CPU For Music Production

[TravisTea]

My girlfriend is looking to build a pc to start producing her own music. She plans on using a few different programs like ableton, and also plans on recording instruments on top of that. I know Ryzen cpus are dropping soon so this could vary, but my question is will we need to go with a beefy cpu to run all of these programs? How about ram? She set a budget of $500 (usd) for the pc, minus peripherals. Thanks!

[manikyath]

ableton's system requirements ask for "a multicore processor" and 4GB ram, i dont think you'll be hurting for performance much

[IHirs]

as long as you dont plan on gaming id suggest a 6500 and 16gb of ram with no gpu

[Masteryodi1980]

I wonder too what is a great pc for music production? My friend is going to make music for my youtube channel and has his Bachelor's in Music Production from Full Sail. As an agreement for free and exclusive music for me I have agreed to purchase and build his system for him! He will also game with me in some streaming sessions!

[Enderman]

A cheap i5 would do great, with 16GB of ram. No need for a GPU.

[TravisTea]

Ok cool. Seeing as we are so close to Ryzen cpus and seeing that the $240 6 core processor (according to leaks) is faster than the 7700k and x99 6 core processor I think I'm going to wait and get that IF it is in fact faster than those cpus. I wasn't sure if we'd have to use a gpu so hearing we won't makes me happy. Thanks guys!

 

Source of the leaks I mentioned above:

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/antonyleather/2017/02/21/amd-ryzen-7-1700x-performance-leak-faster-than-intel-core-i7-5960x/#23ac868962fe

 

[Crossbred]

Keep in mind that these programs tend to take up a lot of storage space. 

[TravisTea]

8 hours ago, Crossbred said:

Keep in mind that these programs tend to take up a lot of storage space. 

How much do you think would be plenty for someone starting out? Obviously I can always add more later but from the get go?

[Mutoh]

Personally I find it depends on the kind of music youre trying to make and how you record it. If youre going to record live instruments and are using minimal effects and tracks then you can probably get away with less power.

 

 

If youre recording like 12+ tracks with a bunch of virtual instruments/vsts on each track then you might need a bit more juice. If youre also planning on using samplers and stuff like that, how much RAM you have will also be something to consider.

 

As mentioned, something like an i5 and 16GB minimum would probably be okay for somebody starting out but what are you guys looking to do recording wise?

[TravisTea]

Lighter electronic music with piano, bass, and guitars recorded over it. It just depends on her mood but she does play a few different styles of music. I've only really built computers for light office use and gaming rigs so I'm pretty clueless on this whole deal. 

[PianoPlayer88Key]

17 hours ago, LordSlimJimm said:

Ok cool. Seeing as we are so close to Ryzen cpus and seeing that the $240 6 core processor (according to leaks) is faster than the 7700k and x99 6 core processor I think I'm going to wait and get that IF it is in fact faster than those cpus. I wasn't sure if we'd have to use a gpu so hearing we won't makes me happy. Thanks guys!

 

Source of the leaks I mentioned above:

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/antonyleather/2017/02/21/amd-ryzen-7-1700x-performance-leak-faster-than-intel-core-i7-5960x/#23ac868962fe

 

Just FYI, the Ryzen CPUs do not have an iGPU, so a dedicated GPU would be needed.  If she's not gaming, I'd think she wouldn't need more than an RX 460 or GTX 750 Ti/1050.  Maybe even a GT 710 might work if the budget is very limited, but the performance may be a bit weaker than current Intel iGPUs.  I wouldn't go for a GT 730 unless it's really cheap, like <$50 I think.

[Crossbred]

14 hours ago, LordSlimJimm said:

How much do you think would be plenty for someone starting out? Obviously I can always add more later but from the get go?

If the main drive wil be the only one a 2tb drive should suffice.

[TravisTea]

On 2/22/2017 at 0:00 AM, PianoPlayer88Key said:

Just FYI, the Ryzen CPUs do not have an iGPU, so a dedicated GPU would be needed.  If she's not gaming, I'd think she wouldn't need more than an RX 460 or GTX 750 Ti/1050.  Maybe even a GT 710 might work if the budget is very limited, but the performance may be a bit weaker than current Intel iGPUs.  I wouldn't go for a GT 730 unless it's really cheap, like <$50 I think.

I have a few older gpus that we could toss in the system if we go Ryzen. It's very tempting to go with AMD for the price. I can't imagine single thread making a difference vs multi thread in this case.