Music Production PC Build - 1500€ Budget

jamezzbed · Jan 27, 2016

Hi there,

I am struggling with my choice of components for a pc that I would like to build in the near future. I am currently running an iMac 21" late 2010 with an i3 clocked at 3,06 Ghz and 4GB of RAM. As you can probably tell, it is not very powerful and really struggles with loading samples, plugins and crashes from time to time. I do a lot of mixing and this is really frustrating. I use logic 9 for my music production, but am planning to switch to Cubase with this new computer. Now to the actual build...

For a processor I would go with a quad-core CPU - if not even more (6 cores? probably not doable in my budget?). I have no idea which one to get, but I have heard good things about the i7 4790k I wouldn't mind doing a bit of overclocking. However, is there a CPU more suitable to my needs?

When doing audio work I need to keep the noise EXTREMELY low (however, I don't want to compromise on power), which leads me to my next question: should I go with water cooling? Is it that much more silent? I don't know the amount of maintenance it requires, but I'd rather not have to deal with it too often. I was also thinking of a "bequiet!" case to keep the noise level down. Any alternatives? Is it worth it?
Other than that I have no other wishes, other than: 16 GB of RAM, SSD (as big as possible), a motherboard with a decent IO, a silent as hell power supply and (optionally) a video card to do some light gaming.

Please bear in mind that I will also need a monitor, preferably 21:9 aspect ratio - maybe 29" ?
Would gladly appreciate any advice! Thanks in advance,

-James

g-unit1111 · Jan 27, 2016

For a production rig I'd actually suggest a 5820K over a 4790K for several reasons. The first is that the X99 chipset that the 5820K uses has a RAM threshold of 128GB, where Z97 has a max RAM threshold of 64GB. Not necessarily that you won't use it to the maximum but it's there if you need it. The other reason is that you can add up to 4-way SLI and that's not something you would necessarily need, but if you want to add say a bunch of monitors you can easily do so. The 5820K is also a hex core CPU vs. a 4 core CPU, which will make multitasking much better.

As far as power supplies go - you can easily go fanless now. Check out the Silverstone Nightjar if its' available where you live. It's based on a fanless Seasonic platform and is rated Platinum, which is one of the best of the best: http://www.amazon.com/Silverstone-Nightjar-Completely-Acoustics-NJ520/dp/B00KHO0IG0

What country do you live in and what store are you planning on buying from?

targetdan · Jan 27, 2016

Which country will you be buying in and do you have any preferred shops/websites?

What other software will you be using, other than CuBase? From what i read CuBase didn't seem to need very much to run, correct me if I am wrong

sadams04 · Jan 27, 2016

You aren't asking for a whole lot, but would caution that the "quiet" aspect of this build is going to cost you. If you can accept a little bit of fan noise you can skip the CPU cooler, fanless GPU and fanless PSU.

CPU+ MB+COOLER - I would do something like the setup below and skip overclocking. It isn't needed and audio processing isn't going to be all that taxing... The Xeon below will give you i7 performance just without integrated graphics.
CPU COOLER - The stock Intel cooler is not loud, however the one below will easily keep temps in check and you can dial down the fan speed for even lower noise (nothing audible anyway).
GPU - Fanless GTX 750 Ti. More of an entry level gaming GPU, but fanless and will have no issues with dual large monitors for your purposes.
Sound - The on-board audio would likely do you just fine, but there is a discrete card in the build.
PSU - Fanless Platinum 450w unit from SeaSonic. Doesn't get much better...
MONITORS - A single 21:9 monitor is fine, but gets expensive. Instead, look toward a typical dual monitor setup.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (€300.78 @ Amazon Italia)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper TX3 Evo 43.1 CFM CPU Cooler (€26.30 @ Amazon Italia)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (€76.62 @ Amazon Italia)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (€42.61 @ Amazon Italia)
Storage: Crucial BX200 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (€76.83 @ Amazon Italia)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (€56.94 @ Amazon Italia)
Video Card: Palit GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB KalmX Video Card (€136.55 @ Amazon Italia)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (White) ATX Mid Tower Case (€69.67 @ Amazon Italia)
Power Supply: SeaSonic X Series 400W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular Fanless ATX Power Supply (€141.49 @ Amazon Italia)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSC0 DVD/CD Writer (€13.00 @ Amazon Italia)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) (€128.33 @ Amazon Italia)
Sound Card: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Z 30SB150200000 OEM 24-bit 192 KHz Sound Card (€71.66 @ Amazon Italia)
Monitor: LG 24MB35PY-B 60Hz 23.8" Monitor (€176.87 @ Amazon Italia)
Monitor: LG 24MB35PY-B 60Hz 23.8" Monitor (€176.87 @ Amazon Italia)
Total: €1494.52

skit75 · Jan 27, 2016

I would also recommend an external DAC and avoiding wireless, everything. Eliminating and reducing electrical noise is just as important as mitigating fan and radiator noise. Sure it doesn't take much to run Cubase but you will want a minimum of 16GB of RAM for your samples and plug-ins.

A high end quad-core is all that is necessary. You will encounter some other bottleneck before saturating your CPU, possibly & even more likely, a software bottleneck. Don't buy a creative labs output card. The motherboard integrated solution will work for playback, if you even need it. Put that money toward an external DAC and use it instead.

Hope everything comes together for you but if it doesn't or you are having quality issues, you will also want to familiarize yourself with a superb little program called LatencyMon. You can thank me later.

Source: Built a high-end DAW two years ago for a customer.

jamezzbed · Jan 27, 2016

targetdan :

I live in Germany, will be buying from anywhere that has cheap components. Amazon will probably do.
Cubase itself doesn't need much to run, but neither does any DAW. I will be running it in 64-bit and with a ton of software plugins, which will be very demanding.

jamezzbed · Jan 27, 2016

Why should I go with a Xeon? What's the advantage? How does it differ?
I won't be needing a sound card, I have two external audio interfaces which will output sound via USB. Can you tell me anything about those monitors?

jamezzbed · Jan 27, 2016

g-unit1111 :

Hey there, thanks for your input. I live in Germany, will be buying online, probably amazon, but I'm a noob to this so if you know any better then go ahead!
As far as the processor goes, 6 core for 420€ sounds good. How does it perform? Will it work well with a DAW? Would you mind writing up a build for me? It all sounds over my budget

g-unit1111 · Jan 27, 2016

jamezzbed :

I honestly don't know - I'm not too familiar with audio production setups other than the PC itself. But it should - it's a step up from the 4790K for sure.

If you want a sample build here's what I would suggest:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor (€417.84 @ Mindfactory)
CPU Cooler: Phanteks PH-TC12DX_BK 68.5 CFM CPU Cooler (€49.90 @ Caseking)
Motherboard: ASRock X99M Extreme4 Micro ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard (€222.83 @ Mindfactory)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (€113.77 @ Mindfactory)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive (€289.72 @ Mindfactory)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 950 2GB Dual WindForce Video Card (€166.59 @ Mindfactory)
Case: Fractal Design Define Mini MicroATX Mini Tower Case (€97.72 @ Mindfactory)
Power Supply: Silverstone Nightjar 520W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular Fanless ATX Power Supply (€144.89 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Total: €1503.26
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-27 21:36 CET+0100

I chose mATX because it will be a lot more compact and you can hide it in places where you couldn't fit a normal size mid tower. Also you can't make a completely silent PC but this is about as close as you can get. Most Fractal cases generally have some sort of sound dampening foam already pre-installed which is what makes them a favorite among silent PC fans.

jamezzbed · Jan 27, 2016

g-unit1111 :

Okay, looks decent apart from the fact that it doesn't include a monitor and operating system. I would maybe choose to drop the video card for the time being and look for a used monitor on eBay, as I do see the benefits of having a 6 core setup.

Any drawbacks to a mATX form factor? For some reason somebody told me I should avoid mATX, I really don't see any compelling reason. Also: How long do you think a system like this will run me? I am looking to invest for the future, so 5 years would be great. Do you think that's possible?

One other question: As a Mac user I really have no idea as to how reliable Windows computers are. The last time I used one was 6 years ago (An old Pentium running XP). So, what's Windows 10 like?

skit75 · Jan 27, 2016

If maintained properly and not abused, you shouldn't have any issue running this rig for the next 5-6 years. The core of my current rig(Motherboard, RAM, HDD, CPU & PSU) in my signature were all put together in May of 2009. As a gamer, I [strike]need[/strike] want a new video card every 18-24 months.

targetdan · Jan 27, 2016

Hehehe [strike]need[/strike].

Amen to that one

bambiboom · Jan 27, 2016

jamezzbed :

James,

For convenience and having the best cost to performance ratio, it's possible to have a very reliable, higher performance system at a lower cost by buying a used workstation. To look to the future, I would also use LGA2011 and you can run Protools, Sonar Producer- anything. In addition to the time saved in researching, ordering, assembling, configuraing the system, and the cost being 1/3 for the same components, a system by Dell or HP is also going to be quieter. I have two HP z420 systems and from 1m they can not be heard.

Z.B -:

Dell Precision T3600 Xeon Hexa Core E5-1650 @ 3,2GHz 32GB 146GB 15K Quadro 2000 sold for EUR 869,90

http://www.ebay.de/itm/Dell-Precision-T3600-Xeon-Hexa-Core-E5-1650-3-2GHz-32GB-146GB-15K-Quadro-2000-/301845101892?hash=item46475ebd44%3Ag%3AiL0AAOSwLN5Wk3E7&nma=true&si=VLLEg%252BIAae%252FDQy2HbmZGVjLqvys%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

This system has the excellent Xeon E5-1650 which is 6-core @ 3.5/ 3.8GHz, 32GB of 1600 speed ECC, and a quadro 2000 which is a very good GPU to run a couple of 21-24" monitors.

The price of this particular one leaves plenty of money for a very good SSD such as :

Samsung SSD 850 Evo 500GB, SATA (MZ-75E500B) ab € 152,--

http://geizhals.de/samsung-ssd-850-evo-500gb-mz-75e500b-a1194263.html

and you could have some very good enterprise HD's"

Seagate Constellation ES.3 2TB, SATA 6Gb/s (ST2000NM0033) ab € 130,84

http://geizhals.de/seagate-constellation-es-3-2tb-st2000nm0033-a860312.html

I have a dedicated music production system- but not fro large-scale although I did produce a number of radio programs (classicla music). You know you're own way of working, but I found that it was much better to have two medium sized monitors than a single big one. In this way, it's possible to have the waveform /tracks on one at a large scale tand all the menus and effects plug ins on the other. Much easier to see the edit points ans also the menus are clear and organized. I use two old 19" LCD monitors, but I would say for your use perhaps two 21-24".

I have purchased used workstations since 2009 and after having six: Dell Precision 390, T3500, T5400, T5500, HP z420 E5-1620, HP z420 E6-1660 v2, I have never had even one failure or loss of data. They are designed for complete reliability under long, high performance runs, and to be very quiet. The company support for old ones is very good- Dell especially, but the best feature is that you could buy a system like the one above and be at work at some level in a few hours, then upgrade the drives and other components as you work.

Another approach is to upgrade a system with lower specification.

In December 2015 I bought this system for $53 + $24 shipping:

Precision T3500 (2009) (Original) Xeon W3530 4-core @ 2.8 /3.06GHz > 4GB (2X 2GB) DDR3-1333 ECC > 9800 GT > WD Black 500GB
[[Passmark system rating = 1963, CPU = 4482 / 2D= 609 / 3D=805 / Mem= 1409 / Disk=1048]

And purchased:

CPU: $60
RAM: $43 (8GB)

I had left over from upgrading other systems a Quadro 4000 (2GB), PERC 6/i controller and 300GB SAS 15,000 RPM drive.

So, for $185 I have:

Precision T3500 (2011) (Revision 2) Xeon X5677 4-core @ 3.47 /3.73GHz > 12GB (6X 2GB) DDR3-1333 ECC > Quadro 4000 (2GB) > PERC 6/i +Seagate 300GB 15K SAS ST3300657SS + WD Black 500GB > 525W PSU> Windows 7 Professional 64-bit > 2X Dell 19" LCD
[Passmark system rating = 2751, CPU = 7236 / 2D= 658 / 3D=2020 / Mem= 1875 / Disk=1221]

If I had to buy the other parts used, the total cost is about $325.

The system above actually would run Cubase reasonably well, though the disk system should be improved to 6GB/s and based on a fast SSD. The T3500 can use a very fast 6-core processors, the W3690, which is 6-core @ 3.47 /3.73GHz.

The other suggestions here are good, but here are a couple of alternative ideas.

Cheers,

BambiBoom

Die Zukunft ist Jetzt!

1. HP z420 (2015) > Xeon E5-1660 v2 (6-core @ 3.7 / 4.0GHz) > 32GB DDR3 1866 ECC RAM > Quadro K4200 (4GB) > Intel 730 480GB (9SSDSC2BP480G4R5) > Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > 600W PSU> > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit > Logitech z2300 speakers > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440)>
[ Passmark Rating = 5064 > CPU= 13989 / 2D= 819 / 3D= 4596 / Mem= 2772 / Disk= 4555] [Cinebench R15 > CPU = 1014 OpenGL= 126.59 FPS] 7.8.15

Pending upgrade: HP /LSI 9212-4i PCIe SAS /SATA HBA RAID controller, 2X Seagate Constellation ES.3 1TB (RAID 1)

2. Dell Precision T5500 (2011) > 2X Xeon X5680 (6 -core @ 3.33 / 3.6GHz), 48GB DDR3 1333 ECC Reg. > Quadro K2200 (4GB ) > PERC H310 / Samsung 840 250GB / WD RE4 Enterprise 1TB > M-Audio 192 sound card > 875W PSU > Windows 7 Professional 64> HP 2711x (27", 1920 X 1080)
[ Passmark system rating = 3844 / CPU = 15047 / 2D= 662 / 3D= 3500 / Mem= 1785 / Disk= 2649] (12.30.15)

g-unit1111 · Jan 27, 2016

jamezzbed :

1. Yeah you could do that to cut back on the cost. You could also drop the 5820K to a 6600K and then use that difference for the monitor and OS.

2. There's no drawbacks to using any form factor anymore. If anything the days of giant full towers are coming to an end and mATX and mITX are becoming the new normal. Even NZXT is finally jumping on the mITX form factor. What drawbacks are you referring to?

3. I've never had any serious problems with Windows other than the occasional BSOD and most of the time those are more software related than hardware related, and I've built and rebuilt tons of systems dating back to the Core 2 Duo days. Windows 10 isn't bad, It's not the best Windows I've ever used, but it's certainly not the worst. There's several things that I find annoying like the app notifications and Cortana but those can be turned off.

jamezzbed · Jan 28, 2016

bambiboom :

jamezzbed :

James,

For convenience and having the best cost to performance ratio, it's possible to have a very reliable, higher performance system at a lower cost by buying a used workstation. To look to the future, I would also use LGA2011 and you can run Protools, Sonar Producer- anything. In addition to the time saved in researching, ordering, assembling, configuraing the system, and the cost being 1/3 for the same components, a system by Dell or HP is also going to be quieter. I have two HP z420 systems and from 1m they can not be heard.

Z.B -:

Dell Precision T3600 Xeon Hexa Core E5-1650 @ 3,2GHz 32GB 146GB 15K Quadro 2000 sold for EUR 869,90

http://www.ebay.de/itm/Dell-Precision-T3600-Xeon-Hexa-Core-E5-1650-3-2GHz-32GB-146GB-15K-Quadro-2000-/301845101892?hash=item46475ebd44%3Ag%3AiL0AAOSwLN5Wk3E7&nma=true&si=VLLEg%252BIAae%252FDQy2HbmZGVjLqvys%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

This system has the excellent Xeon E5-1650 which is 6-core @ 3.5/ 3.8GHz, 32GB of 1600 speed ECC, and a quadro 2000 which is a very good GPU to run a couple of 21-24" monitors.

The price of this particular one leaves plenty of money for a very good SSD such as :

Samsung SSD 850 Evo 500GB, SATA (MZ-75E500B) ab € 152,--

http://geizhals.de/samsung-ssd-850-evo-500gb-mz-75e500b-a1194263.html

and you could have some very good enterprise HD's"

Seagate Constellation ES.3 2TB, SATA 6Gb/s (ST2000NM0033) ab € 130,84

http://geizhals.de/seagate-constellation-es-3-2tb-st2000nm0033-a860312.html

I have a dedicated music production system- but not fro large-scale although I did produce a number of radio programs (classicla music). You know you're own way of working, but I found that it was much better to have two medium sized monitors than a single big one. In this way, it's possible to have the waveform /tracks on one at a large scale tand all the menus and effects plug ins on the other. Much easier to see the edit points ans also the menus are clear and organized. I use two old 19" LCD monitors, but I would say for your use perhaps two 21-24".

I have purchased used workstations since 2009 and after having six: Dell Precision 390, T3500, T5400, T5500, HP z420 E5-1620, HP z420 E6-1660 v2, I have never had even one failure or loss of data. They are designed for complete reliability under long, high performance runs, and to be very quiet. The company support for old ones is very good- Dell especially, but the best feature is that you could buy a system like the one above and be at work at some level in a few hours, then upgrade the drives and other components as you work.

Another approach is to upgrade a system with lower specification.

In December 2015 I bought this system for $53 + $24 shipping:

Precision T3500 (2009) (Original) Xeon W3530 4-core @ 2.8 /3.06GHz > 4GB (2X 2GB) DDR3-1333 ECC > 9800 GT > WD Black 500GB
[[Passmark system rating = 1963, CPU = 4482 / 2D= 609 / 3D=805 / Mem= 1409 / Disk=1048]

And purchased:

CPU: $60
RAM: $43 (8GB)

I had left over from upgrading other systems a Quadro 4000 (2GB), PERC 6/i controller and 300GB SAS 15,000 RPM drive.

So, for $185 I have:

Precision T3500 (2011) (Revision 2) Xeon X5677 4-core @ 3.47 /3.73GHz > 12GB (6X 2GB) DDR3-1333 ECC > Quadro 4000 (2GB) > PERC 6/i +Seagate 300GB 15K SAS ST3300657SS + WD Black 500GB > 525W PSU> Windows 7 Professional 64-bit > 2X Dell 19" LCD
[Passmark system rating = 2751, CPU = 7236 / 2D= 658 / 3D=2020 / Mem= 1875 / Disk=1221]

If I had to buy the other parts used, the total cost is about $325.

The system above actually would run Cubase reasonably well, though the disk system should be improved to 6GB/s and based on a fast SSD. The T3500 can use a very fast 6-core processors, the W3690, which is 6-core @ 3.47 /3.73GHz.

The other suggestions here are good, but here are a couple of alternative ideas.

Cheers,

BambiBoom

Die Zukunft ist Jetzt!

1. HP z420 (2015) > Xeon E5-1660 v2 (6-core @ 3.7 / 4.0GHz) > 32GB DDR3 1866 ECC RAM > Quadro K4200 (4GB) > Intel 730 480GB (9SSDSC2BP480G4R5) > Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > 600W PSU> > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit > Logitech z2300 speakers > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440)>
[ Passmark Rating = 5064 > CPU= 13989 / 2D= 819 / 3D= 4596 / Mem= 2772 / Disk= 4555] [Cinebench R15 > CPU = 1014 OpenGL= 126.59 FPS] 7.8.15

Pending upgrade: HP /LSI 9212-4i PCIe SAS /SATA HBA RAID controller, 2X Seagate Constellation ES.3 1TB (RAID 1)

2. Dell Precision T5500 (2011) > 2X Xeon X5680 (6 -core @ 3.33 / 3.6GHz), 48GB DDR3 1333 ECC Reg. > Quadro K2200 (4GB ) > PERC H310 / Samsung 840 250GB / WD RE4 Enterprise 1TB > M-Audio 192 sound card > 875W PSU > Windows 7 Professional 64> HP 2711x (27", 1920 X 1080)
[ Passmark system rating = 3844 / CPU = 15047 / 2D= 662 / 3D= 3500 / Mem= 1785 / Disk= 2649] (12.30.15)

Hey there,

I already thought about buying a used rig earlier this year (been specifically looking at Mac pro's).

My major concern is that it won't last very long and that I will need to constantly keep upgrading it. Don't get me wrong, the reason for me switching to pc is to get a better understanding of what is going on and to have access whenever needed. However, I would much rather sit back for as couple of years and not have to think about it, as really I am not much of a tech enthusiast but rather a musician and sound engineer.

Also, what's with the xeons? Are they better? If yes, what advantage do they have?

bambiboom · Jan 28, 2016

jamezzbed,

There are no guarantees with used equipment- the buyer exchanges the secuity for a better system at a lower price. My experience with used computers: Dell Precision: 390, T3500, T5400, T5500 / Dell Optiplex 740 / Dell Dimension E520 / HP z420 (E5-1620) , HP z420 (E5-1660v2) HP Elite m2496f (dedicated music system) has been nearly perfect reliability over nine years. None of the Dell Precisions or the HP's have ever failed seriously- I can't remember the last blue screen if ever- and I have never lost data except due to a power outage.

The other thing is that buying a used system mean it also highly depreciated. The T5500 I have now if purchased new with 2X Xeon X5680's- they cost $1,660 each, 48GB of RAM, a Quadro K2200 ($460 new), a PERC H310 RAID controller ($350 new), Samsung 840 250GB SSD and WD RE 1TB would have been perhaps $7,000-$8,000. My cost was $1,000 and I think I could easily sell it for more than that now. I might use that system for four or five years for something like $50-60 per year.

The good thing is that since LGA1366 CPU's, CPU clock speeds have not gone dramatically higher- the Xeon X5687 has a turbo speed of 3.86GHz for example. The current Xeon E5-1630 v3 has turbo speed of 3.8GHz so the LGa 1366 is not out of range of current performance. My T5500 has a Passmark score of 15047 on the two X5680's and that's similar to the average score of a pair of Xeon E5-2640 v3 ($2,000 each). And even though RAM is now common at 2133, the latency is 15 whereas DDR3-1333 latency is 9, so there is some balance there.

Workstations are specially designed for full performance function over long periods of time with complete reliability. Dell Precisions are very much like servers in this respect and have very high quality components- excellent, high capacity power supplies for example. The proprietary designs are also made to be very quiet- they have custom shrouds and bury the fans in the interior of heavy cases. The two HP z420's are the quietest computers I've ever had- I can not hear them running from 50cm. The Precisions are quiet, except the older ones with DDR2 Ram which runs really hot. The T5400 (2X Xeon 3.16) has temperature sensors for the RAM and I once saw 90C on the RAM- and 100C on the Quadro 4000.

The most important difference with Xeons is that there are many that can be used in multiple CPU systems. There are Xeon E7-8000 series (up to 18-core, costing up to over $7000 each) that may be used on an 8-CPU motherboard. Imagine a 144-core, 288 thread 4TB RAM system having 125 drives. Xeons vary by series, but the upper line ones made for workstations are binned- selected for quality and configured to run at slightly lower speed for reliability and thermal reasons. They have higher single and double precision required in calculation-intensive applications. Xeons also don't typically have integrated graphics and very few were ever able to be overclocked.

Again, no guarantees, but I have never been disappointed.

Cheers,

BambiBoom

skit75 · Jan 28, 2016

Imagining a 144-core, 288 threaded system is all fun and dandy until you realize the software you are using is only dual or quad threaded. It doesn't matter if you have a jet engine on the back of your truck(hardware) if the speed limit(software) is still 55 Mph. It would be a waste of money to anyone trying to run retail software on it.

bambiboom · Jan 28, 2016

skit75 :

skit75,

Yes, you're right, that is not a system for writing letter in Office, but there are plenty of users for this technology- think on the scale of Facebook, Amazon, and Oracle- in business analytics, and very large scale dataset modeling visualizations- think oceans and the atmosphere, but the main use will be exascale, extended virtualization and this kind of system might run 12 very large virtual servers or 200 virtual workstations. Oracle has some E7 systems each running 12TB or RAM. There are already 64GB modules and both Hynix and Samsung say they'll make 128GB modules. As 64GB modules are $600 each, 1X 128GB is estimated to be $1,500 or thereabouts.

-If you have to have something,...

Paraphrasing Woody Allen in "Love and Death", "It's not only the best of all possible Worlds, it's certainly the most expensive."

Cheers,

BambiBoom

Spooky999 · Feb 29, 2016

Did you get sorted? Some interesting information here, for my 2 cents. Firstly ram is not a huge deal I run Ableton live 9 numerous vst's fab pro and more with 16gb of ram and I'm never pulling my hair out over not having enough. You will find hundreds of articles and videos on the subject don't get sucked up I to the idea you need a ton because you really don't. Secondly if you are not gaming even if your running multiple monitors you don't need a gpu Intel graphics will be fine. I'd suggest 2 720p 27 inch monitors. Even though I switched to a 32 inch ultra wide I still have my old monitor set up that extra real estate means the world for production output.

Choose a quiet case like an nzxt h440 quiet fans like be quiet silent wings 240mm aio cooler the pump on the nepton 240 is silent the swifttech 240 has a lower fpi meaning it makes less noise as air moves through the radiator, but thete are a lot of good options, trick here is as many fans as possible running at the lowest speed possible.

Most your budget needs to go towards the cpu and SSDs this is where you will see the most noticeable difference. When loading up sample packs the difference between ssd and hdd is night and day.

Also take into consideration what music your making its not as black and white as i run ableton or reaper or protools what you are doing with it makes a huge Impact. Some vst like diva use a lot of cpu power while others requite virtually none. Are you record vocals etc? Some of the fab pro filters and auto tuning are insanely processor heavy.

Multicore is the key word single core performance sure it matters but the more cores the better my honest advice if you are in a hurry 4790k or 6600k as you wont beable on your b7dget to push for a 6core 8 core item cpu. I have an fx8350 and its simply not good enpugh for the job, if you can wait a few months I'd honestly wait to see zen from amd. Best guess is we will see comparable single core performance to last gen intel but will have a lot more cores, 8 cores for roughly the price of the 6600k which is obviously 4 core this would make it a lot better for this particular task. If you did go for zen they won't have in built graphics so something like an R7 290 would be in order.

Sorry its more of a ramble then anything.

I would add I wouldn't touch apple for your money you will get much better performance from pc

Music Production PC Build - 1500€ Budget

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Reputable

Splendid

Splendid

Splendid

Reputable

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