Music production PC

bb121

bb121

bb121

Associate
Joined
1 Dec 2009
Posts
6
Hi guys,

I'm looking to build a PC for audio recording and editing and will possibly be using some components from my current system to keep the costs down. I have the following specs so far:

Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping
Asus P6T SE Intel X58 mobo
Corsair XMS3 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3-PC12800 Tri-Channel RAM
Palit GeForce 210 512MB DDR2 PCI-e Graphics
Scyth Mugen 2 CPU Cooler

I currently have a Seasonic 430W PSU in my current system and was wondering if this would be powerful enough for this setup or if I would need to be looking to get a more powerful PSU?

Also, because no games will be played on this machine and just music editing and possibly a little video editing I don't need much in the way of GPUs so is that an adequate card or would anyone recommend something different.

I already have HDDs from my other machine, an optical drive and a case that I can reuse too.

Any advice or recommendations on this setup will be appreciated :)
 
Hi BB121 Welcome to OcUK forums.

First of all which DAW will you be running and what is your sound card set up? Is it an internal PCI sound card or an external firewire/usb?

The X58 boards offer support for multiple graphics cards. If you’re not planning on using multiple GPU’s there are possibly other cheaper options you may consider. Personally I feel one of the most important parts in any PC is the PSU and as such I would think about other PSU alternatives. As the poster above suggests the Corsair PSU 550W or 650W would offer a slightly more expensive but consistent delivery of power to your components. Finally some other considerations will you be recording vocals and if so will the PC be in the same room while recording?

FAKE EDIT: oh and Claimed! :D

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Hi guys and thanks for the responses,

My sound card setup will be a PCI sound card most likely.

Yeah I'm deffinately not planning on running multiple graphics as I don't play any games. In fact, I was wondering if the GPU I listed above is suitable or whether I could get away with anything less than that?

Cheers about the power thing, I'll look into a better PSU then.

So far I'm not so sure on vocals around the PC but when you ask this are you mainly getting at keeping the machine as silent as possible?

What other motherboard would you recommend?
 
bb121 said:
Also, because no games will be played on this machine and just music editing and possibly a little video editing
Click to expand...
Get any passively cooled basic graphics card, one part less to produce noise and fail.

LGA1156 platform (P55) is also notably more power efficient than LGA1366 so besides lower price that would help in keeping cooling noises low.

Also that PSU is well enough for PC where CPU is only possible heavy power consumer. In case of considering new PSU choise should be Seasonic X-650 which would power that kind setup easily without running its fan if just kept in cooler bottom of the case instead of old heat vacuum position.
 
So rather than an LGA1366 with i7 EsaT would you recommend an LGA1156 with i5 for audio editing?
Thanks for the info on PSU though, are there many cases around right now with a bottom compartment for PSU?

Superewza are AMD ahead of Intel right now for editing audio/video? Some benchmarks I checked out recently suggested that Intel were better performers right now?
 
Most advice you will see given on these forums will be entirely dependant upon budget however since you don’t submit one most advice will be centred around the total cost of the combined parts in your OP. There are also i7 options for the LGA1156.

Since you’ll be using a PCI sound card you’ll need at least one PCI slot on the MB. Might you upgrade components at a later date you may need more than one PCI slot. An example might be adding a UA2 PCI solo/duo or quad in addition to your PCI sound card. Other thoughts may be do you need firewire connectivity for preamps ect, ect, ect. An example could be if you chose Pro Tools as your DAW you almost certainly would need firewire connectivity since Pro Tools will only run with Digidesign or M-Audio hardware which at the home studio price bracket is mostly external firewire connexion. You see where I’m going with this?

In saying that a well known online audio supplier which cant be named as a competitor has pre built systems. Interestingly their top PC system which retails at £1224 for the starter level is exactly the same under the hood as the OcUK bundle here http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=bu-003-ob which is on special offer this week at £609.99 inc vat which i think would be a sound (pardon the pun) investment.

i recommend having a read through this web site http://www.soundonsound.com/ in particular the articles section where you may find more information that could help you build your studio. another useful site is http://www.efoam.co.uk/indexm.html where you can pick up cut to order acoustic foam much cheaper than audio stores will offer.


I hope this helps. :)

EDIT: Just rechecked and the OcUK bundle offers 3Gb more RAM.

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