want to buy a new PC ..need advice!

Discussion in 'Computer Hardware' started by basschild, May 2, 2018.

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  1. basschild

    basschild Member

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    Hi there-it is time for me to buy a new Pc for audio, my budget is 1.500 Euro ...need lots of ram and SSD ---
    What would you buy?Best wishes..

     
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  3. skeltoid

    skeltoid Kapellmeister

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    Do not get an Nvidia video card.
    I have a gtx1070 and it causes audio dropouts in usb interface.
    No fix.
     
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  4. EddieXx

    EddieXx Audiosexual

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    I think you could get better help if you specify why/what you mean with "lots" of ram and "lots" of ssd. its hard to know if you just mean as much as possible, which is obvious for everyone.

    or if you do a kind of audio-work that demands specifically huge amounts of ram and ssd space.

    .
     
    Last edited: May 2, 2018
  5. NullNVoid

    NullNVoid Noisemaker

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    Use the site PC Part Picker to build yourself something around your budget.
     
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  6. Nick12

    Nick12 Platinum Record

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    Best Answer
    For a processor I would go for the newest Intel Core I7-8700K. Right now that's the fastest processor in single-core and it's around 30-40% faster in multi-core than his little brother the 7700-K. It's around €350. You maybe can go for an I9, but I wouldn't do that.

    For your main hard drive I would go for a Samsung 960-Pro. If I am right that's the fastest SSD right now. How much GB is up to you. More GB is of course more expensive. It starts with 250GB and that version is around €117.

    For a second or for more hard drives I wouldn't actually go for a SSD, except if your budget is really and really big. I won't say 1500 is not big, because it pretty is. In fact with €1500 you can build an amazing PC. SSD's are so expensive. If you want a SSD with for example 2TB that cost you around €1000. Hard drives are much cheaper and have more storage. I have all my Kontakt libraries for example on a normal hard drive and it works totally fine.

    I think I would go for an internal hard drive that have at least 7200 rpm. Maybe something like a Seagate Barracuda with 2TB. Is around €58. It's here up to you aswell as I don't know exactly how much storage you want.

    RAM: In my opinion 16GB is more than enough. It depends if you really need more. If you use orchestral libraries or anything or if you have find out that your projects are very big in general and you are running out in RAM, then maybe go for 32GB. With big I mean 100+ mixer tracks. I'm not really sure if anything higher than 32GB will really benefit.

    Make sure your RAM is at least DDR4. Fastest one right now and then maybe something from G.Skill or Corsair? I think something with 16GB is around €177 and something with 32GB is around €376.

    Videocards:

    Do you want to game really? If not? Then maybe something like a Geforce GT 1030 or a Geforce GTX 950 will be fine. Or you can go with something from AMD. From AMD maybe something like R7240? If so? Do you have any specific games you want to play?

    Just assuming you don't play games and let's say you go for a GT 1030 or a R7240 one. If I am right prices are around €80.

    350+117+58+177+80=€782. And then you have €718 left what you can spend on a case, fans, processor cooling, power supply, motherboard, etc. If you aren't very specific on this, then you have with €718 more than enough. But with that amount of money you also can go for more storage for example aswell, but of course that could mean that you maybe will have 'less freedom' for something else. You probably get the idea. Prices aren't probably correct exactly either, but more to give you a general feeling.

    You also can go for something with RGB, but then you have to make sure that your case at least have a window in my opinion. My RAM is for example RGB and I have RGB lights in my case. Why? Because I also want to have a fair. No, just kidding about that, haha. Altough, in general RGB is also a little bit more expensive and yeah it doesn't help anything with a faster or a more stable PC. It's only more for a nice view and that's it. But yeah these are only some ideas. I only have covered some of the main/basic factors. If you need help with anything else, then let me know and I will try.
     
    Last edited: May 6, 2018
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  7. saltwater

    saltwater Guest

    this is very strange, sounds like power issues to me
     
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  8. pizzafresser

    pizzafresser Producer

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    RAM is ridiculously expensive right now. Graphics cards even more so. Unless you want to play games, save on the GPU entirely and use the integrated graphics of the 8700K so you have more budget for RAM.
     
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  9. saltwater

    saltwater Guest

    Nick did an excellent job. i would recommend pretty much the same.

    more details on what you plan to do would help a lot.
    what kind of music/work u plan to do? gaming ? Monitor/s ?
     
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  10. joem

    joem Producer

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  11. Helvetica

    Helvetica Producer

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    Hi!
    Do you really need a video graphics card for the pure purpose of working with audio?

    Cheers.
     
  12. quadcore64

    quadcore64 Audiosexual

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  13. SineWave

    SineWave Audiosexual

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    Put in a passive 1030 and problem gone. The problem is that people are trying to assemble a kickarse PC for everything. Well then use a ThunderBolt audio interface. USB is for home-production. Assembling a great PC is a matter of priorities. I'm always assembling it with music production in mind. And older games and everything still works smoothly with a 100 euro card, really. :wink:

    I would also go for just one SSD as they are less reliable than HDs, in my experience. When an SSD dies there's no way to retrieve the data. Just have one SSD for the OS and most used libraries and keep everything else, including a backup of the OS on a tested HDD. I test my HDDs before using them for serious business. Fill them up to the brim with data and use them for a couple of weeks at least. Test with HDtune, too. If they pass, they are 99.9% sure to be safe to use for the next 5 or so years.

    Cheers!
     
    Last edited: May 2, 2018
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  14. skeltoid

    skeltoid Kapellmeister

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    It does need a lot of power but its a known driver issue.
     
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  15. E.C.R

    E.C.R Platinum Record

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    Nick12's advice is pretty spot on!!
    32gb ram is future proofing to some extent
    i would follow Nicks recommendations in every way
    no gaming etc don't need mega video cards
    32 gb ram if using massive libraries
    500 sdd from main drive
    4 tb hardrive is a little more but again, future proofing
    all other sdd etc you can add later as needed, for kontakt libraries etc
     
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  16. joem

    joem Producer

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    i have a 1070 running in conjunction with my m-audio fasttrack pro no issues at all.
    on my second rig.
    Also sinewave you can recover data from ssds just as well as hdd thease days.
    Also may i suggest a nvme ssd for boot as there quicker.
     
    Last edited: May 2, 2018
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  17. junh1024

    junh1024 Rock Star

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  18. Von_Steyr

    Von_Steyr Guest

    You dont need a new pc, you need some led lights, to pimp it up.
    [​IMG]
     
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  19. basschild

    basschild Member

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  20. DoubleTake

    DoubleTake Audiosexual

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    I like having a small capacity OS SSD (250G), and a second SSD (500G partitioned as two 250G).
    I use one 250G partition of the split drive for my media projects, and the other 250G for audio & libraries that might benefit in loading times. Granted a 7200 RPM HDD works pretty well, but I loaded Garritan stuff because it seemed a bit slow in loading, but that could be for other reasons.
    The main thing is to back things up regularly. When installing a new system I like to take many backups as I go.
    I try to keep as little on the OS drive as possible, but i do install ALL programs and I do let things like presets etc be installed to the "Documents" folder for compatibility. So many libraries can be installed anywhere these days, which is nice, and for the few that can't easily, I make a symlink and move them (except for a couple of old ones that are small so i didn't bother).
    It makes it so nice to just step back to a perfect install. I delete most after things are running well, but i keep the basic Windows install with drivers and updates, then start loading up programs I use in general (file management, firewall, customizations, etc) and make sure I have a good working system to restore before I start messing with DAW and other stuff.
    Then I install media programs, keeping a simple .txt log saved on the OS disk.
    That makes it handy to explore a backup and see exactly where I was with installs, where i symlinked stuff, versions etc.
    Backups take little time and space with the OS & a few general progs installed.
    Even now with tons installed it only takes around 17 minutes. I've restored the OS disk many times because I try a lot of stuff, and customize a lot, and mess with registry, and i like the security of just loading a backup onto the SSD instead of wondering if a program uninstalled well, or any other problems occur.
    Often times it might not be until a bit later that a problem is discovered and being able to truly step back so easily is great.

    With drive space cheaper now, I have a 3T 7200 for libraries and (and 250G of my partitioned 2nd SSD), a 5T 7200 for general use (all zipped programs, movies, etc), a slow 5T for backups, and an external 5T to duplicate important backups.

    It takes me about a week to install all the stuff I have, so it is great if anything messes up, to just step back knowing everything will be just as it was, with my actual work and personal files on my 2nd SSD.
    I really don't know how much difference if any there is with speed in loading projects and libraries from the SSD vs. HDD these days in general, but the cost of the SSD seemed minor compared to other things.
     
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  21. wasgedn

    wasgedn Banned

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