Mac Pro 5.1 for PT 2018?

[danieleither]

I'm currently using PT10 HD3 on a Mac Pro 3.1 8-core system. It runs pretty well provided I stick to mostly DSP plugins. I do like using a LOT of plugins in my work and I find it won't cope with many native plugins and runs out of memory easily, despite the system having 32gb. I believe PT10 can only utilise 4gb so this may be the reason why.

I've been considering upgrade to a PT12 or newer HDX setup for a while now (mostly due to the offline bounce and track rendering functionality) however I also understand that the newer tech will handle native plugins more efficiently?

I will also upgrade the MAC. I despise the cylindrical shape of the newer 6.1 Mac Pros so I'm considering a used 5.1 system and would be grateful if people could advise what spec I should be looking for? e.g. 6-core of 12-core? Is 3.46GHz processor enough? Is 32gb enough memory or should I be looking at 48gb / 64gb / 96gb etc?

With regards my usage, I'm a home-studio producer working on my own music only. Only recording a few tracks simultaneously, most of the time tracking one track at a time. Mixture of analogue tracks and virtual instruments 50/50 and typical track counts 35-50.

What I'm looking to achieve is to be able to use a lot more native plugins (e.g. Soundtoys, Izotope, Waves) rather than be restricted to the Avid DSP plugins even though they are excellent.