pc build for audio production

jeff2012

jeff2012

jeff2012

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Joined
30 Dec 2012
Posts
12
Hello.

I am going to be buying or building a new pc for audio production at home. Obviously I need a bit of firepower to run all the plugins.

My question or questions are?

How much difference is there between an i3 , i5 or i7. Will the jump give me a noticeably better peformance?

If I go for an i5 for example, does this mean that at some point in the future when I have more cash I could update it to the i7?

Which motherboard, would you suggest. I am guessing usb 3 and obviously pci for my interface.

I do have a budget for this, but I want to get something that I can upgrade as I go rather than something that will just be obsolete in the next 18 months.

Any advice is greatly welcomed.

Thanks.
 
any preference on audio card etc?

How much difference is there between an i3 , i5 or i7. Will the jump give me a noticeably better performance?

---a lot, yes for some apps, no for others, if you pick the right m/b you could have in all 3 after each other / upgrade etc

If I go for an i5 for example, does this mean that at some point in the future when I have more cash I could update it to the i7?

---yes with same socket chip as motherboard etc

Which motherboard, would you suggest. I am guessing usb 3 and obviously pci for my interface.

---depends on many things, budget for one and parts you need in it....

I do have a budget for this, but I want to get something that I can upgrade as I go rather than something that will just be obsolete in the next 18 months.

---whats your budget then?
 
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YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7850 OC Windforce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ FARCRY3, Sleeping Dogs & Dirt Showdown PC Games £155.99
1 x Asus Xonar D2X 7.1 PCI-E Sound Card £89.99
1 x Asus P8Z77-V LX2 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) £64.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED316GM1600HC11DC01) £59.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020059-UK) £49.99
1 x NZXT Source 210 Elite Midi Tower Case - Black £39.98
1 x Samsung SH-224BB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £753.90 (includes shipping : £12.50).


_____________________
i3 = Dual core + Hyperthreading | i5 = Quad core | i7 = Quad+ core + Hyperthreading
Yes you can change the CPU as long as it uses the same socket.
Really do need a proper budget, also what do you need exactly? OS, monitor, peripherals? Or just the tower?
 
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I'm a DJ, and I highly recommend the Asus Xonar Essence ST that zakblood recommends, beautiful reproduction and v low noise. And no adapter needed for headphones. Who cares about cost when you get quality like that - but well worth the pricetag
 
How much difference is there between an i3 , i5 or i7. Will the jump give me a noticeably better performance?

---a lot, yes for some apps, no for others, if you pick the right m/b you could have in all 3 after each other / upgrade etc

What apps would I tell the diff and what wouldnt I for example?



If I go for an i5 for example, does this mean that at some point in the future when I have more cash I could update it to the i7?

---yes with same socket chip as motherboard etc


What socket chip are the i3 i5 i7, what socket chip on a motherboard should I be looking for?


To answer your other questions. The audio card is irrelevent as I will be using a pci professional audio card with breakout box. So the audio card within the pc will be redundant anyway.

I will be running two monitors, which I already have. I am just looking for the tower. I dont need anything more than that graphics wise. Just the capability for running two screens.

It is only a music production pc. I will be using Cubase as a daw.

As for a budget I would like spend around £400 maybe a little more if it means saving in the long run.

Thanks for your replies guys.
 
I did a DAW spec for a quite experienced music producer a little while back and his experience said that CPU power is the priority over things like huuge amounts of ram (He ended up with a 3930K rig which is obviously out of your budget).
I believe cubase 6 was his DAW of choice.

A xonar Essence St is great and all that if you're just enjoying music (I have one :)), but a dedicated production card is definitely the way to go for a producer.
I'd even recommend a Xonar D2 (my last soundcard) over the Essence due to it's add-on PCI Midi input, though a proper card for the task would be preferable for the I/O capabilities amongst other things.
You've got a dedicated card already, so that's all moot. Just thought I'd mention it :)

As for the rest of your spec... Given that you're going to want as much processing power/core utilization as you can get with your budget, I'd suggest saving a bit more and/or looking at AMD.

You also won't need more than a HD5450 (or cheapest Nvidia equivalent) if dual screen off the mobo isn't viable for whatever reason. Not sure why you've been specced a gaming rig.
 
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I use an ST at home, but my kit includes a Roland FA66 for performances and session recordings.

Uncle Petey said:
I'd suggest saving a bit more and/or looking at AMD
Click to expand...

Yes! Glad you suggested that cos it's been on my mind too. AMD are V good processors, you don't need all the power of a gaming rig.
 
Intel Build - as you already have the sound card.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3330 3.00GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £139.99
1 x MSI Z77A-G43 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - FREE Alpenföhn Civetta Cooler!! £72.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) £59.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020046-UK) £36.98
1 x TeamGroup Elite 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £35.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £29.99
Total : £390.02 (includes shipping : £11.75).



AMD build - as you already have the sound card

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-8 Eight Core 8320 Black Edition 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £139.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) £59.99
1 x Sapphire HD Radeon 6450 FLEX 1024MB GDDR3 Multi Display PCI-Express Graphics Card £44.99
1 x Gigabyte GA-78LMT-S2P 760G (Socket AM3+) DDR3 MicroATX Motherboard £38.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020046-UK) £36.98
1 x TeamGroup Elite 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £35.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £29.99
Total : £401.02 (includes shipping : £11.75).



The AMD does show good value and that is a good GPU for multi screens as its only there to display a image on lots of monitor rather then demaning gaming :)

I know the Intel does support multi screens out of the box but its a if your monitors only have DVI out puts it means more adpaters :(

The Intel build has got a better upgrade path, and would be my personal choice but would need more money then you have to get a decent audio production PC.

You will need an optical drive, but these are cheap at least :)

YOUR BASKET
1 x Samsung SH-224BB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £21.90 (includes shipping : £3.26).




To give you some idea about these 2 CPU see here.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/702?vs=698

Edit lucky post 555 !!!
 
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jeff2012 said:
How much difference is there between an i3 , i5 or i7. Will the jump give me a noticeably better performance?

---a lot, yes for some apps, no for others, if you pick the right m/b you could have in all 3 after each other / upgrade etc

What apps would I tell the diff and what wouldnt I for example?



If I go for an i5 for example, does this mean that at some point in the future when I have more cash I could update it to the i7?

---yes with same socket chip as motherboard etc


What socket chip are the i3 i5 i7, what socket chip on a motherboard should I be looking for?


To answer your other questions. The audio card is irrelevent as I will be using a pci professional audio card with breakout box. So the audio card within the pc will be redundant anyway.

I will be running two monitors, which I already have. I am just looking for the tower. I dont need anything more than that graphics wise. Just the capability for running two screens.

It is only a music production pc. I will be using Cubase as a daw.

As for a budget I would like spend around £400 maybe a little more if it means saving in the long run.

Thanks for your replies guys.
Click to expand...

as your budget is only £400 all above doesn't matter, you can only afford the i3 or i5 at max and then later update if needed to a i7 but now most is over budget, for sound recording you need a better spec as any background noise will spoil what your doing, but you know this anyway, so i'll leave you to it and others have done spec's for you in your budget
 
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zakblood said:
as your budget is only £400 all above doesn't matter, you can only afford the i3 or i5 at max and then later update if needed to a i7 but now most is over budget, for sound recording you need a better spec as any background noise will spoil what your doing, but you know this anyway, so i'll leave you to it and others have done spec's for you in your budget
Click to expand...

OP has stated that he has the sound card and the operating already so my spec isn't that bad being on or around the budget :)
 
Ethermaster said:
OP has stated that he has the sound card and the operating already so my spec isn't that bad being on or around the budget :)
Click to expand...

no disrespect meant and your spec for budget is plenty if not more than fast enough, but for sound recording it's not just about the sound card etc, any feedback from fans, case humming or a noises psu will ruin the sound.

sounds recording machines tend to have a lot better spec's, gold psu one's that are extra quite, m/b with extra gold connectors etc as it has to plug into something in the pc, anything that can filter out the background noise more is better.

but then again he should know that.

i didn't mean to sound like a know all and tbh i don't know that much, but my m8 does and most normal builds wouldn't do as they make to much what they call white noise i think he called it, a fan spins and over time vibrates and the noise it can make would ruin a recording.

home user messing about, not to worry, anything more then i'd let them know thats all.

nothing meant by it, just an opinion

for me it needs either more in the budget or less cpu,

above is my reasons,

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=2362&catid=2297

kits to think of and maybe add ^^

with better spec in case / psu and m/b and some thoughts into fans / silenced kits etc, might make it less of a gaming pc yes, but more of a better recording one, jack of all pc never tend to be as good as one for a certain purpose
 
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zakblood said:
no disrespect meant and your spec for budget is plenty if not more than fast enough, but for sound recording it's not just about the sound card etc, any feedback from fans, case humming or a noises psu will ruin the sound.

sounds recording machines tend to have a lot better spec's, gold psu one's that are extra quite, m/b with extra gold connectors etc as it has to plug into something in the pc, anything that can filter out the background noise more is better.

but then again he should know that.

i didn't mean to sound like a know all and tbh i don't know that much, but my m8 does and most normal builds wouldn't do as they make to much what they call white noise i think he called it, a fan spins and over time vibrates and the noise it can make would ruin a recording.

home user messing about, not to worry, anything more then i'd let them know thats all.

nothing meant by it, just an opinion

for me it needs either more in the budget or less cpu,

above is my reasons,

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=2362&catid=2297

kits to think of and maybe add ^^

with better spec in case / psu and m/b and some thoughts into fans / silenced kits etc, might make it less of a gaming pc yes, but more of a better recording one, jack of all pc never tend to be as good as one for a certain purpose
Click to expand...

At this budget your not going to get a case like the R4 or the 550D :( with the noise isolation, a decent slient air cooler is needed or even better passive. Then its not that you need a 80+ gold rated PSU just one one with a slient fan or again passive :) then to top it off a nice large SSD to make it well ... slient as it will have few to no moving parts.

I think the op would like a machine to start off with thats upto the job and then upgrade toward the slient PC as and when he can.
 
amd 8320 will do you fine... if noise is such an issue think about moving pc into cupboard or something... you will have issues with cables but that is possible to solve.... if you commit to it
 
if you wanted the best kinda PC of this task something like this would be OK :)

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £259.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-UP4 TH Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £167.99
2 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TD250BW) £149.99 (£299.98)
1 x Asus Xonar Essence STX Sound Card £145.99
1 x Corsair Obsidian 550D Quiet Midi Tower Case - Black £119.99
2 x Corsair Dominator PLATINUM 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit with DHX Pro Connector (CMD16GX3M2A1600C9) £119.99 (£239.98)
1 x Seasonic X-Series 460w FANLESS '80 Plus Platinum' Modular Power Supply £104.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD20EARX) £79.99
1 x KFA2 GeForce™ GT 610 1024MB GDDR3 MDT Multi Monitor Graphics Card £71.99
1 x Noctua NH-D14 Dual Radiator CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £59.99
1 x Asus 24x DVD±RW DRW-24B5ST SATA ReWriter - Black (Retail) £20.99
Total : £1,588.36 (includes shipping : £13.75).

 
some of it does ;) kiss the HDD bye bye and the NH-D14, plus a few others ....... including that GT610 :P the best cooler for audio productions would probs more then likely be the Nofan CR-100A IcePipe 100W Fanless CPU Cooler :) kiss good bye to your top PCI-e socket tho.
 
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