Hi Guys,
 
I'm currently looking at upgrading the main PC for all my recording needs. I'm running Cakewalk at the moment on the spec you will see below but feel especially when making electronic music with lots of synth plugins that the computer starts to struggle. I'm definitely looking towards the AM4 socket and the Ryzen chip set but wanted some advise before taking the plunge. I'm looking for a good noticeable increase from current performance but hopefully keep costs reasonable as well. Any ideas welcomed and current spec is below.
 
Thanks
 
Current PC Spec
 
AMD A10-7870K Radeon R7 4.09GHz
16 GB RAM
Kingston SV300S37A SSD
Toshiba DT01ACA100 HDD
Windows 10
Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 Mk2
 
 

You should consider Intel for the CPU.  Reports from a DAW builder that posts on here that Intel has better (lower) latency and more suited for audio work than AMD CPU's.
 
 

i built a brand new pc for sonar,
then it went t!ts up!!!
 
LOL
 
so i went with presonus studio one,
works great.
 
my stats:

Intel Core i7-7700 3.6GHz Quad-Core
MSI B250M
Seasonic SSR-450FM
G.Skill Ripjaws 4 series 16GB(2x8)
Samsung 960 EVO 250 GB
Western Digital Mainstream 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM
Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit
Asus DVD-RW
Antec P100
Asus PCE-N15
 
 
 
 
 
 
so far, so good!
 

Ryzen motherboards have been extremely flaky.
 
AMD Infinity Fabric architecture benefits from higher RAM speed.
However, most Ryzen motherboards don't operate stable at RAM speed above 2400MHz.
I got a motherboard to run RAM at 3200MHz, but it was a massive undertaking.
Even then, one day, you go to turn on the machine... and it wouldn't post (requiring CMOS to be cleared).
If you don't mind being in constant "mechanic mode" it's OK.
 
Running RAM at 3200MHz isn't a huge benefit on the Intel side, but quality motherboards will do so without issue.
 
Then there were other completely bizarre issues:
Simultaneous Multi-Threading (Hyperthreading in AMD speak) would disappear after disabling the motherboard's onboard audio.  Yes, you read that correctly.  
 
Ryzen is great at super heavily multi-threaded tasks (video rendering in particular).
Many folks don't realize that many processes in a DAW can't be multi-threaded.
A developer from Image Line explained this in detail (few months back) on the KVR Forums.
For those times, the lower clock-speed of the Ryzen impedes performance.
 
Also keep in mind that many apps/plugins aren't fully optimized for Ryzen.
ie:  On a test project, Boost 11 would make audible clicks on a Kick track (when running Ryzen).
Same exact project ran Boost 11 completely glitch-free when running an Intel CPU.
 
For my money, the performance of the i7-8086k (12 processing threads locked at 5GHz) is hard to beat.
With the right air-cooler, it runs near dead-silent.
Best of all worlds:  Cost, Performance, Quiet... high clock-speed and 12 virtual cores
 
 
 
 
 
 

Hey guys and many thanks for your comments. Definitely some food for thought giving the Intel chips another go. 
 
I'm just curious what people thought to the current spec and how much of an upgrade I'm realistically looking at getting if I make the jump or if there's just something not working right in my current setup?
 
Thanks again guys, can always rely on this forum for some honesty.

Jim,
 
What is the best air cooler for the i7's now?  Mine seems to get a little noisy when running heavy orchestral sample libraries with most of the cores over 70%.
 
Jim

I'm obviously not Jim, but I'm using a liquid cooler.  Deep Cool "Captain 120EX" (quiet fan).  My i7 6700K idles around 30 degrees C and rarely goes into the 50's that I've noticed.   Before the liquid cooler, I was using a Noctua with two fans and it idled around 40 degrees C and rapidly went up from there.  The Noctua was "huge" and hit the side cover on my BeQuiet case.
 
 

haydn12
Jim,
 What is the best air cooler for the i7's now?  Mine seems to get a little noisy when running heavy orchestral sample libraries with most of the cores over 70%.
 Jim 

I am NOT Jim R. either, but........... I have been using Noctua NH-U12P which is an older one but my 8th gen i7 8700 idles at around 31 and under stress never goes very high at all.
As Fireberd said above, they are pretty big. I am looking at the newest one which is rated as the No.1 aitr cooler today. Noctua NH D-15. It has more hea tpipes than the older model like mine. I really do not need it but the cooler the better imho. 
I am not knocking liquid coolers. It's just a choice or personal preference....
 
 

I'm using the Noctua NH-U14S.  Which is quiet when I first turn on the computer.  I have the 8th gen i7 8700 also.  I do have about 140 tracks going with heavy duty Kontakt libraries with quite a bit of scripting.  Could be how hard I'm hitting the CPU!
 
Jim

I'd check your CPU temps with load at ~70%.
If they're going high enough to cause objectionable noise with the NH-U14S, it's probably time to move to higher-end liquid-cooling.  Note that liquid cooling doesn't always mean super quiet.  You got fan noise and pump noise... so be mindful of your choice.