KVR Audio

kevingham · Post by **kevingham** » Fri Mar 05, 2021 4:56 am

Hi all, long time no post. I'm back on the music making train, and my Surface Pro 4 is dying, so looking at building a new desktop. I'm thinking AMD for obvious reasons, but also for obvious reasons, getting hold of a 5000 series chip at something less than ridiculous prices is hard right now. So, I'm thinking of building this (rationale follows):

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/YkHqy4

AMD Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor
be quiet! Shadow Rock 3 CPU Cooler
Asus PRIME X570-P ATX AM4 Motherboard
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory
Western Digital BLACK SERIES 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Seagate FireCuda 520 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive
GameMax Silent ATX Mid Tower Case
SeaSonic FOCUS 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply

So the idea is I buy all the components for the bulk of the computer based around the Asus PRIME X570-P X570 board, but since CPU and GPUs prices and availability is currently a mess, I buy a second hand 2200g 1st gen Zen off ebay for like £80, which will cover my CPU and GPU needs until sometime later in the year when the 5000s are better available and much cheaper. Right now if I wanted to buy a 5600X plus a basic passive GPU, I'm looking at about £450, which is silly. By the end of the year I can spend the same money but instead get a basic GPU plus a 5800x or even an 5900x for the same money, so I think I'm better waiting for a bit to buy those. The 2200g is still a 30-40% benchmarked improvement over the 6650 i7 in my Surface Pro 4, so I still get a speed bump, and most importantly I can build a functional and reliable system, since my SP4 is pretty hopeless now and the screen is almost dead.

So, constructive feedback from you all would be appreciated

Am I missing any glaring errors with this plan? The case/cooler/ram/whatever is just based on the spec Scan are building atm, but I'm open to other suggestions. On paper I think it should work out really well, and give me a stable system right now, but upgradable to a really powerful system by the end of the year.

I've got a MOTU M4 btw, if that raises any red flags. I don't need to connect anything else to the computer other than USB MIDI controllers.

Cheers.

lucid_iii · Post by **lucid_iii** » Fri Mar 05, 2021 10:14 am

Hey, I've got a lot of experience building PCs, and I'm a software engineer for a living. Looks solid to me, good choice going with AMD! I've got a Ryzen 5900x on an Asus STRIX x570-e. There were some problems with system stability due the earlier BIOSes I was having for a while, but that seems to be ironed out now. I imagine it's the same with the PRIME. It's an extremely fast and capable CPU, I'm loving it so far.

Just make sure your Ryzen 3 2200G and choice of RAM are on the compatibility list here:
https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards-Co ... pDesk_CPU/

If your RAM isn't on the QVL, you might potentially have stability issues. RAM prices have gone down a lot these days, consider getting 32GB if you can afford it for future proofing, but 16GB should be fine too.

If you can spring for it, consider going with a 1TB SSD. It's a pain to upgrade later. Definitely stick with NVMe though, good choice there.

The 650W PSU should be enough, looks fine to me. Looks like a fine case, too.

Have you thought about getting an AIO water cooler form Corsair, etc. instead of air cooling? Nice thing about those is with the large surface area of the radiator, the fans are able to turn slowly and nearly silently. It might have slightly more overclocking potential if you're considering doing that at some point. The Be Quiet! one is a fantastic air cooler too and runs quiet also, but it is a massive beast. Just something to consider.

Pictus · Post by **Pictus** » Fri Mar 05, 2021 2:28 pm

kevingham wrote: ↑
Fri Mar 05, 2021 4:56 am
Hi all, long time no post. I'm back on the music making train, and my Surface Pro 4 is dying, so looking at building a new desktop. I'm thinking AMD for obvious reasons, but also for obvious reasons, getting hold of a 5000 series chip at something less than ridiculous prices is hard right now. So, I'm thinking of building this (rationale follows):

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/YkHqy4

AMD Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor
be quiet! Shadow Rock 3 CPU Cooler

Get a better cooler for the future CPU.
https://youtu.be/JtWr15on6OU

Asus PRIME X570-P ATX AM4 Motherboard
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory

The best RAM(more compatible) for Ryzen is Crucial Ballistix
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/products/me ... ice&page=1

Western Digital BLACK SERIES 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Seagate FireCuda 520 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive
GameMax Silent ATX Mid Tower Case

Not enough airflow for when you add a stronger CPU and the passive GPU
needs some airflow, you should add 2 fans in the case front.
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/Wm6 ... cfan00125a
They are PMW and better use the motherboard BIOS to control.

https://youtu.be/dhf97n0eqx4

I've got a MOTU M4 btw, if that raises any red flags. I don't need to connect anything else to the computer other than USB MIDI controllers.

Check with the support, but I think in the Asus PRIME X570-P the BLUE USB ports
are connected direct to the CPU and maybe the TEAL ports under the LAN too.
The rest is connected to the chipset.

kevingham · Post by **kevingham** » Sat Mar 06, 2021 2:56 am

Hi, thanks lucid_iii and Pictus for your feedback

All looks good, yep lucid_iii I've made sure everything is compatible (it's based closely on recommended audio PC builds). I'm pretty certain I'm good for RAM and HDD capapcity as I don't max my current 8GB RAM system and it has a 256GB SSD system drive in which I've still got over 100GB space on, so 1/2TB wil be plenty (I'm going to keep it very lean just for Audio PC usage, no games or any other apps, I have a Zbook for work to run all that). Water cooling & Overclocking has never interested me, so I'll stick with fans too

Pictus, great advice, thanks for that. I did a few extra tweaks to my partpicker list last night, thinking more about longevity of certain parts when I do a system refresh in another 5+ years. So, yeah, I thought a better case would be a good idea so I can get more life out of it, was thinking a Fractal Design Define 7 Compact case as it's just all round better, and should last me a long time. I watched your video on CPU coolers too and did some more research and yes, absolutely right, it's worth me spending a bit more on a better CPU cooler, so gonna get a Noctua NH-D15S instead as they're only like £25 more than the Shadow Rock 3. Regarding your information about USB ports, sorry I'm not sure I understand. Is it best to plug my MOTU M4 into specific ports on the MOBO, depending on if they are connected to the CPU or chipset? I've never considered that before.

Thanks

Pictus · Post by **Pictus** » Sat Mar 06, 2021 5:34 am

I am glad o help.
The Fractal Design Define 7 Compact is a very good case, but you also
need to add 1 fan in the front

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/Wm6 ... cfan00125a

USB ports connected directly to the CPU are better, use the MOTU on them.

BTW, I forgot to mention this
viewtopic.php?p=7624448#p7624448

kevingham · Post by **kevingham** » Sat Mar 06, 2021 6:36 am

Fantastic, thanks Pictus, I will order an extra case fan

Also, thanks for the Tweaks info as well, that's brilliant!

Looks like I'm all good to go! I'll start ordering parts tonight, very exciting!

lucid_iii · Post by **lucid_iii** » Sun Mar 07, 2021 5:27 pm

Pictus, thanks for posting the link to the tweaks. I was actually having issues with one of my audio workstations, and this helped me fix it (in particular disabling c-states in the BIOS).

mill5836 · Post by **mill5836** » Mon Apr 12, 2021 10:18 am

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Just want to pile on for anyone else looking for a beast workstation. Your parts list is very similar to the one I built a year ago. I mainly bought it for video editing, but it's also been a powerhouse for music production. Can easily slam a 100 track Ableton session loaded with plugins:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/DswRq3 (https://pcpartpicker.com/list/DswRq3)

It's also really quiet.

New AMD system build advice