Building the perfect computer

[royaldeadman]

Please help me out with parts for a perfect PC for music production. I have a pc now and I'm no stranger to the threads but I'm getting money and I really want to feel the power of my VSTS and DAWS and stability in the computer.

Below is some ideas i feel strong about for parts but am not sure if they all go together because I'm not a computer guy. Shoot, I didn't even know about water coolers but I bet i need one.

For the case I'm looking at a cool master.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/111085052079?ss ... 121wt_1170

A possible motherboard.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131971

out of all these rams not sure what to get but I want fast. Price should be reasonable but super fast. I want no lagging at all.

http://www.newegg.com/Desktop-Memory/Su ... der=PRICED

[ghettosynth]

I think that the perfect computer would do what I want it to do, unfortunately, I only have old technology that does what I tell it to do.

[royaldeadman]

I would like 64 gb of ram or 128 and I have a core i7 but maybe i need the extreme i7

[t3toooo]

technology is rapidly outdated,it is important to know what you want to do with your computer and to find out what components you need.
a 256gb ssd for a operating system is surely a bit oversized if you only need a couple of programs and therefore a waste of money.
same applies for the amount of ram.

[royaldeadman]

I would like to be able to cross daws by rewire if need be and have any vst on any track that I need while say live streaming online like a screencast. Obviously i've tried all this and let's just say it didn't work out too well. Overload.

So yes I'm looking for top quality stuff. Maybe like a geforce graphics card too.

How does memory work? How does the paths work? What does it all mean? 1333mhz? 1833? what is the best? 2x4? 2x6?

[planetearth]

I would like to be able to cross daws by rewire if need be and have any vst on any track that I need while say live streaming online like a screencast. Obviously i've tried all this and let's just say it didn't work out too well. Overload.

So yes I'm looking for top quality stuff. Maybe like a geforce graphics card too.

How does memory work? How does the paths work? What does it all mean? 1333mhz? 1833? what is the best? 2x4? 2x6?

If you're sure the problem you had is because of your current hardware configuration, then new hardware might help. But you'll need to tell us what your operating system is, your DAW, and in general, what you plan to do with the PC before you'll get much specific help.

When you start down your own path of building a machine, you might find all the information a bit overwhelming at first. I recommend you check this forum and your DAW developer's forum to see what they recommend.

In general, you want the fastest RAM you can afford and that your motherboard will accept. That shouldn't be much of a problem these days, but make sure your motherboard will accept what you want. The 1333mHz designation refers to the speed at which the memory runs, basically. The faster, the better--again, as long as your mobo will support it. RAM speed isn't the whole story, though: You'll also want to consider "CAS latency" and other issues.

nVidia's GeForce-based cards are pretty good, and some VST developers are looking into harnessing the power of the graphics processor unit (GPU) on the video card to help the CPU. Not all developers are doing this, and certain GPUs can do the work, so you'll want to check. That said, the motherboard's on-board graphics may be good enough for your DAW, depending upon what else you're doing with the computer.

Good luck!

Steve

[planetearth]

Please help me out with parts for a perfect PC for music production. I have a pc now and I'm no stranger to the threads but I'm getting money and I really want to feel the power of my VSTS and DAWS and stability in the computer.

Below is some ideas i feel strong about for parts but am not sure if they all go together because I'm not a computer guy. Shoot, I didn't even know about water coolers but I bet i need one.

For the case I'm looking at a cool master.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/111085052079?ss ... 121wt_1170

A possible motherboard.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131971

out of all these rams not sure what to get but I want fast. Price should be reasonable but super fast. I want no lagging at all.

http://www.newegg.com/Desktop-Memory/Su ... der=PRICED

Your first link is to a Neumann mic on eBay. If you try to use that for a computer case, you're going to be very disappointed.

The motherboard is overkill for a DAW. You almost certainly don't need four 16x PCIe slots, unless you're doing serious gaming or graphics work. Until we know what your audio interface is, we won't know if you need PCIe or PCI slots, or how many (if any at all).

You'll want the fastest RAM your mobo can accommodate, but you don't want to have any more fans in the system than are absolutely necessary. Fans generate noise. You can get fast RAM that doesn't use fans. You might also want to look into liquid cooling the system. It's not much more money than fans, but it's virtually silent.

Steve

[royaldeadman]

So I was really hoping not having to post this as I'm not trying to look like a goody good boy or something like that. I really want to do everything. So a powerful computer is needed.

I would like to use all this or what I want from it on any session and not have problems.
I'm always buying stuff so I need the best of the best to handle it all.

List of gear I own

1. Abelton live 7 full
2. Abelton live suite 8 upgrade full/ online max for live full
3. Reason 4,5 full. Also Reason sample packs.
4. Reason 6 online upgrade buy.
5. Presonus studio one 2 professional )(Fader Port)
6. Native instruments Maschine - Expansion packs as followed (Vintage heat, Platinum bounce, True School,)
7. Komplete 7 full. (Absynth Twilights, Session strings, Urban Arsenal, Urban Arsenal 2, Damage)
8. Komplete 8 Ultimate upgrade full.
9. Pro tools 9
10. Pro tools 10 upgrade
11. Waves platinum edition
12. Izotope Nectar
13. Big fish Urban Rig
14. Big Fish Guitar Soundscapes
15. Big Fish Kings of the south
16. Big Fish Plush
17. Big Fish Pop 'N' Soul Guitars
18. Big Fish Pop Rocks
19. 2'C Audio's Breeze reverb Download
20. Diginoiz Drums for Maschine
21. IK-Multimedia total workstaion bundle (Miroslav Philharmonic Library, Sample Tank 2xL, Sample Moog, Sample Tron, Sonic Synth, Amplitube 3 Full, CSR Reverb)
22. J-Bridge
23. Loopmasters (Dope Keys Vol.1)
24. MVPS LOOPS - (Acoustic Blends 2, Battle Beats Vol.1, Blowin money, Felony music, Fret guitar loops, Hip hop fever, Hook city pop bangaz, Love ballards,)( M-paq kits- (Golden Keys Vol.1, Soulful guitar kicks,)(Sounds in HD Vol.1, The big Apple stories, Under Da Hood, Urban Swagga Vol.1, A town DrumKit, LAX Gametime Vol.1)
25. P5 audio samples - (Dr. Rehab hip hop loops, Lollipop Divas loops,)
26. Prime loops - (Bulletproof Hip hop Grooves, Complete 808 & 909 Drum Machines, Guitar Anthology, Planet of the orchestra, ATL Starz, Hip Hop Militia, Melodic Guitar Hooks, Platinum Piano Ballards, Takeova, Takeova 2, Urban Ikoz, Vocal Allstars Victory, Urban dance Combo, XXL Drums,)
27. Rewire VST
28. Sonic Couture - Pan Drums, Crowded Choir, Xtended piano,
29. Traumah Drums (All kits)
30. Nomad Factory - (Magma)
31. Arturia - V3 collection full
32. VST - DIVA
33. VST - Z3TA- 2
34. VST - Zebra 2
35. Best serice - Poetic acoustic guitars
36. Camel Audio - (Camel Crusher, CamelPhat, Camel Space,)
37. VST - Nexus (Guitars, Apres Ski, Dark Planet, Hollywood,)
38. Omnisphere
39. Trillian
40. Music lab - RealGuitar 2 Bundle including (Real strat, Real PC,)
41. VST - Sylenth1
42. VST - Tone 2 Saurus
43. Wusik station full
44. Mbox pro
45. Neumann tlm-49 microphone
46. Akai - MPK 88 keyboard
47. Yamaha HS- 80's studio monitors
48. 2- 27 inch Samsung SA350 monitor screens
49. Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
50. Custom built PC as follows (Antec case, Quad core i7, Asus p6t motherboard, 12 gb corsair ram, 3 TB internal HDD, 850 watt powersupply, External Western Digital 2tb HDD, and 3TB Green Phantom Drive)
51. Camtasia studio 8
52. Melodyne - Editor
53. Mach Five 3 sampler
54. Izotope Iris + 5 Library
55. Martin Hd-28 V acoustic Guitar (G7 Capo) (Many picks) (Cleartone light strings)
56. Alchemy synth
57. Slate digital - Tape machines
58. Slate Digital - Steven slate drums
59. Fx- Expansion - BFD-2
60. Ivory - Grand pianos
61. Novation Ultranova
62. Universal Audio UA - 6176 preamp
63. East west - Gold pianos
64. Komplete 9 Ultimate upgrade
65. Reason 7 Upgrade
66. Superior Drummer 2.0
67. Fl studio 11 Signature series
68. Mac Pro videos - Jeremy Ellis Finger drumming
69.

[ZenPunkHippy]

This is the solution to your problem:

http://www.adkproaudio.com/choose2.asp

Buy a kick ass machine from ADK. It is guaranteed to run low latency audio apps and lots of plugins. They will fix it if something breaks. It will last for years.

This is the solution for someone who has admitted they don't know very much about PCs.

Peace,
Andy.

[planetearth]

So I was really hoping not having to post this as I'm not trying to look like a goody good boy or something like that. I really want to do everything. So a powerful computer is needed.

I would like to use all this or what I want from it on any session and not have problems.
I'm always buying stuff so I need the best of the best to handle it all.

List of gear I own

49. Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
50. Custom built PC as follows (Antec case, Quad core i7, Asus p6t motherboard, 12 gb corsair ram, 3 TB internal HDD, 850 watt powersupply, External Western Digital 2tb HDD, and 3TB Green Phantom Drive)
69.

We didn't really need the whole list. Just your OS and the types of work you want to do in general.

As it turns out, you already have a high-end PC. You didn't mention your processor speed, but replacing it with a slightly faster one will NOT improve your workflow or performance. If you can't do what you need with the PC you have now, there must be something else causing the problem. You need to find out why you can't do what you want on what you have. It could be there are too many other apps and services running on the machine, or out-of-date drivers, or any number of problems. But throwing a few thousand dollars at a new system won't solve the problem if you put all the same software back onto it in the same configuration you have now.

ZenPunkHippy (Andy) knows his hardware (and software), and ADK makes fast, quiet PCs for music production. Rain Computers is another dealer who specializes in PCs for audio and music production. But there's very little either one can offer that's going to run that much faster than what you already have.

Look at what's causing the problem you have now. Make sure you have the latest updates for all the apps you use where you experience problems, try to stay as "64-bit" as possible in your apps, and turn off any service on the computer that you don't actually need. There's a lot more you can do to tweak the machine, but until you know where the problem is, you could be wasting your time.

And as the last bit of bad news, you'll never be able to use "all of" what you have in any session; more than likely your DAW host simply won't support it, or you'll have bottlenecks or conflicts somewhere else.

If you want the highest level of performance possible, buy a 12-core Mac Pro (or a dual 8-core Intel Xeon processor-based system from ADK or someone, $7K). You'll have fewer audio apps to use on the Mac, so you won't find yourself with as many problems. (Save your letters, Mac fans.) But keep in mind Apple is due to chance the Mac Pro soon, so you might want to wait to get an even faster machine.

Steve

[ZenPunkHippy]

But there's very little either one can offer that's going to run that much faster than what you already have.

Fair comment, I didn't read the existing specs, just remembered an old thread where OP is having major problems with existing PC.

Solving the problem by paying someone with experience to fix it for you would be one way to go, but better is working it for yourself so that if it happens again you can fix it.

Peace,
Andy.

[planetearth]

But there's very little either one can offer that's going to run that much faster than what you already have.

Fair comment, I didn't read the existing specs, just remembered an old thread where OP is having major problems with existing PC.

Solving the problem by paying someone with experience to fix it for you would be one way to go, but better is working it for yourself so that if it happens again you can fix it.

Peace,
Andy.

I'm just not sure that going from one i7 to another (even the latest ones out this week) is going to improve his situation much.

Re-installing Windows and overclocking what he has might do more good--as long as the same problems don't get "re-installed" with the software.

Steve

[royaldeadman]

maybe I should take what I have and buy a full tower case and add a graphics card and more expensive ram. The ram I have is like corsair 6 sticks 1333 I think. I want the best ram.

More fans too. Watercooler?

[planetearth]

maybe I should take what I have and buy a full tower case and add a graphics card and more expensive ram. The ram I have is like corsair 6 sticks 1333 I think. I want the best ram.

More fans too. Watercooler?

Depending upon your processor and mobo, you could probably get the fastest DDR3 RAM available, though it's unlikely your mobo will take DDR3 2800 RAM. RAM prices fluctuate, and you don't necessarily need "more expensive" RAM. What you need is the fastest, lowest-latency RAM your motherboard and processor will support. But it all should match, or you'll have more problems. And don't get the fastest RAM on the market if your processor won't run fast enough to take advantage of it; you'd be wasting your money.

Don't add more fans to the case, if the PC is in your studio or work area. Watercooling will allow you to overclock your processor and quiet down the PC at the same time. Overclocking the PC will allow it to run a bit faster, execute more instructions per second, and access the RAM a little faster.

A basic watercooling system starts at around $100. If you must add fans, larger, slower-moving fans are quieter and move almost the same amount of air as faster, smaller fans (generally speaking).

A graphics card still may not help you much, and if it has a fan on it, you're just adding noise to your environment.

If we knew specifically what problem you're having, we might be able to save you a few hundred dollars.

Steve

[whyterabbyt]

maybe I should take what I have and buy a full tower case and add a graphics card and more expensive ram.

Why do you think that?

The ram I have is like corsair 6 sticks 1333 I think. I want the best ram.

Define 'best' in some meaningful way.

More fans too. Watercooler?

Again, why?

I mean it sounds like you're just picking random components and deciding 'I'll spend more money on this' and that will make it better. Which is pretty much what you've said before about software, audio gear etc. You're not going to get anywhere if you keep confusing the list of equipment you have with your ability to use it properly, which is pretty much what you seem to keep doing.

Your underlying issue is not your hardware. Its not even the stupid amount of software you've installed without really knowing what you're doing.