Hey Fellow TAs,

For those of you who have been following the recent advances in processor technologies, I am curious as to your experiences using these technologies or how satisfied you were/are with your current processor, when producing. Please feel free to elaborate with your stories.


For those of you with these newer processors, how much does Intel i5 and i7 processors differ from one another? Aside from the fact that the i7 provides for hyperthreading and is more costly because of the need for DDR3 memory and different motherboards, will there be significant performance differences in your DAWs? Will we have to wait for the DAW manufacturers to provide compliance with these newer processors to take advantage of these new technologies?


I currently plan on selecting the i5 processor because it is slightly more cost efficient, but I am wondering if I am handicapping myself if I just paid 20USD extra to get the lower end i7s, which may provide a significant processor difference. Again, I would love to hear some true, personal stories.

Thanks everyone.

Last edited by phantom limb on Sep-28-2009 at 04:51

I haven't been able to max a cpu for 2 years. Hardrive and ram limitations have always been where the bottle neck is for me.

If you have synths and modules that dont require CPU usage, makes little since to go much past a P4 dual core processor. If you use mainly VST's and VST FX then it might be worth getting into something like Intel Q9550 (what I have).

I7s are a bit overkill until the VST's catch up on resource usage and sound quality.

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commercial and underground electronic music (house/techno/trance/other) will surpass today's hip hop/pop/rock/country in worldwide interest...if it has'nt already.

either will do as it will be very hard to max out a Quad core processor, i have one and throw everything at it and it handles fine.

My advice would be go for the i5 and get more Ram. At least 4gb i would recommend.

you say $20 less can you tell me the spec's of both Cpu's.

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Originally posted by Waza either will do as it will be very hard to max out a Quad core processor, i have one and throw everything at it and it handles fine. My advice would be go for the i5 and get more Ram. At least 4gb i would recommend. you say $20 less can you tell me the spec's of both Cpu's.

Well, I am working on building a desktop PC, but there is only about a $20 difference going from an i5 750 processor to the i7 920 chip according to my local Micro Center store. Even though, hierarchically i5 should be less capable than the i7, I have heard rumors from random google searches that the i5 is very capable despite its lack of hyperthreading.

I am planning to build my comp to be around $900 or less, so the video card won't be astounding, but my main concerns are the processor and sound card. I definitely plan to get a minimum of 4 gigs of memory .

Maybe I am going overkill with the i5 and should settle for just a regular quad core. Maybe even AMD, which would save me some good money as well.

Thanks for the post.

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Originally posted by Kismet7 If you have synths and modules that dont require CPU usage, makes little since to go much past a P4 dual core processor. If you use mainly VST's and VST FX then it might be worth getting into something like Intel Q9550 (what I have). I7s are a bit overkill until the VST's catch up on resource usage and sound quality.

Ok, that sounds fair. I am pretty much a straight-up VST/VSTi and Rompler user, so a better, but more cost-effective processor may be a more preferable alternative for me.

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Originally posted by RichieV I haven't been able to max a cpu for 2 years. Hardrive and ram limitations have always been where the bottle neck is for me.

Would your RAM limitations be a result of a 32-vs 64-bit OS or does the problem still pervade besides that issue?

64 bit compatibility is still not where it needs to be for both mac and pc. It has been only a few months for an actual sampler to truly support 64 bit addressing and the issue seems to going to take even longer with mac as logic 9 is still not 64 bit.

It would be nice to just load up a sample library template , go have a coffee, come back and have everything loaded without all the hickups.

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Originally posted by phantom limb Ok, that sounds fair. I am pretty much a straight-up VST/VSTi and Rompler user, so a better, but more cost-effective processor may be a more preferable alternative for me.

With an Intel Q9550 i have yet to get anywhere close to 90% of CPU usage.

Typically projects run from 30%-80%, and thats with heavy usage of some fairly CPU hog VSTs. A Q9550 on a P45 board and 2-4 GB 1066mhz ram will be plenty of power, and if you add synths or DSP overtime, it should be piece of cake to handle.

Save the $300-$400 and get a DSI Mopho, UAD2 card, or a MIDI controller instead. Or save what you would have spent on i7 based DAW towards better Soundcard or Monitors. Or a very fast hard drive, most people underestimate hard drives, but a fast high RPM and big cache hard drive for the OS will make a nice difference if speed and resource management is of interest.

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commercial and underground electronic music (house/techno/trance/other) will surpass today's hip hop/pop/rock/country in worldwide interest...if it has'nt already.

Last edited by Kismet7 on Sep-30-2009 at 06:54

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Originally posted by Kismet7 With an Intel Q9550 i have yet to get anywhere close to 90% of CPU usage. Typically projects run from 30%-80%, and thats with heavy usage of some fairly CPU hog VSTs. A Q9550 on a P45 board and 2-4 GB 1066mhz ram will be plenty of power, and if you add synths or DSP overtime, it should be piece of cake to handle. Save the $300-$400 and get a DSI Mopho, UAD2 card, or a MIDI controller instead. Or save what you would have spent on i7 based DAW towards better Soundcard or Monitors. Or a very fast hard drive, most people underestimate hard drives, but a fast high RPM and big cache hard drive for the OS will make a nice difference if speed and resource management is of interest.

Hey, thanks for the advice. I agree that pursuing an i5 or i7 processor is a bit excessive and the money could be allocated to wiser purchases. I'm currently using an Intel Core Duo t2400, so you may see my dire need for processing power and slightly jilted viewpoint.

A good soundcard would be preferable without breaking the bank with a very high-end/expensive computer. You are a sagacious consumer, my friend. Thanks again.