So I've been wanting to build a new PC for music production, and naturally I've been researching what it takes to build a PC that's somewhat optimized for that task.
The problem of course is that 99% of information regarding PC builds on the internet is about gaming PCs.
If you go on forums and ask for help, 99% of the time some gamer will try to help you and make suggestions that are mostly guesswork.
And if you google things like "music production PC build 2023" it shows you these articles that honestly almost seem like they were written by bots. The average article of that nature seems to basically just slaps some random expensive parts together, but there's never any mention of things like "DPC Latency", which leads me to believe that those things weren't taken into consideration whatsoever.
So where the hell do you get some actually good info about PC components for music production?

Anyway, here's a build I've come up with through my own research. Anyone have suggestions?
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/fHKFRv
The GPU, the RAM and the PSU are parts that I already own, that's why they're in there. I'd probably buy two of the SSD.
I'm kind of wondering if it's actually worth it to get a Ryzen 5800X3D over a Ryzen 5800X, considering the performance is ~10% better for a 50% price increase.
The Case is honestly just a placeholder. I'm not really sure how to optimize airflow for this kind of setup and what kind of case would provide that. I've seen Sharkoon M30 and Fractal Design Focus 2 get recommended for builds that use similar CPU/Mboard combinations but they weren't available on this website.

Also, I know that AM4 is on its way out and that AM5 is becoming the standard, but I feel as though this kind of PC would probably last me a good 6-8 years without problems (provided the parts I picked out actually complement each other well) at which point we might be moving on to AM6 anyway.

 

From my experience there are usually 2 suspects that can cause high dpc latency or dropouts etc. in general.

First is the USB chipset / controller used on the motherboard. I would strongly recommend getting a motherboard that has some USB 2 available. If i remember correctly on ASUS MBs there are ports that additionally are marked with an audio symbol so i think they know about this problem.

Second, if possible, ditch the GPU and use onboard graphics. Graphics drivers can cause high dpc latency.

You answered that yourself didn't you? The X3D is especially build for gaming, consider that too.

As for a case, there are many high airflow cases available nowadays. For a comparable price to the ones you mentioned, Phanteks G360A comes to mind or if you can spend a little more Lian Li Lancool 216.

Edit: Why do you want to go for last Gen? If you considered spending 50% more there are better options:

 

Last edited: Apr 17, 2023

Check out an audio PC builder's website, e.g. https://www.scan.co.uk/3xs/custom/daw-digital-audio-workstation-pcs/workstations

https://www.scan.co.uk/info/proaudio/presszone/dawbench

 

I have always relied on my intuition, but in the end it's always about the money I built my computer for a year buying one part every month
Seriously, but I have a second identical motherboard in case it breaks. I think I have 14 drives, including 5 SSDs for data and 14 identical ones for backups but in the end this is my dream music production machine.

 

@Dblurgh Okay. I am a music producer and I am into Hackintoshing – knee deep – so by "design" I have to be familiar with all sorts of CPUs, Mainboards and chipsets.

I assume, you want to use WIndows for your music production needs, so I won't get into issues about AMD and music production in macOS. What you need in general for a good (or great) PC is:

• A CPU for Workstations (so in general NOT an Intel i7 but a Xeon instead). NOTE: WIth 13th gen Intel it's a bit different story because they are pretty powerful because they are based on the big core/small core design. As far as AMD is concerned, I have no experience with those, since on macOS AMD is not officially supported and there are inherent compatibilty issues with plugins n shit. On WIndows, it's not an issue (I guess).
• You need: Thread, threads,threads… NOT the highest clock frequency. So, as many cores and threads you can afford
• A good, higher end mainboard which is suitable for your CPU, RAM and NVME (with many power phases and a lot of PCI Lanes). Possibly a mainboard designed for Gaming, Overclocking or Media production.
  
• The Chipset matters! Don't buy a mainboard with a chipset for an Office computer!
• Lots of RAM at high speed. At least 32 GB
• High Bandwith NVME (PCIe 4 preferably)
• PSU: a lot of cores means you definitely need a PSU powerful enough to support all the cores with power. If you have a cpu with like 20 cores, a 450 watt PSU won't cut it

In the end, it's all about your budget. Sometimes you can get more performance out of a used high end desktop system than buying a consumer-type system with the latest stuff.

 

Last edited: Apr 19, 2023

Actually X3D wins if you use lot's of Kontakt sound libraries, etc., but normal version is faster with pluggins.

 

Looks highly overpriced on first glance. But definitely worth the look to get an idea which components could work together.

Tipp for a case: nothing with tampered glass. Doesn't absorb sound. I have a Fractal design case with sound dampening material

 

Last edited: Apr 18, 2023

Also if you go for air cooling: Buy Thermalright Peerless Assassin instead, best Air Cooler to date and it's a steal.

 

Can it cool a 10th gen i9? In my experience, AOI watercoolers run quieter overall because they use larger fans which can run slower but move more air and keep the system cooler overall.

 

According to LatencyMon my 1080ti and its driver are not causing any significant DCP latency issues unless I'm playing a game (it's in my old PC right now which was originally built for gaming in 2014), but yea, I was thinking about that. According to someone who seemed to know his stuff latencies are very dependent on configuration, so it's best to leave out as much hardware as possible (GPU, RGB shite, WLAN and so on). But on the other hand integrated GPU CPUs sacrifice some processing power and eat up system memory. Correct me if I'm wrong on that though.
Also would seem that in general to accommodate integrated GPUs they tend to be a bit worse performance wise. I did think about maybe buying a 5700G instead though.

I guess I should've specified what kind of plugins I'm going to use a lot. I definitely want to use a lot of NI Razor, Serum, Zebra2 (and 3 in the future), Omnisphere, and EastWest Hollywood Orchestra (this software alone is almost 1TB) and probably some Kontakt libraries from Spitfire and Rhodope.

Well, of course there are better options if one considers spending more money. It's honestly mostly the fact that A4 is a lot of bang for your buck right now, and me already having the AM4 32gb of RAM that is shown in that link, which I got on discount for 70 european dollars. And buying an AM5 CPU also means buying an AM5 Motherboard, AM5 RAM and so on. At least as far as I know. So it's not like I would only be spending 50% more on the CPU alone.

Yes, I do want to use Windows. But that's partly because I've heard that Hackintoshing is more headache than it is worth. And for someone with my limited knowledge that would likely be true. Generally I'm not opposed to using Intel (not a loyalist) but I've heard a lot of good things about AMD based music production PCs.

I think the build I posted fulfills those requirements, although I doubt it's fully optimized...

Yea, I wanted to include the normal version of the Endorfy Signum 300 in my list, but that one wasn't available to pick on that website. Same reason I didn't put the Sharkoon M30 on that list.

 

Last edited: Apr 18, 2023

If you go intel you could keep your DDR4 with current Gen + integrated GPU, only change would be the MB that would be slightly more expensive e.g. MSI Pro Z690/Z790.

Yes it can and yes some AIOs are better but cost double at least, see my image the coolers on the top are AIOs.

 

Last edited: Apr 18, 2023

I built one and helped build another AM4 machine, so my experience is very limited, as you say, there's tons of info, but nothing really out there, I spent probably 2 years investigating before I just got myself a Mac.

First build was gaming one and it turn out to be actually great for audio too, very low DPC latency, board is Gigabyte B450 DS3H (rev. 1.x).

Build for audio I helped, board is Asus ROG Strix B550-F Gaming, both used Ryzen 5 5600G, Corsair Vengeance DDR4 3200Mhz Kit's.

Hope this helps, good luck with the build.

 

Last edited: Apr 18, 2023

I totally don't want to be that guy, but...

I've been using a 2011 (yes, a 12-year old) Dell Precision laptop (M4600 model, $200 used, on average, on ebay) for the past 7 years to make my music. I put a 1TB SSD in there for a system drive, another 1TB for additional storage (it has a hot-swappable expansion bay-- optical drive, which it comes with, or a hard drive caddy you can buy for like $9). Backlit keyboard, full HD display, tons of ports (DisplayPort for a 2nd display, HDMI out, VGA out, 5 USB ports (two 3.0, two 2.0 and one eSata/USB).

It's a 2nd-generation i7 quad-core, 2.4ghz. (I know that sounds old and slow, but, it's powerful as hell for its time and still, today). 2GB video (Nvidia Quadro 1000m). Got it with 8GB of ram, bought 32GB of ram (only $110 total for four 8gb sticks). Runs perfectly. I keep Win7 on it as my main OS but I also have another identical Precision with Windows 10. That one cost only $300 with 16GB ram, Windows 10 pre-installed, and a 1TB SSD already installed.

Ableton Live 10, Reaper 6, Maschine, FL Studio. I run them all, 16-22 tracks on average per song, with a large number of plugins, and it never breaks a sweat.

Total investment: $810 (with the two 1tb SSDs and 32GB ram for the first laptop).

If you know what to look for... you'll come out ahead, or at the very least, happy.

 

Isn't obvious that he knows what he is looking for, dunno, if that works for you, great, I replaced 2nd gen i7-3770 machine after decade of using it with much powerful one where I don't need to worry about anything processing related, can run all my plugins on HQ, divine, maximum oversampling, have full blown mastering chain on stereo bus, even some IK tape on top of it, work on 256 buffer all the time, have everything in MIDI and bounce things just for creative reasons, not actual need.. and I'm a modest user..

There was big leap in computing power last few years and I didn't saw the point of replacing my 3770 for something like 7700, but now what you can get for 300-500 bucks is insane, now when AM4 is phasing out. For modest user, something like used i7-8700 with 32GB of RAM and all for 200 bucks is ok deal, but still you can get brand new machine that pretty much outperforms it for not much more, have possibility to do more upgrades in the future and all that.

Sorry, but that story doesn't fly anymore, I'm in process of getting new machine to my partner and tried every possible scenario to save his money and that is just like that, I'm not going to pay 200 bucks to get him one generation from what he have now, he can trump that with one plugin, couldn't still open my projects.

Happy for you, that's nice machine and I could probably get by, but after actually owning something that is made recently and having luxury of actually working like this, no thanks, maybe for some challenge or something, but wouldn't waste a dime on it.

 

Sorry, but now, this physically can't be "powerful as hell". Maybe if you are only using it for 16 bit Audio Tracks at 44.1 kHz. But I am pretty sure 2 instances of a quality synth like Diva or Serum will bring it to it's knees instantly.

 

Last edited: Apr 21, 2023

Hmm, that does sound like something worth looking into. I've only been looking at AMD CPUs, haven't really been following what Intel has been up to. Any suggestions there?
Also, are there any compatibility issues? I've heard that some DAWs have/used to have difficulties with Intel P and E cores. Don't know what that means though.

 

After some more research I've come across a couple articles that say that the 5800X3D is actually worse than the 5800X for music production.
Then I came across a thread in which someone said that the 5800X3D is in fact the superior choice, because music production tasks prefer cache and IPC over lots of cores/threads. But then someone else came in and said that the 5800X is the better choice because high single thread performance is priority #1.
This research has been pretty frustrating.

Then I also came across something that mentioned that you also need to pay special attention to VRM and Power Phases when choosing a Mainboard/CPU combination. So much to consider.
I ended up checking out the Ryzen 9 5900X and it's a lot more performance for only 40€ more than the X3D.

What do you think about this configuration?

Ryzen 9 5900X
MSI MPG B550 Gaming Plus
Crucial Ballistix 32GB RAM, (2x16) DDR4 3200MHz (already have)
Asus Rog Strix GTX 1080ti 11gb (already have)
Straight Power 11 650w 80+ Gold (already have)
2x Kingston KC3000 1TB SSD M.2
Endorfy Fera 5 CPU fan

Still not sure about the case.

 

Intel 13th gen cpus come with P-performance and E-energy efficient cores and these E cores can cause problems with DAWs, probably stuttering or something... it will be resolved in due time, I guess. However, if choosing Intel it's sure shot and cheaper to go with 11th gen or 12th gen if money is not a problem. However, AMD 7xxx are all "G" and come with powerful onboard graphics, are champions in my book, especially R7 7700X. Great CPU for a good price: ~350 euro now, april 2023.

5700G is great for audio WS, but not better than 5800X or 5800X3D.

 

I'm very familiar with dude's general setup (though it's not a Dell,) and can confirm that two instances of Diva—or one *very heavy patch—will definitely put your machine in a bad place, which is usually when you'll begin to hear faint sounds of moaning and gnashing of teeth. Admittedly, this is a machine that can run a medium sessions-worth of Kontakt libraries simultaneously, all with a respectable number of RR/Vel layers—EP/Piano, Organ, horns, percussion, etc.,—all alongside eight-plus outs from Maschine, all of which are running in MIDI pre-bounce, while recording (as you know, MIDI is more intensive, which is the only reason I mention it,) and that still doesn't make a rig with the specs that he cited sweat like a powerful synth does.

 

Is this mobo one of the choices that is known for having great DPC and this is the reason you picked it or?

Asking because at this point I only know about 3 mobo's that are tested in that regard and would really like to know if this one is too, so I can recommend it to anyone seeking for something like that.