Music Production & Gaming Build Updated

[lordin]

Budget (including currency):  2500-3000 USD

Country: Sweden

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for:  Ableton Live, Pro Tools, CSGO, Fortnite, WoW + Streaming content.

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): 

 

Made a new post after some tips from Brob with a updated list. 

 

Hi, I have been using a Macbook Pro for the last 4 years and thought it was time to upgrade, and instead of getting another mac I thought about building a custom PC as I only use it in my home office now. 

It has been many years since I last built a PC, and thought maybe you guys can check my potential build I made. The computer is going to be used for mainly Ableton Live production with virtual instruments and recording, but also mixing and mastering in Pro Tools. 

Virtual instruments I am using: Most of Native Instruments library, Keyscape, U-he Diva, Serato Sample, Serum etc. 

 

I am also thinking of doing some gaming again, previously played a lot of CSGO.

In CSGO I usually play 1024x764 Resolution at low settings so this should be an incredibly overkill setup for this. 

But I would also be able to livestream when gaming and possibly music production. (otherwise thinking of getting a Elgato HD60+ and using my macbook as streaming pc) 

 

Here is the list of components:

CPU: Intel Core i9 12900KF 3.2 GHz 30MB

GPU: ASUS GeForce RTX 3060 12GB TUF GAMING OC V2

Motherboard: ASUS ROG STRIX B660-A GAMING WIFI D4

Ram Memory: Corsair 64GB (2x32GB) DDR4 3200MHz CL16 Vengeance Lpx

M.2 SSD: Kingston KC3000 M.2 NVMe SSD Gen 4 1024GB

HDD: Seagate BarraCuda Desktop 2TB 7200rpm

PSU: Corsair RM750X 750W v2

Cooling:  Noctua NH-D15S Chromax

Case: be quiet! Pure Base 500DX white

OS: Windows 11 Home

 

Also thought about getting either of these monitors:  BenQ Zowie XL2540K/2546K

I also went with air cooling even though I know it sounds more, but I have 0 experience with water cooling so I am going to skip that. 

 

Thanks in advance 

Best Regards

[Bombastinator]

1 hour ago, lordin said:

Budget (including currency):  2500-3000 USD

Country: Sweden

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for:  Ableton Live, Pro Tools, CSGO, Fortnite, WoW + Streaming content.

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): 

 

Made a new post after some tips from Brob with a updated list. 

 

Hi, I have been using a Macbook Pro for the last 4 years and thought it was time to upgrade, and instead of getting another mac I thought about building a custom PC as I only use it in my home office now. 

It has been many years since I last built a PC, and thought maybe you guys can check my potential build I made. The computer is going to be used for mainly Ableton Live production with virtual instruments and recording, but also mixing and mastering in Pro Tools. 

Virtual instruments I am using: Most of Native Instruments library, Keyscape, U-he Diva, Serato Sample, Serum etc. 

 

I am also thinking of doing some gaming again, previously played a lot of CSGO.

In CSGO I usually play 1024x764 Resolution at low settings so this should be an incredibly overkill setup for this. 

But I would also be able to livestream when gaming and possibly music production. (otherwise thinking of getting a Elgato HD60+ and using my macbook as streaming pc) 

 

Here is the list of components:

CPU: Intel Core i9 12900KF 3.2 GHz 30MB

GPU: ASUS GeForce RTX 3060 12GB TUF GAMING OC V2

Motherboard: ASUS ROG STRIX B660-A GAMING WIFI D4

Ram Memory: Corsair 64GB (2x32GB) DDR4 3200MHz CL16 Vengeance Lpx

M.2 SSD: Kingston KC3000 M.2 NVMe SSD Gen 4 1024GB

HDD: Seagate BarraCuda Desktop 2TB 7200rpm

PSU: Corsair RM750X 750W v2

Cooling:  Noctua NH-D15S Chromax

Case: be quiet! Pure Base 500DX white

OS: Windows 11 Home

 

Also thought about getting either of these monitors:  BenQ Zowie XL2540K/2546K

I also went with air cooling even though I know it sounds more, but I have 0 experience with water cooling so I am going to skip that. 

 

Thanks in advance 

Best Regards

If you get a big enough one and you’re not producing more heat than you planned for it can sound a lot less.  With that b series motherboard I don’t really understand the k chip.  Unless you want to overclock and produce the requisite amount of heat a i9 12900k and a 12700 are basically the same.  The 12900k will be a whit faster, but not that much.  You might be served better with a less power hungry chip and faster ram.  The 12900k will last longer, but only if you overclock it so there would have to be a motherboard change down the line to do do that.  Also the cooler would have to go water. The 12th gen chips aren’t all THAT hot, UNLESS you overclock them.  (Bright side is they do it a lot better than ryzen)  So the only thing you could save would be the chip and the ram, and by the time that happens it won’t be the fastest chip on the block any more and those motherboards will be out of production.  Also your ram will be slow. Right now the most common move is a ddr4 motherboard (because atm DDR4 is and will remains better value until the manufacturers get ddr5 all worked out.  Ddr4 is end of life though.  It’s not going to get much faster.  DDR5 is just starting out though. So a ddr4 b series motherboard and a 12700(no k) will net a machine of about the same speed for less money.  It will not be upgradable, but the bright side of building a new box (aside from the fact that it’s better) is you can just sell your old one because it’s got all its bits and still works. Parts can be sold separately, and there are people who part out computers much the same way people part out automobiles.  It’s basically a business, and the parts of one computer just isn’t much inventory.

Edited May 26, 2022 by Bombastinator

[Somerandomtechyboi]

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/kCcWcb

Massive cost cut

 

If youd like a gen4 ssd theres the gammix s70 blade (literal 980 pro equivalent at 220$ 2tb), if youd also like an hdd there are some 4 and 6tb 7200rpm enterprise drives going under 0.018$ per gb

 

Alot more budget can be allocated to gpu and peripherals

 

If youd like to have a go at ram oc theres some gskill 4000 c18 bin b die (could also be binned micron)

[brob]

1 hour ago, lordin said:

Budget (including currency):  2500-3000 USD

Country: Sweden

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for:  Ableton Live, Pro Tools, CSGO, Fortnite, WoW + Streaming content.

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): 

 

Made a new post after some tips from Brob with a updated list. 

 

Hi, I have been using a Macbook Pro for the last 4 years and thought it was time to upgrade, and instead of getting another mac I thought about building a custom PC as I only use it in my home office now. 

It has been many years since I last built a PC, and thought maybe you guys can check my potential build I made. The computer is going to be used for mainly Ableton Live production with virtual instruments and recording, but also mixing and mastering in Pro Tools. 

Virtual instruments I am using: Most of Native Instruments library, Keyscape, U-he Diva, Serato Sample, Serum etc. 

 

I am also thinking of doing some gaming again, previously played a lot of CSGO.

In CSGO I usually play 1024x764 Resolution at low settings so this should be an incredibly overkill setup for this. 

But I would also be able to livestream when gaming and possibly music production. (otherwise thinking of getting a Elgato HD60+ and using my macbook as streaming pc) 

 

Here is the list of components:

CPU: Intel Core i9 12900KF 3.2 GHz 30MB

GPU: ASUS GeForce RTX 3060 12GB TUF GAMING OC V2

Motherboard: ASUS ROG STRIX B660-A GAMING WIFI D4

Ram Memory: Corsair 64GB (2x32GB) DDR4 3200MHz CL16 Vengeance Lpx

M.2 SSD: Kingston KC3000 M.2 NVMe SSD Gen 4 1024GB

HDD: Seagate BarraCuda Desktop 2TB 7200rpm

PSU: Corsair RM750X 750W v2

Cooling:  Noctua NH-D15S Chromax

Case: be quiet! Pure Base 500DX white

OS: Windows 11 Home

 

Also thought about getting either of these monitors:  BenQ Zowie XL2540K/2546K

I also went with air cooling even though I know it sounds more, but I have 0 experience with water cooling so I am going to skip that. 

 

Thanks in advance 

Best Regards

 

The motherboard is not a good pairing with the i9-12900KF. If you really want the i9-12900KF, get a Z690 motherboard. You might also consider a 360 AIO to help with noise levels.

 

The i9-12900 has performance within a few percent of a stock i9-12900K but can run cooler while consuming less power.

 

It's more expensive, but I'd suggest the NH-D15 rather than the NH-D15S. Vengeance LPX memory modules fit under the outer fan comfortably and the added cooling power helps.

 

Why are you getting an HDD? If it's a budget issue, get lower performance NVMe. HDD are very slow and get noisier with age.

[lordin]

Hello again Brob, thanks for all the tips!  

 

So if I upgrade the motherboard to a z690 of some sort then it would be better? What is a 360 AIO?

 

The reason I went with the other Nocdua cooling system is because I used a  computer building template at one of the stores here (inet) and they said that the cooler did not match the cpu socket reason I went with the other cooler. The price was the same on both coolers here. 

 

Alright, then I will go with 2 x NVMe instead of the HDD. 

[lordin]

Thanks for the tips Somerandomtechyboi,

 

I am not looking for a too budget PC, and looking for a 2000+ dollar setup atleast, and trying to maximize the money ofc. But making a future proof computer that can be my workhorse for some time.

[lordin]

Thanks for all the tips bombastinator!

 

I did not quite understand the beginning of your tips about the heat unfortunately.. 

However like Brob said and I think you were in on aswell was either upgrading motherboard or degrading cpu. And then I was thinking about upgrading motherboard for the K chip.

 

So with that said, do you think that would be a good decision to do? 

Upgrading the motherboard to some z690 like brob said, and even changing out the HDD for a NVMe drive 

[lordin]

12 hours ago, brob said:

 

The motherboard is not a good pairing with the i9-12900KF. If you really want the i9-12900KF, get a Z690 motherboard. You might also consider a 360 AIO to help with noise levels.

 

The i9-12900 has performance within a few percent of a stock i9-12900K but can run cooler while consuming less power.

 

It's more expensive, but I'd suggest the NH-D15 rather than the NH-D15S. Vengeance LPX memory modules fit under the outer fan comfortably and the added cooling power helps.

 

Why are you getting an HDD? If it's a budget issue, get lower performance NVMe. HDD are very slow and get noisier with age.

I updated list with your recommendations to this perhaps: 

https://www.inet.se/datorbygge/b1302780/newbuild1-0

how does that look instead?

thanks!

[brob]

20 minutes ago, lordin said:

I updated list with your recommendations to this perhaps: 

https://www.inet.se/datorbygge/b1302780/newbuild1-0

how does that look instead?

thanks!

 

Looks fine. Are you sure 1TB of storage is enough?

 

Are you aware that there is a Swedish version of pcpartpicker, se.pcpartpicker.com? You may be able to find better pricing on some parts.

[lordin]

Ah I forgot to add another 1Tb thanks!

 

Got several 1-2 tb external hd aswell that Ive been using with my macbook. 

Ah alright I did not know that, thank you! 

 

thanks for all the help

[CCFC27]

you don't necessarily need a z690 board for 12900kf, just one with good vrms

[lordin]

17 minutes ago, CCFC27 said:

you don't necessarily need a z690 board for 12900kf, just one with good vrms

What do you think about the z690 that I posted, do you think it would work good with the 12900fk?

[Bombastinator]

8 hours ago, lordin said:

Thanks for all the tips bombastinator!

 

I did not quite understand the beginning of your tips about the heat unfortunately.. 

However like Brob said and I think you were in on aswell was either upgrading motherboard or degrading cpu. And then I was thinking about upgrading motherboard for the K chip.

 

So with that said, do you think that would be a good decision to do? 

Upgrading the motherboard to some z690 like brob said, and even changing out the HDD for a NVMe drive 

The issue is overclock.  The only reason to get the 12900k over a non k chip is overclocking which you can’t do on a b-series board.  Overclocking makes the chip very hot though which is why the 360 AIO (a 360 AIO means a pretty long radiator with 3 120mm fans on it.  Not all cases fit them)  so either the board goes Z and you get the big AIO, or cpu goes 12700 or 12900.  One costs less, the other costs more.  The intel chips a not incredibly hot if you don’t overclock them, so you won’t need to exceed the heat envelope of an air cooler.  If you put a 12900ks in a b board it will behave like a marginally faster 12700.  The system you built would work, and it would be pretty quick for a non overclocked machine, but the 12900ks is nearly twice the price of a 12700 for not very much speed gain. An overclocked 12900ks will be so fast that there is a pretty good chance that it will be able to game for a generation more than the 12700 would. That may be a bit optimistic as we don’t know what the future will bring though. 

Edited May 27, 2022 by Bombastinator

[brob]

One should give consideration to resale value and longevity. An unlocked CPU not on a z690 motherboard will have a lower resale value. Also, near end of useful life often more useful time can be squeezed out with an overclock. 

 

I'm not suggesting these should be overriding considerations. But they should factor into the purchase decision.