New PC Specs—What Benchmarks?

[pjchappy]

Hoping to upgrade my PC within 6 months. What are some types of benchmarks that would indicate great DAW and VST performance? (Such as from the numerous types found here: https://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU-2019/2224)

Thanks,

P

[miN2]

Hoping to upgrade my PC within 6 months. What are some types of benchmarks that would indicate great DAW and VST performance?)

Selection of CPU's for DSP capability:
http://www.scanproaudio.info/wp-content ... P-Test.jpg

Selection for polyphony:
http://www.scanproaudio.info/wp-content ... -Chart.jpg

6 months is a somewhat long time out. I'd wait until purchase was closer and look again.

[Pete Kaine]

Yeah, we're expecting pretty much everything on the desktop to refresh by the end of summer, you'll be better served to ask this again nearer the time.

[pjchappy]

Thanks for the input. Scanproaudio looks like a great resource.

[Eddy Deegan]

I bought a rackmount 3XS RZ390 from Scan at the start of this year to run as a DAW, couldn't be happier with it and it's effortlessly handled everything I've thrown at it (Reaper and Harrison Mixbus as DAWs, main plugins being Aether and Breeze reverbs, most of the Arturia V collection synths, Omnisphere, Replika delay, Sylenth, Diva, Waves C4 and C6 and a few other things besides).

I spec'd mine from https://www.scan.co.uk/3xs/configurator ... unt-system (I doubled the RAM to 32Gb and opted for 2 x 1Tb of SSD storage).

I've bought from Scan prior to that also, and would have no hesitation in recommending them as your vendor of choice.

[pjchappy]

Thanks. However, I always build my PCs. This next build will be a big upgrade, but will just need motherboard, CPU and RAM (possibly splurge on a larger SSD).

[Skyline]

Yeah, we're expecting pretty much everything on the desktop to refresh by the end of summer, you'll be better served to ask this again nearer the time.

Thanks Pete. I was about to replace my present trusty but ageing Scan 3XS. Can you give us a hint of what's coming up in summer? New Intel chipset? Cheers!

[Pete Kaine]

Only the public leaks really.

https://www.tomshardware.co.uk/intel-co ... 60165.html

Discusses Intels Comet lake, which appears to be another refresh in the mid-range at 14nm, whereas we were kinda hoping that the 10nm Icelake would finally land this year, but it appears to be getting pushed back to next. Given that we're still expecting Thunderbolt natively on Icelake (well, nothing has been said to contradict that regarding Cometlake) that delay is a little bit annoying for PC users who want the new standard as standard.

It also mentions the AMD refresh that should be due and I suspect we'll finally see the X299 replacement appear late in the year or early next, although this has been hinted as in the works for the last 6 months if you Google up X599.

The rumours are suggestion a 10 core CPU in the mid-range but without a die shrink or a package change, so I guess we'll see how warm that thing runs in due course. The X299 chips based around the same process are running cooler at similar core counts at the moment, simply because there is more dissipation surface to work with. The suggestion that the X599 chips are going to be increased in physical size means we should see them being able to cram even sillier core counts in there.

[Skyline]

Thanks Pete, that's useful. It means I'll probably order in summer anyway; it could take too long for all the present smoke to clear by the look of it!

I'm not a 'power user' compared to some folks' needs, I just have a home studio running Studio One, Cakewalk, proprietary plugins, etc. and I don't tend to use loops or dozens of tracks. Also, I'm not one who likes to be at the bleeding edge!

John

[wireman]

Thanks Pete, that's useful. It means I'll probably order in summer anyway; it could take too long for all the present smoke to clear by the look of it!

I'm not a 'power user' compared to some folks' needs, I just have a home studio running Studio One, Cakewalk, proprietary plugins, etc. and I don't tend to use loops or dozens of tracks. Also, I'm not one who likes to be at the bleeding edge!

John

There is always something new on the horizon.

I have switched between having PCs built (by Armari), then home builds and my son's latest PC was from Scan. They did a nice job although I was freaked out with the PC being packed to the gunnels inside with bubble wrap, at least until I realised you get anti-static bubble wrap.
Nice to have support as well, we had memory replaced after it failed and the process was quite painless.

[Martin Walker]

I have switched between having PCs built (by Armari), then home builds and my son's latest PC was from Scan. They did a nice job although I was freaked out with the PC being packed to the gunnels inside with bubble wrap, at least until I realised you get anti-static bubble wrap

Yep, I remember the cold feeling of fear when I initially opened my most recent machine to find all that bubblewrap carefully stuffed in, when the thought occurred to me "what if I'd simply plugged it in and switched it on without checking inside first?"

Martin

[Eddy Deegan]

I have switched between having PCs built (by Armari), then home builds and my son's latest PC was from Scan. They did a nice job although I was freaked out with the PC being packed to the gunnels inside with bubble wrap, at least until I realised you get anti-static bubble wrap

Yep, I remember the cold feeling of fear when I initially opened my most recent machine to find all that bubblewrap carefully stuffed in, when the thought occurred to me "what if I'd simply plugged it in and switched it on without checking inside first?"

Martin

Mine too! But it did also come with a huge sticker on it telling me to remove the packaging inside the case first, so all in all I think one would have to be fairly dim not to do so

I also understand why they do it. Some years ago, I ordered a pre-built system from Scan on behalf of a friend (not for musical purposes, just a standard desktop PC) which did not have any internal packing and by the time it arrived the CPU cooler had jiggled loose in transit which led to overheating problems. Given that couriers tend not to wear kid gloves, not to mention the vibration involved in transit in general, I think the internal packing makes sense from a practical point of view.