Will upgrading my CPU be an extreme boost or?...

undentifiedz · Oct 26, 2014

Hey everyone!

I'm running an hackintosh with an i5-2500k cpu, right now i have a project that I worked on quite a bit but I just can't work on it anymore because it lags out logic pro (I use logic pro 9) and it's just unbearable for me to finish it even though i'm almost done with it.

I was looking at buying a new cpu and i wanted to get the i7-4790k cpu, i would also need a new mobo and i was going with the GA-Z97X-SLI (i was first looking at the GA-Z97X-UD5H but the SLI one is pretty much cheaper and i don't think theres a major difference in those 2 mobo's)

I was wondering, if i upgrade from a i5-2500k to a i7-4790k will i see a huge difference in logic pro? I heard everyone saying you should get a 8 core or more cpu but they're quite expensive, i was also looking at saving for a more expensive mobo so i could get the xeon e5-2620 v2 but then i'd have to wait a few extra months to get it.

Should i get the i7? or would i benefit wayy more if i'd go with the xeon?

Thanks!

JoelTheSuperior · Oct 27, 2014

The CPU will definitely help but I notice that you don't mention what kind of storage you have? If you're currently using a harddrive you'll find that an SSD will give a huge boost in performance for software such as Logic Pro X.

The i7-4790k is a fairly big increase over an i5-2500k but I suspect that the bottleneck may lie elsewhere.

One other thing to keep in mind is that the i7-4790k can be a tad involved to get working with Yosemite. It's nothing too complicated but you'll want to be using Clover and you'll need the correct DSDT for your CPU.

Also keep in mind that if I recall correctly the integrated graphics isn't currently supported.

undentifiedz · Oct 27, 2014

JoelTheSuperior said:
The CPU will definitely help but I notice that you don't mention what kind of storage you have? If you're currently using a harddrive you'll find that an SSD will give a huge boost in performance for software such as Logic Pro X.

The i7-4790k is a fairly big increase over an i5-2500k but I suspect that the bottleneck may lie elsewhere.

One other thing to keep in mind is that the i7-4790k can be a tad involved to get working with Yosemite. It's nothing too complicated but you'll want to be using Clover and you'll need the correct DSDT for your CPU.

Also keep in mind that if I recall correctly the integrated graphics isn't currently supported.

Hey thanks for the reply,

And yes my apologies i forgot to include that i have a HDD.

I'm using clover atm and everything is running fine so i guess i should do a little research before i would go get my i7, would you recommend me first getting an ssd or upgrading my cpu? What would give the best perfomance increase?

Thanks!

JoelTheSuperior · Oct 27, 2014

Personally I'd go for an SSD first but it's completely up to you. If you're working with large audio heavy projects you'll likely find that an SSD will have a fairly big impact.

That said, check activity monitor - if you're using a lot of software instruments it's certainly possible that you're hitting the limits of the CPU. Just in my experience at least I've found disk IO to be more of a bottleneck with Logic than the CPU.

ChrisA · Oct 27, 2014

undentifiedz said:
Hey everyone!

I'm running an hackintosh with an i5-2500k cpu, right now i have a project that I worked on quite a bit but I just can't work on it anymore because it lags out logic pro....

Things that might matter more than the CPU...

1) The storage device. If you are running a LOT of high bit rate tracks. But storage maters little if you are just doing a few tracks.

2) the GPU. Is you Logic pushes some function onto the GPU if you have one of those that is supported. On a Mackintosh, my guess would be that you don't have a supported GPU so ALL th work is falling on the CPU.

3) RAM Are you running low?

Use "Activity Monitor" to find where the bottle neck is.

But you need to tell us more about your project with no more detail we can only offer general advice.

undentifiedz · Oct 28, 2014

ChrisA said:
Things that might matter more than the CPU...

1) The storage device. If you are running a LOT of high bit rate tracks. But storage maters little if you are just doing a few tracks.

2) the GPU. Is you Logic pushes some function onto the GPU if you have one of those that is supported. On a Mackintosh, my guess would be that you don't have a supported GPU so ALL th work is falling on the CPU.

3) RAM Are you running low?

Use "Activity Monitor" to find where the bottle neck is.

But you need to tell us more about your project with no more detail we can only offer general advice.

Yeah my apologies, here are my specs:

i5-2500k

8 gb of ram

1TB HDD

GPU: Nvidia GeForce 560 TI

running yosemite on my hackintosh

My project is quite heavy/full, i believe i have about 80 tracks atm. I mainly produce EDM, so i do use a lot of synths/effects on a lot of tracks

One thing that i noticed and i don't know if it's normal or a bug or just my pc.

I was working on it again but there was major lag so i tried freezing every channel except about 5 of them which i was working on, it finished freezing, but logic was still lagging like crazy, no difference with or without freezing the track, not sure if thats a bug, my pc or i'm just stupid?

Thanks!

Edit: Looking at it i actually have 8GB of ram instead of 16, i think that might also be the cause?

Would you recommend me getting an SSD or 16GB Ram?

JoelTheSuperior · Oct 29, 2014

undentifiedz said:
Would you recommend me getting an SSD or 16GB Ram?

Logic certainly benefits from having a lot of RAM to work with, but to be honest in your case I'd still go for the SSD first - I generally find an SSD has more of an impact on performance than RAM once you reach around 8GB.

I recently bought a 1TB Samsung EVO 840 and performance has been fantastic. It's been very nice having all of my samples etc installed on there as well.

VI · Oct 29, 2014

undentifiedz said:
Yeah my apologies, here are my specs:

i5-2500k

8 gb of ram

1TB HDD

GPU: Nvidia GeForce 560 TI

running yosemite on my hackintosh

My project is quite heavy/full, i believe i have about 80 tracks atm. I mainly produce EDM, so i do use a lot of synths/effects on a lot of tracks

One thing that i noticed and i don't know if it's normal or a bug or just my pc.

I was working on it again but there was major lag so i tried freezing every channel except about 5 of them which i was working on, it finished freezing, but logic was still lagging like crazy, no difference with or without freezing the track, not sure if thats a bug, my pc or i'm just stupid?

Thanks!

Edit: Looking at it i actually have 8GB of ram instead of 16, i think that might also be the cause?

Would you recommend me getting an SSD or 16GB Ram?

Could this be why? Especially with drivers that may not be optimized? I'm not even running Yosemite on my rMBP because I use it for my business and the bugs I'm seeing are not something I can change right now.

Also, does Logic 9 use the GPU? I think that's something fairly new in the past couple of years, so was 9 one of the version that did? If not, then that's definitely not an issue.

It's been a while since I've recorded anything, but at a studio a friend and mine use to run (it was a small endeavor), I was using a 2.0 C2D MBP with a Motu 828MKII and never had an issue with lag or latency. We'd normally run 6-10 mics inputs at a time for our largest tracks and have projects running with around 50 tracks (different instruments and takes and effects). I can't imagine that any new processor would have issues unless you're running a ton of different virtual instruments, etc... It is EDM though, but I still don't think a modern processor would have an issue.

ChrisA · Oct 31, 2014

undentifiedz said:
....
Edit: Looking at it i actually have 8GB of ram instead of 16, i think that might also be the cause?

Would you recommend me getting an SSD or 16GB Ram?

Use Apple's Activity Meter app to look. Is the RAM full? How what is the I/O rate on the disk drive. You need to look at Activity Meter while the system is lagging and see. I'm thinking 8GB is not enough.

If you do upgrade the CPU get a main board that accepts more than just 16GB. With enough RAM all your data caches in RAM and you don't need a fast disk.

thekev · Oct 31, 2014

ChrisA said:
2) the GPU. Is you Logic pushes some function onto the GPU if you have one of those that is supported. On a Mackintosh, my guess would be that you don't have a supported GPU so ALL th work is falling on the CPU.

I didn't know Logic had a single OpenCL (or similar) library. I didn't think it did, so I checked the system requirements. Apple doesn't mention it. For sake of comparison here's FCPX. They state it plainly there.

pertusis1 · Nov 4, 2014

My 2 cents worth is that your RAM is likely capped out. I think the entire Logic session is run off the RAM, so if you're out of that, I would expect drastic performance problems.

... but you should still check activity monitor.

ClamshellOfDoom · Nov 12, 2014

80 tracks is a lot. I usually get into 10-15, but I rely more on applying the effects to the instruments before they hit the software; anyhow, using Tracktion, I found that the effects usually hit RAM then CPU. I maxed out my RAM first, then upgraded my hard drive, and last, hit the CPU. Depending on what Activity Monitor tells you, I'd go with either the RAM or the CPU. Having an SSD is nice and will lead to much faster boot as well as application launch times, but I don't think that tracking software uses the disk drive that much.

wesk702 · Nov 15, 2014

undentifiedz said:
Yeah my apologies, here are my specs:

i5-2500k

8 gb of ram

1TB HDD

GPU: Nvidia GeForce 560 TI

running yosemite on my hackintosh

My project is quite heavy/full, i believe i have about 80 tracks atm. I mainly produce EDM, so i do use a lot of synths/effects on a lot of tracks

One thing that i noticed and i don't know if it's normal or a bug or just my pc.

I was working on it again but there was major lag so i tried freezing every channel except about 5 of them which i was working on, it finished freezing, but logic was still lagging like crazy, no difference with or without freezing the track, not sure if thats a bug, my pc or i'm just stupid?

Thanks!

Edit: Looking at it i actually have 8GB of ram instead of 16, i think that might also be the cause?

Would you recommend me getting an SSD or 16GB Ram?

Ssd will be more noticeable all around.

ChrisA · Nov 23, 2014

ClamshellOfDoom said:
80 tracks is a lot....

Are you "bouncing" these tracks? I think Apple calls this "freezing". Rendering 80 MIDI tracks is hard but you can lock them down into WAV files and seriously reduce the load.

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