Hello guys, i just wondering what's the best spec on the market today that fits our audio needs such as Tracking, Mixing and Mastering .. NON VIDEO editing ..

im planning to buy this conf :

- GA EX58 UD3R
- i7 960 3,2GHz


dunno about the others .. can you give me suggestion

what i want to ask is for complete lists until cases, Fans, PSUs and others ..

thank you very much

 

If you are talking specs, then add a Prism Sound Orpheus audio interface to that list. Maybe also some Event Opal monitors and some high-end cables.

 

Mac Pro dual 6 processor with 32GB ram.

Any current Mac can run W7 64bit as dualboot.

An i750 is a nice budget system. 8GB is nice. 16GB Ram would be awesome.
Then three 1TB disks or bigger. 1 OS, 1 Samples 1, projects.

Enjoy.

 

SSD for system/os, 1-3TB hdd for data. 16gb ram because its bloody cheap atm, I'd recommend core i5-2500(K) or i7-2700(k) cause socket 1155 will be upgradeable to ivy bridge... gat an ASRock Extreme3 (or 7) Gen3 board and get happy.
Also choose some DDR3-2133 ram...
beQuiet psus suxx, take corsair, seasonic or anything else with 80+ silver7 or gold certification. NZXT phantom case looks great, but you may save some bucks when you choose a cheap looking one :P

 

i7 960 3,2GHz 12MB cache
six cores plus six virtual cores - makes 12 all together

That processor is fast and expensive. roughly 500 dollars just for the processor.
Excellent for gamers !!!
You could get the one with smaller 8MB cache for 280$, but you need bigger cache, because it's faster.
Cache lets more calculations pass through when it's bigger.
So a faster processor with smaller cache can be slower the a slower processor with bigger cache.

rather take this: http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=Intel+Xeon+2.66+GHz+Processor&hl=en&prmd=imvns&biw=1280&bih=837&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=670939764524533558&sa=X&ei=6EvvTpm8DZGYhQeEsZmlCA&ved=0CL0BEPMCMAU

That is a Xeon 2.66 with 4 cores for 189$ with 12MB L2 cache.
Buy two of them and a dual processor motherboard.
Now you have 8 real cores with 8 virtual cores - make 16 cores total for 100$ less then the i7.

When making music the processor speed is not that relevant then it is for gaming.
Important is that you have more cores for multiprocessing and big enough cache.
You can run two OS at the same time on a dual-processor PC.
Now if that isn't strong, I don't know...

You can add many effects and synth on much more tracks then you'll ever need.
You almost can't go to the limit by normal work with audio at 44.1Hz sample rate.
You could go on and work at 88.2 or 96Hz sample rate for much higher quality now,
and you will not have any problem with CPU.

Dual processors are the logical future the PC have to go.
You could be ahead and have it already and be save for the next 5 years minimum.

If you go for single processor i7, you will be asking for dual processor latest in two years.

Dual processor will be my next PC !

By the way...
A 2.66 dual processor configuration for MAC, costs roughly double then for PC.
You get same processors like the one for PC...

 

Well, a dual cpu board will cost at least 300 euro, if you want a good one even more. Don't forget about... and afaik you need ECC-registered ram, don't you? Everything's more expensive...

 

like MUZE said MAC PRO at lest a quad core but a 8 core is better you can find one on crags list at a good price

 

Here is the 6-core 2.66GHz for MAC:
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&q=mac+pro+12-core&sqi=2&cid=3820113367120171134&ei=0X7vTqT7L4-Y4gbHn6nOAQ&ved=0CFIQrRI

Look at the price tag...$4,739 !

Cut that by half for the PC version.

For $4,739 You could get a much faster dual-PC with 24-cores, 2x3.33GHz processor and incredible performance.
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=xeon+12-core&hl=en&prmd=imvns&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1280&bih=837&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=5906669590452488617&sa=X&ei=EIHvTsPKL8LMhAfC4JSYCA&ved=0CI0BEPMCMAA
All with best parts like Corsair RAM, superb motherboard, graphic card, even wider monitor and SSD RAM !

The fastest MAC with 12-cores cost $6,848.95 !
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/823266-REG/Apple_Z0LG_0010_Mac_Pro_12_Core_Desktop.html
And it's still slower then the 24-core PC dual-processor configuration.

 

Here some manufacturer of specific audio dual processor PC's ready build for audio production:

http://www.directresolutions.co.uk/preconf.php?pctype=15.php

http://3xs.scan.co.uk/Category.asp?SystemMasterCategoryID=2

http://adkproaudio.com/choosev.asp

These companies make PC's specific for audio.
Silent coolers and best hardware built in.
Rack-Mount(for studio) or Tower and some have sound cards too.

If you like to have your PC ready configured.
But..., you can look at the configuration and buy those parts
yourself and save again some money.

 

how bout the mobo ? is is good enough ? has any of you made by yorself .. i mean DIY stuffs ... not buying from any companies that build such pc's .. coz i live in far away land .. no companies here made that .. i had to guy online, which is more expensive i guess .. thanks

 

I wouldn't buy a PC ready made from any company, but I look at them to see what they have.

Take their machines configuration and price to see what a similar configuration would cost
and how much you save when you buy the parts by yourself.

I suggested this already...

Any place where you can get PC parts is good as long as you can order what you need.
Mostly they try to suggest you what they like, but refuse to listen and order what you want.
Let them built it together and you'll get the warranty and service included.

Stay away from any PC they made or offer you to buy.
These are mostly with cheap hardware and not good quality.
Those are the PC's they make the biggest money with.

I for myself swear on Intel-Processor with an ASUS motherboard. http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/
For RAM GEIL or Corsair and Corsair has really good SSD too. http://www.corsair.com/ http://www.geil.com.tw/
A good tower from Thermaltake with silent cooler is the real deal. http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/

Stay away from Nvidia grafix, they seem to have more and more problems.
I had one and I needed to turn off the 3Drendering when I make music or I get sound crackle. ...brrrr...!!!
No more NVidia for me...! And you know what, I got talked into it by the PC dealer.
As I said, don't take what they offer, unless you are really knowing him and he is a good dealer.

If your PC dealer/store can't order these, go to the next one...till one can/will order them.

Good Luck

 

Hi,

You ll be happy with your choice, gigabyte is the best buy for a DAW.
Just add a decent video card ( no need for a high end one for a daw ) and a SSD hard drive for your system. ( vertex3 120gb for ex ) and a SATA for the data's.
I like Hyper modular PSU, i rec a 750w for such comp, for the case it s up to your choice.

Hope this helps, bye.

 

A SSD for the main drive will be, by far, the most noticeable speed improvement for any computer. A Mac Mini with Core 2 Duo 2 GHz with a SSD will "feel" much faster than a 12 core Mac Pro with a SATA 7,200rpm. Only rendering/bouncing to disk would be noticeably faster on the system with the faster cpu. Hard Drive is often the bottleneck with computer audio: loading plugins, loading samples, etc. Any i5/i7 cpu, lots of RAM, and the biggest SSD you can afford will make a great computer. Audio interface is another topic altogether... but if using the onboard sound, using the Asio4all drivers will help performance.

 

Did an SSD will let you use more plug-ins in your project as a faster CPU will do ?

 

for PC..

Any i7 really should do fine
about 12gb of ram as many programs still wont use more than that
250gb SSD for OS and programs
3 x 1tb drives, 1 for samples, 1 for projects, 1 for everytihing else
an external interface so you can take it on the road if need be (RME FF is pretty good)

Depsite what many many say, Audio processing does not need EXTREME processing power MOST of the time. VIDEO processing and CAD's on the other hand DO. Many plugins may be 64bit but depending on how they are run and programmed they may only be able to use 3.2gb of ram due to running off or through a 32bit program, so again really depends on what exactly you are using it for.

 

MOST IMPORTAINT

Make sure you research if any of the components conflict with each other!!!!!!!!

eg. Make sure the Firewire port on the motherboard works with protools
eg. Make sure the Graphids card doesnt conflict with the the soundcards etc

THIS WILL BE YOUR BIGGEST SLOWDOWN!!!!!

get good memory with a LOW and EVEN CRC!!!! fast MHZ aswell for memory