New computer build for audio production

[bradnewman]

Hi all. I am going to build a new computer for my audio production. What chipset, socket and CPU would you suggest? I don't plan on overclocking but would love the option to do so at a later date. Price is important but I do have around $1000 budget (but if we can find a sweet spot and stay under that all the better) however if for a few dollars more I end up with a much better product then so be it. I need either the board to have firewire 400 or the ability to add a firewire 400 card (to support my pro tools interface). I also need the motherboard to have a PCI Express 2.1 x16 that will hold my graphics card (ASUS Radeon HD 6870 DirectX 11 EAH6870 DC/2DI2S/1GD5 1GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16)

I like Antec power supplies and cooler master fans as they are quiet (import for an audio guy) and a coolermaster case is fine too (unless you have something else to look at)

at least 8g of ram (tho 16 would better) and a 250G SSD

Thank you all in advance for the build. If some new amazing tech is just around the corner I can wait a month or two for it to hit market. If you have any questions please let me know.

Thank you again.
Brad

 

[Burpo]

Good luck with that..
You already have more computer than you need, and an easy inexpensive motherboard will get you back up & running.
Kabylake is coming and Skylake is here, but if you really need a platform upgrade for what you do? Spend the money.

 

[bradnewman]

Burpo. I am getting the motherboard we spoke about in the other thread to fix the machine thats down. I needed to add a second computer to the studio. (I supose I could pick up a dell at best buy but I was looking for thoughts on the build for the 2nd "new" computer. I am planing on re-purposing the graphics card from the current machine to the new build as I wont need 4 monitors on both. But I wanted to be sure and let you know you didn't waste your time earlier. The P8Z68 will be an easy cheap fix and will last in that rig for what I hope to be a few years. The delux is just what I needed! Thanks for that.

 

[Burpo]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ..._Core_i5_6500_computer-_-83-159-411-_-Product

 

[zir_blazer]

For audio production, an important thing was having the lowest possible stable DPC Latency, but required a lot of manual tweaking from both BIOS options, Windows background applications and Drivers used.

Telling you what to purchase for audio production isn't easy because that's a rather unexplored domain unless you're getting advice on an specialized Hardware forum for audio.

 

[Deders]

For audio production, an important thing was having the lowest possible stable DPC Latency, but required a lot of manual tweaking from both BIOS options, Windows background applications and Drivers used.

Very much this. You won't want to overclock as this can throw DPC latency out, so you can save money by getting non OC versions of hardware, unless for instance the K model of a processor has a much higher base clock than the non K version.

 

[bradnewman]

I have been doing audio production for 21 years and have never had any issues or had to tweak BIOS settings to achieve a stable rig in sync. I do audio post to video and we do sync to timecode. But again all has worked out of the box with default settings. Perhaps this is because I use Pro Tools or because I stay away from non-legit pirated software. Either way my point in mentioning audio was more to let others know I wasn't processing video or complex animation. So they would have a rough idea of what I was doing wit the rig and that I was looking for another work horse that can stand up for another 8 years. I like the OC ability for later use as I typically replace a system I use for the home with my previous production rig. So the OC ability gives me more options down the road. The rig I am on now has been running since 2011 with only a recent motherboard swap as this one had an issue. I love the build on this as it stills feels as fast as the day I bought it and out performs new rigs most would buy today. I can run 3 monitors and a 70" TV its a dream to work on. The community here helped me put together all the great options and we changed a few things I had picked out to allow clearance in the case with the heat sink and RAM. It was and is a great build. Looking to forward to building the next one.

Thank you guys.

 

[Deders]

I would assume silence is a factor? I'd recommend Be Quiet and Noctua fans. The Noctua's are better for pushing air through things like Heat sinks. They are designed to push air and can be silent. but can make noise when pulling air through something, so for those situations Be Quiet would be better.