PC Build For Brother - Audio Production Oriented

[g-unit1111]

My brother is interested in building a PC for recording podcasts - this is not a gaming machine but multiple monitors will possibly be used. He's a medical resident and will be recording podcasts that will be relating to his profession. He lives in a small apartment so a large tower is not really ideal, he's more interested in an mITX rig along the lines of a Node 304 or a Bitfenix Prodigy.

Parts to Upgrade: New Build

Budget: Around the ~1K mark

Approximate Date Of Purchase: Within next two weeks

Do you need to buy OS: Yes - but not included in budget

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg, Tiger, NCIX, whatever is cheapest, he has a mouse, but will probably be purchasing inexpensive wireless combo like Logitech MK320

Location: Parts will be shipped to Anaheim, CA, I will assemble rig, then ship to brother in MA

Parts Preferences: mITX or mATX are preferable, but open to options

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: No

Your Monitor Resolution: At least one, maybe two 1920 x 1080P monitors, but not included in budget

Additional Comments: This is not a gaming rig. No games will be played on this machine. I also have access to the Tustin, CA Micro Center so if he buys the CPU, I can drive down to the store and pick it up for him

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: His Macbook is on its' last legs and he does not want to go back to Apple

This is what I am thinking:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($294.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-L12 37.8 CFM CPU Cooler ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock B85M-ITX Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($86.97 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($153.98 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost 2GB Video Card ($163.98 @ Newegg)
Case: BitFenix Prodigy (Black) Mini ITX Tower Case ($109.58 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling Silencer MK III 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1077.46
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-03 12:32 EDT-0400)

 

[ddbtkd456]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($294.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-L12 37.8 CFM CPU Cooler ($69.98 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Asus H81I-PLUS Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($80.00 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($144.91 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost 2GB Video Card ($163.98 @ Newegg)
Case: BitFenix Prodigy (Black) Mini ITX Tower Case ($79.98 @ Outlet PC)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($44.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Pioneer BDC-207DBK Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($45.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $1024.80
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-03 12:51 EDT-0400)

Changed power supply (better quality for cheaper price), also included a blue ray player/writer in it (future proof if you will for watching videos), also I gave you a cheaper ITX motherboard (ASUS better quality). Otherwise everything else should be ready to go. I hope this helps at least a little bit. Please feel free to contact me about any other questions/concerns you may have in the future. Also please remember to pick your best solution so other people may learn from your thread. Thank you for your time, and have a good day.

 

[g-unit1111]

Changed power supply (better quality for cheaper price), also included a blue ray player/writer in it (future proof if you will for watching videos), also I gave you a cheaper ITX motherboard (ASUS better quality). Otherwise everything else should be ready to go. I hope this helps at least a little bit. Please feel free to contact me about any other questions/concerns you may have in the future. Also please remember to pick your best solution so other people may learn from your thread. Thank you for your time, and have a good day.

Well he doesn't watch movies so the BD-R player is unnecessary. But however I could see him using the drive for backups. So that is a possibility. And future proofing is a bit moot. I mean I'm not entirely sure what software he will be using to record audio - most likely Adobe Premiere or Sony Audio. I don't think he will actually use any physical media - most everything he records will be uploaded to iTunes / Cloud.

There isn't anything wrong with the Asrock - I've used them on some rigs and they've turned out just fine.

 

[ddbtkd456]

Changed power supply (better quality for cheaper price), also included a blue ray player/writer in it (future proof if you will for watching videos), also I gave you a cheaper ITX motherboard (ASUS better quality). Otherwise everything else should be ready to go. I hope this helps at least a little bit. Please feel free to contact me about any other questions/concerns you may have in the future. Also please remember to pick your best solution so other people may learn from your thread. Thank you for your time, and have a good day.

Well he doesn't watch movies so the BD-R player is unnecessary. But however I could see him using the drive for backups. So that is a possibility. And future proofing is a bit moot. I mean I'm not entirely sure what software he will be using to record audio - most likely Adobe Premiere or Sony Audio.

There isn't anything wrong with the Asrock - I've used them on some rigs and they've turned out just fine.

Never said there was, just a cheaper board is all, asus and asrock are pretty much the same company down to the teeth, just asrock broke away from asus to become there own company.

Updated:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor ($174.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-L12 37.8 CFM CPU Cooler ($69.98 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($64.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($144.91 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost 2GB Video Card ($173.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Rosewill FBM-01 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($21.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $963.79
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-03 13:14 EDT-0400)

This would be able to do any audio work he would ever need it to do, especially since i got to reading and both of those programs can use 6+ cores I think AMD is going to be the way to go on this one. Also you never had the RAM added so i picked the max speed is 1333 MHz for the MicroATX boards, but i think they will be alot more stabler. Also I dropped the cd/dvd player back down, and left you enough room to add it if you needed too, I even managed to squeeze 16 GB of ram in there for his audio programs, can do everything my full size tower (FX-8350 processor in a Swtich 810, and a sabortooth as a motherboard), but in compact size, I like it lol.

 

[g-unit1111]

Never said there was, just a cheaper board is all, asus and asrock are pretty much the same company down to the teeth, just asrock broke away from asus to become there own company.

Yeah I'm definitely familiar with a lot of their boards. They're well built and have great value compared to more expensive offerings from Asus and Gigabyte.

This would be able to do any audio work he would ever need it to do, especially since i got to reading and both of those programs can use 6+ cores I think AMD is going to be the way to go on this one. Also you never had the RAM added so i picked the max speed is 1333 MHz for the MicroATX boards, but i think they will be alot more stabler. Also I dropped the cd/dvd player back down, and left you enough room to add it if you needed too, I even managed to squeeze 16 GB of ram in there for his audio programs, can do everything my full size tower (FX-8350 processor in a Swtich 810, and a sabortooth as a motherboard), but in compact size, I like it lol.

I generally prefer Intel, I'm not entirely sure he'd go for AMD FX but I will definitely suggest it. I've generally had much easier times building Intel rigs. The problem with going with an AMD FX setup is that mITX is not an option, at least currently. I definitely want that option open. But I'm not sure about going that cheap on the case - I would rest much easier forking over a little more for the Prodigy or a Node 304, better cable management and better construction. I don't want him calling and yelling that his rig is overheating. :lol:

A Switch 810 would be a good option but he lives in a small apartment with his fiancee, so there really isn't a lot of room to move about. That's why the compact form factor is preferable.

 

[ddbtkd456]

Well i would still stay with the switch, however in an apartment 2' by 2' is alot of room....let me do some researching and thinking on this one. I just think the AM3+ will benefit with the 8 cores it has to offer especially when dealing with audio recording (I am a major music geek - 25,000 or about 7.5 years worth) so I know. BTW is your picture from breaking bad? It really bothers me and I've been wondering.

 

[g-unit1111]

Well i would still stay with the switch, however in an apartment 2' by 2' is alot of room....let me do some researching and thinking on this one. I just think the AM3+ will benefit with the 8 cores it has to offer especially when dealing with audio recording (I am a major music geek - 25,000 or about 7.5 years worth) so I know. BTW is your picture from breaking bad? It really bothers me and I've been wondering.

Yeah my avatar is the logo of the chicken chain / meth distribution center that Gus Fring manages - Los Pollos Hermanos.

I listen to a lot of music too, and so does he, but he's going to be recording more podcasts that are intended for medical professionals. There will be some editing but nothing too advanced.

 

[ddbtkd456]

Hahahaha I love it, that show is freaking awesome. Then maybe stick with your original one, since an Intel would be better, i was under the impression that he was editing music as well.

 

[g-unit1111]

Hahahaha I love it, that show is freaking awesome. Then maybe stick with your original one, since an Intel would be better, i was under the impression that he was editing music as well.

Oh the ending was so good. I think he might try to edit some music into his podcasts as he learns how to record them but that will probably be later on. I guess I could also try a Xeon E3 in his rig as well.

 

[ddbtkd456]

No i think an i7 would better and use the Mini-ItX board.