new PC, Workstation, pc gaming, second hand opportunities and specs

[niko9]

Hello,

I would like to buy a new PC to increase the CPU to use my pro tools 11 with much more of external plugins.

It can’t be expensive, but i would like performance.
My idea is to going on with pro Tools 11 (never do the upgrade), and never have an internet connection and anti-virus. I have an old interface too. And i would like to find a second hand tour which was a monster 10 years ago. ^-^

I saw all this gaming computer with 8 core and 32 RAM between 1000 euro and 2000 euro. And then i saw this MONSTER with 24 cores and 128 GB RAM ! for only 750 euro :

CPU : 2x Intel Xeon E5-2670 v3 (12 cores 2.2 Ghz - 24 threads) (2x10) 20€
CPU Cooler #1: Corsair Hydro Series™ H80i v2 (CW-9060024-WW) 50€
CPU Cooler #2: Noctua NH-U14S 40€
Memory : 8x Crucial 16GB DDR4-2133 (128GB) (8x15) 120€
Motherboard : Asus Z10PA-D8 250€
Power Supply : Corsair HX750i 50€
SSD : Samsung 860 EVO 500GB 10€
HDD : Seagate Barracuda 2Tb 30€
Tower : Fractal Design Define R5 (L: 232 mm, H: 462 mm, P: 531 mm) 80€
Sound card : Creative SoundBlaster SB1570 20€
Windows 10 Pro installed, updated & activated
All drives chkdsk & full format ok
Memtest64 run ok
Prime95 run ok
Graphics Card : Gigabyte Geforce RTX 2060 6Gb 200€

And that’s not the only one, i saw others old workstations like the Lenovo Thinkstation p520 which seemed not bad.

And i’m lost because this is a ridiculous price for the power. But i don’t know much about PC and this PC could be the holy graal or could cause bugs more important than CPU problem.

I know that this workstation is old and would be problematic for streaming or live gaming. But i want a PC only for Pro Tools.

My questions are :
Is this kind of pc will work well with pro tools 11 ? I’m scarried especially on the low speed frequency of 2.2 Ghz.
And why do i know nobody which use that kind of configuration, with an old cheap worstation ? am i missing something ?

I specify that i can do whithout the video/sound editing of pro tools if the video part is to demanding for this PC. The most important for me is to record, listen and mixing music with a maximum of my lowcost plugins.

And will it be better than my actual PC ?

Thank you
Nicolas

[JFreak]

Hi, welcome to the community.

New PC and PT11 don't go well together. You need to stay on Win8 or upgrade PT. More info here.

[The Weed]

Upgrade your RAM to 32 GB, swap out your hard drives for Blade SSDs if possible or SATA SSDs, learn about Processor Affinity and do all the Avid Optimizations. I have a 10 year old , 4th Gen Intel Core i7 with 2 Samsung Evo 970 Blade SSDs and 32 GB of RAM, latest Windows 10, Pro Tools 2023.6. Works just fine with and without video.

[sw rec]

Trying to figure out what would compel you to want the latest greatest PC but a 10 year old version of Pro Tools?

[niko9]

Originally Posted by JFreak

Hi, welcome to the community.

New PC and PT11 don't go well together. You need to stay on Win8 or upgrade PT. More info here.

Thank you Jfreak,

Thank you !
Yes, indeed i were aware that avid don’t recognize pro tools 11 to work with windows 10.
But with agility, it seems to work :
https://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=411117

[niko9]

Originally Posted by The Weed

Upgrade your RAM to 32 GB, swap out your hard drives for Blade SSDs if possible or SATA SSDs, learn about Processor Affinity and do all the Avid Optimizations. I have a 10 year old , 4th Gen Intel Core i7 with 2 Samsung Evo 970 Blade SSDs and 32 GB of RAM, latest Windows 10, Pro Tools 2023.6. Works just fine with and without video.

Thank you The Weed,
Upgrading my RAM was my first idea, i ask to a PC store and they told me that my PC is set already at his maximum of RAM, and that they can not add more. And then, they propose me to buy a new tour… ^-^ did they lie to me ^-^.
But moreover, i read on forum that for the massively uses of plugins, i need overall more cores than RAM. I have only 4 cores now… and don’t know how many plugin you can put in your session, but i realy want a lot.

[niko9]

Originally Posted by sw rec

Trying to figure out what would compel you to want the latest greatest PC but a 10 year old version of Pro Tools?

Thank you SW rec,
Well, the main reason is that this workstation is realy realy cheap. That is actuelly the pc that is the more powerfull than any of the PC i have seen in my life, and it is also a pc that is the cheapest i have seen.
And then, i realy hate the fact that we have to paid every time for upgrading.
I’m just happy with my version of pro tools 11, i don’t fell the need to have the top of the upgrade.
And i believe that if i upgrade pro tools, i will need a PC with even more power, and that a cycle that never finish. I think i have a problem with capitalism ^-^
My goal is to have a set like the professionals had 10 years ago, but 10 times cheaper due to that is old.

[JFreak]

Plain and simple: if you want to keep using PT11 your PC must stay on Win8. If you want to use newer Win, you must upgrade PT. So decide what you want, and you know what you need.

[niko9]

Originally Posted by JFreak

Plain and simple: if you want to keep using PT11 your PC must stay on Win8. If you want to use newer Win, you must upgrade PT. So decide what you want, and you know what you need.

Thank you JFreak,

But did you see my link ? There are several poeple who have found how to install pro tools 11 on windows 10 and it works.
The solution consist to install ilok manager and then PT11. Then go to the app settings and uninstalled the old version that pro tools just had installed of the Pace License BEFORE to reboot because this version cause problem.
So it’s ok, no ?

[sw rec]

You do know you can buy a new PERPETUAL license again, and you don’t have to do the paid updates, just that you’re stuck on whatever version you’re on when the “support” plan ends. Buy it once and go to work. Forcing Pro Tools to run in an incompatible environment might be more trouble than it’s worth.