the "today we build our studio pc"-thread

[Workinonit]

Ok, so I think I have this setup figured out... Found the Antec ISK 110 with excellent ventilation in a super-small fit-in-a-backpack type package. With a 90w external power brick and one single fan in the CPU cooler, 8 GB of ram, two SSDs, slap in a 35w i3-2120T, this should run super quiet and cool while still having around the same performance as my q6600. I could even stick this behind my monitor, and bam! Instant portable quiet cool powerful audio computer. If I end up building it, I'll let you guys know how it goes.

[Masaaki]

Originally Posted by darkriver

Masaaki, I have one of these RME HDSP9652 PCI cards (from 2001, with 2012 firmware update) and would love to build a new Win7/64 rig around it - probably running Cubase 6.
Do you have a MB recommendation for good compatibility?
I record 44.1/24 bit up to 24 tracks at a time, use MIDI, VSTi, etc. (no video)

I have read much of this forum and have come to respect your wisdom. I know there has been some discussion on this subject but time has passed and maybe more has been learned.

Thank you in advance for your opinion.

Hi, I think the right person who knows about this issue better than myself is SLL, I believe he often check this thread.

RME User Forum / Any of you tested the HDSP legacy PCI cards with Z68, X79 mobos?
This is the RME's user forum, and SLL asked RME about motherboard compatibility. It seems Z68 chipset boards are working fine. For more particular brand and other features, I need to look at the specs, but at least this gives you a start line.

For this particular reason, I got a HDSPe board, and it's really a fantastic card.

[robertklaas]

With this set up, are you using the onboard video for your 1st monitor and the video card for your second monitor?

[darkriver]

Originally Posted by Masaaki

Hi, I think the right person who knows about this issue better than myself is SLL, I believe he often check this thread.

RME User Forum / Any of you tested the HDSP legacy PCI cards with Z68, X79 mobos?
This is the RME's user forum, and SLL asked RME about motherboard compatibility. It seems Z68 chipset boards are working fine. For more particular brand and other features, I need to look at the specs, but at least this gives you a start line.

For this particular reason, I got a HDSPe board, and it's really a fantastic card.

Thank you Masaaki, I am prepared to spring for the RayDat if absolutely necessary, (or other ADAT option - I currently have three ADAT interfaces - RME and Focusrite) but would be thrilled to get a few more years out of the old PCI card.

I have read SLL's posts on the RME forum and hope that he might interject here and offer his most recent findings/conclusions around running the legacy HDSP9652 PCI card on the newer Z68, X79 MBs.

Thanks again guys. When I get this figured out I will run the parts list by you for your opinions.

[SirTralala]

Good Evening.

I, after one week of researching, have decided to put together the components for building a new DAW PC, and would be happy if you could tell me your opinion on that.

For making music (although I am used to Cubase), I tested Reaper and I want to make a change. I don`t use a lot of analog gear, I like to work with plugins and will be using some that come with Reaper, and some extra CPU consuming Plugins (like the FLux Ircam reverb tools, or vinatge channel strips). I also do work a lot with Synthesizer and Sampler Plugins and Big Instrument Libraries. I do not want to use extra PlugIn Cards like UAD provides it.

I do not want to use extra Hardware for Graphics, but I want to connect my two Monitors.

I decided to use a small SSD for the OS, one bigger SSD for all the other Software (DAW, Plugins, Samplecontent...) and one HDD for the Recording Data (doesnt have to be big, because I concentrate on few projects at one time and have an external Drive already).

At the moment I do not want to overclock, but I want to have this option (after knowing more about the theory on this topic).

I want to work with this system for at least 5 years without having to upgrade (as I did with my last PC).

AND: (one of the most important things) it has to be quiet, because it is in the Room where I do the mixing.

Please tell me what you think (and maybe there is an option to save some money by changing the components, I am at 1550 € now, and I just got my bills for social insurance)

Case: Cooler Master Silencio 650 black
Power Sup: be quiet! STRAIGHT POWER CM BQT E9-CM-480W 80+Gold
MoBo: ASUS P8Z77-V, Sockel 1155, ATX, DDR3
CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K Tray, LGA1155
CPU Cooling: Noctua NH-D14
RAM: 32GB-Kit Corsair Vengeance PC3-12800U CL9
OS Drive: Samsung SSD 830 64GB SATA 6GB's PC Upgrade Kit
DAW/Plugins/Samplecontent Drive: Samsung SSD 830 256GB SATA 6GB's PC Upgrade Kit
Recording Drive: WD Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 3 6Gb/s
DVD Burner: Samsung SH-222BB
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit (SB-Version)

[golem]

Originally Posted by DAW PLUS

We have built hundreds of Ati/AMD based systems, both Radeon HD and FirePro series, and the amount of issues we had is close to none.
Nvidia however, also with their Quadros, is a constant fight for stability, compatibility and usable DPC levels. While I am talking about the last 2 years only here, and not every system having issues with Nvidia with every driver version, there clearly is a big difference in the areas mentioned. I agree however, that AMD should improve their somewhat embarassing multiview setup.

Back to topic...

Does this apply also to the new 2012 chips...?

I noticed that majority of new 2012 usable audio laptops (including macbook pro) have chosen Nividia instead of AMD/ATI.

[mavenmusic]

I was checking out some other forum and a member built this pc as silent and budget production computer and I was wondering how good is this for home studio, for mainly electronic music.

GIGABYTE GA-Z77-D3H (rev. 1.0)
Lite-On IHAS124-19
Fractal Design Define R3 White
ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 13 CO
Seagate 2000 GB harddisk
Intel Core i5 3570K Ivy Bridge
Corsair Builder Series CX500 V2
Corsair 16GB DDR3 1600MHz (2×8)

Would this be enough for me to write/mix without bouncing parts to audio?

[ultra171]

Originally Posted by mavenmusic

GIGABYTE GA-Z77-D3H (rev. 1.0)
Lite-On IHAS124-19
Fractal Design Define R3 White
ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 13 CO
Seagate 2000 GB harddisk
Intel Core i5 3570K Ivy Bridge
Corsair Builder Series CX500 V2
Corsair 16GB DDR3 1600MHz (2×8)

Well, that'd be top-notch machine and also very good bang for your buck. I'd probably get an 128GB SSD for the OS and some programs (although that would be extra 100$).

The AC Freezer 13 is also VERY large (although very quiet and efficient), so you may want to look at another CPU cooler (it's blocking a PCI-E slot on my m-ATX mobo *gulp*). I haven't got any personal experience from Define R3, but I've heard nothing but good things about them. Corsair RAM and PSU units are known to be good.

[mavenmusic]

Hmmm nice to know, I will check on some SSD as well then. Would the graphic card on the mobo would be enough or should put an external graphic card as well?

[ultra171]

Originally Posted by mavenmusic

Hmmm nice to know, I will check on some SSD as well then. Would the graphic card on the mobo would be enough or should put an external graphic card as well?

Apparently the GA-Z77-D3H doesn't have integrated graphics, so I'd advice to get some cheap GPU or getting a different mobo with integrated graphics. I'd probably get a card.

I'm no expert on GPUs, but you can get some pretty decent used units from eBay etc., so I'd look into that before buying a new one. I was thinking of getting an used Geforce GTX 460 myself because of the CUDA support (~80$) as I rotated the CPU cooler.

[mavenmusic]

Yeah, I think I would need a GPU as well. Because I want to run double monitor for the daw.

[Masaaki]

I would choose ATI/Radeon 6000 series fanless video card. Drivers for Radeon seem to be causing less DPC latency troubles, but nvidia driver may have improved, so it's not absolutely wrong to choose nvidia cards.

[ultra171]

Originally Posted by mavenmusic

Yeah, I think I would need a GPU as well. Because I want to run double monitor for the daw.

That mobo has a VGA and DVI-D ports, so you can connect double monitors (at least worked for me), but apparently you'll get better image quality and resolution with dual DVI-D ports. So I'd still recommend getting a card.

That will be a killer machine, I'll promise you that

[chk23]

Btw: My Sandy Bridge E CPU has no onboard graphics (the space on the die is used for the two additional cores). So I continued to use my old passive cooled VGA SAPPHIRE Ultimate Radeon HD 4670 in the new system.

I recently started to look for a second card, because I wanted to add a third monitor - then I encountered the HDMI out between the the VGA and DVI outputs of the card, found an adaptor and connected one of my monitors to see what happens - and surprise! The display setting dialog listed a third monitor!

Just wanted to mention for those people who might be in the same situation.

[Masaaki]

Originally Posted by chk23

Btw: My Sandy Bridge E CPU has no onboard graphics (the space on the die is used for the two additional cores). So I continued to use my old passive cooled VGA SAPPHIRE Ultimate Radeon HD 4670 in the new system.

I recently started to look for a second card, because I wanted to add a third monitor - then I encountered the HDMI out between the the VGA and DVI outputs of the card, found an adaptor and connected one of my monitors to see what happens - and surprise! The display setting dialog listed a third monitor!

Just wanted to mention for those people who might be in the same situation.

But can you project extended desktop to three monitors at the same time, with the Radeon 4000 series GPU? I know new eyefinity lines are able to drive more than three (maximum 6?) monitors from single video card, but I don't about 4000 series can do the 3 monitors.

[Workinonit]

Another random question... Looking at a i3-2120T, with 2 4GB Ram DIMMs, 2 SSDs, and an asrock H67M-ITX motherboard. 90w in the Antec ISK-110 enough for that build, and would I be able to step up to a 65w processor? People with similar builds say yes, but the specs can say otherwise. Will I be safe, or should I maybe look at a PicoPSU 150w if I choose to step up from 35w to 65w?

If anyone has experience in a power-efficient low-wattage setup, I greatly appreciate the input. Thanks!

Update: Found a site with better specs on the PSU. Turns out the CPU only gets about 60w. Looks like I'm going with the 2120T to be on the safe side.

[chk23]

Originally Posted by Masaaki

But can you project extended desktop to three monitors at the same time, with the Radeon 4000 series GPU? I know new eyefinity lines are able to drive more than three (maximum 6?) monitors from single video card, but I don't about 4000 series can do the 3 monitors.

You're probalbly right, although I can see three monitors in the display setting panel, maybe the driver will let me check the "expand desktop to this monitor" checkbox on only two of them. I will see as soon as my third monitor arrives and report back. If it won't work, I have to upgrade to a passive HD5XXX card...

[eastbranch]

Hi,

I’m planning to update my current PC and would like to hear your opinions about the configuration.
I will run W7 pro 64bit with Cubase 6.5 and use it for music production and mixing.


1x Intel® Core i5-3570K Processor
1x ASUS P8Z77-V PRO, Socket-1155
16GB Corsair Dominator DHX DDR3 1600MHz
1x Intel® SSD 330 Series 120GB 2.5", 25nm
1x Western Digital® Desktop Blue 500GB
1x Corsair HX 650W PSU
1x Fractal Design Define R3 Arctic White

I will use the SSD as a system disk and the 500GB Western Digital to store all my Cubase Projects.
Currently I have 2 x 1TB S-ATA HDD for all my samples and sound.

My Cubase Projects tends to be pretty big and I run alot of VSTi and plugins.
With my new PC I hope the projects will run more smoothly.

Thank you in advance!

/eastbranch

[SirTralala]

Hmmm... no answers to my last post, would it be better to start a new thread, than using this sticky ?

[ultra171]

Originally Posted by SirTralala

Hmmm... no answers to my last post, would it be better to start a new thread, than using this sticky ?

Please don't..

Well, that would be a good PC, altough I'd switch to one 128GB SSD (or 256GB if you got the bread..) and one LARGE external HDD (something like 2TB). 32GB RAM is also a bit overkill IMO, 16GB should be enough.

Less RAM, smaller SSD, possibly i5.. that will drop the price a few hunderd $$$. But a 256GB SSD is always nice 'tho

[zlaya]

With the side of sample libraries these days (for example Kontakt 8 comes has over 200GB of content) I would recommend the biggest SSD you can afford for sample storage.

[SirTralala]

Thanks a lot for response !

Meanwhile I did a lot more researching

First I decided to save money by getting an I5 instead of the I7. But then I read that if you use a lot of Plugins like Channel Strip Hardware Emulations and many instances of big Reverb plugins + VST Synths - and I do that and don`t use UAD cards - one should go for the i7 CPU, so I decided to stay with that. Then I read, that if you work with sample libraries - and for some projects I use tons of classical Instruments sample content, and I had to render and render and bounce all the time with my old daw - you should get as much RAM as possible - so I don`t want to cut the RAM.

I also changed my mind, and don`t want to overclock, because I`d rather want to keep the system long living and stable, and so I maybe could also save some money on the cooling and noise and energy stuff.

I now decided to get the i7 3770, but without the k option. Anyway, I also don`t need the hyperthreading, because I read that hyperthreading is not really a DAW friendly thing.
So my 2 questions are: is there a lot of difference in performance if I`d use an i5-3450 (without k and without hyperthreading) instead of an i7 3770 - considering I work with many instances of hardware simulating plugins?

And relating to your hard disk answers:

Did you mean: One big SSD for the OS/Music+PluginSoftware/SampleContent and one Big HDD for recorded/recording Track Content + MusicProject Information ?
(in my configuration I planned one small SSD for the OS only, one bigger SSD for the Programs and Sample Content, and the HDD for the Project related recording and information content). I already own a huge external HDD (and some older smaller external and non external drives).

thanks again, and I `ll be happy for response on that.

[chk23]

Originally Posted by SirTralala

I now decided to get the i7 3770, but without the k option. Anyway, I also don`t need the hyperthreading, because I read that hyperthreading is not really a DAW friendly thing.
So my 2 questions are: is there a lot of difference in performance if I`d use an i5-3450 (without k and without hyperthreading) instead of an i7 3770 - considering I work with many instances of hardware simulating plugins?

Where did you read that about hyperthreading? I know,
there have been some issues with cubendo some years ago, but nobody could understand that from the programmers perspective, because hyperthreading does indeed increase the performance on a windows system significantly (OSX seems to have some problem with it though) and other DAWs seemed to profit from it too - don't know what the current status is, but there seems to be no rational reason for it not to increase audio performance - I have it activated on my i7 based system and Cubase gains from it, especially with heavy use of performance hungry plugins on multiple tracks.

[SirTralala]

Oh, I`m sorry, you`re right.

I was a bit misleaded by the first quotes of the following thread, which I thought have been an edited conclusion, and I didn`t read on much further (4 in the morning passing out). But I figured out that this was an old discussion (1st generation i7).

here`s the thread:
i7 Nehalem Hyperthreading in DAW Performance

and here`s a continuing newer thread:
DAWBench DSP / VI Universal - Cross Platform DAW Benchmarks :

So, going for Hyperthreading is okay

Anyway, to ask again: is there - in a practical experienced way - a lot of difference in performance if I get an i5 3rd gen. instead of an i7 (I mean, the Ghz is not so much different, but how important is the L3 cache difference ? )

And relating to the ssd hdd questions, could you please also take a look at the last post?

Thank You.

[chk23]

Originally Posted by SirTralala

Oh, I`m sorry, you`re right.
So, going for Hyperthreading is okay

Originally Posted by SirTralala

Anyway, to ask again: is there - in a practical experienced way - a lot of difference in performance if I get an i5 3rd gen. instead of an i7 (I mean, the Ghz is not so much different, but how important is the L3 cache difference ? )

And relating to the ssd hdd questions, could you please also take a look at the last post?

Thank You.

Don't know about the i5, because I went from a Core2Quad Q6600 to an i7 Sandy Bridge E model.
I for myself wouldn't store any samples on an SSD, wasted money for me (but I'm using a RAID setup which delivers enough HDD-performance AND have only samplers that preload/cache everything into RAM so more RAM would be more important to me than waste money on additional big SSDs).

[SirTralala]

okay, thank you so far. i should not be afraid of the order-button anymore.

[darkriver]

With:
Noctua NH-U12P and ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3

Do I need low profile CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) ??

Thanks.

[Masaaki]

Originally Posted by darkriver

With:
Noctua NH-U12P and ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3

Do I need low profile CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) ??

Thanks.

Most of the time, those 'tall' noctua heatsink/fans are okay with RAM sticks, even RAM sticks have own huge heatpipes. The one more problematic is 'flat' and 'wide' versions, but most of the regular ATX boards are just okay in terms of RAM stick clearance. Better be careful with micro ATX, mini ITX boards. In any case, you might need to find out the best air flow direciton by rotating/flipping the direction of the heatsink/fan, depending on the location of the case fans, power supply, etc.

[mizzle]

Hello all

Stopping in as I'm doing a 1rst time PC build (I've been a Mac user for 10 years).

Here are my picks:

Processor: i7-3770
Motherboard: Z77
Ram: 16GB (8x2)

Drives:
1x OCZ Vertex 4 128Gb
2x Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200 RPM in RAID 1 configuration
1x basic DVD-rw

Ports:
2x FW 800, 1x FW 400
6x USB 2.0
2 or more USB 3.0
2x eSATA
1x Gb Ethernet


Graphics card:
? I need basic HDMI and DVI support. Not a gamer so cheaper is fine. I have a VIZO 32" 1080p with HDMI I would like to use with low latency. How many monitors are supported on these cards? I'm looking for 2 min and 4 max.


Also, what are the price performers for RAM? I need 2x8Gb but the prices vary widely from make and model. Crucial? Corsair?

[chk23]

Originally Posted by mizzle

Hello all

Stopping in as I'm doing a 1rst time PC build (I've been a Mac user for 10 years).

Here are my picks:

Processor: i7-3770
Motherboard: Z77
Ram: 16GB (8x2)

Drives:
1x OCZ Vertex 4 128Gb
2x Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200 RPM in RAID 1 configuration
1x basic DVD-rw

Ports:
2x FW 800, 1x FW 400
6x USB 2.0
2 or more USB 3.0
2x eSATA
1x Gb Ethernet

Looks nice to me!

Originally Posted by mizzle

Graphics card:
? I need basic HDMI and DVI support. Not a gamer so cheaper is fine. I have a VIZO 32" 1080p with HDMI I would like to use with low latency. How many monitors are supported on these cards? I'm looking for 2 min and 4 max.

You can at least one monitor to your onboard graphics (some motherboards might support two monitors). As you don't want to build a gaming machine, I would choose a passive cooled card for less fan noise. I had good experience with the Radeon Sapphire Ultimade series - they're all passively cooled and the small ones (4XXX series) start with 25-30€ and go up to 100-150€ for the most powerful ones (67XX or 7XXX). If you want to plug three monitors to your card, you have to look for an eyfinity model (that was introduced with the Radeon HD5XXX series) - but one of the monitors has to be equipped with a display port for that. You can even plug in two of the cheap cards in parallel to have six monitor support.

Originally Posted by mizzle

Also, what are the price performers for RAM? I need 2x8Gb but the prices vary widely from make and model. Crucial? Corsair?

Don't go for the expensive gamer stuff, that doesn't do anything noticeable for DAW performance. I don't know the current prices for decent 8Gig modules - I chose a 4x4 Gig 1600Mhz G.Skill Ripjaws kit that costs about 80-90€, because I needed four modules for quad channel ram support.