My 6 core 980X came in the mail so I will be testing it hopefully this weekend to see the difference in speed and power.
Stephen,
Keep in mind I have always run on one single machine. It is only with the introduction of Dimension Strings and Brass that I hit a limitation now, due to so many individual tracks versus the old style which were entire sections in one track (appassionata, chamber etc.).
One machine is very easy to do with MIR Pro and all those things (vienna suite), Cubase 7.5, Studio One v2.6 etc. It just depends on how many actually tracks you intend to use without "freezing" any of them. I setup this week individual group tracks and audio tracks for all my sections so that I can freeze them into audio tracks as I go to free up the remaining power. So whatever results I get this weekend, I will be making work for me as I have decided I won't buy a new machine as it's not necessary.
When I am not playing all the dimension products my machine is sitting at about 10-20% with 40 instruments playing and MIR Pro, with full vienna suite presets on instruments. And with a complete FX chain on the master output and a Bricasti M7 send. This machine is doing more than I did before with 3-4 machines and I am not ready to give it up yet.
I do have a 4930K motherboard system I purchased to actually use for internet and gaming ;), that if all else fails, I could buy memory for that and it would add an enormous upgrade as well. I just haven't talked myself into this yet. Let me receive pops and clicks all weekend long this weekend and I might be singing another song on Monday :).
Maestro2be