Suggestions on properly spend my budget

Hi to all

My existing system is based on I7 8700k with 6 ssd’s and 2 M2. An overall good system which gives me the ability to reach up to 30 tracks at 128 samples latency (Rme ff802at 48khz - cubase 10.5 pro - win10 pro) without any issues. If I load more than 30 tracks (all Vsl, Kontakt, Ewql, toontrack sd3 ets), I need to increase the buffer at 256 or freeze tracks.
the problem is that I don’t like to freeze tracks to save resources. I prefer to go till final mix with midi tracks so I can make changes whenever like to, and of course latency in pin in the … :slight_smile:
So I need more processing power.
Finally I collected my budget (around 1500 euros) and after some days of research I have come down to 2 alternatives.

1st choice
Keep my existing pc and use it as a server loading there all my vst’s through VIENNA ENSEMBLE PRO 7 and building a second i9-9900k for my Daw.

2nd Choice
Sell my existing cpu/mobo bundle and build an amd ryzen 9 3950x based system with all existing ssd’s.

results I want to achieve is simple. to work with around 80 tracks at 128 samples max with 0 issues.

I know that the secure way is the first choice but the power of Amd intrigues me. But, I am not that expert and I can’t predict which alternative will work better for my needs.

So please, I would appreciate your opinion especially from whom have experience with similar workflow and pc’s and general knowledge on Pc things.

Thank you and sorry for my bad English

I have a 3rd generation i5 and 8 gig of ram with 3 SSD’s and a Steinburg UR44 running at 24bit 44.1k. I can run 30 tracks with about 60 plugins (mainly Cubase stock) at 128 without issue. I am recording NI Kontakt for instruments and some synths, also vocal audio tracks and guitar rig. Your basic system is much more powerful than mine so you should be able to do this easily.

I guess it boils down to what plugins and how many you are using per track and perhaps using 48k instead of 44.1? Also whether you are running instrument tracks for each track or whether you are running midi tracks into a synth. I assume you have your OS and DAW on 1 disc, another for recording and then the other 6 for samples? maybe one for backup.

Your setup is more complex than mine so I don’t know that I can help, however if your basic system is struggling with 30 tracks then there may be other factors at play that may not be corrected by simply upping the CPU power.

Indeed it’s about what kind of plugins we use. Stock plugins are mostly synths with almost no demands on processing power. I load approx 50gb of samples into ram. All from vsl, ewql, Kontakt and so on.

I think I saw on Gearslutz in a post from someone that they upgraded from an 8700k to a 3950x. Perhaps search that website in the “computers” section to see if you can find them.