Building a personal musical workstation

[alividlife]

😱
This is my first build... And I think I might be a bit off track.

I want a computer workstation for musical production. I have a M-Audio Delta 1010, which is the bomb. That is not factored into the cost of this build.
I have an Akai MPC, and Midi Keyboard, and am in the process of getting a USB Firewire Mixer Board too.. (Should be pretty fun, once I get this computer.)
FIREWIRE IS A MUST!
This is the Case
I want the Antec Performance One P180 because it is quiet and with the types of dynamic mics with the amount of power I use, I can hear a pin drop (literally, and it sounds like it hits you in the ear.) So just ambient air movement is ok.
This is the PSU
I Figured it would be more than enough and it is quiet.

Quiet is Key here.

I am really interested in what some of you might think, as most computer builds are all built for gaming, and you don't see a lot of music workstations out there.

No, I don't want a Mac. I think they are great for music production but I always feel like a small child beaten into a small closet when I buy Apple.. It is a really expensive and nice closet tho! 😉

I think with some guidance I could build my own.

So.
Here's where I go wrong. Most of my friends, who are gamers, are really into AMD... Shrug. I read some places Intel is better at multitasking... I could care less, I just want your opinions.

I WAS thinking about:
DFI LANPARTY DK 790FX-M2RS
AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+
G.SKILL 2GB
.
I realize now this is probably not the setup I need. (OC'ing? what's that? heh)

$1,000.00 not including the case and psu

I probably won't be gaming at all. But Movies, yes.
No sli probably? ... right? I would probably just opt out, and fill the other pci with another M-Audio for 20 channels...

XP
No Vista, I don't want to overhaul my vst's and my DAW's (compatibility issues, unless you don't think it would be)

Intel? AMD?

Quad-Core yes.
It's funny cause the more I type this post I up, I am getting to a better idea of what I want..

Finally, you guys have any comments or thoughts on why there isn't a bigger market of PC music production based computers, or sound cards? I think there is a huuuuge market just stuck with Mac's and protools...
Anyways... Thanks.

 

[foges]

welcome to AT.

I would suggest going with an Intel, even though i am an AMD fanboy myself, they are currently just better than what amd has to offer. I would suggest going with vista x64 so you can take advantage of more ram, but its your choice

Something like this should do the trick:

CPI: Intel Q9450
RAM: 4 GB G.SKILL
PSU: 550VX Corsair
Mobo: P5Q Pro Asus
Graphics: ATI HD3450 512MB (since you arn't going to be doing any gaming anyways, and it saves you some money for other things)
HD: 2x WD Caviar 640GB
Screen: Choose some ~22"

enjoy

 

[nerp]

Don't OC. Music workstations require stability and when you start playing with multiple VST plugins and trying to keep MIDI synch and record, etc, any weirndness can't be tolerated. Nothing worse than spending hours on a construction only to have one of your plugins or music apps crash. Buy a powerful system and don't OC it if you plan on doing this seriously.

 

[modoheo]

Get a quad-core intel CPU, like the Q6600 or the Q9300 - for you I'd pick the Q9300 since it'll run cooler.

Good choice on the case for noise suppression. I agree - don't overclock, and I'd even consider trying to go almost fanless to keep the noise to a minimum. If you're not overclocking, you could use the Xigmatek s1283 as your cpu cooler without the fan and still get reasonable temps.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16835233003

The power supply you chose is quiet, especially in that case.

Since you're not gaming, I'd go with a GPU with a fanless heatsink solution to keep the noise down further, like this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814125098

So you'd have quiet PSU in the bottom of a sound-damped case, a fanless CPU cooler, and a fanless GPU. The Samsung DVD burners are very quiet, and so are the WD "GP" line of harddrives. I'd go with something like this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822136151

If you do all of the above and just throw one quiet 120mm fan in the rear of the case, you'll have an extremely quiet and high performance system, should be perfect for music. Scythe fans are pretty quiet, especially something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16835185004

I'm no expert on sound cards, but from what I read the HT Claro's are very nice and work well with Vista.