Running PT 12.6.1 on a late 2013 6 core MacPro w/ 32GB ram. Is CPU upgrade worth it?

[jaminjamesp]

I find myself using more and more virtual instruments and CPU hungry plugins. Pretty normal for my system to hover in the 80% CPU usage, and I'm getting somewhat regular CPU playback errors.

I was looking at OWC and their turnkey CPU upgrade. Including the rebate for my 6 core, their upgrade price is as follows:

$1049 - 8 Core 2.6GHz Xeon E5-2650 v2
$1449 - 10 Core 3.0GHz Xeon E5-2690 v2
$1849 - 12 Core 3.7GHz Xeon E5-2697 v2

This is my livelihood, so I don't mind investing in the tools that put food on the table. However, it's still a pretty big chunk of change that could go to other gear that I've got me eyes on.

Maxing out my ram would be cheaper, but I'm just not computer savvy enough to know if that will make more of a difference or if the CPU will make a difference. I'm not entirely sure if this is a correct assumption on my part, so correct me if I'm wrong, but do certain plugins take advantage more more cores/threads depending on how they are programmed? Or do they simply rely on Pro Tools to determine how they use system resources?

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

[musicman691]

What's your current cpu clock speed?
More ram won't help with cpu errors.
Why haven't you updated to OSX 10.12.6?

What kind of load are you putting on the system to get the cpu usage you're stating? What 3rd party plugins?

[jaminjamesp]

Originally Posted by musicman691

What's your current cpu clock speed?
More ram won't help with cpu errors.
Why haven't you updated to OSX 10.12.6?

What kind of load are you putting on the system to get the cpu usage you're stating? What 3rd party plugins?

3.5 GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon E5

As of the last time I checked, PT 12.6.1 was only supported up to OSX 10.12.1

I mistakenly let my Avid subscription run out, and have been looking at different options to get up to PT 2018... if that's the best option.

As far as third party plugins, lots of soft synths... Serum, NI stuff, too many Kontakt libraries to list (mostly orchestral). The major culprits are multiband compressors, different tape/vinyl emulators, and U-He Diva. One instance of Diva can chew up anywhere from 20% to 50% CPU when it's running in multicore "divine" mode. See the the attached image.

My go to verbs are Valhalla, which are pretty CPU friendly.

As far as load goes... sessions with anywhere from 50-100 (or more) tracks (that's all the soft synths printed) loads of plugins and a full master buss.

[musicman691]

Seeing what you're running I'm not surprised at your cpu usage numbers. It's to be expected.

While the compatibility chart does say what it says don't take that as gospel. For instance I'm running PT11.3.2 on OSX 10.12.6 with the only issue being importing audio into a session. Importing via the menu doesn't work but drag and drop from OSX Finder does. I'd make a clone backup of your system (you do that right?) and grab the combo updater for OSX 10.12.6 and see how it works.