Thoughts on DAW build

Steinberg Lounge
#1

Anyone who is experienced in these things, please look at this ( posting I have in the Computer section) and let me know if you see any issues or conflicts. I need to move on this right away and that section doesn’t get much traffic. Also posted for feedback in Gearslutz and KVR. Any other builder forums come to mind let me know. Thanks

Anyone care to offer feedback on these components ,I’d really appreciate it. Similar to a recent post but moving up to the I7-3930. Adding a cooler also.

2 Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Intel Core i7-3930K Sandy Bridge-E 3.2GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 2011 130W Six-Core Desktop Processor

BX80619i73930K


LG Black 14X BD-R 2X BD-RE 16X DVD+R 5X DVD-RAM 12X BD-ROM 4MB Cache SATA BDXL Blu-Ray

Burner with SW, 3D

CORSAIR HX Series HX850 850W Power Supply

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop

Memory

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit

LIAN LI PC-Z60B Black Computer Case

EVGA SuperClocked 02G-P4-2653-KR GeForce GTX 650 2GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP
Ready Video Card

ASUS P9X79 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

User avatar
Mr M
Member

Posts: 305
Joined: 29 Dec 2010 22:07

#2

Looks like a solid build to me. I’d check some reviews on that LIAN LI case, from what I’ve seen of LIAN LI is it’s budget stuff. Not necessarily a problem, but if accoustics are important you may want to look at a case that has dampers for the harddrives and silent fans.

#3

The largest case you can get so you can work in it. Not sure about the SAndy Bridge as it had early issues that may be fixed now but also consider the newer Ivy Bridge.
Sound on Sound website and forum may be more help in this respect but in all other areas the build looks good to me.

#4

Thanks for the replies, really appreciated

#5

I wish I could help you. You may want to check daw bench or gearslutz.

I’m jealous. I would like a new system even though mine isn’t that old. Cubase has never been stable on it.

#6

Steve ,I’ve done a lot of reading over the last few months about core utilization but still no definitive real world answer.ADK has posted some great benchmarks and the 6core I7 3930 CPU does very well ,even when it’s not over locked. For me it’s a situation where I was laid off from a sales job of 14 years and a recording opportunity has landed in my lap. I just want to wow my clients when auditioning sounds and building their songs, just like I had to wow clients who were sometomes a bunch of jerks .I think some vsts are set for multi core utilization while others are yet to get there. I hope to be future proofed in this area as well as get a big boost on load times from the SSDs

Thanks for all comments

#7

Can anyone recommend a quiet case? Feedbaack on the LIAN is that it could be noisy

#8

I have an Antec Sonata III which is pretty quiet, 'might be worth checking out other models they make too.

Mauri.

#9

You might want to watch out for humidity then Steve.

#10

Steve writes
"Ah, back to Mr M’s topic, but before stopping the hijacking "

All discussion in this area is relevant AFAIC. I’m going to have a computers under my studio desk. My current Dell is dead quiet. The new daw is a wildcard: hoping all the choices work out.

#11

Computer acoustics can be a real pain.

If you have a large enough case, things are a lot easier. I have used egg crate foam inside and it works wonders. Amazing really. I dry-mounted the foam inside. If you use any foam, make sure it is open cell for better absorption. And fans… toss the bushing type and go with ball bearing. Scythe makes great fans. I have 2x 120mm and they are soooo quiet. The stock setup was one 120mm brand: “Loud As Heck”

Also, if you haven’t thought if it, get one or 2 of these and install them in your external bays:

http://www.icydock.com/goods.php?id=44

This makes backups very easy. Just insert your backup drive (no screws needed) to back up, pull the drive and there you go. It is a lot faster than firewire external boxes and cheap NAS devices.

I have a couple of these in all my computers. I always have 2 separate drives in them, all client material. When backup time comes, I pop one out, insert the backup drive then backup. Swap them back out then do the other drive. Just make sure you keep things labeled and replace the drives in the bay they came out of or Cubase will throw an error that the drive letter and file location has changed if you don’t. My backups take roughly 10-16 hours. I wonder if I can lower that somehow, but I use 1TB drives for client data and 2TB drives for backup. that are partitioned into 2 1TB partitions.

Get these too to store your backup drives in. Safe, secure and anti-static:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817994093

Oh and while you are at it, get a fire safe! :laughing:

That covers just about everything. :smiley:

#12

This site has good info on building quiet pc and a helpful forum
http://www.silentpcreview.com/

I’m very pleased with how quiet my two year old build came out.
Antec P182 case - sound insulation, bottom mount power supply, top and top back exhaust. Front inflow. Put in the quietest fans I could buy. Used a front panel fan controller the BIOS fan controller was lame. This is a negative pressure design i.e. the exhaust fans pull the air in. Thoroughly tracked down and sealed all air leaks, around the 5 1/4 drive bays mostly, so that all airflow is in through the filters. I did mount an input fan but I only turn it on when doing intense graphics, 3D rendering or video transcoding. A desktop gadget tracks CPU and video card temps. The fans are all mounted with stand off sound isolaters as are the disk drives. The Antec power supply is highly rated for efficiency and low noise.

Used a large aftermarket heat sink for the CPU. That one has a push/pull dual fan setup. Check out what’s available today.

The graphics card is an ASUS nVidia 550 with a copper heat sink and cooling pipes. It does have a fan but has a good built in temp sensor and fan speed controller.

With Cubase 5 I never need to turn the fans up and the PC is the quietest I’ve ever had.