Upgrading Audio Production PC (What to be aware of?)

[Ketchup]

Hello everyone,

I want to upgrade my CPU maybe even my motherboard. Since I am inexperienced I don't know the implications of these steps. Can I do upgrades like this and keep my system(software)? I have heard I can get trouble with payed plugins? I use Windows 10 and cubase.

Thanks in advance!

[Drew Stephenson]

I suspect most plugins would recognise an upgraded CPU / Motherboard as a new installation so I'd be prepared to take all the necessary steps as if it was a new build just to be on the safe side.

[Ketchup]

I suspect most plugins would recognise an upgraded CPU / Motherboard as a new installation so I'd be prepared to take all the necessary steps as if it was a new build just to be on the safe side.

Okay, what are the implications of this? (I have no experience with this)

[Wonks]

Upgrading the processor might give reasonable improvements on an older motherboard if your current processor's performance is down the bottom of the list of processors that the motherboard can handle and its old enough that a top-end processor for the MOBO is now relatively cheap. But if you are only going to get slight performance gains, then it's rarely worth it.

And does your system support Win 11? I know there are workarounds to load Win 11 if it doesn't, but you may find life easier if you have a system that supports it as it's not too long now before support for Win 10 is dropped (October 2025), at which point you may well want to change to a supported system.

If you haven't got an SSD as your system drive, then you'll really want to upgrade that as well

There are a whole load of questions that need to be answered if you plan to upgrade both motherboard and processor. Like the type of system drive you have. WIth a new MOBO, you're missing out on huge speed increases getting data to/from discs if you don't have a PCIe NVMe SSD.

What type of RAM do you have? If it's older, then sticking it in a MOBO that can support much faster RAM will be a big bottleneck to performance improvements.

If budget is limited, then you can only do what you can do for the money, but it may be better waiting and saving until you can make a big performance step rather than a small one.

[sonics]

Upgrading the CPU can be quite easy if done properly, and should usually cause few issues. There are always "gotchas" (like BIOS upgrades) so do your research first. It can be a cheap upgrade. I've just increased the power of an older PC for about $20. It's made a noticeable improvement.

Changing the motherboard is a completely different task, and should be thought of as building a new computer, complete with all the reinstallation and activation!

[Drew Stephenson]

I suspect most plugins would recognise an upgraded CPU / Motherboard as a new installation so I'd be prepared to take all the necessary steps as if it was a new build just to be on the safe side.

Okay, what are the implications of this? (I have no experience with this)

Most plugin manufacturers will have some kind of process that allows you to upgrade your computer without using up licences, but it will vary by manufacturer. I made a spreadsheet with all my plugins, logon details, passwords, etc and then the precise details needed to unauthorise/uninstall and reinstall. Some companies have this process on their website, but some I had to email for conformation.
Slow and methodical is the way if you don't want to lose anything.

[Ketchup]

Upgrading the processor might give reasonable improvements on an older motherboard if your current processor's performance is down the bottom of the list of processors that the motherboard can handle and its old enough that a top-end processor for the MOBO is now relatively cheap. But if you are only going to get slight performance gains, then it's rarely worth it.

Not worth it because of the hassle?

And does your system support Win 11? I know there are workarounds to load Win 11 if it doesn't, but you may find life easier if you have a system that supports it as it's not too long now before support for Win 10 is dropped (October 2025), at which point you may well want to change to a supported system.

My main concern is that my DAW and plugins will stop to work if I do anything like this.

If you haven't got an SSD as your system drive, then you'll really want to upgrade that as well

I got one, but it might be defective. I will have to do some tests to be sure. If it should turn out to be defective I going to clone my system onto a new SSD.

There are a whole load of questions that need to be answered if you plan to upgrade both motherboard and processor. Like the type of system drive you have. WIth a new MOBO, you're missing out on huge speed increases getting data to/from discs if you don't have a PCIe NVMe SSD.

I've got a quick SSD M2

What type of RAM do you have? If it's older, then sticking it in a MOBO that can support much faster RAM will be a big bottleneck to performance improvements.

If budget is limited, then you can only do what you can do for the money, but it may be better waiting and saving until you can make a big performance step rather than a small one.

My main concern right now is if I change anything hardwarewise that my system, my DAW or especially my paid plugins will stop working.

Upgrading the CPU can be quite easy if done properly, and should usually cause few issues. There are always "gotchas" (like BIOS upgrades) so do your research first. It can be a cheap upgrade. I've just increased the power of an older PC for about $20. It's made a noticeable improvement.

Changing the motherboard is a completely different task, and should be thought of as building a new computer, complete with all the reinstallation and activation!

Okay, so I can't change the motherboard and keep my system practically speaking.

Most plugin manufacturers will have some kind of process that allows you to upgrade your computer without using up licences, but it will vary by manufacturer. I made a spreadsheet with all my plugins, logon details, passwords, etc and then the precise details needed to unauthorise/uninstall and reinstall. Some companies have this process on their website, but some I had to email for conformation.
Slow and methodical is the way if you don't want to lose anything.

This doesn't sound very pratical if you have quite a few plugins... So it might be better not to upgrade the CPU if you have alot of paid plugins and don't see yourself doing this kind of work. I will have to think about it.

[BWC]

Most plugin manufacturers will have some kind of process that allows you to upgrade your computer without using up licences, but it will vary by manufacturer. I made a spreadsheet with all my plugins, logon details, passwords, etc and then the precise details needed to unauthorise/uninstall and reinstall. Some companies have this process on their website, but some I had to email for conformation.
Slow and methodical is the way if you don't want to lose anything.

This doesn't sound very pratical if you have quite a few plugins... So it might be better not to upgrade the CPU if you have alot of paid plugins and don't see yourself doing this kind of work. I will have to think about it.

Actually, the more plugins you have, the more practical this becomes. Tedious, yes, but you will save time/pain in the long run. You WILL need to upgrade or replace hardware eventually. Sooner or later, you're gonna have to go through it, might as well be prepared for it.

[Drew Stephenson]

This doesn't sound very pratical if you have quite a few plugins... So it might be better not to upgrade the CPU if you have alot of paid plugins and don't see yourself doing this kind of work. I will have to think about it.

The more plugins you have the more essential it becomes! It's actually one of those things that generally useful as backup as well. My machine had a problem with the windows 11 update (as an example) and I had to do a complete reinstall of everything. Because of this spreadsheet I already had the info I needed. I also used it to keep a record of all the other non-plugin-audio-kit stuff I needed to transfer across like template file locations etc.
My spreadsheet runs to 80 rows so far...

[merlyn]

... Changing the motherboard is a completely different task, and should be thought of as building a new computer, complete with all the reinstallation and activation!

Not so sure about that. I've built Windows machines for friends, and the old install booted on the new machine. It took ages the first time, as obviously a lot needs changed, but it did work.

[Ketchup]

Okay, thanks for all the answers. I'm going to try to keep my system for now, so I don't have to deal with the VSTs and will upgrade later when I got everything sorted out.