Hi all,
I am building a PC only for pro audio (big trailer music sessions). I will use Cubase 8.5. My budget is (+-) 3200€ (Screen monitor apart).

Even though I mostly know what I want regarding specs and power, I have some doubts about which models, brands etc. to choose. I go from MAC to PC. I have been using Logic 9 on MAC PRO (old one).

Here are my thoughts, please comment on changes that would improve the PC and get the best performance among all components, and everything within my budget!

1) CPU: i7 6900K (1111€)

2) MOBO: Many doubts here!
- ASUS X99 DELUXE II (434€)
- ASUS X99-A II (295€)
- ASUS Rampage V Extreme U/3.1 (490€)
- MSI X99 A SLI PLUS USB 3.1 (220€)
- other?

3) RAM: 64GB
- The CPU i7 6900K allows 128GB ram, so in order to upgrade memory from 64 to 128 in the future do you suggest to buy 4x16GB RAM modules or it is not good to leave 4 RAM empty slots? So the way to go should be 8x8GB modules?
- The i7 6900K specs say DDR4 RAM 2400. Do you get any benefit using 3200 DDR4 modules? The price on both 2400 and 3200 is not that different.

4) GPU: (any other suggestion?)
- ASUS dual GTX 1060 OC 6GB DDR5 (314€)
(I want 4K support)

5) Electrics: Which one?
- Corsair RM 1000x 1000w 80 plus Gold Modular (190€)
- Corsair HX850i 850w 80 plus platinum modular (185€)

6) Cooling:
- Corsair hydro 100i v2 (119€)

7) OS drive:
- Samsung 950 M.2 256GB
(Worthy to use a M.2 SSD? Or Regular SSD makes no difference?)

8) Tower Case: noiseless is a plus! Any suggestions? (About 100€)

9) OS: No experience here! would u go for W10, W10 pro, W7 ultimate64..?

10) Monitor: I want to use a big one (28", 32"...instead of 2x24" etc setup.
- 4K on 28" monitors or 2K on 32"? Both are pretty close in price.
(ASUS PB287Q [435€] vs BenQ BL3200PT [499€])
I intend to have as many tracks (orchestral) as possible (vertically) on a comfortable view. I also need to be able to rotate the monitor to vertical position for orchestral scores analysis and editing.
- It is 4K 40" uncomfortable to work with? I could sit 1 meter apart maximum.
(Phillips BDM4065UC- 699€)
BeGW2765HE
Any other suggestions?

*As secondary drives (for libraries etc.) I will use 3x1T SSD, and some 7200 HD's for other stuff.

Thanks in advance!

 

u r rich ; )

 

I wish I am rich... I wake up 6:00 am every day to work full time... I need those specs for the kind of work I do. Thanks for reading

 

One i7 6900k is not nearly enough for trailer music, you need at least five of those.
Those generic piano hits with huge blackhole reverbs just take a beastly amount of cpu power.

 

Von_Steyr, I am sure you can make great tracks with a pentium 256 and a 50 bucks ukulele, but please let the unprofessional and not-talented guys like me be able to get help to build a good workstation from people who knows more than u or me.

 

Imma get a smoke and when i come back that shit better be re-edited.


Remember, king kong aint got shit on me.


Umm, i hope youre not a Russian though?
Gots to go....

 

Ill just quote my post from the other thread. If you don't' mind a bit of a speed hit,

ST NAS & WD RED are ~5400-5900 rpm.

 

Win 7 Pro
Race Case 4U 20.5" deep
Motherboard - Core i7 X99 V2
The 4790K works for me but the 6950X is a beast.
ASUS PB278Q 27" - Great Monitor
RAM 32 - 64 GB DDR4 2666
Samsung 850 Pro - 1TB for OS/Programs and 2 TB for Audio/Samples etc. (that's what i have) you could also do 1TB on OS/Programs and 2TB on each additional drive for more space or say with 3TB of SSD's in the system and add Glyph External Drives for maximum Audio Sample Storage Space.
GTX 950 is fine studio computers for audio don't need large GPU cards you could go bigger but why (unless you are doing high end video)
Good Case Fans and a 850 + PSU
1000 Watts Total Modular 80 Plus Gold Quiet Power Supply works...

Check out ADK or Purrfect Audio (studiocat) I've priced out builds for myself and found most of the time they can match cost or better by buying in bulk + they are really good at what they do.


an ADK Extreme WS would be perfect for what you need. This is a recent Build Chech i did for my next DAW System


ADK Extreme WS Custom DAW System

Computer Case: ADK 4U rackmount case - 20.5" deep (Black)
RAM: 64 Gigs (4x16GB) 16 GB DDR4 2666
Power Supply: 1000 Watts Total Modular 80 Plus Gold Quiet Power Supply - 7 Yr Warranty
Motherboard: Core i7 X99 V2 - Xeon E5v4 support, Up to 128 Gig ram,2 x PCI Express x1 Slots - 4 x PCI Express x16 Slots - 10 x USB Ports, 8 SATA 600
Processor: Intel Corei7-6950X 3.0GHz (Turbo to 3.5GHz) 10 core 25meg cache
CPU Heatsink/Cooling: ADK Quiet and Cool CPU and Case cooling solution
Cool and Quiet: ADK Acoustical sound treatment for Rack Mount case only
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Pro 64 bit OEM
System Backup and Recovery: Paragon Backup & Recovery 12 Suite with ADK recovery Flash Drive
Hard Drive: Samsung - 850 Pro 1TB 2.5" Internal Solid State Drive x 3
Card Reader: USB 3.0 Flash Card Reader/Writer
DVD-R/W or Blu-Ray Drive Options: 24X DVD-RW Dual Layer
Graphics Card: GeForce GTX 950 Graphic Card - 1.34 GHz Boost Clock, 2 GB GDDR5 SDRAM, PCIE 3.0 x16, Up to 3 displays - 1x HDMI 2.0, 1x Dual Link DVI, 3x Display Port
Thunderbolt 3.0 Options: Intel® Thunderbolt™ 3 Controller add on card
Networking: Included-On Board Gigabit LAN
Computer Keyboard and Mouse: Logitech - Wired Media Combo Keyboard and Mouse
Warranty: 2 Yr Warranty Parts and Labor with 1 yr Express pick up. Lifetime tech support
ASUS PB278Q - 27" Widescreen LED Backlit LCD Monitor


$5,503.00

 

Last edited: Nov 19, 2016

Very modest by todays standards. The first 2 are SSDs. The rest are WD Blacks.

 

Last edited: Nov 20, 2016

Hi I am not hanging much here but I log in to leave reply on your post.
You have good budget choose wisely.
First check out this:

About CPU as a more than 10 years user of Cubase I suggest you to look for CPU that have best SINGLE CORE performance since most daws today (cubase especially) are singlecore demanding. Make research but i think that 6700k has best single c performance (I am still on devil's canon)

About RAM if you want to have 128 than go for 16gb modules. Its better to have less ram modules with more GB, than lot ram modules with less GB. So by modules with much gb you can find. Look to be xmp compatibile I have Gskill and I am happy with them. Also speed is not big deal.

About case: Fractal design R5 is a good choice.

For graphic: That is tricky as hell. Make a GOOD research for this one, its sounds funny but graphic can make lot of headache with Cubase 7/8/8.5 and probably upcomming 9 next month. Go to steinberg forum and do homework for graphic there. See in signatures what other ppl have.

For motherboard take the best chipset (Avoid bussiness chipsets and other cutted versions) I have asus maximus hero for my 4th generation DPC is ultra low and all is handled well.

For OS drive pay attention that on some motherboards when you use M2 slot some PCIe slots automaticly decreese and operate on less bandwith (M2 shares bandwith with some PCIe slots) Read mobo manual.
I dont know how much os on m2 is faster than on regular sata. Samsung EVO-PRO SSDs are good value for money.

About 4k monitor dont think about less than 35-40" Cause you must use scalling and than you loose point for 4k. Think about UHD 34" IPS monitor they are 1440p (~2k) I have one in my studio since I am sitting close and have limited space its enough for my needs. If you have space on the desk and you have flexible viewing distance than 4k 40+" TV is great deal for you if you pointing on 4k.

Thats all good luck and happy researching
G

 

Thank you so much bxbeatnocka for the info! I live in Europe, so difficult to buy on those stores, but great to check PC options.

 

Thanks a lot Grada for your comment.

 

4k 40"
more than 1m is/starts to become comfortable
i switch betwen 1440 while composing to 4k mixing
reason
if Ui isnt optimized like the new Arturias, text is very small, or you move monitor is so close
you need to move your head.
Lots of Philips user report problems after some time. i use a korean Monitor. (1j) Perfect

didnt find a monitor arm for "easy" pivot. but honestly it was unecesery (you have to look up and down)
its like looking at an 2001 monolith lol

Still the best investment (+ energysavings)

 

Thanks for the info.

Do you know about customs charges or how to handle it when buying these products to Korea?
Are you sure about the 5ms lag?
I checked this other Korean monitor (Qnix UHD3216R), the specs says 5ms too, but the real lag is 30ms...
Another thing about this Qnix monitor is that it may come with 1~5 dead pixels...is this very annoying or you can not even notice it?

 

Any more thoughts about installing the OS on M.2 SSD vs regular SSD?

 

bought on ebay for 470 incl. shipping payed 100 custom but it depends on where you are, they have special deals for usa without some charge for instance. i´m not a gamer so lag wasn´t an issue or consideration.
for design work pen&tablet i didnt mind but there are some more reviews online.
btw there where only the 40" left when i bought mine (something like 40u99 or else)not the 39.5 like in the video but identical otherwise

dead pixel could be a problem, maybe. but that is the same if you buy any monitor here too.
but i have some pixel that seem somewhat stuck (are brighter on some colors) on the upper corner. i was only reminded once you mentioned it, no problem at all .
the sellers check the monitors because they hate the trouble of bad feedback.
thats why i bought them from the recomended sellers.

befor i bought 2 korean 27" 1440 monitors and the only "error" was 59hz instead of 60hz
and sold them 2 years later for nearly the same price i bought them.
these are very good monitors. i dont know now but last year
comparable monitors (iO and Picture Quality)
cost 800-1400 bucks

but the speakers are shit heheheh (but you dont need those, do ya;)

 

Thanks again! Good info.

 

buy hardware synth/piano and record the audio, easy

 

those are some specs man, if you can afford it then go
i think you need 500gb for music sdd as your os depending on software, you can always move your doc folders somewhere else but ???
32 gb to 64 gb is a big jump , but if you got the budget so be it, 32 is fairly stable though
and the power difference 850 -1000 minimal but so is cost, cant really advise much else

 

Thank for all replies, but I am not asking if 64GB is too much or not, that's what I need so that's what I am gonna buy. Regarding RAM my question is if it is any problem on using 4x16GB modules instead of 8x8GB ones to avoid to have 4 empty slots on the mother board, that's all.

Regarding other things, I am just asking some other specific questions:

1) i7 6900k it's suppose to allow DDR4 2400 RAM. I saw some pro reviews where people were using DDR4 3200, so I wanted to know if buying DDR4 3200 for this computer it's worthy or not, if it makes any difference. Because the money difference is not that big for a high end PC like this (from 430€ to 500€)

2) I have many doubts about which motherboard may be good for my specs. So I am asking please to share your thoughts about this, and have some advise on which one to choose and why.

3) I was planning to buy a 850 EVO 500GB SSD for OS, but someone told me why not to use a SSD M.2 (like 950 EVO M.2 256) that is suppose to be faster. So I would like to know if someone has the experience on both setups and share with me his/her impressions. If it is worthy or not.

Thanks again for all replies