First Music Production PC build - any advice?

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craigc4

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Jan 24, 2014
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10,510
Hey,

I am looking to build a PC that can run advanced music software (Cubase/Finale) and large sound libraries (Kontakt/East-West) smoothly and efficiently (and for a bit of gaming). I am planning to use this rig for orchestral renderings (20-30 plus instrument tracks) which takes up a lot of computer memory etc. I won't need a sound card because I already have an audio interface. Can I get some feedback on my build thus far?


CPU: Intel Core i5-4670 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($214.99 @ TigerDirect)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87-D3HP ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($126.49 @ Newegg)
Memory: PNY XLR8 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($149.99 @ Best Buy)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB Video Card ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Thermaltake VP200A6W2N ATX Mid Tower Case ($95.81 @ Mwave)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($74.99 @ Microcenter)
Optical Drive: Sony AD-7280S-0B DVD/CD Writer ($30.87 @ Amazon)
Total: $853.13
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-24 21:29 EST-0500)
 
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smartkid95


Me personally for that build use 650w because you plan on doing gaming with it too so it's not a bad thing to have a more powerful power supply than you need since graphics cards run at full load, and so do processors while gaming so having breathing room is a good idea. Also graphics cards are power hungry and for future upgrades keep it.
If you do ever decide to do a build for dedicated music production though try to keep that under 500W...
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smartkid95

smartkid95

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Sep 2, 2009
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for Music production as many cores and as much ram as you can. what you have is a pretty good setup, I think the processor might be a little underpowered considering all of the great 6-core and 8-core chips. I can let you know from my own personal experience though using a music production rig as a gaming rig doesn't work out too well, though it may be tempting. but for a flexible system what you have is an excellent start. My suggestion for audio work however is use a processor with as many cores as you can afford and spend your money on memory, an hard drives. USB 3.0 external hard drives are great for audio and having external drives helps with organization. I usually go with on-board video if you can bear it, or go with a passively cooled graphics card if you are trying to push a multi-monitor setup which is very helpful for audio editing. and I might have missed it but definitely get a bigger than stock cooler for your cpu one that can go fanless or use a large very quiet fan. Unless you're water cooling. I can tell you from my experience editing audio with 6 fans spinning in the background gets very annoying. but the advise I gave you at the end is for later down the road, for now that build is great (I'm a little jealous). If you have any other questions about audio editing let me know I've been doing this kind of stuff for a while now and I'm happy to help.
 
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craigc4

Honorable
Jan 24, 2014
3
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10,510
Thanks snartkid95,

I agree with what you were saying about investing in a processor with more cores and RAM to make the machine run smoothly. My last question would be whether or not having a power supply capable of running 650W is overkill for a computer that is predicted to run 350-400W?
 
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smartkid95

smartkid95

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Sep 2, 2009
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18,710


Me personally for that build use 650w because you plan on doing gaming with it too so it's not a bad thing to have a more powerful power supply than you need since graphics cards run at full load, and so do processors while gaming so having breathing room is a good idea. Also graphics cards are power hungry and for future upgrades keep it.
If you do ever decide to do a build for dedicated music production though try to keep that under 500W because its something thats gonna be running for several hours a day at a pretty consistant load while you use music software. and in that scenario with all of your other equipment running in the background that might not be good for the circuits in your house or your wallet every month.

 
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craigc4

Honorable
Jan 24, 2014
3
0
10,510
Thanks for your feedback, I've settled on getting:
Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core $318.98
It's a bit pricey but from what you've sad I figure going with it now will pay off further down the line.
 
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