System Spec for Music Production

Associate
Joined
26 Mar 2006
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80
Hi,

I'm looking to build a new PC which will be 100% dedicated music production machine (I have my current one for work\email\internet etc). There are some key points I would like work around when building my specification:

1) I don't need a soundcard as I have an external firewire pro audio card. I don't need a DVD-R as I have one, would like a high-speed CDR though. I don't need a monitor either as I have some already. Also I don't need a mouse.

2) This machine won't be used for gaming so a fast 2D card will be fine. I will be running 4 x 19" monitors so I will need 2 of these cards. (both with dual outs)

3) I would prefer a dual-core processor as the music applications are processor & RAM intensive.

4) I need a large internal HD which is fast & reliable (not SCSI though).

5) I have had endless problems with my ASUS SLI board (chipset fan etc) so would be interested in another motherboard maybe, but of course high quality. I don't need SLI or advanced graphics, not sure if this comes "as standard" now but of course I prefer a system without and better in other areas.

6) My budget is £600 but if I can get enough for less that would be fine. :)

Thanks Oliver :)

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Associate
OP
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26 Mar 2006
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80
Yes the cost of a MAC is very high, but maybe in the future... :)

I want to stay PC based as I have all PC based software, audio card, external hard-drives and I know my way round windows etc etc.

It was an option, but PC is the way I want to go... I can go a little higher on the price if need be but it should be enough for a high-end system without the bits listed above. :)
 
Associate
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26 Mar 2006
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67
I'm doing something exactly the same dance (ie mainly for Ableton Live/production use).

I haven't finalised everything yet but it's going to go something like this:

AMD Athlon 3700+ CPU
Artic Cooling 64 Pro CPU Cooler
ASRock DualSATA2 939 Motherboard (this wouldn't be suitable for you as it does not have firewire support out of the box, anyone know if its on the new riser card?)
2GB Corsair 3200 400MHZ DIMMs
Seagate Barracuda 250/500GB SATA HD
Antec P180 Performance One Super Midi Case

I have yet to decide on a PSU or GFX card yet.

The main thing I'm designing the system around is a good balance of power and quietness. My PC at the moment is a right noisy bas*ard and theres nothing worse than when your trying to work on a few beats and you can hear the PSU fan whirling away in the background! :(
 
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OP
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26 Mar 2006
Posts
80
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-152-AM) @ £199.69

Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR) @
£15.22

OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC3200 Dual Channel Platinum Series EL-DDR CAS2 (OCZ4002048ELDCPE-K) (MY-057-OC) @
£164.44

Hitachi Deskstar T7K250 NCQ 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (0A31636) (HD-002-HI) @ £66.39

--

These are some items that have caught my eye - any other comments?
 

daz

daz

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How important is your data to you? Will you have a backup procedure in place? It's important to make backups, but RAID1 might be an idea in addition to that because hard drives are so cheap.
 
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OP
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26 Mar 2006
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80
Yeah I am considering adding a setting up RAID1 for data protection...

I have a good backup in place using a MAXTOR 300GB F\W harddrigve which automatically syncs to my data folders every few hours. This is crucial, hence the reason its set-up.

Any more thoughts on the bits of kit I should go for?! :)
 
Associate
Joined
30 Jan 2006
Posts
570
go for dfi ultra i know its a overclocking board but ive found my friends was stable, 2gb geil value ram should be fine for what you need, get a x2 3800, antec sonta piano case are supposedly quiet though i havent tryed them
 
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