Digital Audio Computer

[jadamso]

Hi All!
I'm hoping you guys can give me some suggestions.
I'm looking into building a computer to run a digital audio workstation (DAW).
I've spent weeks going on the Internet trying to research components
and I've come up with the following:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 2.5Ghz 1333FSB (which I believe I should be able to overclock
to 3.0Ghz with 1600FSB if necessary)
2 x 2GB Crucial DDR2 800Mhz RAM
(Seagate?) Hard Drive with 32MB cache, 7200rpm (Any suggestions?)
M-Audio Audiophile 24/96 soundcard.
Sapphire HD 4670 Silent Graphics Card.

All I really need is to be able to run Cubase, for example, alongside
some Virtual Instruments/Plug-Ins. I'm not interested in live recording.

My questions are as follows:
1. What motherboard should I get?
I'm pretty much decided on either an Asus or Gigabyte but am concerned
about which chipset I should get. I've looked at pro audio pcs and alot
use the P43 but it doesn't look like it supports RAID or Firewire (at least
not the boards I've seen. Is it worth having a firewire port built in or
can I get a PCI Firewire interface. Similarly is it worth getting two hard
drives and/or running them in RAID? If I did, which drive should I store Cubase and the Instruments on? The other concern about the chipset is
that there appears to be the potential for incompatibility. Is this more
about connecting external devices rather than internal devices? Steinberg advise
caution on when choosing a chipset but don't say which ones to get!
Is it worth trying to go for a motherboard which has DDR3 instead. From what I've read PC-6400 still seems to be the sweet spot.

2. Is there any point in going for RAM sold as low latencies?

3. Is there any point in going for the Asus D2X Xonar PCI-express sound card.
I'm thinking more about low latencies but am dubious as to how much real
advantage PCI-express would make. How are the latencies for external devices e.g.
Emu 0404?

4. Because of space I'm limited to a case height of 40cm. Again Asus seem
to be the only one who have cases smaller. Is anyone using a TA series case and if so
what CPU cooler are you using. I'm pretty sure that Xigmatek ones will be too big.

5. Would you advise running the system on a 32 bit or 64 bit OS.

Sorry that's a lot. I suppose my main concern is the chipset.

 

[enzo matrix]

You don't need the 4670. Just get a motherboard with HD3200 (since you are going with DDR2 ram I can't suggest an HD4200)

For you you don't need to worry about the ram timings. For performance for your usage, the processor is the main concern.

Go 64-bit. Unless the software you are using is only compatible with 32-bit. The only way you will see 4GB of ram. Plus soon enough, 32-bit will go the way of 16-bit.

For cases and motherboards you will be wanting to look at the micro ATX form factor.

Don't worry about raid. Unless you want to, at a large cost:
A. incease speed but reduce reliability/ data recovery ability
B. decrease speed but increase reliability/ data recovery ability.
If you do go that route you won't worry about which drive to store it on because in both configurations they will be seen as one drive.
I say not worth it.

Having firewire built in or as a card only affects your expansion options since the card will take up a PCI slot.

Go for a western Digital drive.