PC for audio recording - Help for components etc.

[musicmaker]

I’m planning to build the following PC for multitrack audio recording (Cubase), no gaming at all:

Cabinet: Antec P150
Motherboard: ASUS P5B-E
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
RAM: OCZ Platinum DDR2 PC2-6400 2x1024 (Dual Channel)
HD: 2 x Western Digital 320GB (Raid)
GPU: ASUS EN7300LE TOP/HTD/256M
DVD: NEC AD-7173 DVD±RW
Other: 2 x Zelman ZM-F2(92mm) with revoltec fan vibration silencers

I’m not rich, but willing to spend the necessary for the “best buy”.

The most important things are:
- Stability
- Noiselessness

Here are some of my thoughts about the components:

- Cabinet (Antec P150) (2 x Zelman 92mm fans)
I’ve chosen the most soundproof Antec (I think), but which 92mm fans are the best (quietest, but still with good CFM)?
Will the ASUS motherboard control fan speed (except the 120mm that’s shipped with the cab), or do I need special fans?

- Motherboard (ASUS P5B-E)
I need 3 PCI-slots for my soundcards, and as many PCIe for future expansion as possible.
I’d like a RAID-compatible motherboard, because with multitrack recording, I’m gonna max out read capacity on a single disc.
I’ve also been looking at Intel DG965WH because it's cheaper, which one is best (most stable)?
Intel only supports 1.8 V for the memory, ASUS supporting 2.1 V (I think, haven’t been able to find much info on this one). Isn’t 2.1 V needed for fast speed memory?

- Memory (OCZ Platinum 2x1024)
The Intel 965 chipset (which also the ASUS are build on) only supports 5-5-5-12 or slower @ 800MHz, but 4-4-4-12 @ 667MHz. (But I haven't found any alternatives that fulfil my other demands)
- OCZ Platinum DDR2 PC2-6400 2x1024 is 800MHz 4-5-4-15, at 385 US$ (Danish price)
- Kingston HyperX PC2-6000 2x1024 is 750MHz 4-4-4-12, at 338 US$ (Danish price)
- Corsair Twin2X PC2-5400C4 2x1024MB is 675MHz 4-4-4-12, at 365 US$ (Danish price)
Which memory will give the best performance, and are there other candidates?

- Overclocking
Since stability is mandatory, I’m not planning on OC, but with no experience in OC at all, I’d like some comments on this prejudice. If stability isn’t compromised, I’ll maybe OC.

- CPU cooler
Is the Intel stock cooler quiet enough, or are there better alternatives (at reasonable price)?
I'm going to use the PC for 'out of the house' recordings so it's not good with a heavy cooler that can break something by the transport.

- GPU (ASUS 7300LE)
Not chosen for gaming, but still supporting 2 monitors, it was the cheapest GPU I could find that doesn’t use the system memory (too). Does turbocache/xxx decrease memory performance?
Is it ready for Vista? On nVidia’s site, they write that 7300LE is Vista-ready, but my local supplier says otherwise.

- DVD±RW drive (NEC AD-7173)
I’ve chosen the cheapest drive I could find that supports LightScribe like technology. That’s not a must, more important is the quality of the writing.
Is there any difference (except speed) between brands/drives?

- PSU (NeoHE 430W)
Shipped with Antec P150 comes a NeoHE 430W power supply. Is it enough, or should I replace it, still considering noiselessness (module cabling is pretty neat, right?)?
If i shall have another PSU I will just buy the Antec Solo cabinet instead (isn't it the same just without the PSU?)

Advice or comments outside my specific questions is, of course, more than welcome.

/Asger

 

[manvadher]

quickly, my 2 cents,

go for the antec sonata 2 (quiet case full stop, hdd anti vibration stuff and support for 120mm fans)

change the gfx to the asus 7300gt silent (no fan and higher model gfx, and no turbo cache crap which i think does use some sys ram).

psu that comes with the antec is fine, but if u find it noisey, replace it then, no need 2 fork out money right now.

dunno abt the rest.

 

[musicmaker]

Thanks for the reply.

Are you sure the antec sonata 2 is the quietest. The antec P150 has sound-deadening panels on the sides and top and a 120mm fan on the back and also has a hdd suspension system. (real suspension, not just rubber grommets like the sonata)
The P150 also comes with a quiter PSU than the sonata.
BUT I haven't 'heard' any of the two cabs in real life so maybe I'm wrong. The sonata might have better airflow because of it's air duct.

Sorry I didn't mention, but the 7300LE I've chosen is also fan free and doesn't use turbocache.
How much better is the 7300GT? It costs about 30% more from my local supplyer. Is it worth it? I'm not gonna play, but i use a dual screen setup at a resolution of 2560x1024 so maybe i shall have more power then the 7300LE gives.

/Asger

 

[manvadher]

hmm... i was under the impression that the sonata would be quieter than the p150, but i could be wrong. i no that i have the sonata and im very happy with it. best thing is wait for some more replys.

with the gfx, i would stick with the ge then as the Gt would come in more handy if gaming, but if the ge is fanless, stick with it.

 

[rs]

Hi,

Have a look at this site silent pc review, same case but with some other hardware (fans) to get it even more silent!

Memory/cpu requirements aren't really an issue for hard disk recording/playback, unless you want to add realtime filters.
In that case, only cpu matters (more == better)
Of course, depending of the size of your projects, the amount of memory makes it smoother to work with larger projects, however, multitrack recording software are designed to do everything 'from' disk, so you don't really _need_ lots of ram, but due caching effects, it makes working with your projects much smoother!

For the harddisk part, how many tracks do you want to playback/capture at one time?
My Seagate 7200.8 (250 gig) maxes out at about 30 mono tracks @ 96 KHz/32 bit.
It obviously can stream more data, but it's the average seek time per audio source that limits real bandwidth significantly :-(

As I said, memory timings/bandwidth is of no issue, I looked for a pair for the same board too which operate at 1.8 Volt, and found this one:
Transcend TS128MLQ64V8J
The reviews I found on the net were positive about stability and price!

The review site has tons of information on both the SOLO and P150 case.
I would go for the SOLO one, it's way cheaper, and although it comes without psu, buying the same unit as which is shipped in the P150, the set is a good deal cheaper, and almost identical!
The antec psu seems to be reasonably silent, or you could look for a seasonic one!

Hope this helps,

Remon

P.S.
If you aren't gaming, a board based on the G965 chipset, with integrated graphics saves you some money, and I think for your setup the graphics card is more then capable enough (though it does use some of the main memory)

 

[Myopic]

As a general rule, hardsrives with a 9ms seek time or less work best. Also, to maximize your ability to record and play back its usually suggested that you have your recording program on a seperate hard drive from your storage hard drives. This prevents the hard drive head from having to jump from program files to storage areas continously, leading to higher latency and wear on the head components. Also, without a backup (raid 1) any hard drive failure in a raid 0 configuration means a total loss. Not a good scenario when you've got 100 gigs or more and countless hours of recording mixing and editing. 8O Just my experience after 7 years of recording.

 

[musicmaker]

Thanks for the link, it's great.

In denmark the Solo and the neoHe 430W costs a little more than th P150.

I'll try to replace the cab coolers with Nexus, but they are hard to get in Denmark.

I often playback about 100 tracks while recording 20 at a time. Thats all my present system can handle. (mono 44,1 KHz/24 bit)
I also use sample based virtual instruments that really suck your memory. On the system I have now with 1280 MB memory I often only have about 50 MB free (in the joblist).
I use lots of effects and other hard CPU using stuff, so i often have about 90% load on the CPU (P4 2.4 GHz)
(also have a dual PowerCore system for effect handling(which is really great).)

I know about the problem with seek time on HDD and thats what i hope to make better by using RAID-0. I also have a 320 GB IDE disc now i will use as system disc in the new PC.
I got a problem with back-up but i will take back-up once in a while on my external hdd.

You say memory timings/bandwith isn't an issue. That means I should go for the Kingston (the cheapest), I suppose. Or maybe some even cheaper like these.
But when i use virtual instruments i think the faster memory could be needed, or?

On the ASUS there aren't any onboard graphics, and I'm going to use dual screen and the Intel motherboard only have one VGA connecter.

/Asger