Are Xeons or i7s better for music production?

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If you invest that 300 Pounds in a tender option bond structure (TOB) and siphon leverage off the reverse floaters, you can afford this.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2699 V3 2.3GHz 18-Core OEM/Tray Processor ($3966.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Swiftech H240-X 90.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
Motherboard: EVGA Classified EATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($354.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Corsair Dominator Platinum 128GB (8 x 16GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($1799.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung SM951 512GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($379.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 Pro Series 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($489.00 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 Pro Series 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($489.00 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 Pro Series 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($489.00 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 Pro Series 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($489.00 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX Titan X 12GB Superclocked Video Card (4-Way SLI) ($1029.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX Titan X 12GB Superclocked Video Card (4-Way SLI) ($1029.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX Titan X 12GB Superclocked Video Card (4-Way SLI) ($1029.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX Titan X 12GB Superclocked Video Card (4-Way SLI) ($1029.99 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT H630 (White) ATX Full Tower Case ($127.99 @ Directron)
Power Supply: Corsair AX1500i 1500W 80+ Titanium Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($449.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: LG BH14NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer
Optical Drive: LG BH14NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro (32/64-bit) ($174.89 @ OutletPC)
Wired Network Adapter: QLogic QLE3242-CU-CK 100 Mbps/1 Gbps/10 Gbps PCI-Express x8 Network Adapter
Monitor: LG 34UC97-S 60Hz 34.0" Monitor ($994.99 @ NCIX US)
Keyboard: Logitech diNovo Edge Bluetooth Wireless Mini Keyboard ($489.00 @ Amazon)
Mouse: Logitech G500 Wired Laser Mouse ($114.99 @ Amazon)
Headphones: HiFiMAN HE6 Headphones ($1273.02 @ Amazon)
Speakers: Harman Kardon GLA-55 112W 2ch Speakers ($999.95 @ Harman Kardon)
Other: EVGA 02G-P4-3757-KR G-SYNC Support GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB 128-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 FTW w/ ACX Cooling Video Card ($212.00)
Other: ASUS ThunderboltEX II Expansion Card ($78.00)

Total: $17492.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-02 16:11 EDT-0400
 
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That would depend of you have a discrete video card or plan to use integrated graphics.

If you have a graphics card, pick up a Xeon E3-1231 V3 and call it good.
 
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What does this have to do with the point of the OP's thread?

OP - the Xeon E3-12XX are about the same as the i7-4790K. The main difference is overclocking and onboard graphics. If you're going to overclock go for the 4790K. If not I'm not the biggest fan of getting a Xeon but if you want to that's fine as well.
 
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those 2 cpu's mentioned have nothing to do with music production, a dedicated Creative sound blaster Z add on card pci or pci-express(check which spare slots u have) is a quad core high end music playing and production chip for about 120 buks or u could get a Asus zonar 60 buks with similar performance, id reckomend 24 bit with asio support for recording stuff in wave or mp3 format for fruityloops or other music production or monitoring software, these * all over on-board sound which cant record in a asio style. heh bit of muking around configing win7 with sbz but worth it. asus better driver support.

<Language, please>
 
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My wallet cried the minute I saw the multiple SSD's
Why would a music producer need a 4-way SLI TITAN X?
 
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Dont feed the troll OP, he expects you to do that. Anyway, the xeon has better value for the money, but you'll need a dedicated video card to use it, which is not neccesary in a music production build. What you're saving with the xeon you'll need to spend it on a cheap discrete video card.
 
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Sorry, everyone. My officemate does things like this sometimes when I go to meetings or step away. So just consider my account's post above a silly joke.

But to answer your question, you'll need to first find out what your software can access. How many CPU cores can it address, and can it use a dedicated GPU? The Xeon vs i7 thing is kind of a non-sequitur, since both perform very similarly. The main thing that would benefit you on an i7, over a Xeon, is that the "K" and "X" versions of the i7 chips will let you turn up the speed if you have enough cooling and power by overclocking the chip. That will help boost your CPU-driven tasks. But the difference won't be huge, and you should really focus your software's ability to leverage higher-end hardware for your audio workflow.

Knowing your software's potential will tell you whether it's worth getting a 4-, 6-, or 8-core CPU, and whether it's worth spending money on a fast GPU.

Without knowing ahead of time, I would recommend trying to get an i7-5820k. Most new audio production software can generate many thread commands, and having a 6-core CPU would help. It also is a good price considering the other options. The only two things you need to consider (assuming you can afford the X99 upgrade) are whether you'll have enough cores and PCI-e lanes. The 5920k has 28 PCI-e lanes, so make sure your PCI-e expansion needs won't exceed that. As for CPU cores, the 6 in that CPU should be plenty, but you can always get more if you want to spend a lot of extra money. Adding more makes each one a little slower, however, so you have to keep in mind whether your software benefits more from fewer faster cores or more slower cores.

Other than that, be sure and get a big chunk of RAM. Make sure you configure it to either fill the board, or else leave it so that you can fill the board later without throwing away RAM sticks you already bought. If you get an 8-slot broad (for instance) that holds up to 64 GB, you can buy 4 stick of 8 GB each for a total of 32 GB. That would let you buy another of the same kit later to max out at 64 GB. The risk there, however, is that you'd be running two kits. Sometimes (rarely) they don't work together, and people (rightfully) give general advice against mixing kits - even if they're the same make and model. But the only time they haven't worked for me, I've just exchanged them back to Amazon, and it worked fine. It really comes down to your risk tolerance. The only other option to avoid that situation is to buy a single kit up front that maxes out your board.

Good luck!
 
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Hi,

i7=xeon+igpu+higher clock.

Pick a decent graphics card, you don't need some really big graphics cards.

The higher clock of the i7 is something only gamers can benefit (actually performance wise it's not very different)

Xeon e3 1230 v3 or e3 1231 v3 is good. Go with the cheaper one.
 
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