Review my music pc specs before build please?

musicformedia

Hi all, thanks for any help or feedback you have on this.

I will be using it for music production, so needs to have lots of RAM, good processor, and be as silent as possible. Want to buy it from hardwareversand.de - they still ok?


Intel Core i7-960 Box 8192Kb, LGA1366 - €213,13
ASUS RAMPAGE III BLACK EDITION, Sockel 1366, ATX, DDR3 - €374,33
Corsair Hydro Series H70 (Sockel 775/1156/1366/AM2/AM2+/AM3) - €74,89
12GB-Kit DDR3 Excelram Black Sark PC12800/1600, CL - €116,27
12GB-Kit DDR3 Excelram Black Sark PC12800/1600, CL - €116,27
12GB-Kit DDR3 Excelram Black Sark PC12800/1600, CL - €116,27
Antec MidiTower "P193" schwarz, ATX - €149,93
Cooler Master Silent Pro Series - 1000 Watt- €132,04
ASUS EAH5450 Silent/DI/512MD2 (LP), ATI Radeon HD 5450, 512MB, PCI- Express €25.61
WD AV-GP 1,5TB, 64MB Cache, SATA II (WD15EURS) - €63,92
WD AV-GP 1,5TB, 64MB Cache, SATA II (WD15EURS) - €63,92
Western Digital Caviar GreenPower 1,5TB SATA II 64MB (Western Digital15EARS) - €55,64
Samsung SH-223C bare schwarz SATA - €19.31
ASUS Xonar D2/PM, PCI (90-YAA021-1UAN00) - €93,18
OEM Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit - €79,90

Total €1.710,40

I have dual monitors and the sound card doesnt matter too much as I'll be using an external soundcard for my music production.

Any other things I should be looking out for? I know 36gb of RAM seems overkill, but I'm using software that uses ridiculous amounts of RAM. I've checked online though and apparently that mobo can't handle more than 24gb of ram is that right?

Cheers

musicformedia

Hmmm...apparently that motherboard can only accept a maximum of 24gb DDR3 RAM is that correct?

deceit

musicformedia wrote: »

Hmmm...apparently that motherboard can only accept a maximum of 24gb DDR3 RAM is that correct?

Yea that would be the max for mainstream boards. You would have to get a high end workstation for more or could buy something like an evga sr2 but that would mean you would need another cpu also.
Yea hardwareversand are still good to order from. I would pick a different cooler like a noctua d14 if you want a quieter cooler

musicformedia

After checking again, it appears the mobo can have up to 48gb ram?

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1366/Rampage_III_Black_Edition/#specifications

According to the asus website - the previous version of it could only take 24gb but the black edition can have up to 48gb?

Shiminay

You're buying an Asus Xonar yet you say you've got an external sound card anyway? Then you don't need this, the motherboard you picked has a decent enough on-board sound card to get you going (most motherboards these days do).

Speaking of which, that's a Gamer motherboard, with all sorts of features you'll quite probably never need that jack it's price sky high. This might be handier as it has a FireWire port too which I know a lot of audio gear likes to use (my mate's old Digi Design 002 did). It supports 32GB of RAM too.

Can your audio software make use of nVidia's CUDA technology? It'd be worth a couple of reasonable video cards in SLi to take advantage of that.

musicformedia

Thanks, you're right regarding both of those.

I'll get rid of the soundcard so its onboard instead.

Dont think the audio software can make use of that technology unfortunately. I just need a low level video card that can do dual screens for now

Unfortunately, it looks like that mobo isn't the right socket type for an i7-960 as its an LGA1366 socket? Won't let me add it to the PC as it says its incompatible. Any other mobo's you would recommend for the 1366 socket?

deceit

musicformedia wrote: »

After checking again, it appears the mobo can have up to 48gb ram?

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1366/Rampage_III_Black_Edition/#specifications

According to the asus website - the previous version of it could only take 24gb but the black edition can have up to 48gb?

8gb sticks would be very very expensive though would be cheaper to get a board like the sr2 over trying to get 8gb sticks i think.
The board kharn pointed out is an 1155 socked board so you would have to change cpu and ram to use it.
Edit:
Never noticed you seen about the motherboard already

musicformedia

OK, so what about this one? 36gb of RAM, i7 processor, and mobo seems to be able to take that much ram?

Cooler Master Silent Pro Series - 1000 Watt - 132,04 €

(3 x 4 GB) 12GB-Kit DDR3 Excelram Black Sark PC12800/1600, - 116,27 €
(3 x 4 GB) 12GB-Kit DDR3 Excelram Black Sark PC12800/1600, - 116,27 €
(3 x 4 GB) 12GB-Kit DDR3 Excelram Black Sark PC12800/1600, - 116,27 €

Antec MidiTower "P193" schwarz, ATX, ohne Netzteil - 149,93 €

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit - 79,90 €

ASUS EAH5450 Silent/DI/512MD2 (LP), ATI Radeon HD 5450, 512MB, PCI- Express - 25,61 €

ASRock X58 Extreme3, Sockel 1366, ATX - 147,89 €

Intel Core i7-960 Box 8192Kb, LGA1366 - 213,13 €

Western Digital Caviar GreenPower 500GB SATA II, Western Digital5000AADS - 33,59 €

Western Digital Caviar GreenPower 1,5TB SATA II 64MB (Western Digital15EARS) - 55,64 €
Western Digital Caviar GreenPower 1,5TB SATA II 64MB (Western Digital15EARS) - 55,64 €
Western Digital Caviar GreenPower 1,5TB SATA II 64MB (Western Digital15EARS) - 55,64 €

Samsung SH-223C bare schwarz SATA - 19,31 €

Corsair Hydro Series H70 (Sockel 775/1156/1366/AM2/AM2+/AM3) - 74,89 €

deceit

musicformedia wrote: »

OK, so what about this one? 36gb of RAM, i7 processor, and mobo seems to be able to take that much ram?

Cooler Master Silent Pro Series - 1000 Watt - 132,04 €

12GB-Kit DDR3 Excelram Black Sark PC12800/1600, - 116,27 €
12GB-Kit DDR3 Excelram Black Sark PC12800/1600, - 116,27 €
12GB-Kit DDR3 Excelram Black Sark PC12800/1600, - 116,27 €

Antec MidiTower "P193" schwarz, ATX, ohne Netzteil - 149,93 €

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit - 79,90 €

ASUS EAH5450 Silent/DI/512MD2 (LP), ATI Radeon HD 5450, 512MB, PCI- Express - 25,61 €

ASRock X58 Extreme3, Sockel 1366, ATX - 147,89 €

Intel Core i7-960 Box 8192Kb, LGA1366 - 213,13 €

Western Digital Caviar GreenPower 500GB SATA II, Western Digital5000AADS - 33,59 €

Western Digital Caviar GreenPower 1,5TB SATA II 64MB (Western Digital15EARS) - 55,64 €
Western Digital Caviar GreenPower 1,5TB SATA II 64MB (Western Digital15EARS) - 55,64 €
Western Digital Caviar GreenPower 1,5TB SATA II 64MB (Western Digital15EARS) - 55,64 €

Samsung SH-223C bare schwarz SATA - 19,31 €

Corsair Hydro Series H70 (Sockel 775/1156/1366/AM2/AM2+/AM3) - 74,89 €

The ram wont work as you would be trying to stick 9 sticks of ram into only six slots which was why i was recommending the sr2 as it has 12slots for ram.

Monotype

You don't need a 1KW PSU for that. You should buy a PSU closer to you needs to maximise efficiency. Enermax has nice, quiet PSUs. Here's a few modular ones around the 500W mark. I've used the first one and it's very quiet, but the next too are quieter/more efficient.

http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=24940
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=24941
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=30643

For super efficiency, go for the platinum rated SF
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=43762

Also, I'd recommend the Fractal Design R3 for a silent system (cheaper too).
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=36379

Is there any reason for the different hard drives? I'd just 2TB ones, they seem to be a good price point.

musicformedia

Monotype wrote: »

You don't need a 1KW PSU for that. You should buy a PSU closer to you needs to maximise efficiency. Enermax has nice, quiet PSUs. Here's a few modular ones around the 500W mark. I've used the first one and it's very quiet, but the next too are quieter/more efficient.

http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=24940
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=24941
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=30643

For super efficiency, go for the platinum rated SF
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=43762

Also, I'd recommend the Fractal Design R3 for a silent system (cheaper too).
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=36379

Is there any reason for the different hard drives? I'd just 2TB ones, they seem to be a good price point.

Thanks I'll change the PSU to the SuperFlower Golden King, and the Fractal Design case for extra silence.

I went for 1.5tb as apparently 2tb drives are more likely to break down. I have percussion samples on one drive, strings on another, etc. which makes load times a lot quicker as they are spread over numerous drives rather than 1 or 2 big ones. 500 gb is for the OS one and any random files I need on it.

Can anyone find the SR2 mobo on hardwareversand? Can't find it anywhere? Are there any other alternative mobos that would work with with 36gb ram and the i7 960?

deceit

musicformedia wrote: »

Thanks I'll change the PSU to the SuperFlower Golden King, and the Fractal Design case for extra silence.

I went for 1.5tb as apparently 2tb drives are more likely to break down. I have percussion samples on one drive, strings on another, etc. which makes load times a lot quicker as they are spread over numerous drives rather than 1 or 2 big ones. 500 gb is for the OS one and any random files I need on it.

Can anyone find the SR2 mobo on hardwareversand? Can't find it anywhere? Are there any other alternative mobos that would work with with 36gb ram and the i7 960?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-024-EA
It might seem expensive and there is the extra cost of a second cpu but it would still be cheaper that buying 8gb sticks of ram as they are a few hundred euro each last time i checked.

musicformedia

Hmmm not too keen on the dual cpu's...unless they were i7s. So....any one know of any mobos on hardwareversand that accept 36gb of ram? They all seem to be fine in the confugrator, and let me use 36gb?

Monotype

Wow, the price of that!

What about getting a good sized fast SSD as virtual memory? It might not be quite as effective as a load of RAM, but it would improve day to day performance - although you'd lose out when you started hitting the very high memory use.

musicformedia

Nah don't think it would work as well as you think.

I'll just go with a 24gb RAM config instead I think as it seems to be easier...

musicformedia

OK, so changed the config a little so its now 24gb RAM instead with an SSD for the OS HD then 4 1.5 tb HDs for my software and samples.

That mobo/RAM ok?

Monotype

Don't get the OCZ agility 2. It's only 115MB. I'd go for the M4, a vertex 3 or another company's offerings, such as Corsair's F120 instead of the A2 or performance 3 to beat it (though more expensive).

That's a German copy of windows. You'll need an English install disc. They're €30 dearer on HWV, so I'd recommend you get the key with the German version and find a disc elsewhere.

musicformedia

Great thanks very much - will change it to the Crucial M4 so thanks

Does the RAM and mobo look ok?