Building Pc for producing music (first time)

[Bruno84]

Hi everybody,

I'm currently in between jobs and therefore I have some spare time on my hands. Coincidence has it that I'm also in need of a new pc, so I decided to start building one my self. If doesn't get me more bang for my buck, at least I will have learnt what these things look like on the inside.

I want to use my pc for (in order of importance):

• making music
• internet and downloading
• watching videos and listening to music

After having read through some of the threads on the forum I came up with the following rig:

CPU: Intel Core i7-860 Lynnfield http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115214

MoBo: GIGABYTE GA-P55M-UD2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...%20Ga-p55m-ud2

RAM: Kingston HyperX 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820104140

Video Card: GIGABYTE GV-N240D3-1GI http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-305-_-Product

PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...rsair%20tx650w

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-337-_-Product

Case: Xsuper 303S Midi Tower http://www.kmelektronik.de/shop/inde...45&ArtNr=24621

OS: Windows Vista 64-bit

Total Cost: 771.12 EUR or 1004.62 USD (without OS)

Comments:
I haven't included a dedicated sound card because I'm going to use an external USB soundcard. That way I can also use that soundcard for my netbook.
I have some old computers here that I would vulture for a FDD (in case I want to install XP) and I have an external USB DVD/CD-ROM drive.
I'll add more memory once I have recovered from this investment.
When the price drops, I'll probably also add a SSD storage device to run the OS off.

That's it. I would really appreciate to hear your thoughts on this set up.

[Nikon]

4 gigs will be plenty of ram for music editing, even decent video editing. thecore i7 on the 1156 platform is a good choice, plenty of horsepower without the x58 hassle. looks good overall

[glc]

The i7-870 is now the same price as the i7-860. If you need to cut costs, I'd look at an i5-760.

I'd recommend an Asus P7P55D-E LX instead of that micro board.

You can do better for less with different ram. All you need is CAS 9 1.5 volt ram.

For your use, I'd get an ATI video card, at the low price end they are more suitable for what you are doing than Nvidia. I'd probably look at a 5570.

No floppy controllers any more - if you need a floppy you need a USB floppy.

I'd also recommend an internal optical drive - considering how cheap DVD burners are, I'd get one.

[Strider]

Not meaning to throw a stone in the pond, but have you considered a Mac? The reason I say this is last semester I took a college course in sound design and the college was using ProTools on Macs. Yes, you can use ProTools on a PC, but from what the instructor was saying that Apple computers are better and from my own experience taking the class I agree with him.

[Nikon]

macs use the same hardware as any regular pc or laptop now, there is no great advantage to a mac besides if you like the OS. not to bash mac,but im a PC , and pro tools was my idea >.< lol

mac is really just personal preference, but i do see ALOT of them used in professional environments like that, there must be a reason i dont know of.

i use protools actually i am a thrash metal drummer =D, have my own studio in a box (mBox2). its nothing amazing, but its plenty for what i do

[David M]

It seems it comes down to the software. Have you tried different music software packages for both platforms? This might determine which hardware would work best for you.


Of course you can't build you own Macintosh and they do cost more for the hardware that you get.

[Bruno84]

@Striker: I know many professionals swear by Apple but I'm sticking with PC. Thanks for the advice, nonetheless.

@Nikon, @glc: thank you for your feedback.

So, I'll get that bigger ASUS MoBo and replace the Kingston memory by this:

CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory
https://www.kmelektronik.de/shop/ind...fo&ArtNr=27149

I did find some cheaper RAM on ebay but it is CL8, I don't know if it makes much of a difference. (http://cgi.ebay.com/2GB-DDR3-1333-24...a08b5ffa7#shId)

For the GPU I found this ATX alternative:

Sapphire (Retail) HD5570 1024MB HDMI/DVI
http://www.kmelektronik.de/shop/inde...fo&ArtNr=25936

An optic device:

LiteOn (Retail) iHAS324-32 DVD-Brenner SATA schwarz
http://www.kmelektronik.de/shop/inde...fo&ArtNr=24859

And I forgot that I need wifi on this machine:

Edimax EW-7728In Wireless N PCI
http://www.kmelektronik.de/shop/inde...fo&ArtNr=26253

The i7-870 is now the same price as the i7-860.

I see that's the case on newegg.com but on most european sites the i7-870 is still more expensive. On ebay, however, you can get this deal and it's available for intl shipping: http://cgi.ebay.com/Intel-Core-i7-87...item3f01f2b6d7

Is it worth spending a little more and getting a i7-875k instead of the 870?

[Nikon]

'Is it worth spending a little more and getting a i7-875k instead of the 870? '

only if you are overclocking. the only difference (litteraly, the are the same 45nm lynnfield core) is the unlocked multiplier, much like AMD's black edition CPUs.

if you are going wireless N, please, please research into it. if you just plug it in, chances are it will only run @ wireless G speeds until you manually set it to the 40mhz band, that is assuming your router is a dual band router, else you will have to choose between using only wireless N devices, or only wireless G devices.

this is a whole nother story though. please research it.

[Bruno84]

Thanks for pointing that out, I had absolutely no idea.