INTEL CPU option

[SGG]

getting a new pc and getting close to final config and am looking like I'll end up with a beast of a PC that's withing budget at notably less than half the cost of a similarly configured mac. However getting a LOT of different info from various sources on CPUs. Researching this has provided insight but added to confusion as well.

Anyone have experience with intel i9 10900k vs i9 9900k and OS management?

Anyone currently using 10th gen cpus's? Base clock speed of i910700K is actually faster than i9 10900k.
Anyone using xenon cpus over core - still wondering if I should just go that route and be done with it. Some sources say there's a heat issue with k series cpu other say no issue at all (how much of that is based on their inventory who knows?)

Does PT 2020 take advantage of all available cores or a set limit?

Windows 10 pro versus home only cost a few $ more. Does it provide any management tools I could use not available in home version?

I'm going with 3 SSD drives (boot, audio, and VI's) and 64 GB RAM so I need to take advantage of the resources. Figured there's someone on the forum that's been down this road before.

[musicman691]

The only thing I can help you with is cpu load sharing and PT - doesn't really do it. What helps is if you use multi-timbral vi's like Kontakt or Falcon or EW Play and that is to use separate instances for each vi. For instance in orchestral stuff I use one instance of EW Play for trumpets, another for tuba, etc. I don't stuff all the brass on one instance. Or strings or winds.

[huzzam]

If you have enough tracks going, PT will use all available cores. To over-simplify, if you have a 20-thread i9-10900k, and you have >20 heavy tracks in your session (with hungry VIs & effects), you'll be using every thread & taking good advantage of your system.

Base clock speed is basically irrelevant. As soon as you start pushing things, you're in turbo land. Plus, you can usually adjust the minimum clock in the BIOS, so it's moot. Both those processors are beasts, but sounds like you might benefit from the two extra cores of the i9 if you're a heavy VI user.

I would be concerned with the thermals of the two Core processors, as they're both reported to be really hot, and cooling can get loud, of course. But as far as I've seen their single-core performance beats most current Xeons, and that's super important for audio work. So get you a good Noctua CPU cooler and a well ventilated case & stuff a bunch of big fans in there at slow rpm. And if need be, stuff it in a closet.

As far as I could tell there was no real advantage of Win10 Pro over Home for audio work. Then I switched to Hackintosh anyway and haven't looked back :) (yay for decent multi-monitor support in PT on Mac!)

Just curious: why are you separating your data onto three drives? Assuming you're getting NVMe drives, the bandwidth demands won't come anywhere near what the interface can handle. But whatever you prefer, i just find fewer, bigger drives simpler to manage.

~peter in athens

[The Weed]

Get W10 Pro. You can use Group Policy Editor to disable some functions, like Windows Update and Windows Defender if you want to.

[JFreak]

64GB memory is not very much if you plan to have VI heavy sessions. Buy more memory instead of worrying about CPU performance, if that is the case.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by huzzam

If you have enough tracks going, PT will use all available cores. To over-simplify, if you have a 20-thread i9-10900k, and you have >20 heavy tracks in your session (with hungry VIs & effects), you'll be using every thread & taking good advantage of your system.

~peter in athens

PT will only use all the cores IF you spread the load out on the vi's. They will never be equally spread out anyways. Once you render those vi's to audio you'll see most of the cpu usage in the middle-numbered cores.

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by musicman691

middle-numbered cores.

This of course has nothing to do which cores are actually being used, but just a visual representation. Point being you will likely see a bell curve, not every core seeing equal load.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by JFreak

This of course has nothing to do which cores are actually being used, but just a visual representation. Point being you will likely see a bell curve, not every core seeing equal load.

Which proves my point no matter how it's worded - PT does not do cpu core balancing. I wouldn't say it's a bell curve but more like the eq curve of an API eq.

[Obsidian Dragon]

As other have mentioned here, the more powerful processors tend to generate a lot of heat and cooling the processor is of utmost importance. The simplest way is with the CPU fan and there are bigger and more efficient fans available, however bigger and faster fans are generally noiser. One popular method is to use water cooling. This uses circulating water to transfer the heat to a radiator to dissipate the heat through greater surface area. Of course the radiator will have fans also, but these can be quieter, slower fans given the higher surface area of the radiator. The easiest solution is call an AIO (All-In-One) water cooler which includes the water block, radiator, fans, and tubes in an enclosed system. Many hobbyists and enthusiast go with a custom loop system to showcase their water cooling system with colored coolant, fluid reservoir, custom bent clear tubes, and LED lit fans, etc. If you're sticking the computer in a closet to control the noise then none of this matters. Generally, water cooled system do a better job of keeping the CPU at a stable temperature than an air fan.

On a second note, Protools does work better with a discrete graphics card than the integrated graphics on the processor. If you opt for a high performance GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), it also generates a lot of heat (often more than the CPU), so water cooling can also be use on the GPU and the CPU in one loop to keep temperatures in check. For that matter, water cooling can be routed to the NVME drives, and memory modules too if desired, but that is probably overkill. I know it sounds like we're getting into gamer territory now, but I'm honestly referring to Protools usage only. You're building a high-end computer for Protools and an efficient cooling system should be a part of that solution.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by Obsidian Dragon

As other have mentioned here, the more powerful processors tend to generate a lot of heat and cooling the processor is of utmost importance. The simplest way is with the CPU fan and there are bigger and more efficient fans available, however bigger and faster fans are generally noiser. One popular method is to use water cooling. This uses circulating water to transfer the heat to a radiator to dissipate the heat through greater surface area. Of course the radiator will have fans also, but these can be quieter, slower fans given the higher surface area of the radiator. The easiest solution is call an AIO (All-In-One) water cooler which includes the water block, radiator, fans, and tubes in an enclosed system. Many hobbyists and enthusiast go with a custom loop system to showcase their water cooling system with colored coolant, fluid reservoir, custom bent clear tubes, and LED lit fans, etc. If you're sticking the computer in a closet to control the noise then none of this matters. Generally, water cooled system do a better job of keeping the CPU at a stable temperature than an air fan.

On a second note, Protools does work better with a discrete graphics card than the integrated graphics on the processor. If you opt for a high performance GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), it also generates a lot of heat (often more than the CPU), so water cooling can also be use on the GPU and the CPU in one loop to keep temperatures in check. For that matter, water cooling can be routed to the NVME drives, and memory modules too if desired, but that is probably overkill. I know it sounds like we're getting into gamer territory now, but I'm honestly referring to Protools usage only. You're building a high-end computer for Protools and an efficient cooling system should be a part of that solution.

What you're describing in your first paragraph is a typical high-end gamer's system and this has existed for quite a while now. I don't think they're actually water now but some kind of other liquid. The thing I worry about with a liquid-cooled system is what happens when it springs a leak?