Memory upgrade to 16 or 32 GB

[BlackJack]

For that size of library a recommendation of 32GB RAM was already given back in 2018:

My experiences with Rock and a 500k+ tracks library

Maximum single-threaded speed in the core is the main determinant in user experience snappiness. Multiple cores helps with running more zones in parallel with more DSP and will complete stuff like audio analysis faster. I wouldn’t go beneath 4 cores/8 threads for this use case. You could do more, but added value will diminish depending on how much you value those aspects. I understand the preference for Linux (and wouldn’t want to run Windows if I could avoid it), but in your shoes I’d do an A…