ASUS mobo and Noctua cpu cooler is what I always prefer (Noctua NH-U14S is what I got and it's a beast, can handle idle cpu heat with fan barely spinning),
Intel/AMD doesn't really matter, but perhaps research matching motherboard features you might need/use, I'd prefer Intel just because easier hackintosh route (ya know, just in case..)

1TB SSD is reasonable, 16GB ram is bare minimum, perhaps get 32GB (2x16GB kit) right away, it will serve you long time and you'll save yourself from hassle of buying matching kit to expand few years later (been using 32GB as 4x8GB kit since 2015 and I'm really glad I did got it right away that time)
about spinning drives, I bought two 2TB Seagate HDDs (autumn 2013 and autumn 2015), newer one of them died after warranty ended, second one (the older one) has been rocking till now, but performance has degraded to about 60% by now, so I'd say it's "you get what you pay for" (and don't expect WesternDigital to be any better, it's a random luck thingy)

just few days ago I decided to convert my workstation into silent system - all I did was unplugged ALL spinning HDDs and set case intake fans to 0rpm unless cpu temps go over 55-60°C so I definitely suggest considering an all-ssd build, I mean, forget about HDD and get another 1TB SSD if you want distraction-free sound creativity,
if you need larger cheap storage for backup purposes, having external drive you can physically detach is probably more safe (against power surges, thunderstorms, viruses etc..)

hackintosh community does provide tweaked MacOS kernel, so it's possible to use AMD processors, despite they're not at all supported by Apple,
as a result of this trickery, it's not possible to use kernel power management, so it probably results in cpu running at full speed all the time (can't tell for certain, my hacky is Intel-based, and despite being unsupported X99-2011v3 chipset/platform, I have kernel cpu power management fully working)
speaking of raw performance, AMD hackies work supposedly fine, it's more a matter of audio interface
(again, PCIexpress is the best way to go for rock-solid low-latency audio performance, btw RME HDSPe AIO is fully hackintosh-compatible, even if you mess up hacky bootloader config, so actual MacOS doesn't see any PCIe slots in the system xD

 

Off course I meant 1 TB. Should be obvious…

 

can't agree about the AIO, especially at same price point,
decent aftermarket cooler can handle audio tasks with fan barely spinning, on the other hand AIO pump (together with rad fans) needs to run all the time and produces higher pitched noise, so it's more annoying in my opinion,

Thunderbolt is cool due to its versatility, but nothing I couldn't live without on a desktop rig,
for (audio) data transfers on external drives, USB 3.0 is plenty,
for audio I/O, USB 2.0 is enough for up to about 35in/35out,
and on top of that Intel recently announced Thunderbolt 4 which will just introduce more mess with newer fancy stuff

 

Well if you're already in that predicament, then it makes sense! All the best with your new build, you definitely seem in need of an upgrade!

But I still think, just for to save some money, since its very close to your max budget, you should look at non rgb ram and a lower wattage psu, IF money's an issue. 600-650 watts is PLENTY, and you can even look at higher quality psu's for the same price then!

 

Consider throwing your parts on pcpartpicker. Then play around with different components.

Some things to consider.

PSU
Get higher wattage than you need, each PSU has a sweet spot that isn't near it's max capability.
Consider gold or above, you need to protect your system. The PSU is a very important component
Consdider fully modular, who needs all the cables sticking out (especially if you don't need them all)

Cooling
It is not just fans that cool, case air flow plays an important part. Read reviews, don't go cheap here (you need efficient cooling).
Liquid/AIO - This is my recommendation, don't cheap out here either. Think about radiator size/position and rad fans. Go back to your case to check if it will fit. Alternatively, think about a CPU cooler with quiet and efficient cooling (black rock is good, so are Noctua fans)
Fans - You want efficient and quietness here. Noctua make excellent fans, you need to think about efficient air flow here (pull in from the front, exhaust at top and rear).

Case
Are you going for a transparent side? Nothing wrong with that, aesthetics don't make a machine better but they look good. If you are going to spend good money on a machine, why not make it look good. Think abut component colours, Noctua fans are excellent but are usualy brown and look crap (They make black ones). Think about a fully modular PSU to keep those cables down which makes a nice clean interior


This is my current system: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/QcvkJb (note the GPU is not important for audio, I use it for gfx, coding and games sometimes)

 

Last edited by a moderator: Jul 16, 2020

AMD. Pci-e gen 4 is a thing plus you with AMD have an upgrade path up to a 16core/32 thread cpu. Now for mobo, your choice is very good, this Gigabyte board has a 12 phase VRM with solid cooling and enough USB ports to make Intel mobos blush lol. Theoretically it would hold up to a 3950X albeit with no OC and a good CPU cooler. BUT, i would suggest to spend about 70 euros more and get this:
https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/B550-VISION-D-rev-10#kf
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1569446-REG/gigabyte_b550_vision_d_motherboard.html
Why? Because it is the only board in the B550 lineup that has dual Thunderbolt 3/Type C ports built in the mobo backplate. Also dual Gigabit LAN and WiFi 6. It's expected to be released in August. It's got an even beefier 14 phase VRM and will hold its end with a future upgrade to a 3950X much better than the Aorus Pro. And -don't mind the pun please- i love the minimalistic black and white hehe.
For those wondering where the heck is TB3, it's the type C ports with Titan Ridge implementation. This is how the backplate looks:

On another note, you should be able to get the 3800X for about 315 euros. This is the price i get here in Greece. And if i may suggest the 3900X which goes for 407 euros here. But this is optional of course, you may not need this many cores.
Now for RAM you should go for 3600mhz, nothing less. This is the sweet spot for these AMD cpus. Anything below will affect performance and anything beyond will be diminishing returns, if you know what i mean. Oh and the difference in price is irrelevant nowadays.
Lastly, this is the last time i will mention this, go for 32gb of ram if you can. I will not, yet again, emphasize how important it is. 16gb of ram was the bare minimum for fast NVME (pci-e gen.3) ssds to operate nominally. Now with pci-e gen.4 ssds hitting the shelves and quickly replacing gen.3 models, a new minimum rises, the 32gb. Even gamers go for 32gb lol. Plus, wtf, we 're musicians man, don't you want your lush libs and all projects playing realtime with no renders or freezes ? Just a thought.

Hmmm, let's see... How about
https://amd-osx.com/

There are enough AMD X570 mobos from Gigabyte and ASRock with Thunderbolt to choose from. I have listed them months ago in another thread. And as you can see there is also a B550 board with TB3.
I would also like to note here, that AMD's TB3 inclusion in Threadripper motherboards is powered directly by the CPU. Intel's implementation, even on their HEDT platform is powered by the cpu but goes through Intel's DMI, which limits TB3 to 4 pci-e lanes (gen3) whatever you do. This bandwidth is enough for one high end peripheral but not many and you will find when hooking up many TB3 peripherals on a daisy chain that bandwidth speed becomes shared on Intel platforms, whereas on Threadripper you get full 16 pci-e lanes.
Threadripper is the platform i am patiently waiting to build for the studio. Although i guess until i manage to gather the cash, the next gen will be released but this is for the best i guess...
Y'all be well,
Cheers

 

Last edited: Jul 17, 2020

You don't need TR for audio unless you are doing film sound and extreme sound design(more that 1000 simultaneous audio tracks). You might want one but you definitely don't need it.

 

are you sure it's Thunderbolt?
all motherboards with actual Thunderbolt do have lightning symbol around the ports, this does not,
also there's no sign of "thunderbolt" mention in the specs, Titan Ridge indeed is a Thunderbolt controller, it's really confusing,
on a side note, I tinkered with Apple usb-c AV adapter (which can handle 4K 60fps) and it surprisingly has no thunderbolt inside, so it's just some kind of accelerated usb-c

 

Threadripper is a beast no doubt. Where is your thread with the AMD Boards. I googled Thunderbolt MB and only can up with one that had THunderbolt and it only had one pcie slot.

As far as the AIO goes. they do not get dust in them like a CPU Air fans. When the fan gets dusty is cooling effeminacy goes down. I have run my AIO on my 4790 k for 8 years it is totally quiet and no dust. My CPU stays nice and cool. I know there are junk AIO out there just like junk Air CPU fans.

A CPU life is coolness. Also to add, water / Antifreeze has a better cooling transfer efficiency than air.

 

Last edited: Jul 16, 2020

I tired USB 2 on my 4790k could not run 64 buffer with 48 k with out pops and clicks.. My firewire 400 can same pc. So the overhead on USB 2 is way more and the throughput is way less. USB 2 or 3 might work for you but I demand very low blatancy so it will not for me.
USB 2 and 3 is a want to be interface connection. The crc checks are way too much for true audio DAW.
Yes it's great for mice and keyboards and external hard drive just not for True Throughput.

 

That systems comes nowhere near my budget 1000 tops 1200 to spend on a system and for gaming im waiting for the new xbox release
i like to game on my couch and not behind a desk.

 

Current build I’m working on. Gonna try to get the rest of the parts by next week.

 

It should also be obvious that you meant "of course" but wrote "off course".

 

The prices were a lot more competitive last year

 

My AOI from arctic cooling runs pretty silent while temps under 30 degress on my delidded CPU. I prefer having the radiator in front of the system rather than having football sized fan sitting on my cpu taking up most of the space. much cleaner look, much easier to maintain.

 

Well, I'm not a native speaker and sometimes I make small mistakes like theese. But we could continues this conversation in german and see how much of it most of you would get right.

 

Ich spreche kein Deutsch.

 

Yes no RGB not needed for a DAw.

 

Absolutely sure, tested a bunch of X570 boards with TB3 headers and the Titan Ridge Addon Card and it works alright. Gigabyte has followed this scheme with its AMD mobos, so it's TB3 but name it Titan Ridge or Alpine Ridge earlier if i recall. They try to avoid confrontations with Intel, because although TB now belongs to the USB corp and its -sort of- open source, the TB3 implementation is still an Intel property, even though Intel has allowed AMD to use TB3 officially.

It's this thread : https://audiosex.pro/threads/thunderbolt-officially-certified-for-amd-by-intel.52040/#post-453546
I will copy paste for the rest the X570 boards with TB3:
ASRock Aqua
ASRock Creator
ASRock Phantom Gaming ITX/TB3
ASRock TaiChi (with TB3 header, needs additional TB3 card)
ASRock Extreme 4 and Extreme 4 WiFi (with TB3 header, needs additional TB3 card)
ASRock Steel Legend and Steel Legend WiFi (with TB3 header, needs additional TB3 card)
ASRock Phantom Gaming X (with TB3 header, needs additional TB3 card)
(All ASRock mobos with TB3 header need the Thunderbolt 3 AIC R2.0 to provide TB3 connectivity:
https://www.asrock.com/mb/spec/product.asp?Model=Thunderbolt 3 AIC R2.0 )
Gigabyte Aorus Extreme (with TB3 header, needs additional TB3 card)
Gigabyte Aorus Master (with TB3 header, needs additional TB3 card)
Gigabyte Aorus Ultra (with TB3 header, needs additional TB3 card)
Gigabyte Aorus Pro and Aorus Pro WiFi (with TB3 header, needs additional TB3 card)

Mate, why do you suppose to know what i need or don't. If i say i need a Threadripper it's not for the many cores, this is truly secondary in my scenario. It's for the 64 pci-e gen4 lanes. And if you ask me why i need this many pci-e lanes, i 'll tell you np. Too many beastly NVME ssds. And believe me, on the workstation i am faster than any ssd or comp i have sat on. And blimey i always thought as i get older i will get slower and i fkn got even faster lol.
Last but not least, track count is NOT a cpu bound task. It uses the cpu but very little compared to code instructions like realtime plugins, realtime timeline edits etc etc. I have tested 500 ch. on my 7700k with no sweat. Whatever gives you the idea that Threadripper is only for 1000+ tracks, sorry but it's plainly wrong.
And even with the many cores, there is always ways to utilize them even if your daw may not officially support them. And be sure i would know what to do and its simple. What i do now with 3 pcs or 2 pcs and a Mac and Vienna Ensemble, i will do in just one comp and get rid of a lot of hardware bulk altogether.
Cheers

 

When building a PC for music production you should also consider a case with sound-dampening material like the Fractal Design Define R5.