Good advice if you thinking on build DAW computer yourself!

Good advice and recommendations if you thinking on build your DAW computer yourself!

Hi all! :smiley:


For anyone that are interesting I build my computer myself and managing the systems. You get much better performance and DAW computer and you can specific quality components into your setup. You need still to know “what” quality component to add into the setup.
Also you need still have a lot of “knowhow”, how to do it so its not for everyone especially the novice user or if you have no experience with electro engineering.

I would recommend you have someone that guide you “how to do it safe” the first time. Also read up and check a lot of videos on Internet before you decide to build yourself. :wink:

Its important you don’t touch specific parts with your fingers. Otherwise you can basically destroy the electro components and everything, ending up to being a costly experiment instead.


Use high-quality antistatic gloves all the time especially working around with the CPU, memory, motherboard and cards… :wink:

Take your time “months” and gather so much info before you begin order component and building the computer. :slight_smile:
To make a great DAW computer I recommends these high-quality component manufactories.

ASUS motherboard and NVIDIA graphics cards.

INTEL, I7 CPU

Memory

CPU Water cooling
http://www.corsair.com/en/cpu-cooling-kits/hydro-series-water-cooling-cpu-cooler.html


POWER PSU 600W -1000W
http://www.seasonicusa.com/index.html
http://www.seasonicusa.com/NEW_X-series_560-660-760-850.htm


Full Tower Case- Cooler Master or Fractal Design

http://www.coolermaster.com/


SSD–only one INTEL…forget the rest

Graphic card chip- NVIDIA

Fans 12mm 14mm

Conventional harddrives
Seagate, Western Digital, SAMSUNG

OS- Windows 7 -Ultimate x64 or Windows 8.1 x64

Screens Monitors - 27# or up. SAMSUNG, NEC (BenQ - budget)

Good Luck! :slight_smile:

Best Regards
Freddie

Thanks for the advice. But the real goal here is, to find the specific hardware components for a smooth running DAW build. We all know Intel’s site, but what cpu is the best to use for a DAW build. There is 6 core and 4 cores cpu’s, and there is a big price & performance difference. Would be nice, if you you’ve listed best cpu’s… price vs. performance.

There is tons of Asus motherboards. Some of them are great for DAW’s, and other are more games boards. Some boards are great with legacy soundcards, and some are not. Again, would be nice to have more facts.

And the same for the rest of you links. Nice that you post the links, but it’s not easy to figure out what to buy when company like Corsair for instance, has lots of memory modules.

SLL

That’s what I love about forums there is always someone waiting to shoot you down in flames …

Im not upgrading but good pointers there and at least you are pointing people in the right direction , some knowledge is better than non .
Thanks for posting for others :wink:

Hi!

Fist off… I only recommend what I think its the best and what have the great value “economic” and performance wise. Its a DAW working-machine and an investment for the future, not what is the cheapest alternative on the market right now.

I has always believe its more economic in the long run and also better to build a quality machine with great performance, with quality component, that has no problem to keep up the next 3-7 years. After 7 years it will continue to perform, perhaps average; but still pretty good. :wink:



ASUS Motherboard WS -workstation
WS-series or example Dual Xeon Z9PED16 if you going to hook up physical 2x Xeon for 16core -computer
http://www.asus.com/us/Commercial_Servers_Workstations/P9X79_WS/
http://www.asus.com/us/Commercial_Servers_Workstations/P9D_WS/

http://www.asus.com/us/Commercial_Servers_Workstations/Z9PED16/



ASUS NVIDIA
600 Series or 700 series. Take and pick. I use GT 640 myself. ASUS NVIDIA cards = You can’t hear the fan even under load…extremely quiet.
http://www.asus.com/us/Graphics_Cards/NVIDIA_Series_Products/



Intel CPU I7 6core or 8core…or Xtreme or XEON if you have the budget.
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/processors/core/core-i7-processor.html

Intel Core i7-4930K @ 3.40GHz
Intel Core i7-3930K @ 3.20GHz
Intel Xeon E5-2687W v2 @ 3.40GHz


Some like AMD and I think its great that they exist too even though its not for me.
AMD much more cheap then INTEL but even 8 core AMD-cpu get “runover” with simple 4core Intel I7. It is as always, you get what you pay for.

This can be fun for everyone. Check this site to compare “performance” with example you own setup with a new build. You can also check INTEL VS AMD cpu’s, NVIDIA VS ATI etc…

Corsair- memory Vengeance, Dominator all are great series.
http://www.corsair.com/en/memory-by-product-family/dominator-platinum-ddr3-memory.html

You need to read reviews. At least 1333mHz up over 2000mHz. 2000mhz can be good with a new setup.
Install at least 16GB of RAM!



Seasonic - PSU, It doesn’t get better then this!
http://www.seasonicusa.com/NEW_X-series_560-660-760-850.htm

Choose whatever you like from X-series, Gold, Platinum series.
I use Seasonic myself. Its the best PSUs in the world, no doubt! 7 to 5 Years warranty world wide…probably last 20 years. Build with extremely high-quality component, fans etc… and gives you extreme clean power to the computer.
Its like Bugatti, Ferrari, Lamborghini…I think you get the point. :wink:



I hope I answered some of your questions. :wink:


Best Regards
Freddie

Freddie, good advice. My average life with a computer not being a slowed down annoyance has been about 5 years. Eventually, something comes along that can really make a difference but by planning as well as you suggest here, it works saving a lot of headaches and money later.

Hey Freddie, with all respect on what you’ve posted, it’s always good with some advice. What I meant was, that most of us probably know the long trusted brands - Asus, Seagate, Nvidia, Corsair etc., and can find our way to their sites. The real problem is, to find the right parts for a good, solid DAW computer. Parts/drivers that won’t introduce PDC latency, or any other problems like “noisy components” or bad stability.

It would be nice if you knew more about what proved & trusted parts we should buy, and post links. Personally I’m also looking for a new DAW computer. But I still don’t know what new motherboard to get, that won’t kill my legacy RME HDSP 9652 PCI card’s audio performance?!

SLL

Little advise about CPU and graphics.

If you only use the DAW for audio productions (no video editing, or audio for video production), then it is also very well possible to use the onboard chips from the Intel i7 series and up (not so familiar with AMD). The ‘k’ series have an Intel 4000 or HD graphics adapter on the CPU itself that can very well display software like C7 etc, without a separate Nvidia/ Ati GPU. They even support dual monitor setups (or even HDMI) depending on the MB ouput options.

I work with multimedia, so I use a GTX 650 GPU in my system, however, I had some issues with the card a while ago, and I was really surprised by the graphics coming from my i7 3770k CPU during the RMA process.

It is not advised to use built in video chipsets on computers for audio production. The built in video uses the RAM and resources of your computer - which leads to decreased performance. Lots of good info here, though - bottom line is to take your time, do your research, and build within your budget.

I recently ordered a Hackingtosh from the UK. It is now in my studio running Cubase 7.5, Logic X, with East West Libraries. Amazing machine. I bought the Pro Build Option 4 and had a second 3tb drive and it is the fastest thing I have ever seen. I also use my 17" i7 MacBook Pro but the Hackingtosh is at another level, and completely silent. I bought it, was built and shipped to Portugal in only 5 days… Here is the link. I am not promoting, just saying what i did and am very happy with the result.

I have found this thread just a couple of days after assembling my new DAW. I seem to have mostly agreed with the OP in the choice of suppliers and specifically the build (so far) is:
Motherboard - ASUS H87-Pro this is a simple no frills Intel H-87 chip board with no overclocking
CPU - Intel i7-4771 a 3.5Ghz four core
CPU Cooler - Noctua NH-U14S
RAM - Corsair Vengance CMZ16GX3M2A1600C9 ~ 16GB DDR3 1600Mb in two sticks
SDD - Samsung 840 Pro 256GB
HDD - Western Digital Blue 1TB
PSU - Seasonic X series SS-650 KM fully modular

All wrapped up in my old Llian Li 1000B aluminium case which was previously home to my last DAW powered by Pentium P4 and Windows XP. So, although this build accords the OP’s suggestions, it does show a build maybe towards the lower end of the spectrum as I am very much a hobby user, currently running 6.5. I am experimenting with Windows 8.1 and am focusing on getting the basic system integrated to see how much I can do within Cubase using the Acer T232HL touchscreen monitor currently connected to the DVI output from the Intel integrated graphics. The H87 chipset provides SATA 3 ~ 6Gb/s for the SSD and USB3 which is needed for the touchscreen. My current choice of a video card is likely to be a Sapphire Ati Radeon HD7750 Ultimate, so a departure there from the OP, as currently Radeon looks to be better than similarly priced nVidea and Sapphire instead of ASUS! I think this demonstrates that you do need to look closely at component choice and the core list is a great jumping off point both to select your own components from or to compare others to.

Just tinkering is seeing core temperatures of 25 degrees C (in 20 ambient) and about 400rpm on the 140mm CPU fan. There are no other fans in the box and so, as you can imagine it is virtually silent. Only other component is a cheap Samsung optical drive to load software. Happy to report on future progress and performance if anybody is interested.

25 degrees is ridiculously cool :astonished:.
Can’t imagine that’s under 100% load!

Absolutely! :laughing:
As I said, just tinkering at about 10% of capability. Full load tests to come as I get to grips with it…

Dave

Another option to consider. I won’t use Asus or Tyan. Too many problems. I use Wavelab for mainly audio analysis, reconstruction, and editing.

Machine:

Supermicro X9DAi (Dual Xeon MB)
2 - Intel Xeon E5-2670
Case: Coolermaster HAF XM
CPU Coolers: Supermicro coolers (replace the fans with quiet fans)
Graphics: Nvidia GTX780
Memory 64GB of Supermicro recommended memory for this MB.
Audio: I use onboard audio
C Drive(SSD): Samsung 840Pro (256 GB)
Data Drives: 2 WD 2TB RE4 drives in a RAID 1 configuration.

Max Latency as measured by the DPC Latency Checker: under 185 microseconds

This is a server-class board with audio hardware onboard and lots of USB2 and USB3 ports. Been running a year with 0 problems. It is a beast and will handle anything thrown at it. Wavelab with major plug-in running doesn’t even bog it down. I like Nvidia because lots of video software supports CUDA and not the AMD video processors.

Looking for a good audio interface card. The onboard audio is a bit noisy. Any suggestions

Hi folks
The Asus H87-PRO board you mention, I see it has PCI slots but are 64 bit. Does that mean a Delta 1010 would not work in there?

And can someone recommend a basic dual display Video card. I am currently still using a Matrox P series.

Cheers
Rob