I'm building a PC for music production, so I don't need a crazy GPU, just lots of ram and a powerful CPU. However, I'm a little nervous about bottlenecking my CPU if my graphics card isn't up to par, not sure if I will run into problems with that. Any advice on parts? This is how my build is looking so far:
CPU: i7-4790K Haswell Quad 4.0Ghz
Mobo: Gigabyte Ga-Z97X-UD5H
GPU: EVGA Superclocked GeForce GTX 660 2GB
Ram: (2 x 8GB) G. SKILL Ripjaws DDR3 2133
PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 750W 80 PLUS GOLD
HDD: 3TB Seagate Barracuda 7200
SSD: 128GB Crucial MX100 SATA III
May get a liquid cooler in the future if I decide to overclock. All of that is in some 60$ Rosewell Case.
Let me know if anyone has suggestions or modifications, it all helps. Thanks!
I would get either one or two 2TB drives - the 3TB drives have a higher failure rate than i am comfortable with.
If you can afford it - get a 250GB SSD - 128 will not go as far as you would think.
Get a Noctua CPU cooler and invest in some quality case fans. The last thing you want is to be trying to mix tracks or record with the buzz of fans in the background.
Maybe look into a sound card like an Asus Xonar Essence STX? I know next to nothing about music production but money spent here may be money very well spent
Well you don't need a dedicated GPU for music production, you could even use the on board Intel HD graphics if you wanted to. Also do not get a sound card, it may sound strange but you don't need it, mainly because you will be using your pre amp as a a sound card, and you will be plugging your speaker into there, unless you are not plugging any instruments/midi keyboards etc into the PC.
Save money and get 1 500W PSU, unless you plan on adding a graphics card for gaming later on, otherwise you will need 500W max.
Also, get a 2TB Hard Drive, the 3TB ones can cause issues. Get 2x 2TB hard drives if you need more space.
If you are going to be doing heavy production then maybe also get 32GB of ram, the speed you've chosen already is good though.
Vandal is right about the SSD too, once you've put windows and a couple of programs (including your music production software) it will be practically full, try get a 256GB one yeah.
That should give you some extra money too for other things :)
You are on the right track, but there is some wasted money in the build. Also, do your programs use CUDA or openCL for faster transcoding or file conversion?
here is what I put together: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/kpdkWZ
Highlights:
5 year warranty motherboard
faster ram (lower cas latency)
no graphics card because CPU integrated is more than enough for music based work
SSD's are faster
120gb ssd for os and programs, 240gb ssd for project files, 3tb nas HDD for backup and durability
cheaper, but just as good power supply
I included a case I like (smaller form factor) and a CPU cooler.. they will give your build good airflow... but remove if you don't like them.
**All said, this is overkill for a home music build, but as a professional build this will do everything under the sun for music editing without so much as a hiccup. This will convert music files quickly for fast turn around or if you are on a time crunch too.
This is great thank! I forgot to mention, I want to do at least dual monitor. Will no graphics card be an issue there? Is it worth having faster ram, but less of it (your 8Gb Vengeance vs 16Gb of something slower)? I have never heard of CUDA or openCL, how do they work? If I kept the cooler would you recommend overclocking? Thanks again for all the help!
Yeah I'll be buying a focusrite external preamp/soundcard. Will the haswell be ok on the 500W alone? I'm thinking about just a run of the mill graphics card in case I want to run premiere or something as a side project. I will also occasionally score movies, but that's just playback of vid. I have no idea how the integrated graphics are so basically I just wanted the graphics card as safety. Thanks for the reply!
Well if you wanted to get a graphics card for premier later on then get a 650W PSU to be safe, I recommend the RM650W by Corsair, otherwise stick with the 500W, even for haswell. Also, the integratedn graphics is pretty decent anyway, your CPU has the 4600 graphics, and my laptop has 4000 graphics, which is currently running another monitor whilst playing a game and monitoring it so you'll b fine.
Is the case a Rosewill Challenger? If so, I would almost beg you to get a different case if at all possible. I recently built a gaming rig in one and wow is it insufficient. If you are looking for silence do not look here. If you are looking for cable management do not look here. If you are looking for enough room for any cooler bigger than a hyper 212 evo, do not look here. Hell, if your looking for room to put your hands in while building the thing, do not look here. It's just so incredibly cramped. I had to take out the top 140mm fan because there would have been no room for the cpu power cable. My recommendation would be the fractal define R4, it has sound dampening material and you should be able to fit a noctua in it, but it is about $40 more...
It would be a good idea to have at least a couple of case fans to keep air moving. If your not overclocking I would think 2 fans (1 intake 1 exhaust) would be the minimum. Either Noctua or Akasa Viper fans would be fine. Corsair also have quiet fans but I have never used them - I use Akasa for everything.
The case I included in the build was a xigmatek aquila which has enough room for a NH-D14 if you wanted, but I put a h90 which can be installed in the front and is quiet at reasonable settings. The case also has ample cable management space and has a smaller form factor than a define R4.