Upgrade needed for music production rig - but what?

Gray-Fox

Gray-Fox

Gray-Fox

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Hi guys, this is my current rig that I've had since about 2014 (built with the help of this forum)

Intel Core i3-4130 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail
MSI Radeon R7 250 OC 2048MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Kingston 120GB SSDNow V300 Drive SATA 6Gbs 3 2.5" (7mm height) Solid State Hard Drive - (SV300S37A120G)
Kingston HyperX Beast 8GB (2x4GB) PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX24C11T3K28X)
Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gbs 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD
Asus H81M-PLUS Intel H81 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard
BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black
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Questions:

1) How upgradeable is the motherboard, or would it be worth me getting a new one?

2) I'm thinking to upgrade memory and my SSD to stop pops and crackles when using resource intensive plugins - how much of each can this mo/bo handle?

Thanks
 
I use Ableton Live and merely wish to eliminate pops/crackles/drop outs that occur when I use intensive pluging like Omnisphere...

Any idea what the best value ram would be, that'd be compatible with my mobo? Would DDR3 still be okay? Could I upgrade to DDR4 without upgrading my mobo?

Also thinking of a new SSD, probably 1TB if it's good enough value.

Edit: Just checked O/C prices on RAM, and cannot believe DDR3 is still selling upwards of £80...I bought them 3 years ago for around that.
 
Two cores is definitely very little for use which needs to have enough CPU resources available.

And there could be also some buggy driver.
You can use this for checking possible DPC latency problems.
http://www.resplendence.com/latencymon.


Gray-Fox said:
Edit: Just checked O/C prices on RAM, and cannot believe DDR3 is still selling upwards of £80...I bought them 3 years ago for around that.
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Memory chip makers have about cartel which has decided to make too little DRAM for PC use.
 
What audio interface are you using? You can usually eliminate audio pops through your latency settings. Most ASIO cards will allow a range of 1ms to 10ms input latency and I generally have mine set to 4-6ms.

I will say that Audio is CPU bound so maybe you should upgrade the cpu. I run a Haswell i7 4770k and can run multiple instances of Omnisphere with no drop outs whatsoever but definitely look into the latency settings and if you have not got a dedicated card you should grab an ASIO based card too. I use a focusrite Scarlett and it is a great device for not a great amount of cash. :)
 
EsaT said:
Two cores is definitely very little for use which needs to have enough CPU resources available.
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Sorry I'm probably being dumb here. I don't get your first sentence...are you saying I DO have enough or I DON'T have enough?

@dazzlaa I am using a Behringer UMC1820 - pretty certain that's not the problem. I think your second point regarding the CPU is more on the button, since Ableton Live has a CPU usage meter on its interface, and pops/crackles are in direct correlation with that going above a certain point.

I'll look to invest in a CPU then...Anyone have any suggestions?!

Thanks again
 
Gray-Fox said:
Sorry I'm probably being dumb here. I don't get your first sentence...are you saying I DO have enough or I DON'T have enough?

@dazzlaa I am using a Behringer UMC1820 - pretty certain that's not the problem. I think your second point regarding the CPU is more on the button, since Ableton Live has a CPU usage meter on its interface, and pops/crackles are in direct correlation with that going above a certain point.

I'll look to invest in a CPU then...Anyone have any suggestions?!

Thanks again
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You can reduce the load by introducing latency however.

Hold CTRL and ,

click audio tab
hardware set up button

Increase buffer length accordingly. Im sure you will be able to alleviate some of the artifacts until such time you can upgrade.
 
I would also work at a sample rate of 44100 and on the "Record , Warp Launch" tab set you "bit depth" to 16 for now.

I have been an Ableton user since version 4 and had the original Atmosphere before Omnisphere was ever a thing. I could use the software really well even back then when I only had an AMD athalon and after that a Core2 Duo.

Im certain an i3 should be acceptable to have a single instance of Omnisphere without crackling.
 
Two cores was good decade ago, but no longer even five years ago.

Already i5 would double number of cores.
But 47xx i7 would have hyperthreading allowing best handling of background processes.
(i7 4790 like other Haswell refreshes might need BIOS update)
 
i have the exact same board, but with the 4160 i3, ive only used the music software you mentioned and and some that came with my midi keyboard i own for a very brief time, but the audio was fine? i use whatever audio comes with the board, usually the pops etc you hear are the result of the speakers/headset either at the connection or they are slowly dying. i get this all the time with damaged aux from headsets, its common practice, so check whatever you listen to music through.

for upgrading, the board only supports 16gb ram, i have 16gb of 1600mhz, i dont know if it could take faster and for cpu upgrades any haswell up to the i7 4770k, cam get an i5 4460 from £80 used and an i7 4770k around 3150 i heard, it has 4 sata ports and pcie expansion slots, so your not limited as such unless you need more than 16gb ram lol
 
Gray-Fox said:
Hi guys, this is my current rig that I've had since about 2014 (built with the help of this forum)



Questions:

1) How upgradeable is the motherboard, or would it be worth me getting a new one?

2) I'm thinking to upgrade memory and my SSD to stop pops and crackles when using resource intensive plugins - how much of each can this mo/bo handle?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Hi guys. Same question again, but this time I need to upgrade for HD/4K video editing.

Could anyone advise me on a sensible set of upgrades. I am already using the software to create videos, and they're okay. However, (inevitably) during preview mode (i.e. when I'm making the video) a couple of the videos (usually .mov or 1080 HD/4K) are crackly etc. I think my workflow could be sped up a little bit. Export to Youtube quality video is okay, but I've noticed some artifacting (which is probably more due to the quality of stock video I'm using).

I'm guessing that I'll need a processor, and probably an upgrade in RAM/video card. Although I'd like to, I cannot afford any Apple products, as I just don't think I'd be getting true value.

The program I'm using is Shotcut, and it's recommended specs are here:

Operating system: 32- or 64-bit Windows 7 - 10, Apple macOS 10.10 - 10.15, or 64-bit Linux with at least glibc 2.19.

CPU: x86-64 Intel or AMD; at least one 2 GHz core for SD, 2 cores for HD, and 4 cores for 4K.

GPU: OpenGL 2.0 that works correctly and is compatible. On Windows, you can also use a card with good, compatible DirectX 9 or 11 drivers. We do not have a list.

RAM: At least 4 GB for SD, 8 GB for HD, and 16 GB for 4K.

Hard drive: yes, get one; the bigger, the better :)
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Gray-Fox said:
I'm guessing that I'll need a processor, and probably an upgrade in RAM/video card.
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Are you still using the PC of starting post?
And what kind budget you had in mind?

Anyway if you can wait three weeks more, there should be nice increase in competition of CPUs.
Also AMD has new graphics cards released then.
 
EsaT said:
Are you still using the PC of starting post?
And what kind budget you had in mind?
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Yes, still the same PC as the OP.

As cheap as possible to do the job I need! Shotcut works fine at the moment, I just feel a little boost for HD/4K would be helpful.

slipperydave said:
that PC should be fine. as you've already been asked, what sound card/audio interface are you using?
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It's absolutely fine for music production, it's just the video editing I'm concerned about here! To answer your question though, Behringer 1820 UPHORIA.
 
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Gray-Fox said:
Bump - could anyone recommend a large ssd would be compatible with my current setup?

I reckon that would speed things up no end.

Would this one be compatible?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Transcend-480GB-SSD220S-Solid-State/dp/B01DRWWLUO/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=SSD&qid=1561044520&refinements=p_72:419153031,p_n_feature_keywords_three_browse-bin:2718924031,p_n_feature_keywords_two_browse-bin:3047284031&rnid=1828587031&s=computers&sr=1-3
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Yeah, should be. I've got an Adata SU650 960Gb though which is doing a fine job and they can be had for under £80 if you shop around.
 
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