[rectifryer]

Originally Posted by Dent1

^

Thurban is a great CPU, it's hard justify moving from the X6 to a FX or 2500K/2600K to be frank when you weigh the price /performance and hassle of changing sockets etc.

I think OP could get away with keeping his Thurban and just upgrading the RAM. Then concentrate only $400 on building a dedicated HTCP based on Llano or Trinity. This way he will save a shitload of money. He can always revisit the CPU issue in a few months when Piledriver is released.

Saying that the Intel 3xxx K is my first choice for a fresh build.

I think this sums up the thread nicely.

Originally Posted by lilhasselhoffer

Perhaps I'm missing the wording, but I don't get it.

Do you want to spend $1200 for a completely new system? Do you want to make an HTPC and gaming rig between what you have now and $1200? Do you, perhaps, not even know what you want beyond the fact that it needs to run certain programs well?


If you've got the need to build a HTPC, then reusing a Phenom x6 is foolish. Running that 24/7 is going to put a real hurt on the power bill. On top of that, 6 cores is so far overkill that there aren't adequate words. You can build an I3 based system that is just as capable for a few hundred dollars, and save the Phenom for gaming.

if you want a multi-core beast you have to go with the 3930k from Intel. The problem is that you'll need either very high end air or water cooling, the boards are expensive, and your budget leaves little room for decent graphics. It can be done, but you need to know that CPU power is 100% what you need.


Please don't take this the wrong way, but you sound like an arts student. Playing at what you don't know is a good way to lose quite a bit of money. If I were building a rig for a content creator I would go with: 3820 CPU, motherboard with 8 RAM slots (populate all with 4GB sticks), medium range graphics card, high end PCI-e audio card, a prefabricated water cooling loop for the CPU cooler, a large MLC based SSD (something like the 240 GB Agility 3), and a big HDD for content storage.
CPU: 300 USD, but 8 threads and quad channel RAM.
Graphics: Enough to render media well, or GPGPU if the programs support it.
Audio: What you said you need.
Water Cooler: Very capable, quiet running, and very little to worry about.
SSD: Relatively cheap, but still offering enough space and performance to be "felt" by most users.
HDD: Media creators need storage.

Also, to satisfy conjecture, I am not an art student. I am studying EE at UCF. Lets clarify some of my original statements:

1) I want to build another computer because an keeping an OC'd thuban cool is loud. I could spring for water cooling it but putting together a kit is cost prohibitive. Why not just use this board/cpu as a SERVER/HTPC that I need anyways? Think the bolded part is what some are reading over. At idle, this setup doesnt pull much power as it is. I don't think having it on is going to add much to my elec. bill. Honestly, I haven't even considered this aspect so thanks for letting me know.

2)I don't care about graphics at all.


HOWEVER,

Most of you are saying that upgrading from a 1055t to a 2600k in this case will be a waste? That makes me sad panda. That really sucks because I was all stoked to do this thinking there was something better out there. I don't understand though, because most of the benchmarks say an OC'd 2600k nearly doubles the power of a 1055t. Is this the case or not?

Originally Posted by Jack Doph

I use Sonar X1 (Producer Edition) & I have more than 30GB of Soundfonts & VSTis - I have yet to do anything (audio-wise) that even comes close to making my system break out in a sweat.
More than a 2600K/2700K is just a waste of money really.


^ this. I found 1866MHz to be the sweet spot & more speed is wasted for your uses - latency is a bit more important, but at that speed, also not as important.

3). Jack, Cakewalk 8.5 PE running FL 10 with IN Massive is a stress on my system. Combining that with live monitoring and you are looking at more latency than clients would like during recording. It doesn't necessarily max it out, but it puts my 1055t outside its comfort zone (probably due to poor single thread performance). I do ALOT of work with plugins and vst(i)s. I have alot of money tied up there, thus optimizing my system for this makes sense in the long run. I noticed you have a 2600k and run a similiar setup, that makes me think this is worth it.

4) I already have the audio card I am planning to use, in this case its a M-Audio 1010lt PCI card.


I really appreciate you guys' input. Critiiques of the setup are exactly what I am looking for.