- Nov 4, 2013
- 28
- 0
- 10,530
Dear computer experts
Firstly, please can i just apologise for the length of this message.
I understand that you guys must get so many people on the forums asking you questions, and I am only messaging you because of how helpful you have been to other people. Also you all really seem to know your stuff when it comes to computer building and the best components for the best value, and this is why I am coming to you to explain my situation.
This is basically a plead for your help....
Ok, well my situation is that I am an average guy who is just aspiring to become a music producer, through the use of only one program, and the program that I will use to make my music on is called FL Studio. There are many new versions, FL Studio 9, FL Studio 10 and the most recent is FL Studio 11.
If i may first ask you to please kindly check this link below which shows the System Requirements for running FL Studio on your computer, maybe this could be a backbone for you to start with, in regards to knowing what type of system I need to be running to use this program effectively
http://support.image-line.com/knowledgebase/base.php?id=55&ans=82
Firstly, its a windows software, which is great because I love windows and I already have Windows 7 Professional and Home in 64 Bit. This means in my PC build I wont need to pay the extra £100 or however much on Windows.
Also from the link, you can see it talks a lot about the CPU,and says the faster the CPU and more cores it has, the more I can do simultaneously.
Please now click on this link which is a more in depth explanation to say the system requirements:
http://support.image-line.com/knowledgebase/base.php?id=55&ans=214
It says "Since real-time audio processing and synthesis are key, a fast CPU and a soundcard that has a manufacturer supplied ASIO driver should be your top priorities. "
It says that I will need an Audio Interface which supports ASIO drivers. So basically I need a sound card which supports where the manufacturer has ASIO supported drivers. I am not sure which one I would need or which would be best for this.
Also it says avoid internal or on board sound chips as they cant guarantee ASIO drivers will work for these.
It says 8GB of RAM is more than enough but can always upgrade if needs be to 16GB.
For the Hard Drive and Solid State drive it says:
Hard Disk Drive (HDD): SSD (Solid State Disk) vs Traditional (Magnetic disk)? SSD's are great for achieving fast boot times, initial program loading and with programs that thrash the HDD (FL Studio does not thrash your HDD). The biggest factor for music production HDD's is hosting audio files and sound libraries. For most users will need a 1+ TB HDD. While a SSD will load projects faster, you don't load/save projects all that often so we rank a SSD fairly low on this list of priorities. Any traditional 7200 RPM HDD should serve you well, given large SSD's are still prohibitively expensive.
From looking at these links, do you think you can give me a perfect computer build to meet all of these requirements???
I walked in to a local computer store where I am based which is in England near a city called Birmingham. I told them that I am looking to build a computer for music production and they quoted me this spec:
-Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V Pro LGA 1155, SLi/ CFire,SATA3, GBLan, ATX
-RAM: Crucial Ballistix Tactical 8GB DDR3 1866 (2x4GB) Kit
-Power Supply: Coolmaster B-Series 700W 86 Efficiency PSU
-Sound card: Creative Labs X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion Series
-Graphics card: nVidia Geoforce GTX Ti PCI E VGA Card
-Hard Drive: 1 TB Seagate Barracuda Green 7200rpm SATA3 64Mb Hard Drive
-Cooling: Corsair Hydro H55 High Performance Water Cooling Kit
-Case: Antec Sonata Elite ATX Case
For this they said including VAT it would total £1000!!!
I then went to a seperate store which say they actually specialise only in custom built music production computers and they quoted me this spec:
* QUAD CORE i7 4770 clocking in at 3.9Ghz Turbo mode
* 120 Solid State System Drive
* 1TB 7200.14 Highspeed Barracuda Audio Hard drive
* 16GB High Speed RAM
* Acoustically Insulated Silent Computer Case
* Silent CPU Cooling
* 2 x USB3 Ports. 6 x USB2 Ports
* Premium Keyboard and Mouse Set
* Triple Monitor Support: HDMI / DVI-D / D-Sub
* DVDRW OPTICAL DRIVE
* LAN (10/100/1000 Mbit)
* Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Set
* DVDRW OPTICAL DRIVE
* 64-Bit Windows 7 Home Premium
* Windows 7 advanced optimisation for audio and music applications
Again for this spec they said £1000!!
Now the thing is, although i was saying £1000 would be my maximum ultimate limit of how much I would spend on a computer, after speaking to many people, I have realised there is no way that I need to spend this much money on the computer that I need.
Bearing in mind the computer will NOT ever be used for gaming, internet searching, or anything else except running this one program to its full capabilities.
I am saying that my ultimate limit now has to be a maximum of between £600 - £700...
From the two lists above, there are some components which i feel are uneccesarry. For example the Windows 7, the mouse and keyboard etc.
I already have Windows 7 in 64 Bit which FL Studio supports from the above link which you saw. I have a good USB Mouse and Keyboard.
From the above two links, you can see they emphasize alot on a good CPU, perhaps one of the newer ones. I have read a lot of reviews on CPU's and I had come to the conclusion that my heart was set on the Intel i7 4770, which i believe is a quad core, meaning a lot of cores and at a good speed? The FL Studio program says something along these lines is good.
I have already ordered and got my CPU now, please please do not talk me out of this CPU, as I actually got a great deal on it, I paid £190 as it was on offer, and it has a 3 year manufacturer warranty.
My problem is that I have posted on some forums, and hardly received any help at all. Also all i kept on getting was conflicting advice, one person will say one range of AMD CPU is best, one will say no go for the i7 4770k because you can over clock it, one will say no go for the i7 3770k and so on...
For a beginner in this field, it just blew my head away and just brought me down because i was thinking, ok im asking the experts here and one says one CPU, another says the opposite, and I really had no idea what the hell to get!!
Eventually, after much research, AND many reviews, i have decided on the i7 4770, NOT the K version. I was told the K is for over clockers, which are ideally for hardcore gamers.
I would never play any games on my computer, so can you understand that I would never ever have the need to over clock just one music production software program????
Please dont make me change my mind on the CPU that i have brought, as i have already brought it now and i am very happy with this choice.
I am pleading with you to help me with the rest of my spec, firstly important thing im confused about is the Motherboard.
Which motherboard is a great one which will support this CPU?? I dont understand the different terms of motherboards, as in what is the LGA1150 or LGA 1155, or whatever they are???
Which specs of mother boards should i look for to support my CPU and be able to get 8GB or 16GB RAM etc???
I heard ASUS motherboards are very good and reliable, what do you reckon?? How about the Z87 range? Are these like the industry standard or am i just led to believe the hype???
With regards to RAM, as stated on the FL Studio website, 8GB should be enough to start with, i can always add an extra 8GB cant i??
But I do not understand the RAM specs. What does DDR3 do and why are there DDR 3 in different formats such as 1600, 1866, 2133 etc????
Which RAM would be ideal for my spec would you say??
With hard drives, I definately want a minimum 1TB as I will have lots of sample sounds stored on my computer, and saved projects in WAV file format which is much larger than mp3.
I will want VSTs(Virtual Instruments) installed on my computer and other large orchestral sound banks which could use up a lot of memory and disk space.
I think 1TB to start with is good enough. But what is the standard i should go for??
Should it be 7200RPM or 5400RPM. I do not actually know what these terms mean.
Also a lot of people are saying make sure you get a SSD, but i dont understand how this works? Does this attach to the 1 TB hard drive to make it 1TB plus lets say 150GB SSD??
How does the SSD boot the system really quick? FL Studio say you should install a SSD as well, because it will load up the virtual instruments a lot quicker and also load the program and effects quicker. But i thought the CPU would make these loading times quicker???
Also if the SSD is only like 120GB, what am i suppose to store on this as its not even a fraction of 1TB??
I know i will need a DVD/CD combo because the program will come on a CD or DVD, and the VSTs that i order will also come on DVDs, but i do not want an expensive one because i think this is one of my lowest things i will need..
Do i need a graphics card as a must? Or can i use the motherboards onboard one? Because I believe a lot of mother boards have HDMI ports on them, so doesnt this imply you can connect a HDMI cable to it and connect it to a TV to output HD??
I will be connecting my computer to my LCD TV, so i just need the screen to look fairly decent in HD. But im not at all interested in the graphics side of things as i will never play games.
Erm, cooling fans, im not sure how many i would need to keep my system quiet and cool, i was told some water cooling ones like liquid or something? But is there really any need for this?
Oh yeah, how much watts will i need for a power supply to run all of these components?
Oh and finally, one of the most important things - the SOUND CARD!!!
FL Studio needs something supporting ASIO drivers, i think they said audio interface which may be an external sound card?? Unless an internal sound card would do?
The sound card is really very important as my computer is for making music.
I have been on uk.pcpartpicker.com/ which i was told to check out which is amazing!!
Please please help me with a great spec PC, lets say £190 has been deducted from my overall costs on my CPU.
So working around this CPU, please help me to pick out the best, most reliable and effective spec for a computer to perfectly meet the FL Studio requirements outlined in the two links at the start of this looonnnggg message lol.
You really will have no idea how much I will appreciate your kind help, like i said, you guys really know your stuff and I just know you can help me to get the best computer for the money i have. I really hope i have outlined everything in as much detail as possible, if i have missed anything then please let me know.
Please take just 15 minutes out of your schedules to try and help me in as much detail as you can.
I have been researching for weeks and weeks now, almost a month! The time has now come where i cannot research anymore, and i HAVE to buy my parts by the end of this week at the latest, because i really need to start on my music
Its caused me so much stress because i just keep doubting which components to buy and time is running out, i have honestly had enough of waiting around, its causing me stress! I just want to go ahead now and if you can give me the best value for money on the spec you say, then im going to trust in you guys and go ahead and buy it.
Oh and also, just to add, I have never ever build a computer in my life lol. But I believe it shouldnt be too hard should it? I mean there are tons of youtube videos and internet pages to give step by step guidance and my cousin may help me as he knows a little about building them. I suppose if i want to get anywhere I have to start myself and build on my knowledge right???
Thank you so much for listening to me and I am again extremely sorry for the very long message!! I hope i didnt bore you all too much lol.
Kindest regards.
JAY
Jay_Productions
Firstly, please can i just apologise for the length of this message.
I understand that you guys must get so many people on the forums asking you questions, and I am only messaging you because of how helpful you have been to other people. Also you all really seem to know your stuff when it comes to computer building and the best components for the best value, and this is why I am coming to you to explain my situation.
This is basically a plead for your help....
Ok, well my situation is that I am an average guy who is just aspiring to become a music producer, through the use of only one program, and the program that I will use to make my music on is called FL Studio. There are many new versions, FL Studio 9, FL Studio 10 and the most recent is FL Studio 11.
If i may first ask you to please kindly check this link below which shows the System Requirements for running FL Studio on your computer, maybe this could be a backbone for you to start with, in regards to knowing what type of system I need to be running to use this program effectively
http://support.image-line.com/knowledgebase/base.php?id=55&ans=82
Firstly, its a windows software, which is great because I love windows and I already have Windows 7 Professional and Home in 64 Bit. This means in my PC build I wont need to pay the extra £100 or however much on Windows.
Also from the link, you can see it talks a lot about the CPU,and says the faster the CPU and more cores it has, the more I can do simultaneously.
Please now click on this link which is a more in depth explanation to say the system requirements:
http://support.image-line.com/knowledgebase/base.php?id=55&ans=214
It says "Since real-time audio processing and synthesis are key, a fast CPU and a soundcard that has a manufacturer supplied ASIO driver should be your top priorities. "
It says that I will need an Audio Interface which supports ASIO drivers. So basically I need a sound card which supports where the manufacturer has ASIO supported drivers. I am not sure which one I would need or which would be best for this.
Also it says avoid internal or on board sound chips as they cant guarantee ASIO drivers will work for these.
It says 8GB of RAM is more than enough but can always upgrade if needs be to 16GB.
For the Hard Drive and Solid State drive it says:
Hard Disk Drive (HDD): SSD (Solid State Disk) vs Traditional (Magnetic disk)? SSD's are great for achieving fast boot times, initial program loading and with programs that thrash the HDD (FL Studio does not thrash your HDD). The biggest factor for music production HDD's is hosting audio files and sound libraries. For most users will need a 1+ TB HDD. While a SSD will load projects faster, you don't load/save projects all that often so we rank a SSD fairly low on this list of priorities. Any traditional 7200 RPM HDD should serve you well, given large SSD's are still prohibitively expensive.
From looking at these links, do you think you can give me a perfect computer build to meet all of these requirements???
I walked in to a local computer store where I am based which is in England near a city called Birmingham. I told them that I am looking to build a computer for music production and they quoted me this spec:
-Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V Pro LGA 1155, SLi/ CFire,SATA3, GBLan, ATX
-RAM: Crucial Ballistix Tactical 8GB DDR3 1866 (2x4GB) Kit
-Power Supply: Coolmaster B-Series 700W 86 Efficiency PSU
-Sound card: Creative Labs X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion Series
-Graphics card: nVidia Geoforce GTX Ti PCI E VGA Card
-Hard Drive: 1 TB Seagate Barracuda Green 7200rpm SATA3 64Mb Hard Drive
-Cooling: Corsair Hydro H55 High Performance Water Cooling Kit
-Case: Antec Sonata Elite ATX Case
For this they said including VAT it would total £1000!!!
I then went to a seperate store which say they actually specialise only in custom built music production computers and they quoted me this spec:
* QUAD CORE i7 4770 clocking in at 3.9Ghz Turbo mode
* 120 Solid State System Drive
* 1TB 7200.14 Highspeed Barracuda Audio Hard drive
* 16GB High Speed RAM
* Acoustically Insulated Silent Computer Case
* Silent CPU Cooling
* 2 x USB3 Ports. 6 x USB2 Ports
* Premium Keyboard and Mouse Set
* Triple Monitor Support: HDMI / DVI-D / D-Sub
* DVDRW OPTICAL DRIVE
* LAN (10/100/1000 Mbit)
* Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Set
* DVDRW OPTICAL DRIVE
* 64-Bit Windows 7 Home Premium
* Windows 7 advanced optimisation for audio and music applications
Again for this spec they said £1000!!
Now the thing is, although i was saying £1000 would be my maximum ultimate limit of how much I would spend on a computer, after speaking to many people, I have realised there is no way that I need to spend this much money on the computer that I need.
Bearing in mind the computer will NOT ever be used for gaming, internet searching, or anything else except running this one program to its full capabilities.
I am saying that my ultimate limit now has to be a maximum of between £600 - £700...
From the two lists above, there are some components which i feel are uneccesarry. For example the Windows 7, the mouse and keyboard etc.
I already have Windows 7 in 64 Bit which FL Studio supports from the above link which you saw. I have a good USB Mouse and Keyboard.
From the above two links, you can see they emphasize alot on a good CPU, perhaps one of the newer ones. I have read a lot of reviews on CPU's and I had come to the conclusion that my heart was set on the Intel i7 4770, which i believe is a quad core, meaning a lot of cores and at a good speed? The FL Studio program says something along these lines is good.
I have already ordered and got my CPU now, please please do not talk me out of this CPU, as I actually got a great deal on it, I paid £190 as it was on offer, and it has a 3 year manufacturer warranty.
My problem is that I have posted on some forums, and hardly received any help at all. Also all i kept on getting was conflicting advice, one person will say one range of AMD CPU is best, one will say no go for the i7 4770k because you can over clock it, one will say no go for the i7 3770k and so on...
For a beginner in this field, it just blew my head away and just brought me down because i was thinking, ok im asking the experts here and one says one CPU, another says the opposite, and I really had no idea what the hell to get!!
Eventually, after much research, AND many reviews, i have decided on the i7 4770, NOT the K version. I was told the K is for over clockers, which are ideally for hardcore gamers.
I would never play any games on my computer, so can you understand that I would never ever have the need to over clock just one music production software program????
Please dont make me change my mind on the CPU that i have brought, as i have already brought it now and i am very happy with this choice.
I am pleading with you to help me with the rest of my spec, firstly important thing im confused about is the Motherboard.
Which motherboard is a great one which will support this CPU?? I dont understand the different terms of motherboards, as in what is the LGA1150 or LGA 1155, or whatever they are???
Which specs of mother boards should i look for to support my CPU and be able to get 8GB or 16GB RAM etc???
I heard ASUS motherboards are very good and reliable, what do you reckon?? How about the Z87 range? Are these like the industry standard or am i just led to believe the hype???
With regards to RAM, as stated on the FL Studio website, 8GB should be enough to start with, i can always add an extra 8GB cant i??
But I do not understand the RAM specs. What does DDR3 do and why are there DDR 3 in different formats such as 1600, 1866, 2133 etc????
Which RAM would be ideal for my spec would you say??
With hard drives, I definately want a minimum 1TB as I will have lots of sample sounds stored on my computer, and saved projects in WAV file format which is much larger than mp3.
I will want VSTs(Virtual Instruments) installed on my computer and other large orchestral sound banks which could use up a lot of memory and disk space.
I think 1TB to start with is good enough. But what is the standard i should go for??
Should it be 7200RPM or 5400RPM. I do not actually know what these terms mean.
Also a lot of people are saying make sure you get a SSD, but i dont understand how this works? Does this attach to the 1 TB hard drive to make it 1TB plus lets say 150GB SSD??
How does the SSD boot the system really quick? FL Studio say you should install a SSD as well, because it will load up the virtual instruments a lot quicker and also load the program and effects quicker. But i thought the CPU would make these loading times quicker???
Also if the SSD is only like 120GB, what am i suppose to store on this as its not even a fraction of 1TB??
I know i will need a DVD/CD combo because the program will come on a CD or DVD, and the VSTs that i order will also come on DVDs, but i do not want an expensive one because i think this is one of my lowest things i will need..
Do i need a graphics card as a must? Or can i use the motherboards onboard one? Because I believe a lot of mother boards have HDMI ports on them, so doesnt this imply you can connect a HDMI cable to it and connect it to a TV to output HD??
I will be connecting my computer to my LCD TV, so i just need the screen to look fairly decent in HD. But im not at all interested in the graphics side of things as i will never play games.
Erm, cooling fans, im not sure how many i would need to keep my system quiet and cool, i was told some water cooling ones like liquid or something? But is there really any need for this?
Oh yeah, how much watts will i need for a power supply to run all of these components?
Oh and finally, one of the most important things - the SOUND CARD!!!
FL Studio needs something supporting ASIO drivers, i think they said audio interface which may be an external sound card?? Unless an internal sound card would do?
The sound card is really very important as my computer is for making music.
I have been on uk.pcpartpicker.com/ which i was told to check out which is amazing!!
Please please help me with a great spec PC, lets say £190 has been deducted from my overall costs on my CPU.
So working around this CPU, please help me to pick out the best, most reliable and effective spec for a computer to perfectly meet the FL Studio requirements outlined in the two links at the start of this looonnnggg message lol.
You really will have no idea how much I will appreciate your kind help, like i said, you guys really know your stuff and I just know you can help me to get the best computer for the money i have. I really hope i have outlined everything in as much detail as possible, if i have missed anything then please let me know.
Please take just 15 minutes out of your schedules to try and help me in as much detail as you can.
I have been researching for weeks and weeks now, almost a month! The time has now come where i cannot research anymore, and i HAVE to buy my parts by the end of this week at the latest, because i really need to start on my music
Its caused me so much stress because i just keep doubting which components to buy and time is running out, i have honestly had enough of waiting around, its causing me stress! I just want to go ahead now and if you can give me the best value for money on the spec you say, then im going to trust in you guys and go ahead and buy it.
Oh and also, just to add, I have never ever build a computer in my life lol. But I believe it shouldnt be too hard should it? I mean there are tons of youtube videos and internet pages to give step by step guidance and my cousin may help me as he knows a little about building them. I suppose if i want to get anywhere I have to start myself and build on my knowledge right???
Thank you so much for listening to me and I am again extremely sorry for the very long message!! I hope i didnt bore you all too much lol.
Kindest regards.
JAY
Jay_Productions
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