Processor question

[The Paul meister]

Hi everyone,

I'm running a laptop with a 6th gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6200U CPU @ 2.30GHz 2.40 GHz. I'm looking to get a fanless ie silent desktop for my studio so I can attach a larger monitor to it compared to the laptop one. There's one with an AMD GX-424CC 2.4GHz processor and also has a SSD, like my laptop.

Can anyone comment on or compare these processors? Is the AMD one suitable for Guitar Rig 6, and a few other soft synths? I know my laptop can do this. NI support said any computer running Windows 10 will run their software, but is the AMD processor suitable for multi tracking etc?

Any help appreciated,

Cheers, Paul

[tea for two]

There's one with an AMD GX-424CC 2.4GHz processor and also has a SSD, like my laptop.

Is this in a Dell Wyse. I'm quite intrigued by it as it is fanless. Such fanless System on Chip are usually meant for some type of low load server, medical devices, industrial devices, digital advertising boards, vending machines lol, so forth.
I'm not sure this AMD SoC would be up to scratch for Guitar Rig 6 and some Soft Synths especially usable low latency.

There are AMD Ryzen micro desktop computers by Beelink, Dell, Geekom, HP, Lenovo, Minisforum, that would readily handle Guitar Rig 6 as well as various Soft Synths at useable low latency but they are not fanless.

[The Paul meister]

Thanks for your reply

[The Paul meister]

Hi tea for two,

Here's the link to the computer I'm looking at.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115731703140 ... kBDCDzOQ40

Cheers, Paul

[Wonks]

It's a 2016 design and it's going to be really underpowered for audio use. Any heavy processing load and you'll probably max out the processor and it will throttle back the speed.

As a bare minimum you'd need the 8GB with 256GB SSD, but you'll probably fill 256GB up really quickly (and you should never have an SSD too full).

Dell specs here:

https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en ... lang=en-us

Note that you've only got two USB3 ports, the others are USB2.

[The Paul meister]

Thanks for your reply Wonks

[Jimmy B]

Excuse me asking an obvious question, but is there a reason (apart from convenience) why you don't want to connect your larger external monitor, and a keyboard and a mouse, to your existing laptop?
Depending on your laptop model, you may be able to address the convenience issue with a docking station.

[The Paul meister]

Hi Jimmy,

Thanks for your suggestion. I don't really want to have the laptop screen and the monitor on at the same time - it's just a bit distracting. Unless anyone can recommend a way to have the external monitor as a second display using an HDMI output from the laptop to VGA on the monitor, so I could effectively have a dual monitor setup? That would be handy.

Cheers, Paul

[Wonks]

On CPU benchmarks, the AMD has about 59% the performance of your current laptop CPU.

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/22 ... l-i5-6200U

So whilst it will run a lot of things well (my general purpose PC is a 2008 design Q6600 machine that has slightly higher performance than the AMD and runs things like Office well), the higher processing demands of most current plug-ins means that you won't be able to run many of them before you start to get dropouts and need to increase buffer size and latency. So whilst you could run Guitar Rig 6, it might not be at the best latency and you probably couldn't run too many VST instruments or samplers alongside it. Straight audio tracks without VSTs should be OK (so freeze any tracks with effects), but you're going to a lot of effort just to make it work just to get a higher screen resolution.

[Wonks]

Almost all laptops can switch between using the standard and an external screen.

What laptop is it?

[Jimmy B]

Hi Jimmy,

Thanks for your suggestion. I don't really want to have the laptop screen and the monitor on at the same time - it's just a bit distracting. Unless anyone can recommend a way to have the external monitor as a second display using an HDMI output from the laptop to VGA on the monitor, so I could effectively have a dual monitor setup? That would be handy.

Cheers, Paul

Yes, you can buy a HDMI to VGA adapter such as this one. I haven't tried it but it doesn't cost very much to experiment:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Adapter-Digita ... 934&sr=8-3

However, a nice new monitor with HDMI input isn't too expensive:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/LG-Electronics ... 151&sr=8-3

If you set up your laptop with an external display, keyboard and mouse, then close the lid, it should continue to work on just the external display, provided that you have set the "power settings" appropriately ("what to do when closing the lid- do nothing").

It is also quite easy to set up your laptop so that you have a dual monitor capability, using "extend these displays" under "settings-display- multiple displays- extend these displays". you can even choose which one will be the primary display.

Hope this helps.

[Jimmy B]

Sorry- Wonks posted a similar answer while i was writing mine.

[The Paul meister]

Hi guys,

Thanks for your replies. The best thing about my laptop is that it's silent. It's a Dell Inspiron 13 5000 Series with 16Gb RAM, 128Gb SSD and Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6200U CPU @ 2.30GHz 2.40 GHz processor.

I'll have a look at the external display option a bit later - I'm busy today.

Cheers, Paul

[The Paul meister]

Hi again Jimmy,

I already have an ASUS monitor with VGA only which I got for £51. I also have an HDMI to VGA cable. I had it set up with my laptop behind the monitor so I couldn't see both screens at the same time. However it was very awkward getting the laptop out again for when I want to travel with it. Hence I was looking at getting a desktop to avoid this hassle. I didn't realise I could set up the laptop with an external display like you suggested. I'll have a look at this later.

These suggestions by everyone have been most helpful.

Cheers, Paul

[The Paul meister]

Hi Wonks and Jimmy,

I tried with the dual monitor setup but I couldn't seem to open Cakewalk on the bigger monitor, and I couldn't move the mouse cursor from the laptop screen to the bigger one.

However, I changed the setting like Jimmy said "what to do when closing the lid- do nothing" and now I have Cakewalk working with more space if you know what I mean so I can see the track I'm recording and Guitar Rig 6 at the same time. This solution is ok for me, but the dual monitor would be ideal, if you could explain how to achieve it.

Cheers, Paul

[Wonks]

You'd have to read the manual to find out if it supports dual monitors. if it does, it should tell you how to do it, though it should be through the standard windows display setup pages. If it does, you may need both the monitors at the same resolution.

[The Paul meister]

Ok Wonks,

Thanks for your help.

[James Perrett]

I use two different sized monitors and occasionally run Cakewalk which seems to work fine on two monitors. To do this

• Right Click on the background
• Select Display Properties
• Arrange displays using the pictures (if only one is shown click Detect)
• Choose the required resolution and scale
• Go down to Multiple Displays and choose Extend These Displays

Hopefully you should then be able to use both displays. When you remove the second display everything will move onto the laptops own display automatically. Windows should also remember the settings the next time you use the second display (but sometimes it forgets).

[Jimmy B]

As James says.
You will also find an option to "make this my main monitor". You can this to cause applications to initially open on the external monitor, if that what you want them to do.

[tea for two]

Hi tea for two,

Here's the link to the computer I'm looking at.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115731703140 ... kBDCDzOQ40

Cheers, Paul

Welcome. Pretty much been covered by the dear folks responses.
Suffice to say I myself wouldn't use this for making music.
I would look at an AMD Ryzen either a micro or mini pc.

Although my preference for a desktop is an all one with monitor built in but they tend to be harder to upgrade due being harder to get into.
Oftentimes they ship with 5400rpm slooooow drives when spending at the lower end : I found this when I purchased a fortnight earlier thereafter returned a Lenovo Ryzen 4500U 6Core 23inch screen all in one which supposedly had an SSD yet was 5400rpm :
sloooow isn't the word snails pace lol.
Trying to get into this Lenovo all in one I might have ended up breaking the screen.

[The Paul meister]

Hi James,

I followed your instructions. I can move the mouse cursor left from the laptop screen and then it comes up on the right of the monitor. The large monitor is my main display.

The laptop has the normal wallpaper and icons along the bottom, but when you click on any of them, eg internet explorer it just opens the window on the large display. Ie I don't seem to be able to use the laptop screen for anything. I'm happy enough just closing the laptop and using the large display using the option: "what to do when closing the lid- do nothing". It would be nice maybe to use the laptop to show the mixer in Cakewalk, but I can live without that.

Thanks for your suggestion,

Cheers, Paul

[Wonks]

You should be able to then drag the open window i.e. IE, across to the laptop screen.

[The Paul meister]

Yes Wonks,

You're right. I just had the internet open on the laptop and Cakewalk on the monitor.

Does anyone know how to get the mixer/console on the laptop screen?

[James Perrett]

I'm not sure how I did it, but my copy of Cakewalk appears exactly as you want with the main screen on the big monitor and the mixer on the laptop so it is definitely possible.

[Jimmy B]

I don't use Cakewalk, so I haven't got the latest version installed, but here is what I found on version 2019.11:
The mixer appears to be called a "console". At the bottom right or top right (depending on where the console is) of the "console" there is a down arrow, which gives access to "console options". One of these options is to "undock console". Once undocked, it should be possible to drag it to the other screen, I expect.
Hopefully a current user can verify this.