Help Me Build a $3000 Non-Gaming Machine

[chieftang]

Maybe $3000 is overkill for non-gaming, but I do want awesome sound capability for composing and mixing music. There will also be heavy photoshop usage. Already have a Dell 24" monitor.

Given that, I'd appreciate recommendations in the under $3000 out the door range for each of these:

? Processors and speed, and memory.
? Motherboard
? Case - I would like it to be as quiet as possible (water cooling?), and allow for expansion for drives and cards, ideally both PCI and PCIe
? Video - Again don't have a need for 3D
? Sound
? Disks - I assume SATA - seems like 2x300gb is a sweet spot right now, mayeb even 2x500
? Special s/w (I assume XP is still the best for right now as far as O/S)
? Other

 

[dBTelos]

Highend Conroe, definitly water cooling. Antec P180. Seasonic S12 500W, just for some extra room. Check out SPCR for more help.

 

[chieftang]

Sorry, but what is SPCR ?

 

[dBTelos]

Silent Personal Computer Review.

 

[40sTheme]

Yeah, 3K is a little pricey for a non gaming system... but if you're willing to spend anything lower than that..
I'm not very good with mobos, so I won't give you a recommendation there. For the processor, get a Core 2 Duo E6600 or 6700. That way, since you're willing to spend that much, you don't have to worry about overclocking it for the speed as you would with a 6300 or its ilk. Get any good Thermaltake case; you won't need water cooling. If you don't need 3D, just get a GeForce 7600GT. That way you'll get good image quality in Photoshop without the price of a higher end card. For the sound get this. For the hard drive, any nice Seagate or Western Digital. Any more posters below can correct me if I recommended something bad.
Or you could do SPCR haha.

 

[zainali]

get something relatively good (about 1.5k) and save the rest of the money for upgrades. its kinda pointless to get the most expensive stuff since price goes up a lot.

 

[Imagination]

LOL... stay away from a Creative card if your talking about creating/mixing music (see my sig).

Here are a couple options (if your serious):
MOTU 828 MKII
Digi 002R (ProTools LE)
M-AUDIO Project Mix I/O
Presonus FirePod

I myself have a MOTU 828MKII and have had it for 1 and 1/2 years and it is great... been thinking though of upgrading to the M-AUDIO Project Mix I/O just cause it would be nice to have a control surface and a audio device all in one and it also allows the ability to use Pro Tools (although I am a Sonar Whore) if I ever want to.

Recording gear doesn't get replaced as quickly as a video card or processor.

EDIT: Oh... and you don't go sticking Klipch or Logitechs on these.. You go w/ Active Monitors (speakers). I'd recommend either going Event TR8, Fostex PM1 or Mackies.

 

[acegazda]

Case=lian li v1100b+
PSU=seasonic s12 600w
Processor=e6600
MoBo=Intel box something
Vid card=7300gt silent
hdd=scsi raid? Seagate Cheetah.
Plextor DVD burner (hell 2 of 'em)
That's just under $2400. Add w/e you want, ATi tv wonder elite for a pvr... Have fun!

EDIT: Whoops 4got cooling... hmmm... swiftech everything. triradiator, hd280 pump and storm cpu block. I think it takes 1/2" tubing... and that'll run you like $250.
EDIT2: You'd probably be better off with a home built speaker set. Ask yoyo for a recomendation. He knows better than I do.

 

[dBTelos]

PSU=seasonic s12 600w

Don't go too crazy now

You put a 7300GT in there, a 430W S12 could handle it

 

[acegazda]

Meh... you're right. Kick the psu down a notch.

 

[dBTelos]

Best price I could find:

http://www.xpcgear.com/s12500.html

 

[AmigaMan]

if you have the money, why don't you just buy a pre-built workstation from Lenovo, Dell or Apple? Unless you really want the PC-building experience. A MacPro in it's default configuration sounds like it would work for you. If you don't want OSX, just install XP.

 

[dBTelos]

AmigaMan, the usual Apple fanboy? With the usual "get an Apple, you can install XP on it!" mentality?

 

[AmigaMan]

Originally posted by: dBTelos
AmigaMan, the usual Apple fanboy? With the usual "get an Apple, you can install XP on it!" mentality?

Not quite a fanboy, I just appreciate good OS's, hence my nick. But you can't say that having more options is a bad thing.
While I'm not gonna try and shove a Mac down anyone's throat...I will suggest it in certain cases. This happens to be one of those cases where a Mac might make sense.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: acegazda
Case=lian li v1100b+
PSU=seasonic s12 600w
Processor=e6600
MoBo=Intel box something
Vid card=7300gt silent
hdd=scsi raid? Seagate Cheetah.
Plextor DVD burner (hell 2 of 'em)
That's just under $2400. Add w/e you want, ATi tv wonder elite for a pvr... Have fun!

EDIT: Whoops 4got cooling... hmmm... swiftech everything. triradiator, hd280 pump and storm cpu block. I think it takes 1/2" tubing... and that'll run you like $250.
EDIT2: You'd probably be better off with a home built speaker set. Ask yoyo for a recomendation. He knows better than I do.

If he really wants to get into sound mixing / composing, I hope he already has an idea of what he wants to use.