Hi,


So I'm looking for a really cheap option for a PC to use for light office work, but all the "heavy lifting" will be for music production, mostly BiaB-and who knows? I might even have the ability to run RB smoothly. There are so many features in RB that I would love to explore and experiment with, but every action I try in there right now takes half a minute to execute so I just give up in frustration :-(

I'm also just discovering the wonderful world of Native Instruments (Kontakt, Traktor, Reaktor, Guitar Rig, et al) and would love to be able to run multiple plugins on multiple tracks in Reaper, both audio and MIDI simultaneously).

Basically right now I'm using a totally inadequate laptop (i-3 6006U) and someone posted in the local second-hand board a used Dell OptiPlex 990 with an i-5 2400 for REALLY cheap.

http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i3-6006U-vs-Intel-Core-i5-2400/m214467vs803

I hope this question doesn't come across as stupid, as, on paper, the benchmark comparisons are clearly in favor of the i-5. However, given that the i-5 was released in 2011 vs the one I have now which came out at the end of 2016, I'm worried that maybe I'm missing something(?).

Any advice/feedback would be greatly appreciated!

That’s good you are looking at benchmarks, as it is the only way to get a practical comparison of total performance on two machines. Yes, a good i3 is better than a modest i5, and yes there are many other considerations. The RAM and hard drives would matter the most after the CPU.

Interestingly BIAB is processor-intensive more than most programs. A DAW would need fast drives, for example.

Good news, the graphics are not important at all for digital audio programs.

Thanks, Matt.

Yeah, I'm a big believer in benchmarks. In fact, on a somewhat related note, I was watching a video on YT quite some time ago regarding how to optimize your workflow when using multiple instances/layers of instruments in Kontakt, and the guy went into a short segue regarding how various DAWs, VSTs, and plugins utilize cores vs threads and how the whole 32-bit vs 64-bit thing is significantly affected by that.

I remember at the time thinking about how there is so much carping in the BiaB forums about it still being 32-bit and realizing that this is not an issue that simply disappears with a $10 JBridge utility. Would you care to comment on that aspect? (I confess that when it comes to computers I still have much to learn...)

Thanks again!

just an FYI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpRGhVo9jxs

Yeah, I just watched a number of similar videos specifically addressing the CPU in the PC I'm contemplating purchasing. It's really amazing how some components really hold up after nearly a decade whereas others become virtually obsolete within a few years.

A really big part of this is how hard are you going to push it? Most folks on this forum including me have pretty modest requirements even when using a DAW separate from using Biab.

By modest I mean I only work with a few instrument tracks while a lot of YT users talk about doing symphonic stuff that can run to 50-75 or even 150 instrument tracks and plugins.

Typically I may create a few different bass tracks, maybe 3 or 4 drum tracks a couple of guitar tracks etc. Total tracks before I start culling the heard might be 12 or 15. That does not require a super robust computer even if you're running Kontakt. But if you're using a big softsynth like Kontakt and running 75 tracks at once, that's a totally different strain on the CPU. Effects plugins add up too. An amp sim, delay, a Leslie for organ all count as a separate track or thread or whatever. It can add up. Still for me anyway I do small band stuff. Guitar, bass, keys, drums and maybe live sax and vocals. Each of those might have a few comp tracks. Not a lot of CPU strain there.

And don't forget the very old but still valid trick of rendering to audio. If your PC starts choking from running too many VSTi's in real time just render some of it to audio. Problem solved. That's how people were producing pro level tracks 25 years ago using an ancient 486 machine.

Bob