Look over my 1st build for Music Production -- can you spot any problems?

[psammarc]

Budget (including currency): $2000 to $3000 Canadian 

Country: Vancouver, Canada

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Audio/music production (Reaper, Reason, Wwise, FMOD) and casual gaming 

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i9-10850K 3.6 GHz 10-Core Processor  ($509.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 50.5 CFM CPU Cooler  ($134.94 @ Amazon Canada) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z490 AORUS ELITE AC ATX LGA1200 Motherboard  ($279.00 @ Canada Computers) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($189.99 @ Canada Computers) 
Storage: Samsung 860 Evo 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($149.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Storage: Samsung 860 Evo 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($149.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Storage: Crucial MX500 2 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($274.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Case: Fractal Design Meshify 2 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($185.90 @ Vuugo) 
Power Supply: Corsair TXM Gold 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply  ($144.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit  ($134.94 @ shopRBC) 
Custom: used graphics card ($500.00)
Total: $2654.72
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-03-10 17:44 EST-0500

 

 

This is my first build ever.

Am I doing anything wrong? Could anything be better?

 

Specific question:

I am going crazy trying to understand how the Gigabyte Z490 Aorus Elite AC lines up with the Fractal Design Meshify 2 front panel. Can I connect the Aorus Elite AC's "USB Type-C port, with USB 3.2 Gen 1 support" to the Meshify 2's "USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C" -- are Gen 1 and 2 compatible? And if I can connect them together, would it run only at the motherboard's 5Gbps (ie, it being Gen 1)? Or otherwise, how would you go about connecting these two together?

 

For reference, this is the relevant info I've gathered about the two parts, but please correct me if I'm wrong:

 

Meshify 2

• 1x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C (aka USB 3.2 Gen 2, aka USB 3.1, aka 10Gbps)
• 2x USB 3.0 (aka USB 3.2 Gen 1, aka USB 3.1 Gen 1, aka 5Gbps)

 

Z490 Aorus Elite AC

• 1x USB Type-C port with USB 3.2 Gen 1 support (aka USB 3.1 Gen 1, aka USB 3.0, aka 5Gbps)
• 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports (aka USB 3.1 Gen 1, aka USB 3.0, aka 5Gbps)
• 2 x USB 2.0/1.1 headers

 

Thanks you from the bottom of my bottomless heart. - Noob

[Derkoli]

CPU, RAM, Storage all looks good to me for music production workloads.

[Jtalk4456]

didn't see any rgb strips in the list

need to fix that lol

[brob]

The usb c header on the motherboard will connect with the usb c port on the case. Since the motherboard header is gen 1 the port will run at 5 Gbs.

 

If you look at a picture of the motherboard directly in front of the memory area on the left is a header for two type A ports, labelled USB32. To the left of that is a connector labelled f_u32c, the usb c header.

 

At the bottom left of https://www.techpowerup.com/review/fractal-design-meshify-2-atx-case/4.html is a picture of the case front panel connectors. The blue connector is the usual Type A connector. The middle, chrome connector is a usb c connector.

[Caconym]

Unless there's music editing software that needs insane specs that I'm not aware off, your CPU is WAY overkill. You could easily get by with a Ryzen 5 or an i5, and save a ton of money like that. 

 

As for the USB-C issue, the type-C headers should be compatible, though everything will run at the lowest speed component's max - in this case, 5Gbps because of your motherboard. If for some reason they're not the same, though, you can get adapters that will let you use one of the older USB 3 headers with the USB-C port on your case.

[Jayzer]

Everything looks good for me.

[psammarc]

Thank you everyone, this has been very helpful! The generous responses make me so happy.

5 hours ago, Caconym said:

Unless there's music editing software that needs insane specs that I'm not aware off, your CPU is WAY overkill.

My reasoning is, [1] Reaper is very good at using multicore CPUs, and [2] I want a high enough clock to not have to consider upgrading for some time. I didn't mention I'm also getting into game audio development, and my current computer (Macbook Pro from mid 2015) is at the minimum for speed for using software for that.

 

However, I think I'm going to go with the i7-10700k just to be a touch more modest and save $90 CAD. Does the 10700k raise any flags with the rest of the selected components? I don't think it does but I'm still a noob after all, so I thought I should check.     

 

[brob]

6 hours ago, psammarc said:

However, I think I'm going to go with the i7-10700k just to be a touch more modest and save $90 CAD. Does the 10700k raise any flags with the rest of the selected components? I don't think it does but I'm still a noob after all, so I thought I should check.     

 

 

One can always leave additional cpu power unused. It is much more difficult to add power. Unless budget is an issue the i9-10850K is a good choice.

 

Is there some reason not to use NVMe storage?

[psammarc]

1 hour ago, brob said:

 

One can always leave additional cpu power unused. It is much more difficult to add power. Unless budget is an issue the i9-10850K is a good choice.

 

Right. I'm nearing the top of my budget. The 10850k and 10700k and nearly identical. So the question is, do I spend $100 CAD on (what I think is) a very minimal increase in power (considering the 10700k is objectively very powerful already)? Maybe I should put this extra $100 toward something else. 

 

2 hours ago, brob said:

Is there some reason not to use NVMe storage?

 

Again, this primarily for budgetary reasons. Boot times are not a huge concern for me, doing audio work. I may add an NVMe at later date for sample libraries, which is what I've read is where they're best used for audio. 

 

It's very easy to spend 50 dollars here, 100 there, and pretty soon a several thousand over what I was hoping. Interesting how that happens! 

[brob]

Save on the cpu. You might even consider joining team red if it offers additional saving. Fast storage definitely makes a difference. It's not about boot times.

[psammarc]

1 hour ago, brob said:

Fast storage definitely makes a difference. It's not about boot times.

Could you elaborate for this poor noob over here? I've been reading that going with NVMe over a SATAiii will mostly improve load times (of the OS, of programs, of plugins, of audio samples)... how else would an NVMe make a difference? And again, how much is enough--isn't SATAiii fine for now?

 

  

[brob]

A lot depends on your workflow. In addition to a generally snappier interface, NVMe is going to allow one to stream more voices. There would also be an improvement in the number of audio tracks that can be played / recorded. Sample library loads are dramatically faster. Export / render times of larger works will be noticeably faster.

 

[psammarc]

Thanks for listing those out. I'll do more research. Seems there's a lot of opinions out there about each of those possible benefits. Difficult to find actual tests.

 

If I were to replace one of the SSDs with an NVMe, and considering I'm going for 10700k/Aorus Z490 which, being 10th gen means only PCIe 3.0, what would you recommend? 

[brob]

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/JLdxFT/samsung-970-evo-10tb-m2-2280-solid-state-drive-mz-v7e1t0baw

 

If that is out of budget, something like https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/BhmFf7/western-digital-blue-sn550-1-tb-m2-2280-nvme-solid-state-drive-wds100t2b0c would do a decent job.

[psammarc]

2 hours ago, brob said:

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/JLdxFT/samsung-970-evo-10tb-m2-2280-solid-state-drive-mz-v7e1t0baw

 

If that is out of budget, something like https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/BhmFf7/western-digital-blue-sn550-1-tb-m2-2280-nvme-solid-state-drive-wds100t2b0c would do a decent job.

Thank you so much for sharing what you know brob! Super appreciated.