I am a noob and I have an emergency

AnnihilationRob

Baseband Member
Messages
34
I'm sure there are hundreds of these posts so I apologize in advance.

I need quick help selecting components for an audio recording studio desktop. I intended to take my time learning all there is to know about building a pc before attempting it or bothering anyone with noobish questions, but the motherboard in my laptop, which was my primary recording pc, died yesterday and I am out of business until I can get a new comp. I'd still like to build one, and I have a decent idea of how I would like to start:

2.5 - 3 GHz (core i5 looks nice)
no idea for motherboard
4-8GB DDR3 RAM
nothing fancy for graphics
i don't need an audio card
no idea for power
500GB hard drive
a cool, well ventilated case
2 x eSATA, 2 x Firewire (800 is faster right?), 6-8 x USB
good disk drive for burning high quality audio CDs.
Windows 7

I am not interested in overclocking or any bells and whistles, I am just looking for a fast, stable pc with the above specs, optimized for handling large digital audio projects (30+ tracks of 24 bit 44.1K audio) with lots of RAM sucking plugins. Any help filling in the blanks would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Rob
 
what programs are you using? and what are you interfacing with? these things will help better understand your needs.
 
The high-end non-overclocking pc listed on **New Build Guide** looks good but the hard drive is too big and that graphics card is exessive:

CPU: Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor
Motherboard: ASRock P55 Pro LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard
RAM: CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory
GPU: ATi Radeon HD 5850 1GB GDDR5
PSU: OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ600MXSP 600W ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
HDD: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
Case: COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Disk Drive: LG DVD Burner Black SATA Model
 
if this PC is ONLY for music recording, that Grapics card is WAY overpowered, you can drop that WAY WAY down, should be able to get away with a 7900 GTS. the HD I would rather a Estern Digital 1TB Black, if you have the $$ get the 64mb cache one, OR if you the Extra $$ get a Velocirapter 300gig 10,00 RPM as a OS drive, and a 1TB black with the 32mb cache for storage.

CPU/RAM look good
Case, I would go with a Antec P180 or the mini (depending on motherboard) these things make the PC almost completly SILENT, Great for recording with the PC in the room.
PSU, I like the seasonic, but there are a lot of other good brands as well.

Motherboard, this really depends on your interface, how exactly are you interfacing with the instruments? M-Adio Fast track, Digidesign? Firewire, USB, PCI, PCIe?

and what Program are you using? ProTools, Cakewalk, Sonar, Ableton? Different programs use different things as well as the interface.
 
Thanks for the quick response. I'm running Sonar 8 and i'm hooked up to an apogee rosetta 800 via firewire.

It is only recording/editing audio btw. I also use reason for small synth parts. no video editing or gaming.
 
I also have a separate tracking room, so I'm not too concerned about noise from the computer.

if you the Extra $$ get a Velocirapter 300gig 10,00 RPM as a OS drive, and a 1TB black with the 32mb cache for storage.

I have been told hard drives over 500GB tend to have stability issues so this idea sounds good. Is this true though?
 
he won't use the HDMI plug for his sound, he will most likely be running into a set or 3 different sets of studio moniters that are flat response. I'm not REAL familar with the ATI compartives for vid cards, but you Definatly don't need a Gaming vid card, I wouldn't even dream of ALI/Crosfire, a single card with 512mb ram should do good.

That motherboard would work, but imo I would go with this one,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128405
I think it will be a better board for you and from a better company (my opinion)
I did a quick look at the video cards in the ATI line, don't spend more than $100 on a video card, get it with 512mb ram, you should be golden.
Ram-that ram is good, and a good bang for the buck, but 4GB is gonna be a bit on the lowside when you start stacking all your plugins. I would say 6GB is a good number to be at, but your motherboard choice and mine are both Dual Chan, so I would suggest the bump up to 8gb, that will give a lot of overhead for ALL your plugins, but to jump from the 4g-8g you looking at a price jump from ~$100 up to ~$300. I run with 4GB and I do pretty good with my USB Fast Track and using Sonar 8pro, and Ableton suite. Suite is a bit laggy once I throw a couple guitar tracks in using the Guitar Rig plugging which is pretty RAM intensive. 4 GB SHOULD be good, if you can get it in 2 sticks of 2gb each then later if its Not enough you can just throw 2 more sticks of the same ram in.

edit:for the case, since you have a trackroom, I would still go with the P180, or the P180 mini, but since noise isn't really an issue you can use really any case you want. But I am still a LARGE fan of the P180

I missed the last statment of your last post Annilaterob, Idealy if I were you I would go with the the raptor as your main OS drive, and a 1TB for storage. the 1TB's are Very stable now, I wouldn't say I have COMPLETE faith in them, but I have enough faith in them that if I was unsure of that stability, I would just implment a RAID or a similar, making backups or somthing. the 1TB WD Black will be VERY stable.

if you don't have the $$ to do the dual HD's, I would recomend the WD Black as a single drive, the blacks are really the jack of all trades drives, they can do everything good, the blue is more of a OS only drive, to use with another HD for actual storage, like a 1-2TB Green drive. the black is the best of both worlds.
 
Thanks again for the excellent responses. How about that power supply? I haven't looked into those much but it sounds like I won't need to dish out as much without a high-end video card.
 
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