Finishing touches on an audio workstation/gaming build

WillofSound

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Jul 17, 2014
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I got a budget around $1500 give or take. My goal is to make this machine a little future proof, but mainly starting with 16gb of ram and later getting the whole 32gigs. (Hoping when I do that, I can find the exact same ram I'm buying now).

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Ds9nyc

Going to be running Pro Tools 11 on Windows 7 (Already have the copy). I'm also going to be playing games like BF4 and using UDK4 and Unity for some development.

I need thunderbolt for my interface, so thats why I picked out the motherboard since it has two. A lot of the z97 boards support cards I guess, but I like the idea of just having it built in. Though, I hope compatibility/drivers are okay.

The processor choice (i7 4790k), a little weaker than I wanted but I'm not recording more than 8 channels of audio. I for sure have a good amount of heavyweight plugins, but for the next 3 years I think I'll be okay. I could buy a Xeon processor and then wait and buy a 2nd one. But I'd have to get a $ motherboard, the new i7's will probably outperform my x2 Xeons by the time I get both and probably is overkill overall anyway for me until my gigs get better pay and bigger. Still, this is the most important part I see in my build. I'm welcome to suggestions! (i7 4930k is another nice workhorse, but the z79 boards are just pricey and outdated it feels. No Thunderbolt I think. And the price vs value really fades I feel.)

RAM I just picked a name. I'm doing 2x8 for now and will add 2x8 later. I know its better to buy the same RAM and to fill all four of the slots, but I think I'll be fine. I would love suggestions for something though, they all look the same.

Video card - Pretty lost on this. I picked an MSI 760 due to hearing it was a quiet card compared to some of the others. Its about the price point I want to be around. Going to be running two HD monitors, so nothing fancy. I always get confused on one being 2gb but for like $20 you can get a 4gb version? Still, quiet is key here.

Case - R4 case I hear is great...or great for the lack of what I will be hearing ;)

PSU - 750w might be overkill. Still, the brand is what I'm after. SeaSonic runs pretty silent in most reviews and is GOLD. (But if shaving some $ off here I can see if I go 650w)

SSD drive - typical samsung 256gb for OS and programs.
2x Seagate 1tb - I'm a seagate fan and a WD fan. I can't decide which HD is more quiet and it looks like I read Seagate being more popular. Still, let me know what you guys think!

Sorry for the wall of text. I'm just trying to pick each piece with full confidence in what I'm making. In 2004, I had a $3600 PC that I made SO MANY stupid choices with little research. Never again!

Also, for now I don't plan on OC'n but in the future might. I would invest in getting some awesome silent fans. Still, let me know if you think I should at least get a better 3rd party heatsink fan.

 

colonelblake

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Mar 7, 2007
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are you gonna be making any money in this venture? if so would this be an investment? if so, (if i were in your shoes) id wait for the intel octo-cores to come out next year. also dont scrimp on a psu...gold is great...just reaffirming your desision. i was using cakewalk sonar for a while on a crappy psu and, :bink: fried psu...lost all my production on my hdd
 

WillofSound

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Jul 17, 2014
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I'm more of a OSX guy to admit, but I'm lacking a Windows machine right now. I'm not building this to be an investment to make profit, but to use it to muck around with some programming and game engines. And do some gaming on the side. I miss PC gaming. Still, with these specs I'll be fine for a bit.

Thanks for reaffirming the PSU though!