Light Gaming/Music Production PC

[Malcolm360]

Hey everybody, I'm looking to build a PC this summer, and I have up to $1000 dollar budget (although I'm hoping for closer to $850). I am going with an Intel i5 (not sure which model yet) on a Z77 Gigabyte board so I can dual boot it as a Hackintosh in the future. The primary reason for this build is somewhat of an all around computer; I want to be able to play at least almost any game on medium settings, but I don't care about 1080p because my monitor is only 720 and I am a college student, so I don't plan on upgrading before I buy a new graphics card anyways. The most intensive processes I want to put on it will be within professional music production software running up to 30 tracks. Basically, I am looking for a fairly quiet build, but I cannot find anywhere online that recommends what parts I should spend the most on for music production. I also would like opinions regarding what graphics card I should get, both in terms of being able to run games on medium settings (budget) and compatibility with a hackintosh system. Any advice is helpful!

Thanks,
Malcolm.

[extremescouter]

I essentially had the same requirements of a system I built last summer. I would definitely look into this: http://www.tonymacx86.com/344-building-customac-buyer-s-guide-april-2013.html. My suggestions would be with heavy music production, you might want to think of upgrading to an i7 3770k, so you get the benefits of hyper threading. Go with a cooler master hyper 212 for the cooler, and you can easily get good temps to overclock. As long as you dont need thunderbolt, the Gigabyte UD-5h is a great option, with great compatibility and features. With light gaming, many people agree that a Nvidia GTX 660 is the best fps per dollar gaming card on the market, and it works well with hackintoshes. Other than that, probably 16gb of ram for the music production. 

 

Also, Haswell is supposedly coming out soon, so you might want to think about it. However, it will probably take awhile for Apple to integrate compatibility with OSX, so you probably wouldnt be able to get the compatibility of a hackintosh by this summer. 

[WoodenMarker]

Something like this: http://gyazo.com/33e0e11505792b56397f2084ae403f77

 

This^^ and find a case you like to slap it all in.

 

If you want more gaming power, go for something like the 7870 (the 7850 is not supported yet without specially edited kext files.) and a better power supply.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150605

 

--OR--

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131484R

^^^The open box is a bit cheaper but a lower clock. It's not like you can't overclock them to the same speed anyway. I'm not too sure about hackintoshes but I'm guessing you can? shrug*

 

and the cx600 for a psu. You could use a 500w but they're both $60 anyway.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139028

[Uberskills]

if your a colage student which you are look into getting a small build like a bitfinix prodigy but im not sure on mother boards that can dual boot with hackintosh, the bitfenix prodigy can be moved around which might be ideal if your moving from dorm to dorm or back home when your on holidays

[extremescouter]

If your looking for an itx board, look into the Gigabyte h77 or z77n- wifi. They both have great compatibility with dual booting, and you can even overclock the z77 one pretty well.

[Malcolm360]

I essentially had the same requirements of a system I built last summer. I would definitely look into this: http://www.tonymacx86.com/344-building-customac-buyer-s-guide-april-2013.html. My suggestions would be with heavy music production, you might want to think of upgrading to an i7 3770k, so you get the benefits of hyper threading. Go with a cooler master hyper 212 for the cooler, and you can easily get good temps to overclock. As long as you dont need thunderbolt, the Gigabyte UD-5h is a great option, with great compatibility and features. With light gaming, many people agree that a Nvidia GTX 660 is the best fps per dollar gaming card on the market, and it works well with hackintoshes. Other than that, probably 16gb of ram for the music production. 

 

Also, Haswell is supposedly coming out soon, so you might want to think about it. However, it will probably take awhile for Apple to integrate compatibility with OSX, so you probably wouldnt be able to get the compatibility of a hackintosh by this summer. 

Your link to the TonyMac forums is broken. But yeah, I wanted to go with the i7, I just can't afford to get that processor and still afford a decent graphics card. I am also waiting for Haswell just to see about pricing, honestly, but thanks for the input. Do you think that the difference between 8gigs and 16gigs of ram will be that noticeable though? 

[extremescouter]

Ok, heres a new link: http://www.tonymacx86.com/351-building-customac-buyer-s-guide-may-2013.html

 

It depends on what applications you will be using. For me, I will routinely have photoshop, mail, and safari open at the same time, and use up my 16 gbs of RAM. I am not sure how much RAM your music software uses, but it seems like the extra ram could be helpful with 30 tracks open at a time, and you will definitely see a difference between 8 and 16 gb. 

[Malcolm360]

Alright, well thanks alot man, your answers were more helpful than anything i've been able to find up till now.

[extremescouter]

Alright, well thanks alot man, your answers were more helpful than anything i've been able to find up till now.

Sure! You can always message me if you have any more questions down the line.

[Masfiras]

For Music Editing you definitely need a external soud card, like a M Box from AVID, cause i supposed that you will work with ProTools and it's not cheap

[Malcolm360]

For Music Editing you definitely need a external soud card, like a M Box from AVID, cause i supposed that you will work with ProTools and it's not cheap

Yeah, I already have a recording set up and a DAW, I'm just upgrading my computer, and maybe switching to Logic if I decide to dual boot OSx.