Hey all!
I'm new to this site and building pc's. I'm a mac fanboy with limited funds and the need for a newer more powerful DAW. My Mac Mini doesn't cut it and I don't have the funds for a serious Mac Music Machine. I decided to wade into the waters of building my own pc and it's been a blast so far educating myself. I'm looking for advice and thoughts about my build proposal. I'm trying to build a basic DAW with solid upgrade potential. I'm not trying to shoot the moon with my first build but I also want to flexibility to pop in a newer cpu at some point with a little more juice when I need it.
I think the software I'll be using will go a long way in guiding my choices. I use Native Instruments Maschine, Kore, and Kontakt. All 3 are not optimized yet for mult-core processing so I need blazing single core performance. I will also be using Ableton Live as my DAW which is optimized for multicore, but I'll be using Maschine for most of my writing and Live for polishing. I won't be doing much multitrack recording. I'll also look to add a UAD card at some point to my rig.
I'm looking at getting at Core I3 530 and overclocking it. The review over at AnandTech today was pretty positive about the oc potential of the chip. With little extra power the chip, +14% on the voltage, it went to 4 ghz easy. I'm thinking that would be great for my NI software and good for Live too though Live will benefit from C2D and hyperthreading too. I also like the improved onboard graphics on the i3 530. I won't be playing any games on this thing, just running audio software. The kicker for me is I live 5 minutes from a Microcenter and I can get the cpu for $99. It's a hard to pass on it at that price. I could also get the i5 650 for $150 though the cpu seems to be a bit of a dud in the new Intel line up. I'm also thinking that the 1156 socket is going to be around for awhile as the mainstream motherboard and the H55 onboard graphics will only become more widespread as intel merges the the graphics with the cpu. I now there's faster cpus, but I'm trying to keep the overall price around $600. I figure I can get a bottom end cpu, but put it in a nice rig and upgrade the cpu down the road in 12-18 months. Once NI goes multicore a true quadcore will be more justified.
Here's my proposal:
Microcenter-Intel i3 530 $99.99
Microcenter-Antec Three Hundred ATX Case $49.99
Newegg.com-ASUS P7H55D-M EVO LGA 1156 Intel H55 HDMI USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard $134.99
Newegg.com-CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V $89.99
Newegg.com-LG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD Burner $28.99
I also want to get 4 gigs of ram. Any suggestions for good quality ram that won't break the bank and be compatible with the mobo?
I'll also most likely get Western Digital Black Caviar harddrives.
Will this system be good for overclocking the i3 530?
Is the Asus mobo a good fit? Any other suggestions? I like the idea of getting USB 3.0 for the future with this one.
I'm new to this site and building pc's. I'm a mac fanboy with limited funds and the need for a newer more powerful DAW. My Mac Mini doesn't cut it and I don't have the funds for a serious Mac Music Machine. I decided to wade into the waters of building my own pc and it's been a blast so far educating myself. I'm looking for advice and thoughts about my build proposal. I'm trying to build a basic DAW with solid upgrade potential. I'm not trying to shoot the moon with my first build but I also want to flexibility to pop in a newer cpu at some point with a little more juice when I need it.
I think the software I'll be using will go a long way in guiding my choices. I use Native Instruments Maschine, Kore, and Kontakt. All 3 are not optimized yet for mult-core processing so I need blazing single core performance. I will also be using Ableton Live as my DAW which is optimized for multicore, but I'll be using Maschine for most of my writing and Live for polishing. I won't be doing much multitrack recording. I'll also look to add a UAD card at some point to my rig.
I'm looking at getting at Core I3 530 and overclocking it. The review over at AnandTech today was pretty positive about the oc potential of the chip. With little extra power the chip, +14% on the voltage, it went to 4 ghz easy. I'm thinking that would be great for my NI software and good for Live too though Live will benefit from C2D and hyperthreading too. I also like the improved onboard graphics on the i3 530. I won't be playing any games on this thing, just running audio software. The kicker for me is I live 5 minutes from a Microcenter and I can get the cpu for $99. It's a hard to pass on it at that price. I could also get the i5 650 for $150 though the cpu seems to be a bit of a dud in the new Intel line up. I'm also thinking that the 1156 socket is going to be around for awhile as the mainstream motherboard and the H55 onboard graphics will only become more widespread as intel merges the the graphics with the cpu. I now there's faster cpus, but I'm trying to keep the overall price around $600. I figure I can get a bottom end cpu, but put it in a nice rig and upgrade the cpu down the road in 12-18 months. Once NI goes multicore a true quadcore will be more justified.
Here's my proposal:
Microcenter-Intel i3 530 $99.99
Microcenter-Antec Three Hundred ATX Case $49.99
Newegg.com-ASUS P7H55D-M EVO LGA 1156 Intel H55 HDMI USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard $134.99
Newegg.com-CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V $89.99
Newegg.com-LG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD Burner $28.99
I also want to get 4 gigs of ram. Any suggestions for good quality ram that won't break the bank and be compatible with the mobo?
I'll also most likely get Western Digital Black Caviar harddrives.
Will this system be good for overclocking the i3 530?
Is the Asus mobo a good fit? Any other suggestions? I like the idea of getting USB 3.0 for the future with this one.