In pure boost clockspeed the 9900k is about 10% faster than a 3700X / 3800X / 3900X. In terms of single core compute performance, it is less than that.
Here is the thing: if you need it, get Intel. If you can live without it for a year or so, USB4 is coming and will do to TB what USB3 did to firewire, probably even worse. So if you don’t need it now, … I would not buy into it. (Or in this case at least leave it out of your decision making.)
Ok, we are all talking hardware here without knowing the actual requirement really. Audio Production is a HUGE Field with a really wide variety of loads.
So what do you actually do?
Also, is the PC physically seperated from your Recording space? How close will it be to your Desk/Listening Station?
Apart from Actual grunt, the loudness of a PC is a major factor in a recording environment. If you’re dealing with Microphones in the same room, you’d basically want to go passive. When listening back for mixing and mastering, minunte details often matter. So having a 5 Fan PC blowing right under your desk when at load (which is basically when you’re playing back stuff) is really not ideal.
Also, Which Interface are you using? Do you need PCIe for the Interface(s)? I’ve seen Production PC’s in a studio i worked in that had 6 PCIe Soundcards in them to record 48 Tracks from an analog desk at once.
Finally, the DAW and the Plugins you use do actually matter. Some Plugins are 64 Bit and do use Mulitple cores, others are locked to the first core and can’t be changed.
What ever. I agree that Intel is the safe choice here. I’d just put a little more thought into the rest of the machine. Maybe even in how to seperate the PC from your listening and recording space.
The key here is to minimize fan use while still having enough space to put in expansion cards. I would probably look at a minimalistic mATX case powered by one to two 140mm fans and a quiet air cooler, plus go full m.2 for storage and call it a day. But sound pollution for audio is the biggest concern, for sure.
To be honest: Most studios go with 4u Rack cases in a Seperate room. Going small mostly increses Volume. Since a lot of Studio Gear is Rackmount already, Going with a Server Case is pretty logical.
And yes, Vibrations are a thing/Problem too.
Hi ! You’re indeed right ! There are many other things that probably I should have stated in my original posts, sorry for that !!
This is not my studio PC, this is PC is for me to have in my house and be able to record full size projects (Give or take 24 tracks), some VSTs for virtual instruments and some for plugins (EQs, comps, and such). If needed I can put a list of the most used VSTs in case that would help the topic and the final decision making.
Sound here, even thou it’s very important, it’s not the main issue, since almost everything is going to be recorded directly into the interface, maybe only acoustic guitars, but it’s not relevant right now.
What I really want is to run all plugins without problems, hiccups in sound, etc.
I.E. The main issue I have right now with my i5 is that some times when there’s suppose to be a drum hit (Mapped by MIDI with correct velocity) it makes no sound, like sometimes it misses some snare hits. Funny thing is that happens when you’ve been listening for more than 1 minute (sometimes more sometimes less, it’s not always the same), but if you go to that part and start the playback it sounds as it should.
Perfect. In that case, you’ll be fine and Intel is a great choice. Get a big AirCooler for it and some nice Case-Fans spinning at 700 RPM and you’ll be fine. The 9900k is a beast and should be able to handle 24 tracks with some VST’s easily.
I’d maybe look into what interface you’re using and upgrading that? Latency and playback issues, as well as performance can be impacted by the interface.
I will be using my Clarett 4Pre USB, since I don’t need to record several instruments at the same time.
Sounds like you have a solid plan then. 
Only thing I might add - Windows might be a bitch about scheduling meaning you can still run into issues, though they should be less now. I doubt a move to Linux would make much difference in that case, instead you might be interested to look into FPGA-based processing cards and mixers.
If all else fails, you can repurpose the parts to that gaming rig you mentioned, so go with plan A, this is plan B in the off chance you need to go more real time.
If you do audio Production, Linux is a no-go. As much as i’d like to say different, Linux can only do very basic Audio Production. 99% of Plugins won’t work, ardour is decent, but jack is a clusterf* and Reaper is early beta so far.
Just stay with windows for Audio Production. Trust me. I tried…
Yeah, I know. It’s a real shame, since I work with Linux embedded I know what it can do with signals (SCHED_DEADLINE for instance is pure 
) - it’s a real shame the rest of the userland hasn’t caught up yet.
Now that RT is moving into mainline this might change, but yeah. As always, Linux is great at the plumbing and sucks at the user layer. Slowly getting better though… ^^
It’s not really only a userland Problem. The whole Audio System in it’s current state is unusable for Audio Production. That and it’s really hard to configure.
I seriously doubt it. Being RT or not really isn’t that big of a deal. It’s a nice to have, but most studios have a seperate monitoring solution entirely. So Latency isn’t a major factor.
I hope the release of Reaper for Linux is a sign of whats to come, but it woudl really mostly take Native Instruments to release Linux compatible Plugins. They aren’t the only providers, but it would be similar to Steam’s Proton. A Halo Product to show that there is potential. I just don’t believe that they see the market (yet)
175mm > 160mm, so it will work.
Source: Noctua NH-D15S Product page
I am not the most knowledgable person, but wouldn’t converting to MADI and then dumping them all into one card make more sense?
SSDs over HDDs, sure. But M.2?
Like most ADAT interface cards that are basically Xilinx boards with TOSLink I/O ?
When you can do real time processing for robotics, chemical and nuclear plants, audio should not be that much of a step?
Yeah, was a weird setup. Proprietary hardware bought over several years. Started with one and expanded when needed. It got replaced soon after. By now, there are much better options around. But they can get really, really pricey.
Should. It’s a question of needing it really. I guess most robotics and powerplants run custom stuff made specifically for that one instance. I can’t imagine that there is an “open source nuclear powerplant control software”.
So they start with the RT requirement and build the software from there.
Audio Production is well served by Windows and Mac. So the drive to actually do something with linux is smaller. And for 99% of people the current system works fine. Mostly.
Draws down on cable use and increase airflow, plus m.2 SSDs are not that much more expensive. But sure, 2.5" SSDs does have a place too.
It’s mostly a matter of ALSA and PulseAudio in dire need of being replaced. Especially Pulse. Fortunately, there is a new Gnome project, pipewire, that promises to do just that eventually.
Fair enough, still prefer to get rid of the cabling if at all possible, ideally only the 24pin connects to anywhere. But I also like my computers small and cozy (< 13L if possible), so…
These days m.2 SATA SSDs are getting affordable, NVMe still carries around 25% performance tax though.
Hello guys ! Thanks for all the input.
I have now one more question.
The Noctua D15 is not available right now, but I have this other options:
Would this work for me??
Thanks to everyone
The bequiet is also pretty good.
Both should be ok, tough I would also pick bequiet, just because Cryorig is pretty unknown manufacturer for me and I haven’t heard much about them (good or bad).
I like the Cryorig just because of the looks. Whe it came out it was compared to the D14 and it was as good or slightly better. It will still be great now.
Both are going to be around the same I think performance wise.
Edit: though remembering your use case probably the BeQuiet as they have made silence a priority. Got ahead of myself for a minute.