Upgrading (my CPU)

[rossi68]

I am currently on a self built i7 980x rig, and its doing ok, but not great, and I am looking for upgrade options.
I was thinking of a newer i7, but saw today news about amd,s ryzen line of cpu,s..
Anyone had their hands on one yet???

[albee1952]

i7 6 core, X99 motherboard and 32(or 64) GB of RAM. I would avoid the new AMD unless you can afford to be a trailblazer(and absorb the cost of failure)

[rossi68]

A very good point, as usual.
But it sure would be fun to find out if they are good for pro tools....

[albee1952]

Originally Posted by rossi68

A very good point, as usual.
But it sure would be fun to find out if they are good for pro tools....

I heartily agree, but after striking out on my last "experiment" and losing about $650..........

[mdb]

How can a Processor cause instability to Pro Tools? What are the things you can expect? Is there any other program that also requires a certain CPU brand (other than operating systems...) ?

I've had my share of problems with Intel CPU's and Pro Tools... Would AMD make it worse?

I am also looking for an upgrade and think the Ryzen 1800x is very interesting.

Once upon a time, Apple worked with AMD CPU's. And currently uses AMD GPU's actually.

[albee1952]

Originally Posted by mdb

How can a Processor cause instability to Pro Tools? What are the things you can expect? Is there any other program that also requires a certain CPU brand (other than operating systems...) ?

I've had my share of problems with Intel CPU's and Pro Tools... Would AMD make it worse?

I am also looking for an upgrade and think the Ryzen 1800x is very interesting.

Once upon a time, Apple worked with AMD CPU's. And currently uses AMD GPU's actually.

#1-Its not AMD per say, but the motherboard chipset that makes or breaks compatibility.
#2-intel left AMD in the dust many years ago and AMD is still playing catchup.
#3-when did apple ever use AMD? They used Motorola for years, and then moved to intel Core series(laptops) and XEON(Mac Pro towers) and i5/i7 in most of their current crop.

Problems with intel are probably a matter of A-which cpu, B-which motherboard/chipset and/or C-system settings(trust me, I am to blame for a great many problems I have had.....maybe the vast majority). Being a trailblazer is fun, but can be expensive. Building from known-working parts(such as my build 4 years ago) rewards you with a rig that works really well(any issues I have these days are due to my own "pushing the envelope", but I also ALWAYS have a backup plan) Drive imaging and cloning are SOP for me

[mdb]

That's funny I always thought Apple Switched from AMD to Intel in 2005, but it was Motorola...

So I have to rephrase my question:
How can a motherboard/chipset/cpu combo cause problems for Pro Tools? Does anybody know how it can be of influence on the software (problem-wise) ?

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by mdb

That's funny I always thought Apple Switched from AMD to Intel in 2005, but it was Motorola...

...and IBM. To be more exact, they switched from PowerPC architecture

[Drew Mazurek]

Originally Posted by mdb

So I have to rephrase my question:
How can a motherboard/chipset/cpu combo cause problems for Pro Tools? Does anybody know how it can be of influence on the software (problem-wise) ?

To me, the weak link for PT is that Avid chose long ago to eschew the OS's audio layer (Core Audio for Mac and whatever Windows calls it) for their proprietary system. Then played catch up later and have to maintain these two systems now. This is why (in all my experience) PTHD is WAY more stable with Avid's hardware than PTSW is with 3rd party boxes.

[Meads]

Originally Posted by Drew Mazurek

This is why (in all my experience) PTHD is WAY more stable with Avid's hardware than PTSW is with 3rd party boxes.

Not true from my experience. I work on an HDN rig at the studio and with a 3rd party interface at home using the same license with the same plugins working on the same sessions. There's no difference in stability or performance.
There might be 3rd party interfaces with sloppy drivers that cause problems, but my setup runs as solid as you can can call PT "solid" regardless of the hardware. YMMV