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  3. Looking for advice for a slave PC

  • Looking for advice for a slave PC

    M
    M

    My goal:
    To create great demo soundtracks with Vienna Ensemble pro in Sibelius and/or Logic, using Kontakt and libraries from Spitfire, 8dio and more, as well as considering some Vienna instruments eventually.

    System:
    I'm running Logic and Sibelius on a iMac with 16Gb ram and i7 2.8 ghz processor.

    What I'm considering to develop a better production system:
    1. Get an external SSD for OS X on the iMac, to speed things up a bit. It's getting slow.
    2. Maybe upgrading to 32gb, but only if I have to.
    3. Build a slave PC for Vienna Ensemble pro and install Kontakt and all libraries on it.

    My main question is what you would recommend for my slave PC, and if the overall plan makes sense. I believe I need 64gb ram for the slave. What else? The graphic card doesn't matter much I guess? What should I look for when it comes to motherboard, number of drives, sound card, processor, cooling, power, etcetera. I will use a company to build it for me of course.
    My budget is perhaps up to $3200, but don't have to spend that much if I don't have to.

    If anyone wants to help a noob I'd be grateful for any advice!
  • cmC
    VSL Team
    cmC

    welcome McArnes,

    basically ourdays almost any average (i7) computer is powerful enough to run bigger arrangements at an acceptable latency, though quality and balance of used parts of course is still an issue when it comes to reliability.

    the range of systems is widespread, but you may want to have a look at the configurations offered by suppliers listed here: https://www.vsl.co.at/en/Where_to_Buy/Certified_Workstations 

    and remember: only a CRAY can run an endless loop in just three seconds.
  • M
    M

    Thanks,

    at the moment my plan is as following:

    Chassis: Fractal Design Define R5

    Power: EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G2, 750W

    Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 1700X, 8-core

    Cooler: Alpenföhn Ben Nevis CPU Cooler

    Video card: Sapphire Radeon RX 550 2GB Pulse

    Motherboard: ASUS Prime X370-Pro

    RAM: HyperX Fury DDR4 2400MHz 32GB

    Drives:

    Samsung PM961 SSD 256GB

    Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5'' HDD SATA 6.0Gb/s, 7200RPM

    Samsung 850 EVO 1TB 2.5" SSD

     

    Does it look reasonable?
  • cmC
    VSL Team
    cmC

    sorry, i don't have any experience with AMD processors since a decade or so - DDR4 and SSDs (i'd assume for OS and samples) are a good choice anyway, also the SATA 6GB/s is fast enough.
    the video card has just to support the required number of screens in your desired resolution and Radeon 550 is reasonable.
    check the motherboard's compatibility list to choose tested memory (get a kit of say 4 x 8GB matching sticks).

    in case you have to place the machine in your studio, you will select the most silent components.

    and remember: only a CRAY can run an endless loop in just three seconds.
  • M
    M

    Yes, my alternative would be Intel Core i7-7820X Prosessor Socket-2066, 8-Core I guess. Maybe it's better?
  • F
    F
    last edited
    last edited

    @McArnes said:

    Yes, my alternative would be Intel Core i7-7820X Prosessor Socket-2066, 8-Core I guess. Maybe it's better?

    Hi,

    I wouldn't want to sway you one way or the other - It's either AMD or Intel - 😊 - Or both! - Depending on how much you want / intend to spend.

    FWIW - According to a tester on Youtube with his 1800X vs 7700K CPU - The Ryzen did more FX plugins whilst the 7700 K did more generators [aka virtual instruments] - I speculate that i7 6850K would beat the 1800X overall and is available now as last GEN Broadwell and is reduced in price @ £340 and it has 40 PCI-e lanes.

    The 7820X you pointed out is 8 core with 28 PCI-e lanes - But as you'll use a slave computer it won't matter and is around £500+

    If you just want one computer as a slave get a poweful one for future proofing - maybe have two slaves, one Intel and one AMD, say a Threadripper 1950X.

    I plan to get a 1950X and already have some Intel CPU's as well -

    Do you plan to build one yourself? - This is best but is a distraction from music.

    I think most here will just use Intel, I feel opinion is with XEON just like opinion was with Apple computers years ago,

    AMD have improved a lot with Ryzen but how good they are is unknown - The 1950X is 16 cores @ 3.4 Ghz - 😛 - It is slower on single threaded performance over Intel but if all cores can be used it's a totally different story.

    Intel do have newer CPU's coming out very shortly now - 7920X, 7940X, 7960X and 7980XE - These CPU's range from 12 - 18 cores - It seems they have less cache than the XEONS but are new GEN Intel,

    http://ark.intel.com/products/series/123588/Intel-Core-X-series-Processors

    Again FWIW, any Intel AMD CPU's you choose will do a good job for you, it's just some are slightly better / expensive than others.

    I dare say the new Intel 7960X 16 core 32 thread CPU will beat the AMD 1950X 16/32 CPU but will be a lot more expensive - I speculate again - So this may not be correct!

    I've got some AMD CPU's and Intel CPU's, probably more Intel than AMD but a good mix - Anyway it's good to drop by the forum, feel free to comment and let us know which way you'll go! - Thanks