# PC DAW building experts- can you look at my list of parts for my upcoming build?



## quantum7 (May 5, 2018)

I'm sure a lot of you are much more PC tech-savvy than I, so wanted to see if anyone can comment about the parts I'm wanting to purchase next week to build a new DAW.

CPU-
Intel Core i9-7940X Skylake X 14-Core 3.1 GHz LGA 2066 165W BX80673I97940X Desktop Processor

MOTHERBOARD-
ASUS PRIME X299-A LGA2066 DDR4 M.2 USB 3.1 X299 ATX Motherboard for Intel Core i9 and i7 X-Series Processors

MEMORY-
CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2666 (PC4 21300) Memory Kit Model CMK32GX4M2A2666C16

POWER-
CORSAIR HXi Series HX1200i 1200W 80 PLUS PLATINUM Haswell Ready Full Modular ATX12V & EPS12V SLI and Crossfire Ready ...

CASE-
Fractal Design Define XL R2 Titanium Silent EATX Full Tower Computer Case

COOLING-
Fractal Design Celsius S36 360mm Silent High Performance Slim Expandable All-In-One CPU Liquid / Water Cooler

HD's-
C Drive- SAMSUNG 960 EVO M.2 500GB NVMe PCI-Express 3.0 x4 Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-V6E500BW
I will use my 5TB worth of SSD's from my current DAW for samples, audio, etc. for the new build.

GRAPHIC CARD- I'll re-use my GeForce GTX 980 card.

I will also be adding the ASUS ThunderboltEX 3 III PCI Express Expansion Card For Z170 X99 RAMPAGE V to go to and from my Antelope Orion 32+

Any comments or suggestions that you think that I should be aware of before purchasing would be most welcome.


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## Sopranos (May 5, 2018)

Wrong forum but sounds awesome!


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## quantum7 (May 5, 2018)

Oops...Mods, please feel free to move this if needed, but more often than not the most knowledgeable and *cool* kids hang out here. LOL


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## Gerhard Westphalen (May 5, 2018)

That processor but only 32GB? Either you don't have enough ram or that processor is completely overkill. I recently built a computer for one of the top film composers writing orchestral music with one of those and it ended up being complete overkill. Unless you have a 100GB+ template running absolutely massive orchestral cues, there's no need for it. I'd step down to the 8700k level or whatever is around nowadays because you can save a tonne on the processor and mobo. 

Power supply is also overkill. That computer will probably be using 200W. I'd get a 600W and even that will be more than enough. 

You can probably also find a much more compact case. I used a very similar one and it's unnecessarily big. Especially if you're only using SSD's. You can find ones that are almost no bigger than the size of the motherboard.


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## quantum7 (May 5, 2018)

Gerhard Westphalen said:


> That processor but only 32GB? Either you don't have enough ram or that processor is completely overkill. I recently built a computer for one of the top film composers writing orchestral music with one of those and it ended up being complete overkill. Unless you have a 100GB+ template running absolutely massive orchestral cues, there's no need for it. I'd step down to the 8700k level or whatever is around nowadays because you can save a tonne on the processor and mobo.
> 
> Power supply is also overkill. That computer will probably be using 200W. I'd get a 600W and even that will be more than enough.
> 
> You can probably also find a much more compact case. I used a very similar one and it's unnecessarily big. Especially if you're only using SSD's. You can find ones that are almost no bigger than the size of the motherboard.



Thank you for that information. I guess my thinking was that I really didn't want to do this again for at least 5 years, so the "overkill" processor was to keep things powerful still, in let's say 2023.  Of course, money saving would be nice, so I'll think about that a bit more. Power supply- Only 600 watts needed for that i9 with 5 SSD's, water cooling, and a graphics card? Yeah, I guess SSD's take virtually nothing compared to the old days of large spinning HD's. A smaller case would also be nice actually, but I thought that I would have to go that size for the i9 motherboard accommodation. I'll look into that now. Thanks!


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## quantum7 (May 5, 2018)

Would the Intel Core i7-8700K Coffee Lake 6-Core 3.7 GHz (4.7 GHz Turbo) LGA 1151 (300 Series) give me better performance over my current 4th gen Haswell...which was about the top processor in early 2014 when I bought it.


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## JohnG (May 5, 2018)

This looks expensive and, as @Gerhard Westphalen wrote, a bit out of balance with itself.

*CPU*
I personally am never buying another CPU unless it has at least a 4.x clock speed. A fast clock just seems to help with all the scripting and FX people are using these days. When purchasing a CPU, I select "very good," not "best available."

*RAM*
RAM speed doesn't seem to make a measurable difference in my work so I would get the cheapest "good" RAM for the MOBO. In other words, I haven't seen any data supporting the extra cost of DDR4 over DDR3. Also, I wouldn't build any computer today without at least 64GB of RAM (unless it's devoted to a single function; 32GB is fine for a Pro Tools rig).

*PSU*
I usually overkill PSUs but 1200 watts sounds like double-extreme-aaaah overkill.

*Boot Drive*
500GB for a boot drive is nice. If it's a slave computer I'd get half that -- 256GB; if you're going to use it for email and other functions, ok.

Good luck!

John


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## Jdiggity1 (May 5, 2018)

The 8700k would be my pick if building a new machine today.
Anything above 6-8 cores will go underutilized and those 'extreme' processors typically have lower clock speeds than what's available elsewhere. Go for clock-speed over cores (but stick to i7 or equivalent).
For what it's worth, VisionDAW are still using the 7700k for their high-end workstations, not even touching i9s.

However... the allure of the X299 boards is the higher RAM limits. Though I seem to have found my happy place at 64GB RAM recently, thanks to SSDs allowing lower buffer sizes.
My current system is based on the 6-core 5820k, which has been able to handle whatever I've thrown at it so far. I expect I'll be keeping it for a few more years.

As for a case... well you certainly have some options. And it looks like you've gone for the biggest one you can find! Was it the "silent" part that won you over?
The 'silent' cases are good, but I've found that the biggest factor in achieving a quiet system, is efficient and effective airflow/cooling. High quality fans, configured with some thought behind it as to not be competing with each other, will go a long way in noise reduction.

If you want to make use of those 5.25" bays at the front, look at the https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M0BIPYC/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A1GQQIQD0YQTUY&psc=1 (Icy Dock) drive trays. Makes it much easier to change out drives, not having to open up the case.


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## quantum7 (May 5, 2018)

JohnG said:


> This looks expensive and, as @Gerhard Westphalen wrote, a bit out of balance with itself.
> 
> *CPU*
> I personally am never buying another CPU unless it has at least a 4.x clock speed. A fast clock just seems to help with all the scripting and FX people are using these days. When purchasing a CPU, I select "very good," not "best available."
> ...




Thanks for the insight, John! 

*RAM*- Yeah, 64 gigs for the memory does make more sense these days, but believe it or not, I've been managing with 16 gigs due to needing less RAM due to my fast SSD dive streaming. But yes, I think it would be wise to go 64 gigs considering the money I'll be spending anyway. 

*BOOT DRIVE*- this is not a slave, but my main studio DAW, so the 500B is just to be safe....even though I've been managing with my current M.2 at 256GB. 

*CPU*- So are you thinking that if I want to save money and go down to the i7 instead of an i9, then an i7-8700K Coffee Lake 6-Core 3.7 GHz (4.7 GHz Turbo) would work well?

*PSU*- OK, I'll go for a 900w.


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## JohnG (May 5, 2018)

quantum7 said:


> *CPU*- So are you thinking that if I want to save money and go down to the i7 instead of an i9, then an i7-8700K Coffee Lake 6-Core 3.7 GHz (4.7 GHz Turbo) would work well?



I haven't bought a CPU just lately so I don't want to over-steer. If I were building today I'd probably go with i7-7700K or i7-8700k but I am no expert.

PM @chimuelo


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## quantum7 (May 5, 2018)

Jdiggity1 said:


> The 8700k would be my pick if building a new machine today.
> Anything above 6-8 cores will go underutilized and those 'extreme' processors typically have lower clock speeds than what's available elsewhere. Go for clock-speed over cores (but stick to i7 or equivalent).
> For what it's worth, VisionDAW are still using the 7700k for their high-end workstations, not even touching i9s.
> 
> ...



Hmm...I think that the 8700k would be the most financial "responable" way to go then. I actually have a 5820k on my DAW currently. The main reason I'm building a new DAW a year or 2 earlier than I otherwise would have is due to my motherboard having problems and needding to be replaced. I figured that if I have to go through the trouble of replacing that, I might as well just do a new build....not to mention I can then demote my old DAW to my Oculus Rift duties in the spare room (The Oculus is a great way to relax outside of music writing). Yeah, a smaller case would definitely be nicer also...as when I need to remove it to open things up, my bad back would rather have something light in weight. I'll also check on the Icy Dock. Thanks!


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## Gerhard Westphalen (May 5, 2018)

I would go with an 8700k and 64GB. If you don't need multiple graphics cards or HDX cards then I'd even try to get a mobo that's smaller than full ATX and get a smaller case. Something similar in size to a trashcan. If you get the cooling right it'll be much quieter than a trashcan. I think it should end up right at $2000 if you have all of the other SSD's already.


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## quantum7 (May 5, 2018)

Gerhard Westphalen said:


> I would go with an 8700k and 64GB. If you don't need multiple graphics cards or HDX cards then I'd even try to get a mobo that's smaller than full ATX and get a smaller case. Something similar in size to a trashcan. If you get the cooling right it'll be much quieter than a trashcan. I think it should end up right at $2000 if you have all of the other SSD's already.



Thanks again! I think I've got my i7 8700k build now figured out, but I cannot seem to find DDR3 16GB modules yet (to get 4x16gb for 64gb total). To go with Corsair Vengeance DDR4 RAM would be over $700, but John mentioned that perhaps DDR3 would be adequate- what do you think?


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## Quasar (May 5, 2018)

AFAIK 8th gen Intel CPUs are not backward compatible with anything other than 300 series chipsets, which require DDR4.


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## quantum7 (May 5, 2018)

Quasar said:


> AFAIK 8th gen Intel CPUs are not backward compatible with anything other than 300 series chipsets, which require DDR4.



That makes sense why I saw all 8th gen builds showing DDR4 on YouTube.


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## quantum7 (May 5, 2018)

OK, here is the new list with an i7 8700k....definitely saving me some serious money compared to the original i9 build. 

$2,017.79

CASE
Fractal Design Define R5 White Window Silent ATX Midtower Computer Case
$118.30 

CORSAIR RMx Series RM850x (CP-9020180-NA) 850W ATX12V / EPS12V 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Full Modular Power Supply
$129.99 

CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2666 (PC4 21300) Memory Kit Model CMK32GX4M2A2666C16
$739.98
($369.99 ea.)

Corsair Hydro Series, H115i PRO RGB, 280mm Radiator, Dual 140mm ML Series PWM Fans, Advanced RGB Lighting and Fan
$139.99 

CPU/MB combo
Intel Core i7-8700K Coffee Lake 6-Core 3.7 GHz (4.7 GHz Turbo) LGA 1151 (300 Series) 95W BX80684I78700K &
ASUS ROG Maximus X Hero (Wi-Fi AC) LGA 1151 (300 Series) Intel Z370 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 ATX Intel Motherboard 
$586.98 

SAMSUNG 960 EVO M.2 500GB NVMe PCI-Express 3.0 x4 Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-V6E500BW
Form Factor: M.2 2280 / Capacity: 500GB / Memory Components: 3D NAND / Option: 960 EV
$219.55 (5tb in SSD drives from previous DAW will also be used $0)

ASUS ThunderboltEX 3 III PCI Express Expansion Card For Z170 X99 RAMPAGE V EXTREME
$83.00

VIDEO CARD
GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 980 from previous DAW
$0


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## Quasar (May 5, 2018)

quantum7 said:


> OK, here is the new list with an i7 8700k....definitely saving me some serious money compared to the original i9 build.
> 
> $2,017.79
> 
> ...


Looks really good! There are reports (and a recent discussion on these boards) that AMD drivers are more DAW-friendly than NVIDIA, but since you already have 980, I'd do what you're doing and just throw it in. It's not a problem unless it is.

If I were building now, it would look very much like this. But I'm trying to hold on to my 5+ yo 2600/32GB (which is working fine anyway) until memory prices come down...

I like your PSU choice. I'm a big believer in not skimping on this, getting at least gold-certified from a reputable brand, and I trust Corsair. I've used both RM and HX in builds for me & others with happy results. I might even go AX next time if the price diff isn't huge.


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## Jdiggity1 (May 5, 2018)

As long as you don't need more than 6 SATA ports, it's a fine looking build.
Your cooler might block the top 5.25" expansion slot, but you might not need that anyway.


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## quantum7 (May 5, 2018)

Quasar said:


> Looks really good! There are reports (and a recent discussion on these boards) that AMD drivers are more DAW-friendly than NVIDIA, but since you already have 980, I'd do what you're doing and just throw it in. It's not a problem unless it is.
> 
> If I were building now, it would look very much like this. But I'm trying to hold on to my 5+ yo 2600/32GB (which is working fine anyway) until memory prices come down...
> 
> I like your PSU choice. I'm a big believer in not skimping on this, getting at least gold-certified from a reputable brand, and I trust Corsair. I've used both RM and HX in builds for me & others with happy results. I might even go AX next time if the price diff isn't huge.



Hmmm......AMD drivers on the Graphics card. I've also wondered if NVIDIA was causing issues.


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## quantum7 (May 5, 2018)

Jdiggity1 said:


> As long as you don't need more than 6 SATA ports, it's a fine looking build.
> Your cooler might block the top 5.25" expansion slot, but you might not need that anyway.



My current DAW only has 6 SATA ports, but luckily the M.2 boot drive helps save on having to use one of those. I currently have 5 SSD's on my SATA ports- 1x2TB and 4x1TB. That would still leave me 1 left, as nothing else should use a SATA port, correct? So I'd probably loose a 5.25 slot for the cooler, huh? Hmm....well all I really need is 1 for a DVD I'm guessing.


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## Quasar (May 5, 2018)

quantum7 said:


> My current DAW only has 6 SATA ports, but luckily the M.2 boot drive helps save on having to use one of those. I currently have 5 SSD's on my SATA ports- 1x2TB and 4x1TB. That would still leave me 1 left, as nothing else should use a SATA port, correct? So I'd probably loose a 5.25 slot for the cooler, huh? Hmm....well all I really need is 1 for a DVD I'm guessing.


Or you could just skip the optical drive slot and get an external USB DVD drive. I don't think they're terribly important anymore, and as the bottleneck is the mechanical aspect, the bandwidth doesn't matter...


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## JohnG (May 5, 2018)

can you use the built-in graphics port? Nvidia is causing problems for a lot of audio folk.


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## quantum7 (May 5, 2018)

JohnG said:


> can you use the built-in graphics port? Nvidia is causing problems for a lot of audio folk.



Unfortunately for me my MB has no built-in graphics port. D'oh! I'm tempted to get an AMD Radeon card though first just to see if my NVIDEA card is causing more of the DAW headaches I've had for the past year. Hmmm!!!


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## Gerhard Westphalen (May 5, 2018)

Considering how much money you're saving over your previous plan, I'd recommend going with 64GB reason being that ram kits often don't play well together (even from same manufacturer) so you'd likely have to buy an entire 64GB instead of just 32GB to add if you wanted to upgrade later on.


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## pderbidge (May 6, 2018)

I concur with others on getting 64GB of ram. I also think the 8700 is an great choice that balances price vs performance. I've been in IT marketing and sales for over 15 years and it surprises me how clock speed still matters. Developers have slowly been taking more and more advantage of cores but even today more than 6, I dare say even 4 cores, is just not as utilized by the software world just yet. Ram does get utilized a bit so the more the better. 64GB is the max the 8700 can handle but I wouldn't be surprised to see the need for this to increase in the future. The whole movement from a 32 bit OS to 64 bit OS was to utilize more ram, although it took the DAW manufacturers more time than everybody else to catch up to that.

Personally I don't think you'll have an issue with ram kits as long as you check the compatibility list on the Corsair site to make sure you are getting something compatible with that motherboard. 

I also think that 500GB is a minimum for a boot drive, only because I'm lazy about clearing out my temp files and freeing up disk space is something I have to do a couple time a year on my 256 drive ,plus I'm on windows so I don't know if mac handles this differently... If it wasn't too cost prohibitive I'd go 1TB, but if you were getting along fine on 256 then it sounds like 500GB will be fine for a while. 

I also prefer larger cases for better cooling and larger fans. Larger fans at lower speeds means better cooling and quieter footprint. Currently I have my pc in an adjacent room to my studio with cables routed to the studio. This keeps me from worrying about any of the issues that one might worry about in doing water cooling and it's quieter (no fan or HD noise). In this scenario I use an external blu ray player so that I have immediate access to it.

I'm kind of jealous, I've been aching to do another computer build to separate my music pc from my video editing station.


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## JohnG (May 6, 2018)

agree -- don't go with less than 64GB.


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