Although I'm not a "heavy" user. (I dont' run tons of tracks, maybe 12 at most except for demo projects for learning, all the boxes I've built in the past 12 years have been AMD. With that said I've built two to use with Cakewalk, first Home StudioXL, then Sonar 8.5 then X1 now X2 (both producer).
I've had no problems at all running Sonar or any plugin/vst/vsti etc. Yes I've encountered bugs but the "Fixes" have fixed them.
I'm also a Graphic heavy Gamer, most recently GuildWars 2 variation.. yes I know the like of the new Crysis game will bring my old system to its knees but I'm not into that Genre atm. That being said here's my build(s).
First system built, which I've used up until just a few days ago
- AMD Phenom I 9850BB (Stock clock and Stock Air)
- MOBO was a DDR2 based
- 6GB DDR2 Ram (3x2)
- two different HDD's both Sata II at 5kRPM
New System (just a few days old) -- NOTE: I will, within the next 6 months get an FX83XX series CPU.
- AMDFX6100 (stock clock/stock air) Temps are around 40-45c full load on stock air. (via core-temp)
- GA970-D3 Mobo
- 8GB DDR3 RAM (2x4)
- Mushkin 120 SSD
- WD 1.5 TB Sata III 7200 HDD
I reused my Vid Card:
Asus HD7870 for both
and
Interface is an
Edirol UA25Ex for both as well.
I can and do use an 12 ch mixer every so often but not for everyday work.
Yeah I am a fan of AMD, as I said I've built AMD's exclusively the past decade, they're stable, they're fast (enough) and now with the prices of SSD falling they're very fast. I would've gone Intel but honestly? I can't justify spending $100+ for a .5 GHz gain, (yeah I know that statement is dated but still) when one could get an 8core CPU for under $200.. whoa.
/.02 cents