building my own pc for sound recording in home studio & using DAW (help)

netmooteler

Junior Member
Jan 17, 2011
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Hi , i 'm building a new PC for sound recording & working with Cubase ,Nuendo.i have problem in choosing main chips(M.B , CPU , RAM , HDD ).

i have to use 32bit OS for now ; because some of 64bit 's VSTs are available in my country(iran).:(

i just want a system that can be upgrade to 64bit in future(without changing the Motherboard & CPU)

what would you suggest ?!(to make the best combination)

thanks in advance for any help
:colbert:
 

SirGCal

Member
May 11, 2005
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www.sirgcal.com
Just about any of the modern systems will do what you want. Personally, I like AMD, but it's all about personal choice. The Intel i series has some serious kick-butt options also (even more-so, but also a bit more $).

What you need to do is decide what your budget is and what your system will need (lots of memory, strong CPU, or just modern hardware). After-all, even a mainstream laptop will handle what I think you're planning to do.

Now as for the 32-bit issue; I do not currently know of any 32-bit software that will not run on Win7 64. Other limitations for windows would be the 3G RAM limit with 32-bit versions. However if you run Linux instead, this wouldn't be a problem.

Again, it just comes down to what you want and your budget. You could build a simple box for very inexpensive pricetag or you could go balls-to-the-wall and build a serious gaming rig that you won't use most of the power of for your primary task intended. It's really up to you and what you really want to do with it.

One thing you'll want to spend a bit of $ on is fast storage if you plan on recording a lot of streams at once especially. Raiding a few drives at least if not SSD capabilities. You could actually get an SSD for your data drive and boot to a conventional disk to save $ if necessary.
 
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ClockHound

Golden Member
Nov 27, 2007
1,111
219
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For a DAW, Intel is the better performer. A good reference point is this DAW benchmark page from ADK: http://www.adkproaudio.com/benchmarks.cfm

The best performance/value now for a new DAW is the Intel Core i7 2600k. The extra L3 cache is important for VST use, more so than HyperThreading.

Definitely go for 64bit OS and 8 Gigs of RAM, especially if you're using lots of samples. Don't forget a SSD or two. One for boot disk and the other for samples.

Cubase 5's 64 to 32 bit bridge is buggy. Hopefully the new V6 fixes that. If not, there's always jBridge.

If you select the 2600k, get a P67-based MB, so you have the option to overclock. In a DAW, the 2600k at 4.7Ghz is the equal to the $$$ 980X at 4ghz!!!
 

Hulk

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
5,190
3,808
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Buy as much CPU power as you can. There is nothing worse than putting on some plug-ins and having the audio stutter during playback.

Get the 2500k and give it a little o/c and you'll have a smokin' system for audio work.
 

996GT2

Diamond Member
Jun 23, 2005
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CPU: Sandy Bridge i7-2600K
Mobo: Any H67 or P67 mobo from a reputable brand like Asus or Gigabyte
RAM: At least 8 GB
HDD : Get an SSD if you can and have a large HDD as a secondary drive.