Build for DAW Workstation

[clo187]

Hey guys, do any of you have any suggestions/pointers (i.e. CPU of choice, how much RAM) to a total noob who's looking to build a PC for music production. I'll be running Ableton and will probably looking to do some light gaming on the system down the line.

 

Thanks for the help!

 

[bellabichon]

If you're looking to build a custom PC, what would your budget be?

[DrMacintosh]

Here is a build I threw together that comes in at just under $900 and will crush Ableton and will be great for gaming at 1080p and good at 1440p. 

 

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/V7ffmq
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/V7ffmq/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1500X 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($149.89 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte - GA-AB350M-DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($64.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($159.89 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Kingston - A400 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($34.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($43.90 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: Gigabyte - Radeon RX 580 4GB Gaming 4G Video Card  ($248.36 @ Amazon) 
Case: Cougar - MX330 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($24.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Power Supply: Corsair - CXM 550W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($59.89 @ OutletPC) 
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit  ($90.59 @ My Choice Software) 
Total: $877.49
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-07-09 00:37 EDT-0400

[bellabichon]

1 hour ago, DrMacintosh said:

Here is a build I threw together that comes in at just under $900 and will crush Ableton and will be great for gaming at 1080p and good at 1440p. 

I would personally tell OP to get a GTX 1060 6GB instead of a 580, because there should be some sales when the new cards drop in Q3ish. It's very slightly faster. 

 

EDIT: I would also maybe recommend that OP splurge a bit for a bigger SSD, maybe 256GB, so that they can put some other programs on it, as well as their OS. 

[DrMacintosh]

2 minutes ago, bellabichon said:

I would personally tell OP to get a GTX 1060 6GB instead of a 580, because there should be some sales when the new cards drop in Q3ish. It's very slightly faster. 

The cards are effectively the same. I also don't see your reasoning either. You would have to wait till after the new cards dropped before prices of current gen cards went down. 

 

I still recommend an RX 580.

[bellabichon]

1 hour ago, DrMacintosh said:

The cards are effectively the same. I also don't see your reasoning either. You would have to wait till after the new cards dropped before prices of current gen cards went down. 

I'm very sorry if I wasn't clear in my last post. I meant to say that if OP can wait until new Nvidia cards drop, they should be able to get a fairly good deal. Again, apologies if that wasn't clear in my original comment. 

[clo187]

Thanks heaps for the help guys! Really appreciate it