Should You Upgrade to AMD Ryzen for Music Production in 2021?

In this video I attempt to answer one of the most common questions about music production computers: Should you upgrade to an AMD Ryzen?
This was also my question as a long-time Intel user. This is not supposed to be an Intel vs AMD debate, more of what you should expect if you upgrade to a Ryzen based PC :)
Try the Scan Benchmark test here: www.dropbox.co...
Here's the official Cubase benchmark test from the gurus at Scan : • How To Benchmark Cubas...
Here's the link to the 3XS ZenStation AMD Ryzen 9 5950X:
www.scan.co.uk...
If you want to pick up a pair of the headphones I'm using (Audeze LCD-X) you can use this link to support the channel:
www.scan.co.uk...
This video is kindly sponsored by Scan.co.uk

[@WandererInOz]

Hi Dom, I listened to your video about AMD and I treated myself on the dream PC for Cubase. I built it myself with the following parts: AMD Ryzen 7950X (16 core), 128GB RAM, AMD Radeon 8600. It is soooooooo fast, no drop-outs anymore! I have not yet tried how many instruments it can run in parallel. Thanks for your great info!

[@mersy338]

Ram is a bit overkill, but that's a monster! nice! I'm going to build a rig too with the Radeon 8600XT, and probably 5800x3d

[@bonetti311]

I´m on a Ryzen 3900X since end of 2019 and really amazed. I found that it´s more powerful when switching off hyperthreading or multithreading. In at least 2019 it was the case. Maybe due to updates of Windows 10 and/or Cubase from 10 to 11 it doesn´t matter anymore. I have not tried it since then. Another fact I love is Cubase 11 use of all cores during stems unmixing in SpectralLayers. I´ve never seen this CPU so intense and effective in use. Thanks to Steinberg also for that!

[@oscarmorales-cn3hz]

I didn't know that, about cubase 11, thanks.

[@simonmurphy5522]

Switching off Hyper Threading technology enhances single tasking performance allowing each core to run at higher clock speeds as the cores would only have to deal with one thread.

[@FilmCompos3r]

Yeah I couldn’t believe how much better my kontakt heavy sessions ran with SMT (hyper threading) off.

[@dejasoul1949]

The geeks always knew when to go Intel, and when AMD was the better choice. These Ryzens (especially since generation 2) have been absolute revelations, so much that Intel has been forced to cut prices (something they never really did). Next rig will be a Ryzen ;) thanks Dom.

[@ric88keys]

New AMD 7000s CPUs are on the way and seem to promise amazing performance too.

[@mojito6629]

Interestingly, in my country market, theprice for 7950x processor is higher than the 13900K. I think in other countries normally is the opposite

[@bradyd69]

I have tried to use an AMD Ryzen with 2 Audient interfaces, total failure. I figured it must be Audient so I switched to a UAD Apollo twin, failure! I optimized windows 10 for audio and it would work for a while then the audio would start sputtering followed by midi crashing and the interface refusing to be recognized after that. Only a total restage would bring it back but only for a short time. I will never use another AMD product for audio. If you want to blow a grand or so trying to make it work go for it, I learned my lesson though!!

[@mojito6629]

@@bradyd69 it's not the AMD, it's WINDOWs. Never will you can use 2 audio interfaces at the same time in a DAW in Windows. Except if you use, like, something through the ADAT port on the audio interface if it has it. Mac can. It lets us to use multiple audio interfaces in one DAW somehow. AMD should be solid for Windows, just like Intels. Each with their own plus and minus. One of the plus side of AMD is its AM5 motherboard can be used for future AMD processors, while Intel mobo now would be obsolete after its 14 gen processors. If either one is ok for you, and budget is not really problem, go Mac. But any Mac would cost high from the start, cannot be upgraded nor repaired, while with the same cost, you'll get higher specs with Windows PC.

[@MOSMASTERING]

Wow! My 5950x arrives in 5 days. I'm so excited. I can't imagine how much you can run at higher buffers!

[@micamigue]

Do u use cubase? I want to know , how much improves on rendering audios , or exporting stems ( how faster can be )

[@MOSMASTERING]

@@micamigue [ Yes, Cubase 11 all day long] Exporting doesn't seem to change much across any platform. It can do everything faster than real time with absolutely nothing bounced or rendered in the entire project. I'm regularly using 200 plugins or more in a session with a load of VST instruments as well. A faster CPU doesn't seem to make much difference in terms of exporting - my SSD might have made a bit of a difference there. It just allows you to run more and more stuff concurrently with no render or bounce in place, it also allows low latency as well. Hey, so here's the whole story.. I bought an AMD 5950x in March this year - upgrade from nearly 10+ year old machine intel machine. It was way overdue, especially with all the new heavy processing DAW plugins that are coming out, with a lot of extremely complex analogue emulation. I'm also using Slate VSX which means I need some heavy audio processing software running on my master bus at all times which would normally eat quite a lot of cycles. This PC has been switched on ever since... It eats audio processing all day long. I love it for producing, but it's amazing for my mastering job as well as it can run ridiculous sample rates and highest quality with just a few of the best plugins. So, I read that there is something about the architecture of this chip related to the cache layout and placement which means that there is no jitter or delay specifically when the audio buffer needs to be fetched and refilled. For some reason, switching to ultra low buffer settings and latency doesn't seem to impact the total CPU usage much at all. It's always been sitting on lowest latency since I installed Cubase. It's the best PC i've ever bought, even used.. Full specs: TUF Gaming Motherboard (Irrelevant, but I chose it for its thermal properties as Cubase DAW projects can max out the CPU for half a day at a time) 32GB 3600mhz Corsair Memory 980 PRO NVMe M.2 SSD 1TB 7GB/s READ (For : OS/Cubase 11/Plugins) 960 EVO 128GB SSD for (For: Sample Libraries) 2TB Samsung Spinning Rust for Backups/Projects and larger non real-time samples) 4TB WD USB for Additional Backups and client project transfer Passive NVIDIA Graphics Card for running 3 x 28" screens @ 2560 x 1600 Water cooled MAG VAMPIRIC 010X Case It would be an incredible gaming PC but this is built purely for work. It's not online, has no cooling on the basic graphics card and I can#t even see the RGB lighting sadly as its under the desk. I'll never go back to Intel after AMD have been dropping bombs like this. It's simply incredible. It really feels like this processing was made for real world workloads, as opposed to when Intel tunes their latest chip for a few benchmarks. It really balances all the cores properly with the audio processing, which intel have had issues with. If you have a long chain of plugins going through AUX, into another BUS and then through a master channel, then it all has to be done on a single core, this workload cannot be spread. So the AMD single core processing was essential - even if you're only using 5% of your CPU, you can still bring cubase to a standstill because of this. Too many plugins in a row and you've hit a wall, despite all the power sitting there unused in other cores. I can run 15-20 heavy plugins in a huge chain with no problem. Temperature: It's never comes close to 70C (An common high end Intel for example - 10940X sits around >86C+ just when running half load) and are actually designed to run normally at +100C when short term boosting. This thing run on boost all day long and doesn't even care. The Intel temps is nuts. The short story is that they were forced to put R&D just into handling high temperatures because the company was so behind in their transistor size (their classic tick-tock formula for incremental architecture improvements and transistor shrinkage ground to a halt years back) all recent updates are just iterations and main increase in speed are from power consumption and clock boost, which is obviously not a good design at all. I haven't even looked into overclocking options since I haven't needed to, but no doubt I could probably get another 10% out of it with some tuning.

[@MrBlincster]

8 vs 16 cores. To get a good sense of the architechtual performance, core vs core is more interesting. Myself, I have the 5900x and its working brilliant with Cubase

[@Fox_is_Fox]

Thank you Bjornar, I 'm looking to build a pc with the 5900X because of the amazing real time performance ;-)

[@gabrielecarbone8235]

Intel does not go above 10 channel monolithic. Try running the 10980xe and it will fail miserably against 5950x

[@HammyHavoc]

@@gabrielecarbone8235 What do you think about the state of play with CPUs now in 2022 with the 12900K, KS et al?

[@gabrielecarbone8235]

@@HammyHavoc 12600 is most effective audio CPU as it has a pure monolothic design with a very short ringbus, and high frequency; the 12400 is incredible value and efficiency, for just 150euros 12700k with e-cores disabled (to get the best ring and cache speed, and avoid scheduling issues with daws) and MCE will give you more multi-core punch but at higher latencies (because the asymetric design gives latency issues) and much higher power i would like to do some extensive testing between 5800x, 5700g and 12700k but i just don't have the time and money to buy some acustica audio plugins and do some proper benchmark in different routing scenarios

[@untml]

@@gabrielecarbone8235 kzbin.info/www/bejne/rYrWZ6Z_oKxph6M

[@janickimusic]

I nearly bought Intel, but this is a great news for everybody that AMD has the answer for Intel. I used to use Athlon more than the decade ago maybe nearly two decades ;) and it was superb and had great price/ power ratio.

[@lahattec]

Keep in mind that the i9-9900K isn't the fastest Intel. The i9-10900K or 10850K would be faster. Also, the AMD 5950x is crazy on the price right now, way higher than the Intel CPUs.

[@rayvaughn4062]

@@lahattec Yeah, double the price of the intel.

[@WrektSK]

@@rayvaughn4062 Which Intel CPU are you talking about? If I remember correctly, 10900k had a launch price of $900 and street prices were around $1050, 5950x was almost 100-200 cheaper than that depending on the storefront. Either way, 5950x currently sits at for one of the best deals you can get if you want the most performance in DDR4 hardware.

[@thisbusinessofmusic1276]

Heres something I noticed on Doms machine. When he has his sound card set to a buffer size of 32 his latency settings reported in Cubase are Input latency: 3.197 ms -output latency:3.900ms On my MOTU when its set at 32 buffers Input Latency: 1.224ms - Output Latency: 1.247MS If I want to get close to Doms Latency then I have to put the buffer settings on my card to 128 and then I get this latency. Input Latency: 3.401ms - Output Latency:3.424 ms Slightly worse than Doms on the input latency and slightly better on the output. So what effects computer performance, also has a great deal to do with the sound card youre using and the efficiency of the drivers for it.

[@oveesounds]

While great sound card won't help directly with processing, it's definitely important for other factors as you described. E.g. on my RME Fireface it's 1.02ms on input latency while buffer size is set to 32 samples. What is also important to know is that using low buffer size is not dedicated to production stage or mixing/mastering, but I'm aware that Dom just wanted to set the most power-consuming settings.

[@thisbusinessofmusic1276]

@@oveesounds Yes, for his card. He could get a lot more performance out of his system with an audio interface with better specs. Everybody has different needs when it comes to audio interfaces however. for example Price/performance/input and output needs. My own needs were a large number of TRS ins and outs. At the time the MOTU 24 i/o was ideal for me. I bought 4 breakout boxes which gives me 96 TRS ins and outs. Most people dont need or want that many in and outs, but I wanted to hard wire all my outboard sound modules and processors to their own inputs so I could have them show up in Cubase without and re patching, so , the MOTU system was and remains ideal for me. Ive also owned an RME system. Their drivers/performance are the best, but they were too pricey for me to get the number of ins and outs I needed. I set my MOTU to 64 samples for regular production duties. This gives me a 1.950ms latency on the input and 1.973 on the output. Now I can use all sorts of VST plugins and instruments without adding any load on my machine as Im using a free app called Audiogridder which works like the old FXTeleport and lets me offload the processing power on to my 3 server dual hexcore machines and also Im using Vienna Ensemble pro to run VSTi's on the servers. This is one way to avoid, for as long as possible, upgrading ones system and spending money on a new computer. Its been very cost effective for me.

[@sound-guy]

Your USB setup can also have an effect. I believe Dom mentioned USB 3.0. Accidentally using incompatible cables, USB hubs or having USB 2.0 devices connected may have effects on overall USB latency. The key word here is "may".

[@mrdali67]

A PCIe interface or even the older Firewire interfaces will always have lower latency. You can get really good USB3 interfaces, but generally both Pcie, firewire and TB has much better latency. The problem is that an USB interface is more "dumb" than the other solutions, and it actually are dependent on the cpu speed how well it performs. That is why you tend to get more issues with USB interfaces once you put a considrably load on the CPU. You should be carefull with how you hook your USB devices up, cause many of those USB connectors on the computer use the same Physical USB hub on the Mobo. You should read up on the Mobo's manual wich USB ports are sharing resources and try to spread the load out on them. Eg, in an AMD Mobo, 1 usb hub is provided by the CPU, while another usb hub is supported via the chipset. If you connect 3 external harddrives to 1 usb3 hub you might as well use all usb2 drives cause you will never get usb3 speeds if you move data between those disks.

[@andrew4982]

Because MOTU makes really good audio interfaces, your MOTU is far better than Dom's.

[@ric88keys]

I ended up getting a 5900x and have been so happy with it since! Thanks for the video Dom! I also found the Scan follow up informative too :)

[@b.z9940]

how many instances can u load with the 5900x before getting dropouts on 32 buffer size?

[@ric88keys]

@@b.z9940 A lot. It's not useful to say "I could load 100, 200, 300, 1000 etc". If you see the video by Scan about Dom's test, you'd see that real-world use is different to loading up VSTs and playing back the same notes, or audio playback of the same file. Best thing is to work with large projects with many VSTs and plugins. I don't have the desktop PC anymore because my needs changed and I needed something mobile. The 5900x is a beast and will handle pretty much everything at low buffer sizes. I never used 32, because I don't see the need for it. I used 64 and occasionally 128 with loads and loads of headroom. CPU meter only got to around 20-30% with large orchestral templates (VE instruments mainly) playing demanding projects. Even in 2023, I would say it's a really great CPU for music production.

[@christozzi47]

Hey! I have a 5900x with 64 gig of mem... I'm running Cubase 13 and I usually use a buffer size of 256. Do you think this Is this too high? Is 128 or 64 sufficient?

[@ChristianEriksson83]

I have had the 3800X for a year now and it doesn't even sweat. Lovely for gamin as well.

[@MishazBts]

Same great cpu

[@sonicwingnut]

I got one around black friday for £245 - top tip btw; since these have higher TDP than the 3700X they can run a little hot - if you set a small CPU voltage offset in BIOS you can dynamically undervolt them with zero loss in performance and massive drops in temps. On mine a -0.075v offset undervolt dropped max temps from about 89C to 65C when stress testing with Cinebench r20.

[@Jason75913]

@@sonicwingnut oh wow

[@zeroaverage]

I’m building as we speak... x570 Asus WS Ace Pro, ryzen 9 5900x (12 cores), 32gb ram (3600 c16 gskill), RTX 3070... 💯💪🏼

[@atashbeats8055]

Hi, I'm thinking about moving to PC, have an old 2015 Imac very slow now. Please let me know your experience so far. Thanks.

[@yvngd88]

How much ram u recommend?

[@atashbeats8055]

@@yvngd88 32 Gig

[@futurebeats898]

Might you share the cost?

[@18CC]

@@futurebeats898 It's free if you say 3 times "i hate Apple"

[@Rhuggins]

What an exciting time! Im building an i9 13th Gen- 64 GB DDR5, a high end Z790motherboard. And newest-gen m.2 storage. Super pumped! Seems like the 13th gen intel is insane!!

[@incogneat]

My first build was with the Ryzen 5600X. I’m digging the hell out of it. I switched from a late 2015 iMac. I am definitely intrigued by this video though. However, I am quite pleased with my decision.

[@dokma_eu]

IMHO, Mac doesn't stand a chance when compared to PC. Too many compatibility issues, too much money, etc. Unless software manufactures do provide their products in M1 native CPU language (instead of using Roseta 2 technology), it may be the next big thing - but for now, I'd say PC is a win over Mac, especially with AMD Ryzen CPUs.

[@abrahamrecordsvideos]

Hi Steven, wondering if all the 3rd party plugins like waves, Slate, Komplete 13u, Sonnox, Izotope works flawlessly on AMD? Hope to get some info from you. Thanks.

[@incogneat]

@@abrahamrecordsvideos everything works flawlessly for me. I use Izotope, KU13CE, Serum, Synthmaster, Regroover Pro, and Arturia Keylab/Pigments with Cubase Pro.

[@dirg3music]

@@dokma_eu Fast forward a year, and still even the most powerful iterations of the m1 fall flat in scenarios that leverage multithreading like any modern DAW does with multiple track instances. Until it's able to do that x64 will continue to be the better choice for consumers who want to work with audio.

[@frattuncbas]

My Ableton start singing after 1 seconds when i use some Neutron 4,Soothe2,Eastwest Opus,some plugins and Ozone 11..Is it worth to upgrade from Ryzen 5600X to 5950X? I have 32 gig 4133 mhz patriot ram and Audient id4..+ Rtx 3070

[@dendera1337]

WOW, didn't know AMD would crush INTEL so much! Interesting test!

[@cirisirpula152]

Yes very fair test to compare older gen intel vs new gen amd

[@prula]

You should've gotten at least 10K For this! They will get the perfect audience, worldwide and sell many computers based on this video!

[@DomSigalas]

Hahaha not quite my friend. Thank you for the kind words!

[@prula]

@@DomSigalas 🙂 you are welcome. You do a great job so don’t let Companys get your awesome service below the real value. Honestly I will buy one of these pcs based on this video!

[@mixdownonline]

Love your audio interface...I wonder why! Amazing vid bro!

[@DomSigalas]

Thank you so much brooooo! ❤️

[@RealCbase]

I have changed to a new (0db silent) studioworkstation last year. Due to bad experiences many years ago, i have not yet dared to switch to AMD. Maybe in the next one 😊. Looking forward to your video. 👍

[@BriceDeRon]

Can confirm, AMD is back again, had the same bad experience that why I stuck to Intel, but the new Ryzen 9 generation are a bit dicey on price but worth every extra cent

[@cyrilcalmes4208]

@@BriceDeRon My first DAW was Cubase Studio 4 running on an AMD Athlon 64 X2, with 2 Gb DDR3... I had no problem with it...

[@damienlobb85]

I would happily recommend a Zen 3 (Ryzen 5000 series) over any Intel 11th/12th gen system. The latency is more finicky on newer Intel's, which affects lower buffer sizes and generally has some weird glitches with Thunderbolt 4, (on the 11th gen motherboards I tested). Intel only just got the gaming crown back, but when it comes to music production, the Zen 3 chips are hard to beat for overall performance and low buffer stability.

[@PuRe_AdDicT]

The most amazing thing is that you have a 30 series GPU. They are pretty rare in the wild right now.

[@luukderijk4349]

Running cubase 12 pro with my new ryzen 5900x and all i can say is that it’s a beast. Had a 3800x previously. Now all i need to buy is an RME interface and i will be a happy camper

[@messej6288]

I followed all the instructions, ran all the test, and somehow managed to get 139 tracks without dropouts on a 3950X with 40gbs of RAM.

[@johnwalter6410]

40 gig of ram?? You mean 32? They don't come in 40 gig. It's in multiples of 8 (8, 16, 32, 64)

[@messej6288]

@@johnwalter6410 No. 40 gbs of ram. When you have 4 slots for RAM you can put whatever you want. Someone else built the PC and I bought it off them. It came with 2 x 16gb sticks and 2 x 4 gb sticks.

[@auralsunrays9229]

Very useful video on the topic, thank you! I use an i7-8086k now and still struggle with CPU load quite often...but i think i'm going to wait till AMD releases the next series and then pick the top CPU as my big upgrade.

[@ardierr.2525]

hello Dom thank you for your video, but you have tested parallel processing (by adding tracks) so 16 cores vs 8 cores basically leads to double the track ability, but could you please make a serial processing test (don't need to be a video but could you share a result)? like you sometimes i want to compose and mix in the same session and the main problem is having a path where there's a lot of plugin in serial (plugin in track-> bus -> master) ps : i'm using a i7-6900k 8 cores desktop and a ryzen 7 4800hs laptop (aside from the fan noise the laptop is really impressive when battery is more than 60% or when the laptop is plugged on the wall basically i have the same amount of power on the desktop and on the laptop) regards

[@sound-guy]

Thanks for mentioning your laptop performance in your comment. Useful information.

[@Listosondabeat]

Thanks for the info this what am actually looking for.🙏🏾

[@BriceDeRon]

Hello Ardier, if you read my post above I did a pure CPU test with maxon cinebench ( www.maxon.net/de/cinebench ) and have the same result then Dom, all detail of my test in my comment to Dom test. As to audio test, I was not able to get my Ryzen system clouth with cubase yet with around 40 track. Izotope suite on every track, 3 audio track Serum (very Hungry sounds), Samplitude pro X 5 as mastering meter (so 2 DAW on the same machine at the same time, I don't have enough experience for Wavelab mastering yet) and felt trillion of plug-in form PEEL (ZPLAN), Tverb, Auto-tune access & SA-2 Dialog for vocal processing and other.... like said, was almost to the limit but not glistch at all performance wise.

[@gogibardy4571]

@@BriceDeRon What ryzen model are you running these tracks with?That's impressive.Looking to upgrade for either 5800x or 5900x and re using my old r9 for the new build since gpu cost nowadays is borderline criminal.

[@rowanb4395]

This

[@Bassryche]

Very interesting video you put out there Dom, while my brother hooked me up with AMD a few days ago. I used AMd for over a decade and then move to Intel as AMD was falling apart in some sort. And I will look closely the evolution of CPU and see if Intel can keep up ; even though I think they will. In the meantime, I would to know why you don't use HyperThread on your Intel ? And is there any difference on the test if you turn the HT on ?

[@AndrewBolo]

wym? Hyperthreading is ON on the Intel cpu (11:12)

[@StavrosDanas]

I upgraded to 5950x and man...I am super happy!

[@Phat-Monkey]

That is a beast, there is one myth I would like to see busted though, as I have never used an AMD how compatible is it with 3rd party plugins, a video on that would be great...

[@wey12341]

I have an old hp dv6 with amd and although it can’t handle many plugins at once, I’ve never had an issue with incompatibility

[@18CC]

Why you want amd can't run a plugins ? It's only depends on the program. AMD is just cheaper and has best performance that's all. I never bought a intel cpu. Only got one in a HP computer and he was a crap from the start, day 1.

[@jesusgst]

I have a low-end AMD and I've never had compatibility issues with 3rd parties

[@xBRoyalx]

good luck getting a 5950x, I pre ordered one nov 15th and im still waiting on it.

[@danielcoppens5684]

@royal Radio just curious pre-ordered from where? Amazon (US)?

[@MOSMASTERING]

Which country? I ordered 2 weeks ago and mine arrives March 4th.

[@sonicwingnut]

Wish there were more objective benchmarks for recent CPUs, including how RAM speed and timings affect both Zen2 and Zen3 chips, since I've got a 3800X but my RAM isn't super fast. Apparently there's major architecture changes affecting CCX latency in Zen3 so would be interesting to see if RAM/infinity fabric still plays such a crucial role in max performance.

[@Barney-ii1no]

I have heard about the Zen3 latency but have not seen any video or anything that show how it is worse than Zen2? a lot of talk but not much proof

[@Shadekeeper17]

AMD is amazing. My next cpu is gonna definitely be an AMD.

[@costinvaly1]

You mean, TSMC? RYZEN's tech it's the same tech that the M1 (and beyond) processors have in common. Of course, not the same thing, Apple designed the "logical blueprint", but tech wise it's produced by the same TSMC. Since i have an M1 MacbookPro and an i9 9900k desktop PC, i realized my MBP feels actually more powerful in low latency workloads, which is usually a matter of single threaded score. I checked the official single threaded benchmarks online and single core score of M1 is 1500 (benchmonkey) vs a desktop i9 9900k which got a 1290 score. That's crazy keeping in mind that the MBP is portable and the i9 is a desktop machine. Next time i upgrade my PC i will also transition towards AMD. TSMC produce pure gold for audio needs.

[@ephraim-finny-rj-mackis]

Was searching for this a long time!! Thanks Dommm

[@Kingchord2000]

All I can say is WOW!!!!!! Superb review Dom!!!

[@kikemarquez659]

The Ryzen 7 5800x is a beast!

[@yams900]

That was awesome Dom ! I used to be Intel, now I’m back to drawing board…looks like AMD is a winner 🏆🥇

[@thisbusinessofmusic1276]

I tried this test again and on my old HP Z800 dual hexcore im doing 75 channels with no peaking at all. The task manager cpu meters are showing 87-92% no choking. All audio settings in Cubase are set the way Dom has set his with the same latency on my soundcard. This is not bad for a computer that was first released in March of 2009. Specs Dual hexcore XEON x5650 @ 2.67ghz 48 gigs of ram Motu PCIe 424 with 4 MOTU 24 i/o breakout boxes

[@mrdali67]

Your interface is propably why you get so good results. Those old school PciE cards is still superior to most of the USB2 interfaces people use today. That computer propably also did cost an arm and 2 legs when it came out :)

[@thisbusinessofmusic1276]

@@mrdali67 My computer was extremely expensive when it first came out. I was looking at a post on videoguys and this was the "dream machine" at the time these first came out, for video editing. So I looked up the price and it was over $10K for the machine I wanted. I couldnt afford that so I just kept working with what I had. Some 2/12 yeas later the local computer shop had a lower model, ( the Z600 ) used, for sale for around $600 Canadian so I picked one up. A year after that I say an ad on EBAY for the Z800 with better specs than the machine I was looking at years earlier for only $1600. So I picked one up. After all, $1600 US is a long way from over $10K US. Another year goes by and in the local Kijijji there a young gamer selling an even more powerful HP Z800 Dual hexcore X5675@3.07ghz with 72 gigs of ram for $1000 Canadian so I grabbed that and I figured I could use 1 more so I got one from Ebay for $650US. Im using Vienna Ensemble pro to off load the processing needs of CPU intensive VSTi's on to the other Z800s and 600 and a free app called AudioGridder to handle the vst plugins and reverbs etc on the servers. The HP machines are industrial strength machines. They are built to run 24/7. I never use them like that so I figured the would last me and they have. Ive only had one power supply die on me and it cost $175 Canadian for a new one. As you can see from my original post above, theres more than enough horsepower in just one machins but when all 4 are being used, the system doesnt break a sweat and Ive yet to do a project where the cpu meter hits the overload point. When the time comes that I need something with more juice, then the current machine will be relegated to being a server and the new main machine will be my new music/video editor. Or like I have now, the most powerful of the machines is my video editor and Ive put some VSTi's on it incase I need the extra processors to handle some of the sample libraries. Im pretty well set for now and for more than a few years into the future. By that time the machines Im lusting after now, will be a lot cheaper on the used market.

[@firmans12]

Man i want to buy a new laptop with amd since its lower in price than intel for limited budget students But i kinda skeptical about it, the internet tell some interface didn't work well with amd

[@redpianosbrazil]

Very interesting content!! Congrats! Do you have a video on how to clean up Windows 10 Pro to dedicate for audio better performance?

[@CosmicD]

I'm about to buy a new DAW next year and already stoked for what they'll have then. Maybe I'll be on time for the new ryzen. The pc store guy i talked to yesterday wants to test ddr5 and intel first and says i'd be better off with a TR because windows 10 / cubase 11 doesn't limit the cores anymore. I'm working exactly like this, mastering and shaping the sound in the same project and being able to do lots of processed tracks with vsti's as possible is great for processing. that's not because of time constraints but just because I think it's efficient. Picasso also doesn't "master" his painting by making a duplicate version, you do it on the same canvas :P

[@cameronfinch73]

Hi Dom, I just tried this exact test on my Intel 10980XE (18 cores) and was able to run 94 channels without absolutely any dropouts. 95+ channels become a struggle though. My PC was also built by a professional who specializes in building PCs for DAWs.

[@Carlosdamiano]

I did the same test on an i5 9 gen and got 80+ channels.. I use reaper tho. So I guess it all depends.

[@cameronfinch73]

@@longaker Hey sorry for the late reply. I'm in Australia so went with AAVIM Technology. Vin hooked me up with an incredible system. Even though I went with a 10980xe the 10940xe looks like it would be perfect for Cubase - Seems like the absolute sweet spot for the moment.

[@gastonjabaly]

thanks for the info i want to stick to imtel for my new set up and seems everybody its just focusing on new ryzen vs old intel

[@Sashman077]

Wow, this is exactly the info I was looking for! Thank you so much. I love your channel.

[@Justus_Berger]

Great review! I’m really jealous you got to play around with the 5950x , I’m getting the 5900x cause the other one was simply nowhere to get on the market.

[@papa.alfredo]

hi, how does it work the 5900x, greetings

[@atasinchi]

Dude you already got a 5900x that's just already slightly overkilled for music production

[@craigvhs]

The issue for some of us is the lack of support for Ryzen and Thunderbolt. Universal Audio interfaces just don't vibe yet with Ryzen. A real shame.

[@ralfkohler831]

the bigger problem is that most motherboards don't accept UAD2 Cards. Only few manufacturers can solve this by updates of their BIOS

[@craigvhs]

@@ralfkohler831 that problem doesn't really exist if you get a satallite

[@arcdekay]

@@craigvhs Can you explain more? What do you mean by satellite? Separate PC?

[@-g.k.4389]

@@arcdekay Is name is Craig he ain't explaining shyt.

[@-g.k.4389]

@@arcdekay He doesn't even know why he hit debo with that brick

[@mrchrisbeaver]

To be fair you're comparing an 8 core i9 9900k CPU which is now around £300 next to a 16 core 5950x which is around £750 it's still a good improvement jump though and shows what the extra coin could bring to the table. I think a lot of us would be interested in seeing tests comparing Intel 8 core vs AMD 8 core or other like for like (same price range) CPUs. It would be great to see more videos like this with a more refined real world project. It's interesting that Intel had a RTL advantage upto now but it seems AMD 5000 series unified pool has closed that gap

[@brandonmoore7797]

Fair point. The 9900k was more like £500 when it came out, and was the fastest thing Intel had to offer for regular consumers, but your point still stands if you're building a machine right now. The price war is certainly muddying the waters now that AMD can charge more and Intel has been forced to drop their prices.

[@alainpatry]

What I want is that sick RTX graphics card! Dam shortage... can't upgrade that component at the moment 🙄

[@codeblackmedia]

nvidia as a music producer.. bad choice, terrible for your latency...

[@DMeletis]

This video is interesting I was wondering lately cause everybody speaks AMD. Curious what you have to say . :)

[@stellitacat]

I just needed this. Thank you!

[@Stormendrang]

Top video mate, couldn't stop smiling watching this!

[@3wc]

Thanks for this man... I've been really looking into getting an amd.

[@stevereaver]

I'm actually impressed with the Cubase socks.

[@grateful4068]

I'll watch the video when it premiers, but the answer is absolutely, yes. AMD designs amazing CPUs these days. The main issue with upgrading to a new system for audio these days is the graphics card, vis-a-vis coil whine. Gerald Undone and others have touched on it. Can be a horrendous problem while mixing audio, and depending on the card, just being in the same room with it. Fan hum might be an issue, too, but coil whine is far worse than fan noise in my opinion, because if a card whines, there's little that can be done about it. I'll be interested to see if you address this in your video! :) Some motherboards have bad USB ground loop noise, and you may need to buy a USB ground loop isolator if you run into that problem. Oh, and some boards, particularly Gigabyte boards, suffer from USB connectivity issues. Fixes are said to be in the works, but buyer beware.

[@DomSigalas]

Very good info! I LOVE Gerald Undone’s videos but haven’t watched this. I am going to now :)

[@bennyceca]

For a music production PC, just get the most basic fanless GFX, you don't need fancy graphic cards. If you are running multiple 4K monitors then sure, you will need a mid-range GFX minimum.

[@NeuroticNexus]

Not only Gigabyte MB have USB2.0 issues, it is a general AMD thing and they are working on it. I had it too with my B550 chipset. Now it is gone, perhaps because I disabled some CPU states in the BIOS.

[@nicksaya]

@@DomSigalas what are your specs on the intel machine? How many cores ? Which processor? Have u tested with protools ?

[@mrdali67]

@@bennyceca Agree. All the Video Card has to do in a music production PC is to be able to show normal Windows 2d in your prefered resolution, and this can be done with a cheap fanless entry level card, even in 4k res. Its all about CPU, Ram and SSD performance. There is no reason to have an RTX 30 series gpu unless you want to do som gpu assisted video editing on the side. And people that do this professionally usually use a dedicated PC for this only. Its why todays things like online libraries is kinda BS, cause optimally your Music PC should be completely offline and windows networking should be turned off if you want to squeeze the last couple percent of performance out of the machine. But PC's is becomming so powerfull today that most systems can handle a little networking and windows background services without hampering the performance.

[@PoundSound]

Great video Dom! What a beast of a CPU.

[@lahattec]

I am curious to see what the new Intel i9-11900 will do. Too bad this wasn't the 32 core AMD they sent you.

[@yams900]

Hello champ ! 🏆 You’re the best, always check your videos first. I’m about to build a new system from scratch, so perfect timing watching your comparison. It will be interesting…so here we go.

[@vancomposer]

THANKS for the test! 🙋‍♂️ I am trying to get the 5950X but its still only available for scalper prices and otherwise SOLD OUT. My PC is close to 7 years old now so it should be a - leaving my body into a 10 year younger me - experience ... cant wait!

[@shonatarisa]

Just a note on the impact that installed software components can have on performance. After running the test successfully with 63 instances, I installed a virtual audio software called VoiceMeeter and my benchmark dropped to 55 instances! Even shutting down VoiceMeeter and switching back to only using the audio interface did not help. I eventually solved the issue by uninstalling VoiceMeeter and reinstalling the audio drivers. I was then able to run 63 instances again. So beware that software like virtual audio I/O on windows can have a big impact on performance. In my case the difference was 15%

[@lozD83]

Any difference in pipeline has the potential to impact performance. The best benchmark is to loads up several of your own tracks and see how those perform. At the end of the day, you won't be making music the way these kinds of tests are done

[@rosesounddk]

Hello I have just made this test on my PC: Win 11 23H2 / Cubase 12.0.70 / CPU I7 14700K, Gigabyte Z790, 64Gb 5600 DDR5, Onboard grafics 4K, RME - FF800 on 48 buffer samples (lowest setting) In 2.109 Out 3.265 sec. standard FW driver Texas chipset. result: 149 tracks with no dropout, stops audio around 178 tracks. with NO tweaking settings. have a good day :) thank you for the test..

[@gregorymatafonov4726]

Cool. It is interesting to know if you did any BIOS/ Windows optimization on both machines. And also it would be nice if you measure a real overall latency by getting physical loopback on your audio interface and using, say, RTL utility. Also it would be great to see what LatencyMon software says after 10-15 mins of running on both machines. Anyways, thanks for this job. Cheers!

[@jacobsilvester1506]

This video is perfect timing because I literally started researching doing my own pc build this week. Love your content!

[@Yash-qs8iu]

Same man

[@damianvlad3508]

Hi, did you make it? What components did you buy? I wanna make a pc for Cubase projects and I am not convinced yet.

[@Yash-qs8iu]

@@damianvlad3508 just a good processor with good amount of ram works fine. I'm building my pc with ryzen 3700x (8 core processor), 16gb ram (upgradable upto 128gb in future) and 4gb of gpu (as I don't play games and just do bit of video editing and stuff). Also, a good m.2 nvme ssd is important. For me, I've decided to go with samsung evo plus ssd which process data at a speed of about 3500 mbps. Those 4 are the main parts you need to consider for any sort of pc build. Rest are the components that are needed to make these work together and form a system

[@damianvlad3508]

@@Yash-qs8iu thank you a lot! I though will need more cores. Appreciate!

[@Yash-qs8iu]

@@damianvlad3508 yea.. generally more cores = greater performance. But it also depends on what core performance you need the most. Like for video editing you need great multicore performance but for music production (which I mainly do) you need great single core performance. If you're gonna build this pc for music aswell, and want to build an absolute beast pc, consider going with the Ryzen 5000 series which has a ton better single core performance as compared to their last year's 3000 series. I'm going with the 3000 series to just save some bucks haha but will upgrade the processor very soon. Also, make sure to go with a decent cooler and case. Those two play a very main role in delivering ideal performance of your build. Cooling is especially important at least until and unless we switch the x86 architecture to ARM architecture the way apple is doing. :))

[@VintiqueSound]

Awesome test Dom! I have an i7 gen4 and now I'm trying to rationalize an upgrade haha

[@timweinheimer1]

Thanks Dom for doing this video it was really educational

[@darbomusic]

This is a fantastic comparison Dommy 👍❤️

[@mosermichael4404]

I'm using an Intel Xeon E2176G with 3.7ghz-4.7ghz Turbo boost 6core and 16 GB Ecc ram 2666 .. And that part is really killer! And very quiet! Locker 80 feel rock song and on each channel console 1 on it plus other plugins like waves, plugin alliance, sonnox around 250 active plugins and about 60% utilization with a buffer of 128. And Cubase 9.5.3 Bammmm! 😉🤗😋 Including motherboard Asus ws c246pro and 16gb ecc corsair ram and 1 tb ssd m2! And costs just 1155.- srf .. Without PC tower and power supply! I love the box to work with 16 channel drum recording real time grad times 15% utilization! In 24bit 48khz sampling rate😉😋😁🤗 Xeon processors are great for producing sound. Are server PCs based on ecc ram!

[@lukehilland3121]

Fantastic video! It seems like for most home producers, more powerful CPUs won’t improve performance much past a certain point. I mean, how many people need 100+ tracks?! What do you think?

[@DomSigalas]

Aaaah I wish I could say the same. As far as I am concerned any CPU cycle that I can get I will take it. But it depends on how much valuable it is to you. Many plugins are very heavy these days so even a 50 channel project can bring your CPU to its knees. That being said, I still have my i9 CPU as my workhorse- I think it will last me for a couple more years :)

[@melodrame1580]

I would be interested to see the 13th gen Intel stuff on Windows 11... In about a year. The 12th gen looks fabulous and reasonably priced. I think you can wait until then with the i9-9900 - it hit the sweet spot. Anyone who thinks the 60,000 engineers employed by Intel aren't busy working on total domination are crazy. They have exclusive rights to ASML's 1nm lithography. Once that is online they will exceed mores law handily. Big big changes are afoot in the computer world - just wait for it. It's a great time to be making music on a home studio. Powerful computers, huge sample libraries, infinite tracks, earthshaking synths... The bar to enter is low and it's only creativity and ideas that differentiate us now. Love your videos. Cubase just makes sense to my brain and your videos are great at unlocking the nuances. Thanks so much!

[@jayp.2313]

Thanks I just ordered a Akai 225 MPK and they said Intel or ipad / apple processors . You made me feel better . I am using a Athalon A12 Quad core with24 gigs DDR4 with a true harmony sound

[@benbas3156]

My test results for Intel I5-13600k 32GB-DDR5-6400, Windows 11, Cubase 12 44.1kHz 32Samples Latencies Input:4.092 Output: 2.154 ASIO-Guard:34.830 89 Track without dropouts. Somehow the ASIO-Guard Latency is bigger in Cubase 12 when ASIO-Guard is set to Normal.

[@MarinSubasic]

Hey Dom, great video! I just got a new PC as well like 3 months ago and I wanted to go AMD so bad but if you need Thunderbolt, no big chance, unless you go with an Asrock board which I totally didn´t want to. Also UAD 2 is still a problem with many boards, pretty much hit & miss..

[@mrdali67]

Try have a look at kzbin.info/door/O4u3XLKPLDLWkPnpfD2Vlg He has done a couple Hackintosh builds with both the Asrock ITX and the ATX. And the UAD seems to work with them. I am also not particulare an Asrock fan, but their TB card do seem to work.

[@18CC]

thunderbolt 3 is intel technology. SInce 2018 intel changed their license. With thunderbolt 3 all the ports on a computer can be the same. Thunderbolt 3 is incoming everywhere but slowly. We are in the transition. I am waiting for new motherboard full thunderbolt 3 to upgrade.

[@eungpyokim]

Thanks! Dom! It is very useful to let me know pc's ability gap between intel cpu and amd cpu ! Thanks!

[@rolandbies7051]

Forget about a new PC, i want Cubase Socks too!

[@25mileswest86]

Yes.! Yes.! I just saw those socks too... Me want, me want, me want...!!!!!!

[@nonamegrs]

Hi Dom. I've just seen your stress test. I have the i9-9900KF on a Z390 Designare and I've done your test on my PC, same settings on Retrolog, with Multiband and Revelation on every instrument track inserts, Buffer size - 32 samples on Antelope Orion 2017 connected over Thunderbolt, Input latency 0.726 ms, Output latency 0.839 ms, ASIO Guard at Normal and the dropouts started at just 85 VSTi tracks and it completely chocked up at 151 VSTi tracks. The differences are huge. I haven't tried over USB to do the test, but I'm positive it's not just the Thunderbolt connection to the interface, it must be a BIOS/Windows optimization thing. I'm curious if you will switch to M1/M2 completely. Great video btw!

[@ReckDemon]

5950x to 9900k is apples to oranges. Even comparing the Amd to 10900x or 11900k will keep a massive price and core/threads difference between the two. Did the video give an idea on how CPU can perform? Yes. Was the video helpful in terms of comparing Intel vs Amd? Absolutely not.

[@MrMoviePhoneEx]

I don't tend of have actual drop outs even on my heavy projects, but I do occassionally get static hits/distortion with the bulkier orchestral vsts that really beg to be solo'd and froze. This is very interesting. My last larger film score project was horribly organized so instead of having separate cues I had everying in one massive 600 channel project (though not all playing at the same time) with near max utilization on my processor meter inside cubase - it had moments of distortion but never an actual dropout during playback with lower/mid latency. Now I've got 3950x in my newest system and it's got to really be pushed to even get distortion - better organized project too. I'm using the motu m4 as my main interface, and recently made the jump to Nuendo with the 20th anniversary special :) I will probably build a TR system on the next update in a couple of years , don't see myself going back to Intel anytime soon - AMD or wait and see what shakes out with Apple's M series ARM processors.

[@amanchaure5584]

did any one else noticed that the used-up RAM space is only 9.8 GB out of overall 64 GB @11:16?? LOL So always remember that we don't really need 64GB's of RAM until and unless we have a requirement of running multiple Software simultaneously. (for example, A DAW software running along with the Adobe premiere pro). I pointed this out because most of the people think that just by adding more and more RAM, they can increase the speed. If you are using one software at an instance then mostly 32 GB should be well more than sufficient along with a good processor. #this comment is strictly for the audience

[@DanieleZandara]

My template requires around 130 GB and my system has 256 GB.

[@amanchaure5584]

@@DanieleZandara omg ! Nice. 👌👌 But you will need that extra 100 gb space of ram only if you have sudden spikes of 50gbs in the ram usage. Otherwise it's just an overkill.

[@emachineseventyseven7164]

Good video you gave me a whole new prospective its expensive though keep up the good work 👏

[@andesneko]

I just got a 5600X, the cheapest one, and it performs leaps better than my old i5, which was struggling with my latests projects. Now I have leftover CPU no matter what I do.

[@CaptainPhen]

That's nice to hear. I'm on the same boat, upgrading from i5 to 5600X soon. Even with a heavy orchestrated project the CPU will run smoothly?

[@andesneko]

@@CaptainPhen I haven't gotten to do an orchestral project since I got the CPU, but I can tell you a plugin that was using 30% of my CPU with each instance is now a breeze to run as many times as I want to. So yes, it should be no problem!

[@CaptainPhen]

@@andesneko Cool! Thanks for the reply, definitely getting one now!

[@ChristianSurieux]

Don, thanks but having spent years in IT/Telecom I can tell you the pb is not the CPU but the nature of RAM/chipset and SSD you use, especially under MS Windows.

[@DonBonin]

Agree! Motherboard >> speed of CPU buffers/cache and speed of RAM. It used to be Texas Instruments were the most stable/reliable in the chip set market for DAW use, but not sure if that's still the case.

[@andrew4982]

Exactly.

[@Dayann3121]

Hi Dom, so interesting video you made once again. Let me just ask you something, are you aware of drop out issues because of NVIDIA graphic card conflict with cubase? Because I've just experienced some and Ididn't knew that before. Thank you again for what you are doing.

[@BriceDeRon]

Hello Dom upfront, many thanks for a lot of your video. You save me a lot of time in me re-learning Cubase. I use to be a beta test for cubase 2 and 3 (running on atari ST) as I had some friends there. Stop doing music and then wenn I started again tried Ableton (Sorry Steinberg) Now since I do remixes, I just turned my back on Live 11 who does have some good feature for live performance but in my opinion not for doing remixings. Cubase is light year away. I simply love it. Second have a lot of stuff you have and use such as, CC121, Stream deck XL, Loopedeck CT (how about you doing that revue you promised :-) ) I would be very interested to hear from your experience there), SSL 2 and SSL 2 + (home office and office) TC Electronic (not the 96 one) and so on and so on. I have one remark and one question. Remark: I dont think its fair to compare both a I9 (2 year old) and a Ryzen 9 5650. BUT I confirm your bench mark. I have a notebook I9 10900K with M.2 Raid & SSD, 128GB (I know but I got a special price) with a NVIDIA 2080 Super and in the office a Ryzen 9 5650 with SSD with 64GB and a NVIDIA 2060 plus. If you keep the 20 to 25% less Performance of the netbook compare to PC, this is pretty much comparable hardware (more mem, faster graphic card and M.2 raid etc..) What I want to test is the CPU Performance in general (as I also do video production). So I did a pure CPU test with Maxon Cinebench ( www.maxon.net/de/cinebench ) its free and pretty neutral. My result: My I9 Notebook achieve 9 loop at max performance with 13993 benchmark, while my Ryzen system achieve 17 loop in the same time with 23870 Benchmark. So it's even more than twice the performance. Another topic, you made a lot of film explaining about your equipment and their advantage. I see you use a Audeze LCD X (probably a 2021 version), I use a Beyerdynamic 1990 250 ohm. How about you give us a little revue about the Audeze, I never had a chance to test them and always stick to Beyerdynamic as I like the "fluffy & open" sound. Also it would be interesting to know if you mix and do mix down with headset. I do, although I first do the mastering on Genelec 1030A and Genelec 8010 with a 10 inch subwoofer. anyway, thanks for give us so much useful information about how you work, really appreciate Brice

[@subhajitsarkar4432]

I am using abelton my question is. Is ryzen 5 5500u is good for music production ? 😊

[@vacuumelite2065]

Very helpful. You the man. Many thanks. 😎

[@mrlargo7067]

Thx for this this Dom, it's something that many PC users like to know. Here's my own experience: I’ve been an Intel guy for the last 20 years or last 4-5 audio sytems builds or so, but; The summer of 2021 I bought a new laptop with a Ryzen 7 5800h (8 core 16 threads) and that CPU (laptop) had better performance in Cubase than my 4 year old Intel 8700k studio tower. I was impressed. On Black Friday I upgraded my studio rig to a 5900x (12 core 24 threads) system, and it works great in Cubase. 20 or so years of prejudice about AMD CPU’s have been blown away. Though at the same time Intel launched their 12gen CPU’s and they have had very good results with benchmarks. But I bought the AMD system because it has been around for 10+ months or so and that is important if you want a stable system, 1st gen of motherboards for a new CPU usually have some unpredicted faults. Like the ASUS Z690 MB started to burn, though that’s an extreme. My thoughts is that an audio system should not be about the extreme top but the most stable However, my Ryzen 9 works great in Cubase. One other reason why I didn’t stay with Intel is that their new 12gen is very power hungry. Power hungry means more heat, more noice. Funny remark, that 5950x system uses the same case as I do It's a Fractal Design Define 7 compact . It's a a really great case. It's a Swedish company that makes very good sound dampening cases, also very easy to work with. Also, for a super silent PC, always use Noctua fans and never use water cooling CPU AIO systems. If your tower can fit it, use an Noctua D15 for the CPU. I use the fans with the 70's hospital brown and beige colors. Ugly as hell, but then I’m not looking inside my PC when I’m using it, I’m looking at the monitor.

[@slattslatt7946]

how many plugins can the 5800h run

[@laurentschark]

My favourite moment of the video was the coffee haha. I could literally imagine the smell of it ! 😆

[@denesmurvai]

haha...

[@paultwist1823]

Hi Dom. That is a really impressive difference between the two machines; I've joined those who are dreaming of getting a 3SX PC. Once thing I noticed was the the build you provided a link to show that the build would include Windows 11. Should we Cubase users be going there or would we be requesting Windows 10?

[@DuroSamples]

I am Like # 100... Nice man. I was hoping to see buffer samples over 128. I would never have my interface that low on samples. I also produce, mix and master on the same project. When I go into mix and master mode I go up to 512 samples. I had an AMD phenom II 6 core for 8 years and it woked like a Champ. Now I'm on Intel 9th gen. I have a feeling that AMD is going to end up in my computer in the near future. Thank you for your time.

[@agallo121]

Dom"" I told you about the Ryzen a couple years ago" Now.. the the Ryzen 7950x is an absolute monster. Hundreds of tracks full automation and Effects. I don't believe I even found its limits yet. I am sure there is one but more than 380 tracks of VST instruments 100 omnisphere 2.0, Absolute 6, Komplete Kontrol also Kontact 7, EastWest.100 audio tracks multiple duplicate busses across 4 monitors.. while watching Netflix in an rdp session with the UR22. While native the Apollo Twin. The M2 can not touch this thing.. nor the Intel 13900 because the E-cores do not do well with audio production. But do not waste time on the X3d'S for audio. Just the X.

[@MadmusicalHulk]

Excellent video. I use my iMac Pro (14x core Xeon, 128gb ram ecc, Vega 64, 2tb) for Nuendo..I do have a MacBook Pro 16" (i9, 64gb ram, 5600M 8gb video, 2tb) and use Cubase on that also. I do build my own systems also but I tend not to use intel and they are hard-line water-cooled. I have an AMD Threadripper system (24x 3960x, 64gb ram, 5700XT, 2x 2tb ) as well but I don't use it for music and it runs Linux as its main OS (I run windows in a VM if I have to)

[@cyrilcalmes4208]

My laptop is a Ryzen 7 (8 cores) with 16GB of DDR4. It's a beast that drives Studio One Pro with Kontakt and True Strike, Spitfire Studio Pro Orchestra and the BBCSO Core without any problem.

[@User-ec9yl]

what's the model of the ryzen 7?

[@cyrilcalmes4208]

@@User-ec9yl the computer is a Asus A17 TUF766IU-H7074T, the CPU is a Ryzen 7 4800H Renoir octocore

[@User-ec9yl]

@@cyrilcalmes4208 is there any compatibility issues with kontakt noire piano like while playing live preview and recording it's sound is cracking/breaking sound when playing/recording the chords on midi?

[@cyrilcalmes4208]

@@User-ec9yl I don't use Noire Piano, but I can play a full symphonic orchestra (around 30 tracks) on a piece like the Raider's March (John Williams). With my good old Scarlett 2i2 1st Gen. And I have no problem. Of course,with such a number of tracks and polyphony, I need to increase the buffers. But with a single piano, you can keep you buffer at a low value without any crack. I worked with Kontakt 5.8 without any problem... I recently upgraded to Kontakt 6, but I didn't test it until now...

[@User-ec9yl]

@@cyrilcalmes4208 sure mate, Thanks alot

[@CaptainVelveeta]

I read that the Ryzen processor, with a dedicated graphics card, uses it's cores much more efficiently then Intel. The article said the Intel uses a number of it's cores for the integrated GPU and if you put in a dedicated GPU it doesn't actually free up the cores, it just renders them useless. Any idea if there's any truth to that or just a sales pitch?

[@ric88keys]

Hi Dom, thanks for the video! Did you upgrade to the Ryzen in the end? If so, would be great to hear how your experience is, within a typical day to day studio setting for your work over a period of time.

[@user-xy7mo5je6f]

This was a very interesting video 😂🔥

[@redpianosbrazil]

Hi Dom, congrats for the video. I have already purchased my Ryzen after your recomendations. By the way, whats the size of your display monitor and the resolution you use?

[@momins-topic4470]

Best video about comparison 😍

[@skyfire322]

I've been rocking AMD with Cubase for years and it has always been rock solid. #AMDandCubaseforlife!

[@skyfire322]

@Axelvico Rumfabe None at all! I use those all the time and it works perfectly fine.

[@PinoGulinoMusicOfficial]

Simply WOW!!!

[@CircusNormal]

I've liteally just bought the exact same spec, AMD Ryzen 5950x and RTX 3060ti which is being built as we speak. I'm hoping that it will be able to run multiple channels of EZ Drummer 3 because right now my Intel i5 8400 just shuts Cubase down if I attempt more than two lol

[@benoittissier58]

I use my 2007 laptop with matching Firewire audio interface... and brand new Ardour under Linux.

[@classicallpvault8251]

Upgraded to a Ryzen 7 3700X from a Xeon E3-1230v3. Literally have 3 times the horsepower under the bonnet of my PC and my music production, which is except for a JP8000, entirely software-based, now goes so smoothly I can still hardly believe it. Running projects with 30-40 synths, almost all of them the CPU-hungry Spire, low latency, and the highest floating point precision settings in FL Studio, not a hassle at all anymore. Projects of this size required constant bouncing of mixer tracks to audio on my previous system as well as running on 2048 samples latency. And the low power usage compared to Intel means I can run the CPU even with a 4.3ghz overclock on a 70 bucks Cooler Master AIO with low fan speed. My mate, who is a hardstyle producer and was supposed to be playing at Defqon1's mainstage last year, uses an i9-10940X in his new studio rig, barely has more CPU horsepower but his CPU draws 250w and is equipped with a high end liquid cooler. A lower amount of money spent on CPU + cooler would have gotten him a 3900X, which would have been more powerful, but could have been kept cool with the same 240mm AIO I have...

[@davidtee2533]

set your audio buffer size to 512, no over clock (set your bios to auto ) please note if anyone here has RME AUDIO cards you should be good. 64 gigs of ram wont cut it 128 best bet (there a lot of reasons why) . your track count will go over 80 with out any problems. if you use effects too it will hog the cpu . so be careful with that. freeze function will work too. m.2 any where from 3200 to 7300 1 tb for the os do not use 500 or 250 1 m.2 4tb sdd for samples do not past over 3 tb. it give it head room don't go over no more then that. any m.2 brand

[@mrchrisbeaver]

I ran this project and got to 102 tracks, any tracks after that it started crackling. Weird thing is i am using a 5900x 12 core which has 4 less cores than the 16 core Dom was using. Same buffer setting and same exact settings he showed in this video. The only things that's different is I'm using Cubase 12 pro and Dom was using Cubase 11 Pro. I'm using Windows 11 and he is using Windows 10. Only conclusions i have to this is Windows 11 is better than windows 10 for audio work or Cubase 12 is more efficient than Cubase 11

[@saricubra2867]

Windows 11 is better than Windows 10 for audio.

[@hammlet1]

Tested. 88 tracks without dropouts. ; 89 tracks 1 dropout. System: Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-10900K CPU @ 3.70GHz (10 cores) 32.0 GB, 64bit Win 11.

[@DonBonin]

I would have loved to have seen DPC latency tests out of the box. My nvidia 2080ti video card drivers are usually the biggest cause of latency and switching to onboard graphics when I want to do DAW work takes about 10 seconds, and my old i9-9900K works like a champ.

[@helgdrev7537]

Your Intel i9 has 8 cores, Ryzen has16 cores, consequently it has run almost double the channels as you said. So why do you think that it's better? I also thinking about AMD, but isn't it wrong to compare processors with different amount of cores?

[@DomSigalas]

My CPU is two years old :) my question was if it’s worth upgrading. When I did my upgrade from my i7 (which I used for 5 years) the performance wasn’t so significant. So I certainly didn’t expect the big bump in performance. Double the cores doesn’t automatically mean double the channel count ;)

[@jakerain2820]

Right now amd hands down makes a better cpu than intel even at the same core count. They even passed up intel for gaming as well. Amd has put massive amounts of r&d into both their cpu and gpu architectures. So much so that when amds fidelity fx feature is realeased for their new rdna2 gpu drivers they may even overtake nvidia for the gpu crown as well and if they don't with rdna2 I'd almost bet they will when rdna3 comes out in a year and a half. Amd has been killing it in both the cpu and gpu market lately. It's about time too as intel was starting to charge absurd amounts for cpus imo.

[@paultumelty]

The Ryzen is also twice the price, so i would hope is better!

[@mrdali67]

I think its a fair comparison. You compare a top Intel CPU (2 years old) with a top AMD of today, and even you did it with a 10900k or 11900k the AMD would propably still at least be compareable in performance. And an almost 100% performance boost on a 2-3 year new PC still is amazing. Just imagine what you could get performance wise once the new Threadrippers gets out, wich I know is in a whole other ballgame, but again compareable with those Mac Pro's a couple years old with 2x Xeon 12 Core's inside wich also cost a fortune.

[@MisticDW]

I just did the same test on my old (2013) Intel i7 4930K 6 Cores, 12 Threads @ 4.08Ghz, 16GB DDR3 RAM, RTX 2080Ti, connected to an Antelope Orion 32+ Gen3 via dedicated PCIe USB 3 Card. at 32 Samples I got to 73 tracks without any drop outs. I wonder what I'm doing different to get to such a high track count on a 8 year old machine? I plan on building a new workstation with Thunderbolt 4 so I can use all 64 analogue channels of the Orion and the FPGA effects. I've been riding with Intel since the first gen i7 920, I must say, I haven't had a single problem with both chips in all these years, They were just Plug n Play and forget, When I had a AMD x64 build, I had nothing but problems with heat and configurations, I had to always monitor what the chip was doing, I had to keep the side panel off, The RAM never ran at the speed it was supposed to, Too, The new Ryzens look good but I'm scared to go back to AMD after all the nightmares

[@efexzium]

Why do we need universal audio ?

[@mullewap6670]

Thanks,dom.So interesting.👍😲