PC Build For Music Production

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adem4
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PC Build For Music Production

Post by adem4 » Wed Aug 08, 2018 8:48 pm

So! Here's the deal, I'm a bedroom music producer currently building a computer for my passion, I want quietness more for the sake of it, I'll record now and then but main purpose is monitoring/producing. I have audio treatment so noise floor is very low, I am also building a surround sound system.

Here are the components:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/jv3zFt


CPU AMD Ryzen 7 2700x 3.7 GHz

CPU Cooler be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4

RAM G Skill Tridentz RGB 16GB 3200 MHz CL14 (8x2)

Motherboard Asus ROG Crosshair Hero VII

Storage Samsung 960 EVO 1TB

GPU MSI GeForce GTX 1060 6GB

Display Asus ROG Swift PG279Q IPS 4ms 144 Hz QHD

Power Supplier Corsair RM650i

Case NZXT H700i ATX Mid Tower Case

I went with the MSI 1060 because I read it is the quieter 1060 there is, the RM650i has fan control and low output level (18.3 dB). I also chose transitioning from HD to SSD for lower noise and faster transfer times while compromising on storage space, 1TB will be though and I will have to make it work, but that'll force me to stay organized, if things get out of control I'll upgrade to 2TB.

Still researching on CPU cooler, I was suggested the Dark Rock Pro 4 so that's the one I'm settling in for now, haven't researched MOBO and RAM noise output until now, also haven't researched a lot on the case, I love the NZXT esthetic so I'd really like to make it work with some of their models.

That's it, I'd like to know what CPU cooler you suggest and if the build is a good silent build, thank you for your time

Oh and will I need case fans?

CA_Steve
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Re: PC Build For Music Production

Post by CA_Steve » Thu Aug 09, 2018 4:43 am

Welcome to SPCR.

Some quick comments...

be quiet! cooler: should work ok. Might not be the absolute best in thermal performance, but the low rpm fans should be inaudible during live mic sessions.

RAM: might have a height conflict with cooler and closest RAM slot. Be sure to look at Asus' RAM qualified vendor list as AMD CPUs/mobo's are a bit twitchy.

PSU: You might consider the RM650x (2018) as an alternative. Cheaper, passive fan for your loads.

Storage: If 1TB storage is tight...consider a different strategy. Go with the 500GB 960/970 EVO NVME M.2 drive for your OS/Apps/scratrch disk and use a cheaper SATA drive (860 Evo or Crucial MX500) for data storage. What's your backup storage plan?

GPU: good gfx card if you need it...what apps will require this gaming card?

Abula
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Re: PC Build For Music Production

Post by Abula » Thu Aug 09, 2018 10:25 am

adem4 wrote:Still researching on CPU cooler, I was suggested the Dark Rock Pro 4 so that's the one I'm settling in for now, haven't researched MOBO and RAM noise output until now, also haven't researched a lot on the case, I love the NZXT esthetic so I'd really like to make it work with some of their models.
That's it, I'd like to know what CPU cooler you suggest and if the build is a good silent build
The case seems to have a huge clearance for CPU cooler, i would suggest to take a look into Thermalright True Spirit 140 Power to me $50 is where the best coolers for the money are, but if you want to spend more, Thermalright Le Grand Macho.
adem4 wrote:Oh and will I need case fans?
You should first test whats included, if you dont like it or need more airflow, then consider the following.
For 120mm: Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM (secondary if you are not into noctua colors and want to match the case, Phanteks PH-F120MP_BK_PWM)
For 140mm: BeQuiet! SILENTWINGS3 PWM BL067 (secondary, in case you want to match the case, a very good fan imo Thermlaright TY147A SQ).

I agree with steve into going RMx series, its a good PSU, if you were to want a higher efficieny PSU, consider Seasonic Prime Ultra Titanuim, to me the best PSU on the market.

Btw wondering about the choice of monitor, if you game its a great monitor, but if you dont you can find a cheaper alternative. Now if you dont game, nor use the cuda cores of the gpu, then i would suggest to wait a month or two for intel i9 9900K, which should be a 4-5ghz 8core with iGPU.

adem4
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Re: PC Build For Music Production

Post by adem4 » Mon Aug 13, 2018 4:37 pm

Thank you both for your answers! I'll deal with them in order

Thanks for having me, Steve!

I'm considering the Le Grand Macho since a lot of people have been suggesting it to me (and because it looks nice heheh).

About the RAM I might have a problem, the QVL only lists the F4-3200C14D-16GTZR as compatible and not the F4-3200C14D-16GTZRX wich I chose because it's supposed to work best with AMD's CPUs, someone also pointed out that I might have a height problem between the cooler and the RAM... not sure what to do about it.

Regarding the PSU, I was originally considering the RMX but thougth that the RMi was giving me more due to its fan control and low noise output, but didn't know the RMX had passive fans, can you explain better why would the RMX be better than the RMi? The passive fans mean they only turn on when absolutely necessary, right? That is reason enough for favoring it instead of the RMi?

Storage: someone in another thread suggested me purchasing a 2TB Sata SSD that would cost me virtually the same. Your suggestion is also very interesting, what do you think? Honestly the faster the better for me, just not sure if it'll pay off. I own a SSD+HD system and find it annoying to divide stuff. I currently have 1TB of external storage in a Western Digital drive, but I never got the hang of doing backups, I find it confusing, so if I lost my PC today everything would be gone (gotta fix this).

As for the GPU I will also game on this build. Workstation wise I might use it with video and image editing.

Thanks again for your response.


Thank you for your response, Abula

I'm considering the Le Grand Macho as I stated above, but there seems to be due to this year a Noctua NHd15 all black. Between those two, which would you pick?

Regarding the case fans: understood! I'll do that, I obviously liked better the aesthetic options you suggested, can't help it

PSU: 1 more point to the RMX! And I'll take a look at the Seasonic Prime Ultra Titanuim

Finally about the monitor if you read above you already know, I plan to game on it, and because of that I'll have to upgrade my GPU to a 1080 or something in 2 years, in order to drive games at QHD and take advantage of the 144 Hz refresh rate.

I know what your answer will be but I have to ask, all the components you suggested will have a quiet output right? If not possible dead quiet, fine, not looking for the absolute quieter build, just one that doesn't conflicts with the acoustics.

CA_Steve
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Re: PC Build For Music Production

Post by CA_Steve » Tue Aug 14, 2018 1:52 pm

adem4 wrote:About the RAM I might have a problem, the QVL only lists the F4-3200C14D-16GTZR as compatible and not the F4-3200C14D-16GTZRX wich I chose because it's supposed to work best with AMD's CPUs, someone also pointed out that I might have a height problem between the cooler and the RAM... not sure what to do about it.
Other than having an "X" at the end of the part number, there don't appear to be any spec differences between the two parts. height: just make sure the cooler you choose has 44mm height clearance for the RAM slots you choose to use.
adem4 wrote:Regarding the PSU, can you explain better why would the RMX be better than the RMi?
1) Cheaper. 2) decent build. 3) semi-passive fan design means the fan won't be turning when you use it for most tasks (including music production)...and may not turn on except for the most demanding video editing/transcoding/gaming tasks.

Storage: Go with you want to go with. If you have money to blow - go for a really big NVME M.2 SSD. Reality is only a few high I/O tasks will make use of the speed of the NVME drive over a SATA SSD. And yeah, you ought to figure out your backup plan.

adem4
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Re: PC Build For Music Production

Post by adem4 » Tue Aug 14, 2018 5:37 pm

Thank you

Abula
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Re: PC Build For Music Production

Post by Abula » Tue Aug 14, 2018 8:52 pm

adem4 wrote:I'm considering the Le Grand Macho as I stated above, but there seems to be due to this year a Noctua NHd15 all black. Between those two, which would you pick?
I like more Thermalright, but if you like noctua go for it, both are very capable coolers.
adem4 wrote:Regarding the case fans: understood! I'll do that, I obviously liked better the aesthetic options you suggested, can't help it
This is more a personal preference, you are the only one that will live with the outcome of your choices, but at the end you should like what you create, specially since its your money.
adem4 wrote:PSU: 1 more point to the RMX! And I'll take a look at the Seasonic Prime Ultra Titanuim
The RMx is a very solid value choice, we have seen very good feeback from owners here, the seasonic is higher end psu, but for practical purposes, the RMx is a very good value for the money.
adem4 wrote:I know what your answer will be but I have to ask, all the components you suggested will have a quiet output right? If not possible dead quiet, fine, not looking for the absolute quieter build, just one that doesn't conflicts with the acoustics.
Seems like all the choices are solid, but do remember that you need to tweak it, most of what will generate noise on your build will be fans (on absence of a mechanical hdd), but you do need to set up your fan curves and test so you end up with a quiet system, if you dont do this, running the fans at full speed will be loud.

bburk
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Re: PC Build For Music Production

Post by bburk » Mon Aug 20, 2018 1:52 pm

Good video card. I have the same one. Even gaming at 4K resolution the fans only come on in the heaviest of loads. I run 2 games at once just get the fans to kick up to make sure they're actually working.

That case maybe good. I don't know. But I swear by my Fractal Design R5. Trick I discovered that makes the difference between really quiet and just plain complete silence is leave the top center panel open. The passive cooling is enough that unless I am gaming none of the fans even come on. Even then with 2 fans in the front and one at the back (and I will admit a lot of tweaking) when gaming they don't come on enough to hear them from about 3 foot away where my computer sits. (I have annoyingly good hearing)

If you want more space in an SSD, micron makes a 2 TB, it's out there for a bit under $300. It's slow as SSD's go, but it is still an SSD and silent.

An issue I did not see you mention, but if you are producing music may be relevant. Latency in the sound hardware. I know just enough to know that this is an issue, but unfortunately not enough to really advise you about it.

adem4
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Re: PC Build For Music Production

Post by adem4 » Mon Aug 20, 2018 6:38 pm

Thank you for your responses.

I researched the SATA vs NVMe topic and realized the NVMe speed isn't a priority for me, I just needed to know how much I would lose going SATA, turns out not much, so I settled on a 2TB SATA SSD (Samsung EVO 860)!

As for me RAM someone suggested me getting the G Skill Flare that comes cheaper than the Tridentz with the same specifications (CL14, b-die, 3200), so I am considering that.
This is more a personal preference, you are the only one that will live with the outcome of your choices, but at the end you should like what you create, specially since its your money.
!!!
Seems like all the choices are solid, but do remember that you need to tweak it, most of what will generate noise on your build will be fans (on absence of a mechanical hdd), but you do need to set up your fan curves and test so you end up with a quiet system, if you dont do this, running the fans at full speed will be loud.
Thanks for the input here. I read abot MSI Afterburner and Speedfan being good softwares for doing so, but I have no experience on controlling fans or overclocking
Good video card. I have the same one. Even gaming at 4K resolution the fans only come on in the heaviest of loads. I run 2 games at once just get the fans to kick up to make sure they're actually working.
Nice to know! Can you play comfortably at 4k?
That case maybe good. I don't know. But I swear by my Fractal Design R5. Trick I discovered that makes the difference between really quiet and just plain complete silence is leave the top center panel open. The passive cooling is enough that unless I am gaming none of the fans even come on. Even then with 2 fans in the front and one at the back (and I will admit a lot of tweaking) when gaming they don't come on enough to hear them from about 3 foot away where my computer sits. (I have annoyingly good hearing)
I might've stumbled somewhere on that case... If I'm not wrong it was in a silent PC case topic, it looks very cool.

When you say the fans don't come on do you mean the case fans or? When you say with passive cooling you mean that they won't turn on unless the temperature reaches a previously defined point, right?

I'll sit about the same distance as you away from the computer, and I also have good hearing haha. That's nice to know, damm!
An issue I did not see you mention, but if you are producing music may be relevant. Latency in the sound hardware. I know just enough to know that this is an issue, but unfortunately not enough to really advise you about it.
So yeah, latency isn't really an issue as far as I'm concerned because that'll be a task for my external sound card, an Apollo Twin. From what I know, from the moment you start using an external audio card, the hardware on your PC is no longer relevant, what matters is the latency the sound card is capable of putting. Also, for producing, mixing and mastering latency isn't that big of an issue since it doesn't matter that much if there's a delay in audio, as long as quality is fine (you tweak the buffer in order to control how much sound latency you'll have vs how much processing power your CPU must have, meaning lower latencies would require a stronger PC in a heavy project). It becomes a real issue when you start recording, when a small latency makes a world of difference. If someone know better whether hardware choice influences latency or not even when using an audio interface, however, you should comment, it would be very cooooooooooooool!

CA_Steve
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Re: PC Build For Music Production

Post by CA_Steve » Mon Aug 20, 2018 7:53 pm

If you want to go down a rabbit hole, do a search on deferred procedure call latency on gearslutz..or other pro audio forums.

A good rule of thumb is to only load those PC drivers you need as they may cause an increase in DPC latency to the point where it can affect the audio processing.

bburk
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Re: PC Build For Music Production

Post by bburk » Sat Oct 06, 2018 9:47 pm

I have game settings fairly low, but play just fine at 4k. BIG caveat to make that work is I am running windows 7 (and will continue to do so until MS makes it stop working), windows 10 slows things down a LOT.

Yes, fans do not come on unless temps reach a pre-defined point. ATM I have Path of Exile running at 4k, 2 windows of Firefox, one on a 2nd monitor at 1080p, dragon naturally speaking, and a few other little background task running and NO fans are running, not the CPU fan, not the GPU fans, not the case fans, nada.

Sorry for the delay in reply, been crazy here.

Alex11223
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Re: PC Build For Music Production

Post by Alex11223 » Wed Oct 24, 2018 5:08 am

CA_Steve wrote:
adem4 wrote:Regarding the PSU, can you explain better why would the RMX be better than the RMi?
2) decent build. 3) semi-passive fan design means the fan won't be turning when you use it for most tasks (including music production)...and may not turn on except for the most demanding video editing/transcoding/gaming tasks.
Isn't it the same for RMi? afaik it's almost the same as RMx, just possible to monitor (and adjust fan a bit?) via software.

CA_Steve
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Re: PC Build For Music Production

Post by CA_Steve » Wed Oct 24, 2018 7:53 am

You deleted point 1 in the quote: Cheaper.

In summary: Both are decent PSUs, the RMx is cheaper, the RMi has monitoring and ability to set fan profile.

Derek Semeraro
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Re: PC Build For Music Production

Post by Derek Semeraro » Thu Oct 25, 2018 7:35 am

The original poster probably already built their machine at this point, but I want to be helpful for other users looking to build a PC for audio work, as well.

The build list provided looks more like a gaming build than a professional audio work build.

Asus ROG Crosshair Hero VII motherboard - double the price of most motherboards ; doesn't offer any additional benefits relevant to audio work.

GTX 1060 and 144 Hz monitor are used for games. Won't add any benefit to DAW work.

For a build that's trying to be silent, I would also recommend replacing the case fans with Be Quiets, Noctua's or decent PWM fans in general.

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