Its that time again...i need a New Computer.

[BasariStudios]

Hi all, back in 2010 in June with all your help i built this my self:

Case: Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower,
CPU: Intel Core i7-860 Lynnfield 2.8GHz,
MoBo: ASUS P7P55D-E LX LGA 1156 Intel P55 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0,
GFX: MSI R6850 Cyclone PE/OC Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5,
RAM: Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 16GB 1600 (PC3 12800),
CPU HS: Noctua NH-U12P SE2 120mm SSO CPU Cooler,
PSU: SeaSonic M12II 620 Bronze 620W ATX12V V2.3,
Studio-HDD: WD Black 1.5TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s,
Data-HDD: WD Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5",
OS-HDD: WD Green 320GB IntelliPower 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s,
ODD: Sony Optiarc CD/DVD Burner AD-7261S-0B LightScribe,
OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit.

Then i dragged long and complicated, was worried much about all kinds of things
but then found out some of them were not really important, one of them the noise
and stuff, of course i do not want it to sound like an airplane but nothing surgical.

And its that time of the year again, i wanna build new machine, this one works and
i am still using it, maybe will continue to use it with the new one or dismantle it
and use of of the stuff above in the new one, i guess the HDDs will be the only thing.

I do Audio and some Video Editing but mainly heavy Audio processing. My main question
is, is there anything out there that will actually give me performance worth the money
i will spend now or it will not be much more then this? Where do i start?
Graphics Card is important too, i wanna use it in CUDA where the GC becomes a processing
power for Audio too. GC, CPU and MOBO i can spare 13-1500$ plus the rest of the stuff.

Let me start somewhere and see where we get. Of course i would love advices on all components.
Keep in mind, my Audio Disk Drive will run on Win 7 x64 and it can not be without a FW connection,
i will still use my old Card that i have in this computer that i am using now a TI 1394.

Thanks
Nedim

 

[bob4933]

Budget

 

[BasariStudios]

I can spare between 1200 and 1500 for CPU, MOBO and GFX. Probably can add a 1000
for the rest of the stuff and that exludes Monitor/s. I will need 2 SSDs too but that will
not be added in this total, will buy it separate. If i can get away with 2000$USD
- monitors and -SSDs would be good. I don't think i have anything useful on my existing
machine that i can use on the new one, that can actually reduce price.

 

[bob4933]

i just reread your first post, and saw your budget; my apologies.

For audio stuff, what are you doing? For what youre doing, x99 seems to be more where you should go. You should also move away from firewire, as the industry has abandoned it.


Preliminary build idea ->

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/WDZPrH 1095$

With the idea of reusing your case and powersupply. that 5tb drive is just too good of a bargain. Definitely recommend grabbing that immediately, regardless of which route you choose. With that, you can go a couple routes. You WILL need a graphics card, but for your uses, a gtx 960 should cut it. Maybe get some new hardware so you can move away from firewire even. SSD's included, because they kinda fit the bill in the build.

For processing you definitely want screen real estate.

This is a really really good idea for a workstation monitor, and keeps the budget low.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BLZAYHC...695967682[a|B00BLZAYHC[au|5716553178370339807

 

[BasariStudios]

Hey Bob, thanks. Problem is i HAVE to be on FW, i wanna stay as far away as i can from USB Audio
Interfaces. I do a lot of music producing and mixing, i use really heavy plugins for that.
What saves me is i already have Monitors so i save on that and use the money somewhere else.
I just wonder, for 2-3000 spent how much difference in performance i will see from what i have now.
Also, i might and should keep my old system too i guess, the Case and Power Supply wont add much.
The most important in this case are the MOBO, CPU and GFX, RAM i have to have at least 32GB.

 

[bob4933]

What programs are you using? Audio editing is cpu intensive, you certainly don't need 32 gb for that.

5820k is pretty up there. You can spend more but the diminishing returns are gonna be quite evident. A 5930k will do nothing over the 5820k, and the 5960x is 600$ more expensive.

 

[BasariStudios]

Well i use a lot of programs but my DAW HOST is Cubase...that is not the problem,
problem is CPU intensive 3d party plugins such as SS, Acustica Audio, Waves, NI e tc...

 

[bob4933]

Well i use a lot of programs but my DAW HOST is Cubase...that is not the problem,
problem is CPU intensive 3d party plugins such as SS, Acustica Audio, Waves, NI e tc...

Yeah vsts can be pigs I feel ya there. I've never had any issues with 16gb myself though. Have you monitored your usage and verified what you're using? Just covering bases to make sure you're not over buying is all.

 

[BasariStudios]

Well imagine a 2TB Samples Library...RAM in music can never be overbought. Lol.

 

[DNRDustin]

FireWire? You freakin people! Jk! I'm sure you have thousands of dollars tied up in FireWire outboard gear. Save your ram, get another kit to match. More ram will do you good, but faster is probably not necessary. Save your hdd's but get an ssd for your os. Save your case. Get the best nvidia gfx you can afford, I just got a strix 960 but would have got a 980 if I had the $$. Then through money at a mobo and CPU, not gonna go any deeper than that. Ditch the psu for a gold rated 650 with a pwm fan(mostly because yours is old). Scavenge everything else in your rig.

 

[BasariStudios]

Hi Dustin, thanks,
the problem with my RAM is its 4 of them by 4 so its useless, was not that expensive anyways.
The only thing i can see useful is my case only i think, and have to wash the whole thing from
dust and smoking before i do anything. The HDDs i will save but i need 2 SSDs, one for Sample
Library, bigger one. The biggest Help i need is MOBO, CPU, GFX and Cooling, after that it will
be easier...but going this route i should stick with 6 Core and up i guess. The 980 is like 500$ damn
but i can still afford it i think, if the CPU and MOBO run me around 7-800 then i can do it.

 

[BasariStudios]

Here is a wishlist i made...at least starting to get somewhere:
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=28286985

 

[bob4933]

couple things,

PSU is overpriced for the quality. You can get the m12 620, thatd be MORE than enough and high enough quality.

The gtx 980 is roughly twice as powerful in cuda acceleration as the 960. If you can hack it, go for it. (m12 620 is still plenty for this).

x99 is quad channel, so 4x8 > 2 x 16 technically. Not sure how much it will matter in real world performance though (food for thought I guess).

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

Eh.... Toshiba, Seagate.. Both seem to have high failure rates for hard drives.
HGST seems to be the best followed by (naturally) Western Digital.

I'm looking for a large SATA drive for my server, but after looking into failure rates, it's HGST, WD or bust.

 

[bob4933]

Eh.... Toshiba, Seagate.. Both seem to have high failure rates for hard drives.
HGST seems to be the best followed by (naturally) Western Digital.

I'm looking for a large SATA drive for my server, but after looking into failure rates, it's HGST, WD or bust.

Totally depends on the model. We can lambaste toshiba and Seagate for having a bad model, but by amd large, they make quality storage solutions.

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

Totally depends on the model. We can lambaste toshiba and Seagate for having a bad model, but by amd large, they make quality storage solutions.

I suppose, just though I'd mention it anyway. It is one heck of a deal for 5Tb

Wonder if OP would benefit from an 8 core AMD setup for this?

 

[BasariStudios]

Thanks Guys. Pharaoh, i wanna stay away from AMD for some reason.
Bob, the reason for the 2x16 is, i don't wanna get all the slots full and
later if i wanna add then throw RAM garbage, i wanna keep the 2 empty.

 

[tachi1247]

Thanks Guys. Pharaoh, i wanna stay away from AMD for some reason.
Bob, the reason for the 2x16 is, i don't wanna get all the slots full and
later if i wanna add then throw RAM garbage, i wanna keep the 2 empty.

Most atx sized X99 motherboards will have 8 memory slots so I would go 4x8. You will still have room to expand later if needed.

I'm not familiar with the audio software you are using, are you sure it can take advantage of the cuda cores? If it can't, the 980 is a big waste.

Is the aversion to usb due to you having money tied up into FireWire equipment or is there a sound quality issue with usb? If it's the former there is probably a usb to FireWire adapter out there, or you could buy an add in card for cheap since it might be hard to find FireWire on a new mobo.

 

[BasariStudios]

Hi Tachi,
thanks for the RAM info, there is only one developer who's plugins use CUDA and actually is the one i use the most.
Now the FireWire is another thing, it has to do with Speed/Latency and USB is not up to the task yet. I already have
my FW PCI Card so i guess i can use the same one. Was thinking about the 980 but what would i gain, i think its a
waste of money too. What about the Strix 960 but 2GB vs 4GB??? Another think is the CPU, i am going with the 5820K
but the 5930, is it worth the 200$ more? Also i was reading some benchmarks, the 6 Core vs 4 Core...its funny how in
some applications the 4 Core can be more useful.

 

[bob4933]

4 core is faster than the 6 core (stock clocks anyway), and not everything uses all 6 cores. Thats why youre seeing a disparity between benchmarks/program scores.