I see Scan systems (here in the UK) are offering Haswell-based DAWs now. I'm not a computer techy so I was wondering if anyone has taken the plunge and can tell me about any issues/pitfalls - real or potential?  Thanks.
 
John

Do you mean Haswell or Haswell-E? Haswell is just Intel's 4th generation Core i processor. You'll see a number of people with them in their signature. No real difference from the second gen series you have. It is more efficient and faster per clock, but not a ton. It wouldn't really be worth an upgrade.
 
Now if you mean Haswell-E that is the new chip that just came out and is their higher end chip. It would be a significant upgrade since it comes in 6 and 8 core varieties and Sonar can use all the cores you can throw at it. However be aware it is very expensive because it is a high end/enthusiast part. Motherboards are $300-500 instead of $100-200 for consumer, CPUs are $500-1000 instead of $100-300, and RAM is a couple hundred more (it uses DDR4 instead of DDR3).

I said I wasn't au fait! Yes, I must mean the latest chip that just came out. You've answered one question, that Sonar can use all cores, even eight. Did I see somewhere there was a hitch re. memory, that the best memory for the new chip is not fully available yet?
 
Many thanks!

Here's the Haswell-E system that caught my eye:
http://3xs.scan.co.uk/configurator/3xs-sa-x6-audio-production-pc
 
 

With regards to memory it is somewhat complicated. So DDR4 is brand new, this is the first product ever to use it. As such as time goes on it should get cheaper, faster (not that the speed matters much) and larger modules should become available. Right now, you can have 64GB of RAM. The boards have 8 slots and there are 8GB modules. Later, there will probably be 16GB and perhaps even 32GB modules meaning an 8 slot board could handle 128GB or 256GB.
 
HOWEVER it is entirely possible that the current CPUs or motherboards won't support it. Intel lists the chip as supporting 64GB of RAM and they usually state that right. So the memory controller may only have address lines for 64GB meaning that even if larger modules come out, it might not matter unless a new version of the CPU comes out (servers are where it would matter, they have much larger memory capacity).
 
Also there is no info on when something like that might happen, what it would cost, etc, etc.
 
So unless you need more than 64GB of RAM, no, there's no issue to wait on. If you do need more, then I'd actually recommend looking at a workstation class system since you can get far more in one of those.
 
You will save some money on RAM if you wait, it'll get cheaper, but the rest of the components aren't really going to.
 
So really it comes down to if you want to spend that much money, and if it would be useful to have that much power.
 
Also to consider in your setup you'd need to move to a different OS if you want more than 16GB of RAM. 7 Home Premium is limited to 16GB by design. You would need 7 Pro, or any version of 8 to support 32GB or more.
 
Finally when looking at the CPUs, note that the 8 core CPU is substantially slower clock speed than the 6 core. What that means is while it is faster for multi-core stuff like Sonar, it isn't as much faster as you might expect. The $400 extra might be better spent on an SSD for data, rather than the 2 more cores.

I can't thank you enough Sycraft, there's so much there for me to digest and consider. Cheers.
John

I just read this article on the Hasewell E CPU and DDR4 (on ASRock MB).
 
http://www.anandtech.com/show/8536/intels-haswellep-xeons-with-ddr3-and-ddr4-on-the-horizon
 
Kind regards,
 
Living Room Rocker

John, I think the best bang for the buck still remains the 4930... 6 faster cores/$500/cheap memory and it never hiccups and I throw a lotta frackin' stuff at it... my 950 always choked at way less complex stuff...
 
With intels focus on battery life/portable market, they've really cut the legs out of a strong reason to upgrade...and you would be tickled pink/giddy as a gopher in my tomato patch with the 4930... it's smokin'!

Actually the cores on the 5930 are a little bit faster. They have a higher base clock, and Haswell cores are about 6% faster per clock than Ivybridge. Not much of a difference to be sure, and I'd not upgrade, but it is a bit quicker. They do have a lower max boost clock by a few 100MHz but you only get that max clock with 1 core active, so it quickly normalizes out.
 
The memory is cheaper for sure, you can get a 32GB kit of Crucial DDR3 for $330ish and the same thing in DDR4 will run you $410. Not likely to change anytime soon either as there are still going to be a lot of DDR3 systems. In the Long run DDR4 will get cheaper but it will be a few years at least.
 
The other considerations for the Haswell-E instead of the Ivybridge-E would be support for some of the newer technologies. Haswell boards have Sata Express and M.2 connectors on them for faster SSDs, if those ever come out, and all the SATA connectors are 6gbps (only 2 of them are 6gbps on the X79). Also they have native USB3 baked in to the Southbridge. Also if you loves the RAMs, it'll handle 64GB, instead of 48GB (and maybe 128GB in the future).
 
It is an incremental improvement to be sure and not worth an upgrade from an Ivy-E. However it does have some advantages to consider if you are looking at buying now. Now if Intel and the OEMs drop the price on the Ivy-E stuff it could be real tempting.

Based on the rig in your sig my recommendation is keep your money until theres a significant upgrade available, I think you would be disappointed with the performance gain from your current system to the new one.
 
RE the RAM, I would be extremely suprised if you will need even 32GB anytime this decade, I have 8gb and rarely come close to using it all, I do kinda wish I had gone for 16GB sometimes but the truth of the matter is the marketing guys want you to want 64gb or more! The reality of the matter is very few people need even 8gb.