics card you have to have a much more powerful power supply which is also a lot of extra $ you don't have to use if you're not using that big graphics card.  gaming machines also tend to have more fans/cooling and are not concerned with noise of the system.

Agreed... That's why I'm putting at least 750w or 850w in the system (All the Newegg reviewers and other online reviews vouch for the quietness of the particular Corsair one I chose); using a Fractal Designs R3 mid-tower with built in sound dampening (more for vibrations rather than just sound); and 6 low noise 120mm fans (2 stock with the case, and 4 Nexus), on low fan speeds the case is pretty much silent. There's space for 2 of my vid cards running in Crossfire mode plus the TI fw card I'm putting in. So, aside from noise and potential extra $$$ to power a gaming rig and the fans that would be needed it doesn't sound to me that a 'gaming' system would cause freaky hardware conflicts that would cause a DAW to seem glitchy.  I'm going to check out the other thread on the subject I see that's up now...

PS: with my setup back in Canada I used a laptop but built a separate recording room connected via a custom wall patch bay, so noise was not a big deal. Down here in AZ, I'll have to just get more creative with recording since we'll be in the same room but I think there's options for that if I find my tower is too loud....