music Audio Engineer's Build

[Friend_or_Foh]

Hi all, 

 

I've done some research on my own as far as possible build routes I'd like to explore, but figured I'd post here to see what you guys think. 

I'm an audio engineer operating a recording studio, and the time has finally come where I need to replace my macbook Pro that I've used for recording and mixing for about 4 years. 

(Yes all my software is cross-platform and allows me to switch between PC and Mac freely)

(may also serve as a Lightroom station so I would like to stay in the entry-level enthusiast grade graphics cards)

 

The current problem I am encountering is processing bottlenecks slowing down my mixing time, as the software crashes under light to moderate load with my current rig, a Macbook Pro running  2.8 GHz i7 Quad core w/ 16Gb 1600MHz DDR3 and 1TB solid state. I need to be able to work efficiently, without encountering bottlenecks.

 

My hard budget is $2500, but I'd love to get down to ~$2000, and I am located in the Southwestern U.S.

My goal is to migrate my permanent station to a desktop. The software I'm using is Pro Tools 12.4, which has relatively mild Graphics needs, but severe CPU and RAM requirements.

Would like to get 6-8 cores, with 32+GB of RAM, and 250GB of SSD or M.2 Storage. I have plenty of external storage, so hard storage won't need to be more than 500GB-1TB.

 

I will be utilizing a TV for the Main monitor, but would like the ability to expand to a second TV or LED Monitor, so 2 HDMI outputs would be desired.

I will require no additional peripherals, as I already have a nice Mech Keyboard and Gaming mouse I like, and it will be accessing the internet via Ethernet so no need for WiFi capability.

The software requirements dictate Windows 8, with a 64-bit architecture, as the software runs exclusively 64-bit programming. 

 

For Reference here is a link to Avid's system requirements doc:

Avid System Requirements ( please refer to version 12.4 )

 

 

Thanks guys.

[Max_Settings]

To be honest with you, you really don't need to spend $2500 if you don't want to, this more than meets your requirements

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 1700X 3.4GHz 8-Core Processor  ($329.99 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: Corsair - H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($109.89 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: MSI - B350 GAMING PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($76.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($234.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Samsung - 960 EVO 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($127.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($47.79 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB FTW Gaming ACX 3.0 Video Card  ($599.89 @ B&H) 
Case: NZXT - S340 Elite (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($94.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($74.88 @ OutletPC) 
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit  ($89.89 @ OutletPC) 
Total: $1787.28
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-07-10 21:55 EDT-0400

[Shiv78]

6 minutes ago, Max_Settings said:

To be honest with you, you really don't need to spend $2500 if you don't want to, this more than meets your requirements

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 1700X 3.4GHz 8-Core Processor  ($329.99 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: Corsair - H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($109.89 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: MSI - B350 GAMING PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($76.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($234.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Samsung - 960 EVO 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($127.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($47.79 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB FTW Gaming ACX 3.0 Video Card  ($599.89 @ B&H) 
Case: NZXT - S340 Elite (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($94.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($74.88 @ OutletPC) 
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit  ($89.89 @ OutletPC) 
Total: $1787.28
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-07-10 21:55 EDT-0400

Good, except regular 1700 is good enough and he said he would

13 minutes ago, Friend_or_Foh said:

like to stay in the entry-level enthusiast grade graphics cards

so 1050Ti or 1060 not 1080

[kemit]

7 minutes ago, Max_Settings said:

To be honest with you, you really don't need to spend $2500 if you don't want to, this more than meets your requirements

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 1700X 3.4GHz 8-Core Processor  ($329.99 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: Corsair - H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($109.89 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: MSI - B350 GAMING PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($76.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($234.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Samsung - 960 EVO 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($127.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($47.79 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB FTW Gaming ACX 3.0 Video Card  ($599.89 @ B&H) 
Case: NZXT - S340 Elite (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($94.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($74.88 @ OutletPC) 
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit  ($89.89 @ OutletPC) 
Total: $1787.28
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-07-10 21:55 EDT-0400

Or even a 1070 or 1060 could work if you dont need a ton of graphics performance.

[Max_Settings]

Just now, kemit said:

Or even a 1070 or 1060 could work if you dont need a ton of graphics performance.

 

Just now, Shiv78 said:

so 1050Ti or 1060 not 1080

Only reason I gave him a 1080, is if I gave him like a 1050 ti or 1060 it would be so far under his budget

[Shiv78]

Just now, Max_Settings said:

Only reason I gave him a 1080, is if I gave him like a 1050 ti or 1060 it would be so far under his budget

TFW you need more expensive components lolllllllllll

[Max_Settings]

Just now, Shiv78 said:

TFW you need more expensive components lolllllllllll

Same reason I gave him a 1700X, I almost swapped it to an 1800X

[kemit]

Just now, Max_Settings said:

 

Only reason I gave him a 1080, is if I gave him like a 1050 ti or 1060 it would be so far under his budget

I guess but at the same time its nice to be further under budget rather then higher for something you dont really need.

[Max_Settings]

Just now, kemit said:

I guess but at the same time its nice to be further under budget rather then higher for something you dont really need.

But hey..if he ever wanted to get into some serious gaming now he can

 

[kemit]

Just now, Max_Settings said:

But hey..if he ever wanted to get into some serious gaming now he can

 

i mean, i guess but a 1070 or even 1060 is great for gaming most games that are around on the normal TV like he said he had.

[Not_Sean]

Considering a 1060 is basically a 980, I would say thats plenty powerful. I'd also drop the CPU to a 1600 with that cooling you'll easily hit 4.0Ghz and no point in overkilling. Maybe even go up to a 512gb SSD won't have anythin to worry about there. Otherwise first build looks really good. 

[Max_Settings]

2 minutes ago, Not_Sean said:

Considering a 1060 is basically a 980, I would say thats plenty powerful. I'd also drop the CPU to a 1600 with that cooling you'll easily hit 4.0Ghz and no point in overkilling. Maybe even go up to a 512gb SSD won't have anythin to worry about there. Otherwise first build looks really good. 

Nah, stick with the 8 core because why not, it's WAY under his budget anyway

[Friend_or_Foh]

3 hours ago, Shiv78 said:

TFW you need more expensive components lolllllllllll

TBH I would probably lean towards the higher overclocked cpu and stick to a 1050TI. Better Computational power off the CPU is key. When I said this program is a cpu hog, Avid recommends Xeon 2660v3 10-cores for it's top performance tier users (96-256 audio channels @ 32-bit/196KHz).

 

But this definitely makes me want to lean towards the Ryzen lineup more than I already was, since that comparable system is more expensive on intel chipset.

 

One thing I wouldn't mind is a Mobo with a few more usb 3.0/3.1 inputs and higher Ram max, but I can probably source that myself and this has given me a really good jumping off point

 

Thanks guys 

[Friend_or_Foh]

Reconfigured some stuff for a forgotten factor; Noise level. Swapped the case for the Fractal R5, went for a fanless PSU from SeaSonic, and upped the USB count with an Asus B350 Prime Plus Mobo. 

 

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 1700X 3.4GHz 8-Core Processor  ($329.99 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: Noctua - NH-U9B SE2 37.9 CFM CPU Cooler  ($61.40 @ Amazon) 
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver - 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste  ($5.84 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: Asus - PRIME B350-PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($93.88 @ OutletPC) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($234.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Samsung - 960 EVO 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($127.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($39.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB Strix Video Card  ($379.89 @ B&H) 
Case: Fractal Design - Define R5 Blackout Edition ATX Mid Tower Case  ($89.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic - 520W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular Fanless ATX Power Supply  ($129.99 @ NCIX US) 
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit  ($89.89 @ OutletPC) 
Total: $1583.84
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-07-11 04:21 EDT-0400

 

thoughts?

[Max_Settings]

6 hours ago, Friend_or_Foh said:

Reconfigured some stuff for a forgotten factor; Noise level. Swapped the case for the Fractal R5, went for a fanless PSU from SeaSonic, and upped the USB count with an Asus B350 Prime Plus Mobo. 

 

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 1700X 3.4GHz 8-Core Processor  ($329.99 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: Noctua - NH-U9B SE2 37.9 CFM CPU Cooler  ($61.40 @ Amazon) 
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver - 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste  ($5.84 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: Asus - PRIME B350-PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($93.88 @ OutletPC) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($234.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Samsung - 960 EVO 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($127.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($39.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB Strix Video Card  ($379.89 @ B&H) 
Case: Fractal Design - Define R5 Blackout Edition ATX Mid Tower Case  ($89.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic - 520W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular Fanless ATX Power Supply  ($129.99 @ NCIX US) 
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit  ($89.89 @ OutletPC) 
Total: $1583.84
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-07-11 04:21 EDT-0400

 

thoughts?

That would work, but I would get a different PSU

[Shiv78]

17 hours ago, Friend_or_Foh said:

Power Supply: SeaSonic - 520W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular Fanless ATX Power Supply  ($129.99 @ NCIX US) 

For a similar price, you could just get a high-wattage PSU with a fan that turns off when the rig isn't past a certain point.