Looking for advice for new PC

[SayersWeb]

I've had my current music PC for 4 years and it is underpowered for many of the new software synths (especially Diva). The power supply fan has recently started to make a lot of noise as well. I believe it is an intel dual core with 4gb RAM.

Looking for suggestions on specs for a new PC... processor, RAM, etc. Hope to get a system that will hold up for a couple of years. Looking for a good trade-off between performance and cost. I'm willing to spend a bit more for better performance, but don't want to spend a lot for only minor performance increases. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

My audio interface is the NI Komplete Audio 6. I have a Drobo external hard drive array to store most data, but several software synths seem to prefer housing data on the install drive.

I dread having to reload from scratch again, but it will be worth it. It was only about 6 months ago that I upgraded to Win 7 and had to reload everything.

[rod_zero]

Synths doesnt use much memory, except omnisphere or other sample based instruments like kontakt.

You need the biggest cpu you can afford before th extreme versions (those are not worth since price is way too high).

an intel i7-2600k should be enough for running 5 instances of diva.


8 gig of ram is good enough.

Motherboard this is prtty standard, just look for one you can afford, for a i7-2600 get one with a z68 chip. Asus, MSI, EVGA and Gygabyte are the best outthere.

Power supply: an antec or corsair

cabinet: there are some antec p-181 I believe, which are quite good for dampening noise.

Last your video card, get something not to big like a gt 450, or 550.

[EvilDragon]

Asus, MSI, EVGA and Gygabyte are the best outthere.

In this order:

EVGA
Gigabyte
Asus
MSI



Re: cases. Coolermaster is also nice! -> http://www.coolermaster.com/microsite/Cosmos_S/

[Gonga]

Good advice above.

I advise people to stay away from modular power supplies. I am a huge fan of PC Power & Cooling PSUs. I also like Lian Li cases.

Go with the biggest SSD drive you can get for Windows and programs. A 3TB Western Digital drive makes a fine data drive. Don't forget surge protection and backup.

[EvilDragon]

I kinda like modular PSUs... Less cable wrangling is always good.

[t3toooo]

i've got a intel dx79si board (i7-3930k) and kingston ram along with a intel ssd drive.

power supply seasonic modular x-660.

asus gtx-460,nvidia's driver lately is working very well.

what can i say? it works bad.

[SayersWeb]

Great advice so far... thank you!

Z68 or even Z77 chipset
i7-2600k or i7-2700k

Just checked... my current CPU is Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600, which is a 2400mhz, but it is only running at 1866mhz for some reason.

Would a 512gb SSD be preferable to a 2TB SATA drive?

I do have Omnisphere & Kontakt... so will probably max out the memory.

I have dual monitors, so will need a card to support that. Current card is a Radeon X1600 512gb

Using Ascendtech.com to spec out the PC, they have Antec cases but not the P-181.

I do have a Cyberpower UPS on the music pc.

Any suggestions for a better builder than Ascendtech?

Thanks Again!

[EvilDragon]

Just checked... my current CPU is Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600, which is a 2400mhz, but it is only running at 1866mhz for some reason.

Possibly wrong settings in BIOS, possibly RAM that is lower frequency? Go to BIOS and play with CPU multiplier.

Would a 512gb SSD be preferable to a 2TB SATA drive?

If you have a lot of sample libraries, it's good to have them on SSD, rather to use up an SSD for OS. If you have cash to spare, then get a 64 or 128 GB SSD for OS and main programs, a 1 or 2 TB HDD for data and audio, and another HDD or SSD for sample libraries.

I do have Omnisphere & Kontakt... so will probably max out the memory.

Good thinking. 16 or 24 GB of DDR3. Dirt cheap now. Corsair, Mushkin, Kingston (in that order).

[marcotronic]

I do have Omnisphere & Kontakt... so will probably max out the memory.

Get as much RAM as you can afford if you use a lot of (Kontakt)Sample Libraries, especially if orchestral stuff is involved. I have 24 GB RAM in my Mac Pro and I wish I had at least twice as much (using a lot of orchestral libs here)

Marco

[SayersWeb]

Possibly wrong settings in BIOS, possibly RAM that is lower frequency? Go to BIOS and play with CPU multiplier.

Yup... now have it running at 2400mhz. I wonder how it got set wrong. Oh well, things are running a bit better now.

If you have a lot of sample libraries, it's good to have them on SSD, rather to use up an SSD for OS. If you have cash to spare, then get a 64 or 128 GB SSD for OS and main programs, a 1 or 2 TB HDD for data and audio, and another HDD or SSD for sample libraries.

Okay, will have a think about using SSDs. It would be great to have samples load more quickly, and also Win 7 boot faster. I'll have to check to see how much my current installation uses.

Good thinking. 16 or 24 GB of DDR3. Dirt cheap now. Corsair, Mushkin, Kingston (in that order).

Okay cool... if I get the Z77 chipset I can use 32gb. Thanks for all of the info!

[EvilDragon]

Do you use background loading in Kontakt? If you do, and some NKIs still load slow for you, do you know that you need to do a batch resave of your (older, pre-K4.1) librares to enable background loading for them?

[SayersWeb]

Finally, the new PC has arrived. Processor is an I7-3770 (3rd gen), 12gb ram with 1 open slot, soon to be 16gb. NVidia GeForce GT 630 2gb to run the dual monitors. 4 USB 3.0 and 6 USB 2.0 ports.

Here's what I am planning to do with the installed drives:

128gb SSD: Operating system and music related programs (Cubase 7, NI, and whatever won't install on another drive)

256gb SSD: Sound libraries and Plug-ins (so that they load faster)

2Tb HD: Remaining programs and general data

1Tb HD: Audio recording only

Drobo with 3Tb useable: Serves as backup storage for other drives.


Unfortunately, it is Windows 8 64bit, so not as efficient as Windows 7. Just setting everything up now. My Komplete Audio 6 interface is having a slight buzzing sound. Will need to try swapping USB ports.

I'm copying the sound libraries from another drive and then plan to start installing software and plug-ins. Probably going to be a long weekend!

Thanks again to everyone for the advice. I look forward to loading up Diva and hopefully not having CPU spikes.

[Eclipse.Sound]

Finally, the new PC has arrived. Processor is an I7-3770 (3rd gen)

why not 3770K?

[MFXxx]

Finally, the new PC has arrived. Processor is an I7-3770 (3rd gen), 12gb ram with 1 open slot, soon to be 16gb. NVidia GeForce GT 630 2gb to run the dual monitors. 4 USB 3.0 and 6 USB 2.0 ports.

Here's what I am planning to do with the installed drives:

128gb SSD: Operating system and music related programs (Cubase 7, NI, and whatever won't install on another drive)

256gb SSD: Sound libraries and Plug-ins (so that they load faster)

2Tb HD: Remaining programs and general data

1Tb HD: Audio recording only

Drobo with 3Tb useable: Serves as backup storage for other drives.


Unfortunately, it is Windows 8 64bit, so not as efficient as Windows 7. Just setting everything up now. My Komplete Audio 6 interface is having a slight buzzing sound. Will need to try swapping USB ports.

I'm copying the sound libraries from another drive and then plan to start installing software and plug-ins. Probably going to be a long weekend!

Thanks again to everyone for the advice. I look forward to loading up Diva and hopefully not having CPU spikes.

Nice system...let us know how you get on with the sound libraries/samples on the second ssd (plan to do this sometime myself) Have all samples on 1 hard drive and load them into the ssd as and when I start to use them. In other words loads of stuff in Komplete I never use and simply delete!

Thank god someone with some savvy and bought a decent size backup drive (I am paranoid and have two lomfao, from experience it paid off and is a kind of double indemnityt insurance).

Personally (and tha manufacturers deny it) I have not got any of my audio interefaces (Audio TI and RME Fireface800) to work in Windows 8 without them dropping audio or from stopping working. I reinstalled W7 and will stay there till W8 has a decent service pack update.

With buzzing check you aren't using your usb2 on usb3 not surew if it makes a difference but worth checking.

Have fun and chekout Lush101, see how many of those it takes to trip the system up...lol

[Urs]

I can try to move this to Computer Setup forums if you like...