New music PC build

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DeathRay
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Joined: Thu Nov 21, 2013 1:41 pm

New music PC build

Post by DeathRay » Thu Nov 21, 2013 1:44 pm

I'm currently using a noisy dell core 2 duo for my music but I'm looking to build a new PC. I'm hoping someone can cast an eye over my list of bits before I order.

Here is my shopping list:

Intel Core i7-3770K CPU
Asus P8Z77-V Motherboard
Fractal Design Define R4 PC Case
Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600 Mhz
HD1: Samsung 840 EVO 256GB 2.5 inch Basic SATA Solid State Drive
HD2: Western Digital 1TB internal Hard Drive - Caviar Blue (3.5 inch)
Be Quiet Pure Power L8 530W PSU
Akasa AK-CC4008HP01 Venom Voodoo Extreme Performance CPU Cooler
LG ELECTRONICS GH24NS95 LG (24X) DVD Rewriter

This is my first PC build so I would appreciate any advice before I take the plunge. I will be using Windows 7 64 bit with Reaper. I sometimes use LASS and Ivory upright piano so I've added some extra RAM to cope with that type of thing. Initially I'll be using my Focusrite Saffire 6 USB but I'll want to upgrade soon, maybe to something like RM HDSP AIO with external pres and converters. I'll probably add larger / extra HDD later if I need more space for audio.

I'm hoping this will be a quiet PC as I will be recording acoustic instruments in the same room. I'm not sure what the case fans are like (or if this case comes with fans) but I've budgeted another £50 for a couple of quiet case fans if necessary.

Basically I'm fairly happy that this will give me enough processing power (it should be a massive improvement over the core 2 duo) but I'd like to know if I'm in the right territory for a quiet and stable PC.

The CPU cooler is going to cost £50 so I'd like to find a cheaper one if possible. Perhaps I've over specified or it's not good value.

Thanks in advance.

CA_Steve
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Re: New music PC build

Post by CA_Steve » Thu Nov 21, 2013 6:09 pm

Welcome to SPCR.

Do you work with LOTS of tracks and virtual instruments or just a handful of tracks? If the former, then the i7 could be useful, if not, then it's overkill. Also, why have you opted for last year's CPU (i7-3xxx) and not this year's (i7-4xxx)?

As this is a live mic environment, have you considered a passive build? HDPLEX makes some nice cases. The H5.TODD was reviewed here. Depending on the CPU, that case or the H.10 could be a great fit.

HDD: WD Blue isn't very quiet. WD Green or Red would be.

cooler: if you stick with a traditional case (and the R4 is nice), the Akasa isn't that quiet.

Abula
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Re: New music PC build

Post by Abula » Thu Nov 21, 2013 6:26 pm

DeathRay wrote:The CPU cooler is going to cost £50 so I'd like to find a cheaper one if possible. Perhaps I've over specified or it's not good value.
The best quiet cooler that perform very well for your money are, Thermalright HR-02 Macho Quiet/Fanless Cooler and Scythe Mugen 4 CPU Cooler: Scythe Strikes Back

Im not sure what are the best places to get hardware where you live, but here is a try at it,
Thermalright HR-02 Macho Rev.A 140mm CPU Cooler Silent Fan for Socket 775/1155/1156/1366/AMD/AM2/AM3 £39.73 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK
Scythe Mugen 4 £33.96 + £7.00 UK delivery

For the mechanical hdd i agree with steve, drop the blue in favor a green, Western Digital - 1TB Desktop SATA Hard Drive - OEM - Green £45.39 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK

DeathRay
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Joined: Thu Nov 21, 2013 1:41 pm

Re: New music PC build

Post by DeathRay » Sat Nov 23, 2013 8:48 am

Thanks both of you for the help. I do use virtual instruments and sample libraries as well as plugins for effects. I don't want to compromise power too much as this will be my main machine for tracking and mixing so I think passive might not be the best option. The ideal would be a machine that is silent when not working too hard but can be cranked up when doing more intensive tasks. I know some of the sea sonic power supplies can work in passive mode when lightly loaded.

I looked at the i7 3770s because it seems recommended for DAW builds. I have a similar thread over on gearslutz where they are saying there are heat and DPC lastency issues on the haswel processors. Not sure if this is the case for the 4770s.

I will look at those coolers. From what I can see they get good reviews. Similar for the WD green.

Thanks.

CA_Steve
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Re: New music PC build

Post by CA_Steve » Mon Nov 25, 2013 1:30 pm

The heat thing is a non-issue for non-overclocked systems, DPC latency vs. IVB on the other hand...just poked around and yep, it looks ugly. Haven't poked deeper to see if Intel resolved it, but this table from Anandtech is an eye opener. Every single Haswell board reviewed has latency of 148usec+. Boggles the mind. Sort of like the issue a few years back when Intel moved away from a native PCI controller and the bridge chip installed caused massive latency.
Image

PSU: Your stressed load power is pretty low - somewhere below 150W..and more likely under 100W with normal loads. You could go passive or get a PSU that's effectively passive at your loads. Seasonic platinum 400W for passive is a possiblility. Kingwin LZP-550 (aka Superflower Golden King 550) is a great semi-passive choice. A cheaper solution - Corsair just introduced their RM series, no fan ramp until ~40% load. They also claim better control over electronic whine.

DeathRay
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Joined: Thu Nov 21, 2013 1:41 pm

Re: New music PC build

Post by DeathRay » Mon Nov 25, 2013 11:30 pm

Thanks I hadn't seen that chart. It looks like the mobo is going to be great for my needs. I've been looking at the Silverpower 460 powersupply which is fanless and gets a superb review on the jonnyguru site for producing a high quality and stable powersupply (this really appeals to me). It's made by Seasonic apparently but I can get it for less money than the equivalent Seasonic. I'm concerned about it venting more heat into the case though. Do I nees to be concerned or with my config is it likely to be cool all of the time? I like the look of the Corsair RM650 and it's a little cheaper but doesn't seem as high a quality a supply as the Silverpower. Also the fan switching on is triggered by the load on the psu, from what I can make out (at > 40%). So basically in my config will the fans be turned off all the time anyway? Seems like a better idea to buy a totally passive or one where the fan is always on or triggered based on temperature rather than load. Another one that caught my eye is the be quiet! Dark matter pro 10 550. This is a little bit more expensive and does have a fan but reviews say it is dead quiet. The fan always spins and I don't know if this will be necessary in my system or if the heat generated will be insignificant.

Yes, I've developed an unhealthy psu ocd.

Thanks.
Last edited by DeathRay on Tue Nov 26, 2013 2:00 am, edited 1 time in total.

DeathRay
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Re: New music PC build

Post by DeathRay » Tue Nov 26, 2013 1:56 am

I've also found a cooler master silent pro gold 450w for £35 (so between 1/3 and 1/4 of the price of the others I've listed). How would this compare to those other supplies? I do wonder if I'm over specifying some of this build so it would be nice to save some money if at all possible.

boost
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Re: New music PC build

Post by boost » Tue Nov 26, 2013 7:13 am

DeathRay wrote:I've also found a cooler master silent pro gold 450w for £35 (so between 1/3 and 1/4 of the price of the others I've listed). How would this compare to those other supplies? I do wonder if I'm over specifying some of this build so it would be nice to save some money if at all possible.
The fan in this unit is has a low quiality bearing that produces audible noise. The fan runs faster than those in Seasonic or beQuiet PSUs.
Get a Seasonic G-360 if you want to save some money on a quiet sytem.

CA_Steve
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Re: New music PC build

Post by CA_Steve » Tue Nov 26, 2013 9:14 am

I don't recommend the G-360 for this system. While quiet, the fan is always on and it's not top tier quiet. Regarding passive designs and heat, the Silverpower is based on the last gen Seasonic X gold. Figure 87-88% efficiency at your loads. So, @ 100W, it's introducing 12W or so of heat into your case...not a lot. Move up to the Seasonic X-400FL and it's ~90% efficient at 100W, so 10W of waste heat. Either are a great fit.

In semi-passive land, the Corsair RM450 would work. CWT isn't doing the BEST job at producing these, but the fan-off-until-40% load means you won't hear the PSU fan while recording.

Be Quiet DPP10 has a really quiet fan. If you want to go fanned, it's a nice choice.

DeathRay
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Re: New music PC build

Post by DeathRay » Tue Nov 26, 2013 2:21 pm

Thanks. I've decided to go with the Silverpower 460W. I've also gone SSD only as I don't need a huge amount of storage and selected Thermalright HR-02 Macho for CPU cooler. I'm hoping it will be nice and quiet, cool and stable.

I will update with the results when it's assembled and tested.

CA_Steve
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Re: New music PC build

Post by CA_Steve » Tue Nov 26, 2013 2:23 pm

Have fun with your build!

DeathRay
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Re: New music PC build

Post by DeathRay » Tue Nov 26, 2013 2:28 pm

CA_Steve wrote:Have fun with your build!
Cheers. It's my first one so I'm hoping I don't fry anything or electrocute myself!

CA_Steve
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Re: New music PC build

Post by CA_Steve » Tue Nov 26, 2013 7:51 pm

Follow some basic ESD procedures so you don't zap components...especially if you have low humidity in your house.
- Before handling the mobo, CPU, etc, touch earth (ground) on something (the metal case of your current PC, perhaps). Don't go shuffling your wool stocking feet on the carpeting :)

DeathRay
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Joined: Thu Nov 21, 2013 1:41 pm

Re: New music PC build

Post by DeathRay » Wed Nov 27, 2013 1:29 am

Cheers. I will make sure I take those precautions.

I've just realized that I may not have ordered the most suitable motherboard. When I saw Asus P8Z77-V on the DPC latency table, I assumed that the one I had picked was the lowest in the list.

This is the one I've ordered: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B007 ... UTF8&psc=1

Do you know which one out of the list this corresponds to? A small amount of DPC latency is pretty important to me in this setup.

Thanks.

CA_Steve
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Re: New music PC build

Post by CA_Steve » Wed Nov 27, 2013 7:17 am

Anandtech didn't review the -V version, so it's not in the table. Here's one dude who did over at Tweaktown forums.
Image

DeathRay
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Re: New music PC build

Post by DeathRay » Wed Nov 27, 2013 2:36 pm

Wow those figures look great. Hopefully it will do the job well.

Thanks again for all your help.

DeathRay
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Nov 21, 2013 1:41 pm

Re: New music PC build

Post by DeathRay » Sat Dec 14, 2013 9:45 am

So the computer is built now and working well. The only component I haven't fitted is the cooler. I can hear the stock Intel cooler however, I currently have the computer on my desk right next to my head. I suspect that once I put the computer on the floor by the desk, it won't be noticeable. Even with the stock cooler it is very quiet. I have the case fans set to 5V using the switch on the case. I think this case is really good quality and I found it easy to route the cables in a tidy manner.

The other issue I was worried about was DPC latency. Running the DPC latency check I see figures of around 60 microseconds. I see spikes if I plug in my removable USB hard drive but I don't see any problems when this is not connected. The only problem I have is with my USB audio device. Because it is USB 1.1 it connects to the generic hub rather than the root hub and this means I can't use the very smallest buffer sizes. The lowest input latency I can achieve is 5ms although this still works well for my needs.

My shopping list, with links for folk in the UK.

Fractal Design Define R4 PC Case - White

Mother board Asus P8Z77-V

Intel 3rd Generation Core i7-3770S CPU

Corsair CML16GX3M2A1600C10 Vengeance Low Profile 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3

Silverpower 460W 80+ Gold Fully Modular Fanless Power Supply

LG ELECTRONICS GH24NS95 LG (24X) DVD Rewriter

Thermalright HR-02 Macho Rev.A 140mm CPU Cooler

Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5 inch Basic SATA Solid State Drive x 2

Asus MX239H 23-inch Widescreen AH-IPS LED Multimedia Monitor

Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad

Thanks again for all the help.

CA_Steve
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Re: New music PC build

Post by CA_Steve » Sat Dec 14, 2013 10:38 am

Congrats on your build :)

bonestonne
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Re: New music PC build

Post by bonestonne » Sat Dec 14, 2013 3:05 pm

Pretty nice build list. What made you opt for the Apple keyboard? I only ask because I did as well, made it easier to plug in my mighty mouse as well. Both work great in Windows 8.1.

I also approve of the white case!

DeathRay
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Re: New music PC build

Post by DeathRay » Sun Dec 15, 2013 8:54 am

The apple keyboard has a bit of a premium feel to it and I like the metal body. I work as a software engineer so I didn't really want something that reminds me of work! I think I will be craving a mechanical keyboard if I do any serious amount of typing but for normal use I quite like it. Yes the white case is awesome. Because it's such a large case it should just be a big box but it's actually really nice.

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