Hello everyone, I'm currently trying to put together a PC for music production for a price of 1300€ or less.
I figured maybe there are some experts here who could give me some tips or suggestions on what to change

This is the build right now:
AMD
CPU https://geizhals.de/amd-ryzen-7-5700g-100-100000263box-a2536478.html
Mainboard https://geizhals.de/msi-mpg-b550-gaming-plus-7c56-003r-a2308973.html

Other
RAM https://geizhals.de/crucial-ballistix-rot-dimm-kit-32gb-bl2k16g32c16u4r-a2222493.html
SSD https://geizhals.de/western-digital...0sjg0-dbrpg0010bnc-wrsn-a1969746.html
Tower Fan https://geizhals.de/scythe-mugen-5-rev-b-scmg-5100-a1647533.html
Power Supply https://geizhals.de/seasonic-focus-px-650w-atx-2-4-focus-px-650-a2117216.html
Case https://geizhals.de/corsair-carbide-series-275q-schwarz-cc-9011164-ww-a1959325.html
3x Fan for the front (replacing the ones that come with the case) https://geizhals.de/arctic-p12-pwm-pst-schwarz-transparent-acfan00134a-a1920156.html

So far so good. The goal is to have a good PC for music production that I could also eventually put a new GPU into and do some gaming on the side once these Covid GPU prices have calmed down. Obviously, depending on the GPU I pick in the future I would have to buy a 750 watts power supply of the same series instead of the 650 watts one.

There is also an Intel alternative, but as far as I know this one would only be better if I let it off the leash, which would result in a power consumption increase that's not worth the gain and would also result in fan operation being quite a bit louder.
Intel
https://geizhals.de/intel-core-i7-11700-bx8070811700-a2484442.html
https://geizhals.de/msi-mag-b560-torpedo-a2471071.html

Anyway, this build is currently at around 1000€, which means that there's still around 300€ of budget to play around with. Do you have any suggestions for improvements?

 

https://www.amazon.it/dp/B08XZQKCSY...=xf77v&ref_=sbx_be_s_sparkle_mcd_asin_0_title


https://www.amazon.it/OptiPlex-Inte...jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

 

The case of the fractal 5 has more space:
Fractal dimensions (WxHxD) 232x451x532mm (Volume 55.66l)
Corsair dimensions (WxHxD) 211x455x460mm (Volume 44.16l)

The case of the Fractal has better cooling options, plus a floor fan, so that it is blown into the case from under air.

Fractal 5 - more stable: weight 12.80kg // Corsair - weight 6.08kg

Fractal Design Define R5 Black, soundproofed (FD-CA-DEF-R5-BK) 90 EUR
https://geizhals.de/fractal-design-define-r5-black-fd-ca-def-r5-bk-a1200732.html
https://www.fractal-design.com/products/cases/define/define-r5/black/

Fractal Design Define R6 USB-C Black, soundproofed (FD-CA-DEF-R6C-BK) 129 €
https://geizhals.de/fractal-design-define-r6-usb-c-black-fd-ca-def-r6c-bk-a1887301.html
https://www.fractal-design.com/products/cases/define/define-r6-usb-c/blackout/

MSI GeForce GT 1030 2GHD4 LP OC (2048MB) 90 €
https://de.msi.com/Graphics-Card/GeForce-GT-1030-2GH-LP-OC.html

A graphics card relieves the system considerably.
This graphics card is passive, which means it has no fan and is ideal for a silent system.

There are also graphics cards for gamers where the fans only start when the system is running at full load.

 

Last edited: Aug 9, 2021

Grab a audio interface.

 

Go with intel espicially if your at all thinking about a hackintosh Dual Boot its so much more compaitable then Amd

 

that's actually a very nice list - looks like you did some research!

few things that caught my eye to comment on:
1) why MSI motherboard? I'd rather get something from lineup of ASUS ROG B550 Strix - cpu power delivery seems to be better
2) cooling and noise/silence - this is a bit tricky - at first, you want spacious heavy-dampening case, something like older Fractal Design R5 is good start, then you don't need any additional fans (two 140mm fans included with Define R5), and also you can start without buying aftermarket cpu cooler (5700G includes stock cooler); if you'd still want good cpu cooler, definite go for biggest Notcua you can fit in the case, they really just cool best at least noise, often even passively with its fan barely spinning - I myself got NH-U14S and it handles overclocked i7-5820K fine
3) with saved money you should totally get another SSD, something like 1TB 860 EVO will suffice
4) powerful gpu with great cooling will allow for zero noise operation (my ASUS Strix 1080 Ti doesn't even start spinning fans when working on big projects) which is better than buying mediocre graphics card with passive cooler
5) if you're even remotedly thinking about hackintosh, then better save some money and get new M1 MacMini - it will give equally good if not better performance in MacOS
6) what audio interface will you use? its driver is usually the weakest part of the audio processing signal chain, and will often be a decisive factor when it comes to crackle-free audio performance

 

Good question. Can't say I'm the most knowledgeable about Mainboards at all. Just picked something that seemed to fit well.

Interesting, I'll look into it.

Yea, it's just that right now GPU prices on the market are still absolutely nuts so I decided it would probably be best to delay the GPU purchase until like... 2023 at this rate.

Actually interesting, I haven't been thinking about Mac/Hackintosh at all, because I simply didn't even consider it possible that I could potentially get a usable Mac with good performance under 2000€ or 3000€. It seems that in Germany, if I pick a 1 TB SSD and 16GB RAM the price is at around 1489€. Is that the one you meant? I was getting excited at first because it seems that in the US all of this would cost below 1300 USD. Unfortunately there's no 32GB RAM option (and if there was it would probably be mighty expensive) and I don't know if 16GB would be too limiting in projects where I use a lot of Kontakt or Omnisphere/Trilian/Keyscape. My DAW of choice has been Ableton but out of all DAWs on the market the only other one I've also been interested in is Logic. Hmmmmmmmmm... I do feel tempted though.

Right now I still have my first audio interface with me that I got in 2015 which is a Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 (first generation I think)
I wouldn't mind an upgrade but I don't know much about performance differences between audio interfaces and whether an upgrade would be worth it.

Haven't been considering Hackintosh solely because I've always been under the impression that getting it to work smoothly is a much bigger headache than it is worth. Maybe that is not the case any more though?

 

Your Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 is just 5 - 6 years old. It's not old.
That lasts at least 15 years and longer. You don't need to update that - it does what it should.

Mac users try to convince you of Mac. Windows users try to convince you of Windows. I bought AMD because it was half the price. Intel has always been pretty expensive. With the invention of the Ryzen, the AMD company is saved. Either you are a Mac guy - then you also have a Mac or you are a Windows guy then you also have Windows. Stick to what you know and what works.

 

it's rather easy to setup reliable hackintosh IF you get the compatible components,
on the other hand since Apple is moving away from Intel, it doesn't seem much sense to me to build a "new" hackintosh - sure it's fun to grab 8 years old HP 800 G1 and run latest MacOS Big Sur on it - but in the end the M1 MacMini with 16GB memory beats it,
speaking of 16GB limit on M1 Macs, no matter what bribed YouTubers say, there is no magic and still 32GB would be better - that said, next generation of MacMini would be a sweet spot IF Apple puts stronger cpu, more RAM capacity option, stronger gpu (to support 3 monitors) and better connectivity - which release is probably nowhere close so if you want a Windows DAW workstation (which is totally fine imo) then I guess don't trouble yourself with Macs at all now

 

Last edited: Aug 9, 2021

Focusrite isn't the best brand when it comes to long-term driver support - but I believe as long as you stay with Windows 10, their drivers should be fine,
upgrade would be something like RME UCX II but that beast seems to be out of stock so far

 

Please stay on the carpet! Is your father a millionaire? The thread is called: Building a music production PC for 1300€ or less

Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 3rd Gen = 149 €
RME Fireface UCX II = 1.299 €

But the Focusrite company will be around for a long time and with it sensible drivers.

Focusrite PLC is an English music and audio products group based in High Wycombe, England. The Focusrite Group trades under eight brands: Focusrite, Focusrite Pro, Martin Audio, ADAM Audio, Novation, Ampify Music, Optimal Audio and Sequential. Focusrite designs and markets audio interfaces, microphone preamps, consoles, analogue EQs and Channel strips, and digital audio processing hardware and software for professional and home studios.

 

I recommended dont go all SSD for storages because the NAND chips inside the ssd is literally your enemies, it could died anytime and you lost all of your data and unlike HDD, if the read header die or the controller board die, your data can be recover (almost all of the data if youre unlucky and the drive header crash to the disk platter) by other 3rdparty.

So listen to me, use a 1TB NVMe SSD or 512gb NVMe SSD for your OS(install plugins. VSTs, DAWs). another 1 or 2TB SATA SSD for your Kontakt librarys, Omnisphere, Keyscape,... Or even steam games if you want lol. The HDD go get a WD 4TB Purple or Black (Purple if you want durability, for ex: My WD purple 1TB literally still survive and working fine after got 8 or 10 time power outage, even the OS boot fine and no errors and Black if you want performance) for your sample packs, your own hand make presets/sounds ect that you know you cant lost it.

 

Last edited: Aug 10, 2021

good point, but in that case I'd recommend having the HDD as proper backup only, external drive, not connected to computer all the time, so it's more protected against power surges and viruses

 

Or thousand times better: do backups. HDD recovery is real expensive and don't rely on that.
Just expect that any(!) HDD or SSD can just die within the next second. You don't lose data because of a broken pc part. You lose data, because you have no backup.

However for only backups you can still go HDD, but simply because of the price.

 

Last edited: Aug 9, 2021

Better memory choice over Crucial:
G.Skill Trident Z Neo 32 GB (2 x 16 GB)

• F4-3600C14D-32GTZNA CL14-14-14-34 - 1.45V - base speed 2133 (MTs/MHz)
• F4-3200C14D-32GTZN CL14-14-14-34 - 1.35V - base speed 2133 (MTs/MHz)
• F4-3600C16D-32GTZN CL16-16-16-36 - 1.35V - base speed 2133 (MTs/MHz)

Better motherboard choice over MSI:

• Gigabyte B550 AORUS ELITE AX V2

Better power supply for future graphics card addition:

• Seasonic Focus Plus 750 Gold

The NVMe is a good choice. I would get an additional 256GB or 512GB SSD/NVMe for a boot/system drive.
Keeping your projects & storage away from Windows OS failures will save time and reduce mental stress when it happens.

Until I upgrade (when prices return to sanity), my current setup is:

• 512GB workstation grade 2.5" SSD boot/system
• 1TB NVMe projects, VST2, instrument libraries
• 2TB 7200PRM enterprise grade HDD (keeps up with the 512GB SSD & is faster than the extra 1TB Enterprise HDD that also came with the system (currently off-line until needed if ever).

Remember: RAID is not a backup, NAS is not a backup.

There are better choices for a case. The case mentioned by @BEAT16 is an excellent choice. Good air flow while being quite is the holy grail. Throwing more fans in a case does not always improve thermals and, can add to the noise floor.

 

Could you elaborate on these suggestions?

 

Best Power Supplies 2021
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-psus,4229.html

If you ever to plan to buy a Thunderbolt audio interface, look
at Asus/Gigabyte B550 models

Ryzen Memory testing for audio, does it make an impact?
http://www.scanproaudio.info/2019/07/30/ryzen-memory-testing-for-audio-does-it-make-an-impact/
The Crucial Ballistix is very good and you can overclock the 3200MHz Kit to 3733MHz.
https://www.nicehash.com/blog/post/ram-timings-overclocking-guide-with-dram-ryzen-calculator
Or buy the faster kit https://de.pcpartpicker.com/products/memory/#m=12&S=3600,5100&Z=32768002&h=1&sort=price&page=1

https://www.overclock.net/threads/new-dram-calculator-for-ryzen™-1-7-3-overclocking-dram-on-am4-membench-0-8-dram-bench.1640919/

 

Last edited: Aug 10, 2021

With good memory that has tight timings, 'Time Critical' processes like audio production, CAD, etc.., data is passed through at a more even pace resulting in less errors and, more even/smoother overall performance. Gaming should be a secondary consideration when building a system for audio/video production.

The Gigabyte motherboard is one of the better choices in that priced range for performance, features. The thermals are also better on some other boards in that price such as the Gigabyte B550 AORUS ELITE AX V2 (note the version 2).

 

Last edited: Aug 10, 2021

AMD Ryzen 9 5900x + RTX 3070

Complete Build Guide: https://youtu.be/bX3ERqqHqMc
Creative Application Benchmarks: https://youtu.be/V5Lb6wHUqts
Review: https://youtu.be/SlgS2j4BqeM

PC Spec list:
✅CPU: https://geni.us/hA9C
✅COOLER: https://geni.us/wwa2oZB
✅MOTHERBOARD: https://geni.us/RKzuj
✅SSD 1: https://geni.us/8mnb
✅SSD 2: https://geni.us/N05jj
✅SSD 3: https://geni.us/iFJZZ6w
✅HDD: https://geni.us/W3Hb65B
✅RAM: https://geni.us/eNcD
✅GPU: https://geni.us/HH5ARg
✅FANS [2x]: https://geni.us/ZgA52N
✅PSU: https://geni.us/nAUQj or https://geni.us/IaKP
✅CUSTOM PSU EXTENSION CABLES FROM: https://geni.us/dCan8 [RorzcustomPC]
✅CASE: https://geni.us/gzaFUKT ⚫

 

Last edited: Aug 10, 2021