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Building a box

...because I got SICK of projects slowing down. So, I want to build a box that will "never slow down" on projects.

Intel Core i3-540 Clarkdale 3.06GHz 4MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 73W Dual-Core Desktop Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16819115221

Then, a motherboard other than something crappy and generic and not Intel (because I want to over clock this).

At least 4GB of good RAM. I've heard there's a lot of crappy RAM out there so I want something with good reviews and not anything with a stupid unnecessary heat sync.

Anyway, my attitude is that I want to spend a fair amount of time figuring out what I want. It's only about 300-500 USD but it's obviously worth spending some effort tuning your selection.

I'll basically be running 1-3 Jupiter 8v synths, 1-3 Trilian bass modules, 1-3 Predators, maybe a nexus or something, all with FX, bussed, whatever - you get the picture I think.

My sound solution is an EMU 0202 which has been working great for me. I've asked a number of professionals who've checked out the specs of various other USB solutions, and they gave the nod to this one. Left and right 1/4 inch to XLR on my monitors, straight from the 0202 from my computer.

I built an intel system recently with the same goals, i went for the i7 series CPU on the LGA 1366 platform.

The LGA1156 platform you mention is intels mainstream chipset, so if you are building a system for maximum performance and upgradability in the future i would consider the LGA1366 chipset as that is intels 'enthusiast' platform. They will release the highest performing CPU's for this chipset, and the unlocked extreme edition overclocking chips. A 1366 motherboard will be a tad more expensive, but it will mean a couple of years down the track you can stick a ridiculous extreme edition chip in it and it will be an awesome upgrade, rather than building a new system again from scratch.

Also there are a couple of performance advantages like hyperthreading, turbo mode and a triple channel memory controller that i'm not certain the 1156 chipset supports.

With a triple channel memory controller your best bet is to go for 6GB of ram in 3x2GB sticks (one stick per channel). Also 6GB gives you a bit more headroom than 4 if you want to use a lot of sample based instruments. Corsair/g.skill/OCZ memory designed for overclocking is a good start, CAS8 or lower, 1600mhz. It's not that expensive at the moment.

Motherboard wise Asus/Gigabyte/EVGA are probably your safest bets. If you are going to overclock you probably want to consider an aftermarket air cooler like the prolimatech megahalems or true 120 etc. Instability in a DAW is a real pain so building the system to be powerful enough without overclocking it to far is a good idea, and if you do overclock it do it properly with a lot of testing or you'll end up frustrated with crashes while you're trying to produce.

You haven't mentioned a disk system, there's too many options to go through here like raid etc, but i simply went for a 300GB Velociraptor (operating system & production s/w disk), and a terabyte storage drive. With the aim of later moving the operating system to a solid state disk and using the velociraptor purely as a production disk. (Not ideal having them on the same drive as i currently do, but i've had no problems) It will be good as a production disk since it's a very fast drive and is still big enough to hold all my DAW software and sample library.

Lastly don't get a chingchong powersupply, go with corsair/seasonic. If you get a good one it will be more efficient, stable and outlast your system living on in your next build.

Look for reviews on the Dell Studio XPS 9000. It seems like a pretty solid machine at a pretty reasonable price, plus you get a hardware warranty with it that you normally wouldn't get with a self-built system. Looks like it's built for "high performance" purposes.

Go Quad or don't bother.

Intel also has a six core CPU now. $1,100, though.

Alan remember I use Ableton, no Quad-Core support. Useless to me.

quote:

Originally posted by Osmodiar I built an intel system recently with the same goals, i went for the i7 series CPU on the LGA 1366 platform. The LGA1156 platform you mention is intels mainstream chipset, so if you are building a system for maximum performance and upgradability in the future i would consider the LGA1366 chipset as that is intels 'enthusiast' platform. They will release the highest performing CPU's for this chipset, and the unlocked extreme edition overclocking chips. A 1366 motherboard will be a tad more expensive, but it will mean a couple of years down the track you can stick a ridiculous extreme edition chip in it and it will be an awesome upgrade, rather than building a new system again from scratch. Also there are a couple of performance advantages like hyperthreading, turbo mode and a triple channel memory controller that i'm not certain the 1156 chipset supports. With a triple channel memory controller your best bet is to go for 6GB of ram in 3x2GB sticks (one stick per channel). Also 6GB gives you a bit more headroom than 4 if you want to use a lot of sample based instruments. Corsair/g.skill/OCZ memory designed for overclocking is a good start, CAS8 or lower, 1600mhz. It's not that expensive at the moment. Motherboard wise Asus/Gigabyte/EVGA are probably your safest bets. If you are going to overclock you probably want to consider an aftermarket air cooler like the prolimatech megahalems or true 120 etc. Instability in a DAW is a real pain so building the system to be powerful enough without overclocking it to far is a good idea, and if you do overclock it do it properly with a lot of testing or you'll end up frustrated with crashes while you're trying to produce. You haven't mentioned a disk system, there's too many options to go through here like raid etc, but i simply went for a 300GB Velociraptor (operating system & production s/w disk), and a terabyte storage drive. With the aim of later moving the operating system to a solid state disk and using the velociraptor purely as a production disk. (Not ideal having them on the same drive as i currently do, but i've had no problems) It will be good as a production disk since it's a very fast drive and is still big enough to hold all my DAW software and sample library. Lastly don't get a chingchong powersupply, go with corsair/seasonic. If you get a good one it will be more efficient, stable and outlast your system living on in your next build.

Thanks Os, you know your stuff. My friend told me the exact same thing about power supplies and stuff, how one major Taiwanese manufacturer makes pretty much all of them and then knock off (ching chong) brands purchase them and stamp their logo on them before shipping them out. And of course the RAM which I want to be good too. Things should come together with this I'm not too worried now. That pretty much answers my question so thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by No Left Turn Look for reviews on the Dell Studio XPS 9000. It seems like a pretty solid machine at a pretty reasonable price, plus you get a hardware warranty with it that you normally wouldn't get with a self-built system. Looks like it's built for "high performance" purposes.

$900... I can get what I want for 2/3 less.

quote:

Originally posted by Evolve140 Alan remember I use Ableton, no Quad-Core support. Useless to me.

lemme know if i'm off-base, but wont quad core give your OS more leeway to work in the bg while Ableton is chugging?

yeah, don't go for an i3 dude. Its not worth your trouble. Quad core i7 or don't bother IMO. You want that triple channel bandwidth.

I'd get a good i7 CPU, even if the clock's a lot slower (2.something is fine) and 4 gig of ram in a dual channel config to start, with some asus motherboard and a cheap graphics card, then upgrade the graphics and RAM later if you get the cash. You can also start out with just one terabyte disk or a 500 gig one or something if your doing it on the cheap.

Just get the CPU and motherbaord sorted properly or you'll regret it.

quote:

Originally posted by No Left Turn Look for reviews on the Dell Studio XPS 9000. It seems like a pretty solid machine at a pretty reasonable price, plus you get a hardware warranty with it that you normally wouldn't get with a self-built system. Looks like it's built for "high performance" purposes.

Build your own or don't bother IMO. Its much cheaper.

quote:

Originally posted by Evolve140 Alan remember I use Ableton, no Quad-Core support. Useless to me.

What are you talking about? Ableton has good multithreading AFAIK.

i3 is a base processor. Even an i5 won't give you what you want. Got for the i7.

wouldnt bother with an i3, i7 all the way

What if they release a new version of Ableton this year with quad-core support? Or the next year? I'm sure your not planning to buy another computer next year so might as well get something that'll last. aka i7

Re: Building a box

quote:

Originally posted by Evolve140 I'll basically be running 1-3 Jupiter 8v synths, 1-3 Trilian bass modules, 1-3 Predators, maybe a nexus or something, all with FX, bussed, whatever - you get the picture I think.

What are you using at the moment?

I run far more than that on an older Athlon Dual and have just built an Intel Quad (Q9400) for future purposes.


There's a lot of BS talked about how much CPU you really need in a project IMO.

I'd rather spend less on the PC and add DSP than go all out on a super fast PC that'll only ever hit 20% CPU use.

i thought u where gonna build a drummachine or smthng.

I come from more of a gaming standpoint...but I know that my tech friends all say that the best bang for your buck currently is the i5 chip.

I went for the i7 myself, and it's a fantastic chip. I've never run into any CPU issues with anything thrown at it thus far. (Runs Crysis perfectly, runs FL / Cubase / Reason perfectly)

The other thing that helps is having a solid soundcard, which is where alot of my money went.

I don't like getting into specifics as everyone has their preferences, but out of all of my friend's pc builds, the most stable combo has been i5/Asus/Corsair with Win7 Ultimate.

Something to consider, (and something that helped speed production up for me) was dual 22" LCD's. If you already have 1 monitor, It's a great way to spend 180 bucks if you can spare it. (If you've seen any of Ronald Jenkees on youtube, he runs 3 monitors with FL studio xD)

If you happen to care about graphics cards, ATI's 4850HD is the way to go for savings, but keep in mind that Nvidia has better built in AND aftermarket graphics tweaking, and the GTX285 is a solid card. (nhancer 4tw?)

It was a thread before about this subject but I will post my config:

1 x LIAN LI Lancool PC-K62 Black 0.8 mm SECC, Plastic + Mesh ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
1 x GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
1 x HIS H575Q1GD Radeon HD 5750 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
1 x CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W ATX12V V2.2 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply
1 x Rosewill RHB-220R 4-port USB Hub - Red
1 x AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor Model HDZ955FBGMBOX
1 x LITE-ON CD/DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model iHAS124-04 - OEM
1 x Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
1 x CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMX4GX3M2A1600C9
1 x ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 64 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler
1 x Rosewill RNX-N100 IEEE 802.11b/g/n USB2.0 Wireless-N 2.0 Dongle (1T2R) Up to 150Mbps Data Rates/ WPA/WPA2 (AES, 64,128-WEP with shared-key authentication) Cisco CCS V1.0, V2.0 and V3.0

Newegg order for around $850.00. Assembled in about 3-4 hrs.
Never have any problem with AMD - is fast, really fast. Whatever I throw on this baby, barely go to 20% of processor load (incl. OmniSphare) - love it.

Pay attention to Motherboard, for me has to have Texas Instrumant FireWire chipset for good connectivity for any firewire hardware you want to add/connect to your computer. This system is brilliant for production.

Also we are using Windows Server 64 bit with some OS small registry changes to shift audio/multimedia priority to high.

Cheers

aren't those like $300? looks nice tho.. maybe i'll get it =D

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202&cm_re=i7_processor-_-19-115-202-_-Product

Edit, and this... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128375&cm_re=LGA_1366_motherboard-_-13-128-375-_-Product

This mobo looks like the best at the moment... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16813128423

Now your talking. Pair those with a 500 gig HD (minimum), mid range graphics and a 4 gig of ram on 1 or 2 sticks and your totally set. It'll be screamingly fast...

Yep that's a decent board, i would just go straight for a 3x2GB stick matched ram set like the TR3X6G1600C7 (part number, google for local pricing). They're good value when bought as a set, and they will come from the same batch. Memory is a fundamental part of the system, so matched sticks designed to run together at high speeds is a worthy investment in my mind.

Interesting, I didn't know matched sets worked better...

I was only suggesting cutting back on ram since he'll probably be using a 32 bit system and is trying to save cash in the short term. He was saying he only had $300 or $400 after all. and we're telling him to get a CPU that's 2oo and something.

quote:

Originally posted by kitphillips Interesting, I didn't know matched sets worked better...

They don't.


I'm trying to find the link but Toms did a test and the difference was less than 0.5%

there's another thread somewhere about 32bit / vs 64bit. I went 32bit initially and then had to rebuild the OS to change to 64bit because i wasn't happy with the free memory i was left with. In my opinion save yourself the trouble and go with 64bit to start with. Sit it out until you have another pay check under the belt and do it properly from the get go i say.

Regarding the matched sets, the OP mentioned overclocking, if you want the highest level of reliability and stability when overclocking then a matched set of ram is not a bad idea. When you push up the clock cycles of memory with tight timings, if you have 3 sticks with identical physical properties it may be easier to find stable settings than if you have sticks from different batches that might not like exactly the same settings.

So it's not necessarily about a paper performance increase, but higher chances of stability across the sticks at faster speeds.

If budget is really strict and more important than that then yeah it's not 100% necessary, i just took the mentality with my build that i wanted to do it once, do it well, and not have to do it again for a long time.

quote:

Originally posted by tehlord They don't. I'm trying to find the link but Toms did a test and the difference was less than 0.5%

Everything I have ever heard about RAM is that matched pairs are better than unmatched and issues always seem to arise with unmatched pairs. I thought that was pretty common knowledge?

quote:

Originally posted by Osmodiar there's another thread somewhere about 32bit / vs 64bit. I went 32bit initially and then had to rebuild the OS to change to 64bit because i wasn't happy with the free memory i was left with. In my opinion save yourself the trouble and go with 64bit to start with. Sit it out until you have another pay check under the belt and do it properly from the get go i say. Regarding the matched sets, the OP mentioned overclocking, if you want the highest level of reliability and stability when overclocking then a matched set of ram is not a bad idea. When you push up the clock cycles of memory with tight timings, if you have 3 sticks with identical physical properties it may be easier to find stable settings than if you have sticks from different batches that might not like exactly the same settings. So it's not necessarily about a paper performance increase, but higher chances of stability across the sticks at faster speeds. If budget is really strict and more important than that then yeah it's not 100% necessary, i just took the mentality with my build that i wanted to do it once, do it well, and not have to do it again for a long time.

Valid point, although I remain unconvinced that the benefit of matched RAM is worth the extra cost. Saying that my overclocking method usually involves buying a new PC with a faster CPU

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