Hi there, AudioSex. It's time for me to upgrade my PC since this 6 year old pre-built PC can't handle all these plugins. So I've already picked out my parts, and want to know everyone's opinion on this build. This is also my first build as well. I'm primarily gonna be using Ableton and some casual gaming here and there. I'm also getting an audio interface, probably the M-Audio Fast Track Pro. I'm fairly new to producing too

Well, what do you guys think of this build?

 

I'd replace that actual case with a silent-dedicated one.
You can find some silent cases in the price range of that actual case.

 

430w power supply seems a bit low powered...

especially now that your new grafix card will require power too!

 

Yes, remix, you need a stronger PSU Wave3000, something 500+ watts at least [550]. Corsair is a great choice so just get a stronger one from the same brand. They're not that much more expensive. 430w might not even work - that is, with this setup you could not even be able to turn the computer on! And if you do, the PSU will constantly have to work at its maximum which is not good, especially in the long run and it will fail first at some point, guaranteed. Also, if you're not a gamer, go with a passively cooled VGA, your ears will thank you a lot! And then buy a nice, chunky, dedicated and silent CPU cooler from Artic or Scythe and throw the stock, noisy one into a garbage bin. What Evorax said, too - find a tight and silent case for about the same price or maybe a tad more. Otherwise it is a great, fast and very reasonable build for not too much money! A killa!

Have fun!

I usually get a PSU that is 2x stronger than the maximum power the PC uses under heavy load. Like when you run Prime95. My Phenom 965 [125W] + Nvidia GT240 [60W] use less power than your setup and I bought a Corsair 650w PSU for my own PC, for just in case. Good PSU is very, VERY important. In my experience PSUs, hard disks and VGAs fail first after a few years of work, in that order.

 

I highly recommend you an Intel Setup, i've been reading a lot of topics about AMD and production, one of my friend bought an AMD and he is suffering from high CPU load with almost nothing,

What i Recommend :

- Best i7 Core you can buy (depend on if you're rich or not).

a Motherboard with 64GB Ram Support, but you don't need all the 64gb Ram, it' just for Future upgrade, (wich you won't have a problem if you have a free Ram placement later, ready to be used on your motherboard).

- a larger SSD as you will install alot of stuff, 120GB isn't enough for me, i recommend, 500GB at least.

- and i'll pick what @Evorax Said, try a silent Case for future Recording and stuff like that.

- and the same as the other members said, a better power supply, you said you want use this setup for gaming? use at least 550W Power S.

- the last thing is a Graphic card, Try 650Ti boost edition, one of my fav. or pick and SLI Support Graphic card for future Upgrade.

Have a nice day dude.

 

I agree 100% with this. If you are not gaming on this computer I would go a little easier on the graphics card. I do just fine with a 120 gig SSD. It keeps me from having too many plugins so I get really good with the ones I feel are worthy of the space. I'm sure you know that you should keep samples and audio on a separate HDD. Good Luck!

 

Hello , i hope i am not out of line by this response to your question but i would recommend a laptop similar to the lenovo y500 for around $900 it has 12gb ram 1 tb hard drive sli graphics and core i7 a 15inch screen that native 1920x1080 lit keys a real powerhouse that will give you the ability to use for live sound with it's portability and a powerhouse for recording i have one coupled with a roland studio capture westone 4r in ear monitors and equator d5 studio monitors interface this gives me creative freedom a whole studio on the go packed into 3 gigbags i hope you the best luck !

 

You should think neutral between Intel and AMD. You don't have to GENERALIZE that AMD aren't good just because your friend had problem with it. I work on a old AMD x6 1055t 3ghz cpu and i have no problem with it and belive me that i work with heavy Nebula instances, even in realtime with "timed kernel" settings, so the newer FX8350 CPU is more capable than mine, so NO, it's not a bad choice for him. You can work intensively with whatever mid-end cpu you choose either Intel or AMD, as long as you set everything properly in the whole computer.

Sometimes, some problems are user-related, not by CPU itself.

 

Maybe you're right, i didn't really test AMD by my self, a friend of i was talking and he was really having a serious problem on Music Production, i checked he's stuff there was no Problem related to Bios motherboard or anything like that, so i assumed that it is a CPU problem, i searched about it and i found a similar problem to his, with a lot of users, so let's avoid all of this buy having an Intel CPU anyway, it is his choice.

and about the GPU, it is one of the cheapest with a good performance, as i said it is his choice and i'm just giving some advice and thoughts here...

anyway if you're having a new setup just keep in mind that you may need to re-upgrade it, so be careful of what you buy

i'm really against this, if you wanna be Pro, a laptop isn't a good choice, let me tell you why,

Production, it is almost all about CPU, and for cooling laptop is a bad choice, with a desktop, you can have a professional Cooling system.

and as you are using a Desktop, you can easily make some changes to your machines at any time, easy to replace/add new devices, easy to clean it up, changing the thermal paste and when a piece don't work it will be cheaper to replace, and the most important thing is that a Desktop have more time-life than a Laptop, besides if you're aiming for multi-monitoring a laptop will be a problem, because you can only add one monitor.

and i personally hates 15° laptops, i prefer the big monitors, because i watch a lot of movies, and i play games,

anyway if you still have question i'll be happy to answer

 

Let's be serious, if you search on Google for Intel problems, you'll find alot of users on threads of the most computer-related forums too who complains, so this is irrelevant. I can even redirect you to a recent topic where a guy asked what's wrong with his Nebula instances, because on his new i7 3770k have crackling artifacts problems but on his older computer everything works fine. ---> Nebula 3 Topic (check the latest posts).

P.S. when i meant that "as long as you set everything properly in the whole computer." i wasn't relating only to the hardware, but also to the software side (both). You said "i checked he's stuff there was no Problem related to Bios motherboard or anything like that" but on the software side you can get a I7 high-end CPU to it's knees in no time.

 

Let the Intel/AMD War begin, lol just kidding,

i don't really have a big experience about this, i just said what i had in mind, i'm using an Intel CPU, Every think is working nice, CPU loading is quite normal, i add VSTs and CPU gets more Load, on my friend issue, his problem was with few sylenth instances and few of fab filters, projects load is 99% i searched on forums a lots of ppl having the same problems.

so i told the guy what i know, so he don't get the same problems, otherwise i have nothing to say.

and i don't think that apple have chosen Intel over AMD for nothing, don't know the real reasons and i really don't care lol, anyway if it works for then nice.

have a nice day

 

They choosen Intel because it's better in terms of performance than AMD, but that doesn't mean that AMD is not STABLE or not powerful enough. I worked for a while on a Mac Pro too, and i really like both machines, for me it doesn't matter if it's a PC or MAC, Intel or AMD, for me matters only to be stable and powerful enough to make music on it and AMD it's not lacking power and performance, even if it's weaker than Intel.
I had so many chances to upgrade my computer, but i really didn't feel the need to do so as long as everything works smoothly.

 

you're the man ;) !

 

It really depends what you want to do with your setup,

Music only? gaming?

If you don't plan on gaming with it I'd swap the amd cpu (+ mobo) and graphic card for and intel based setup with integrated Intel HD graphics 4000.

Now for music, if you are using big samples libraries for orchestral stuff, 8gb of ram might be a bit short (ddr3 prices are insane recently, but I guess it is something you can easily upgrade if you see the need).

The SSD is a must. I'd be tempted to upgrade the 1tb hdd for a 3tb one (it's a 30$ upgrade that can really be useful in long term).

430 watt psu would be ok if you don't go the graphic card way.

Have fun building your setup

 

Awesome! It seems like everybody is suggesting a better case and PSU. Thanks everyone for all the responses!

 

After a lot of messing about deciding between AMD and Intel I went for the following core components

Asus P8Z77-V LX Socket 1155
Intel Core i5 3570K 3.4GHz Socket 1155
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro rev 2
Kingston 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz HyperX Blu Memory Kit CL9 1.65V

I hadn't put together a system for at least 5 yrs and really wasn't looking forwards to the hassle of compatibility and assembly but was surprised at how simple it was compared to the bad old days. I wasn't looking forwards to messing about with the cpu and the giant fan but it was a breeze compared to the old fashioned heatsinks.
I got this setup because I also wanted Hackintosh compatibility which you might want to consider too. I already had a graphics card, HD and Wireless card from an old Coreduo and reused my case. The only thing I'm going to need is a Sata dvdrom. I doubt you will need an I7 as I don't think much software is multithreaded and the i5 is great.

Good luck.

 

If he's not advanced in computer knowledge, then he did well by asking.

 

I hope tha I'm not late. Stay away from maudio! D:

You should check other brands like focusrite, presonus, apogee (Mac) would be my choice