# Building a dedicated computer



## hbs100 (Jun 6, 2019)

Hello, I am currently building a windows 10 computer dedicated to orchestral scoring 

what do you think about it ? Any advice ? Will more RAM uprgade will be possible in near future ? Cooling performances ?

Thanks for your time


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## EvilDragon (Jun 6, 2019)

Yes, you will be update RAM to 64 GB. There's also some talk about 9900K supporting up to 128 GB of RAM, but you'd need 32 GB modules for that, and see if that motherboard supports that.

I would suggest a Fractal Design case. Also that 1000W power supply is probably overkill, 750W Platinum should be perfectly fine, considering you don't have a graphics card in that list (and you don't need one because 9900K covers it decently for our purposes).

I also recommend getting Noctua NH-D15 cooler. It's a beast, but it's also quiet and cools really well, it can outperform many liquid cooling solutions. Should have no problems in getting that 9900K to work at 5 GHz across all cores.


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## hbs100 (Jun 6, 2019)

I wanted the noctua nh-d15 I just didn't find it in the list of that specific site ! Ok so it is indeed a better option !

power supply overkill ok! I am planning on adding a gpu for casual gaming in the future, but this is not the priority, is 750W still fine with that ?

Also I wasn't sure for the CPU choice, with the new AMD releases, I guess they are all fine...

So I won't be able to go past 64 GB ? My current empty template which is not even 1/2 of what I would like it to be is already 10 GB (without the purge function)

Thanks for your very fast response, it is really helpful

EDIT : correction : Noctua 15 isn't available because according to the website, it is not compatible with my build :o


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## EvilDragon (Jun 6, 2019)

I suppose D15 might have problems with the height of RAM you picked. Who knows, maybe that liquid cooler also performs well. Scroll through some reviews and compare how quiet it is compared to Noctua etc.

I suppose if you want to be absolutely sure with a graphics card update down the road, maybe 1kW is not a bad thing. But I would definitely recommend going for platinum labeled PSUs. Maybe 850W would suffice, too, if it's platinum. Do you plan to overclock?

Check the manual of the mobo you picked and see if they have UEFI updates that allow 128 GB of RAM total, or send a question to their support about that.


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## scoringdreams (Jun 6, 2019)

Invest in that RAM, it would help a lot in the long run.

+1 for Fractal Design cases, they are sick!


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## Robert_G (Jun 6, 2019)

Buy a dedicated graphics card even if it sucks if you are using cubase. Cubase is known to have issues when using onboard graphics. The steinberg website even says to have a dedicated card. You can buy the cheapest one you want...just make sure you have one.


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## Damarus (Jun 6, 2019)

Also, you could probably save some money going with 3000mhz RAM. Someone else can chime in on their experience, but I don't think you will notice a substantial difference with faster RAM (for the price).

+2 for Fractal and Noctua


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## Robert_G (Jun 6, 2019)

Damarus said:


> Also, you could probably save some money going with 3000mhz RAM. Someone else can chime in on their experience, but I don't think you will notice a substantial difference with faster RAM (for the price).
> 
> +2 for Fractal and Noctua



100% agree. You could do 2666. The amount of ram is what matters....not the speed


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## Quasar (Jun 6, 2019)

If you're not in an extreme hurry, why not wait until AMD releases Ryzen 3 on July 7? The Ryzen 9 3900x (MSRP $499) is rumored to compare favorably with Intel's $1200 i9-9920X, though of course we won't know until it's out in the wild and real-world benchmarks for DAW use are performed.

Though it's always a bad time to build a computer because in 6 months the Next Great Thing will appear, IMO now is an especially good time to wait for a bit, if you can.


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## Damarus (Jun 6, 2019)

I think @EvilDragon touched on this in another thread, but it has something to do with with way AMD designed their processors that still makes them inferior to Intel for real-time audio applications. Looking forward to the ScanPro benchmarks.

AMD is giving Intel some competition, but I still see them as the budget gaming and video/rendering solution.


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## EvilDragon (Jun 6, 2019)

Yep, due to NUMA latencies (since Zen cores are essentially multiple CPUs on a single chip), you cannot fully saturate the cores like you can on Intels, which means at lowest buffer sizes (64 samples) you can expect dropouts with CPU hitting around 70% or so. This is happening even on AMD's beefiest Threadripper (32 cores, 64 threads). Article here. Especially read the part about how they couldn't properly conduct the DAWbench VI test with Kontakt because it completely crapped out after dropouts started happening, etc. and accompanying assumption/explanation (which seems legit to me).

On the other hand, for "piano rollers", this is a non-issue since they can live with 256 or 512 samples buffer size easily... But I suspect most decent composers play in their stuff, so having low latency matters... And knowing that you cannot fully utilize your CPU at those lowest latencies is always going to hurt.


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## JohnG (Jun 6, 2019)

EvilDragon said:


> Yes, you will be update RAM to 64 GB. There's also some talk about 9900K supporting up to 128 GB of RAM, but you'd need 32 GB modules for that, and see if that motherboard supports that.
> 
> I would suggest a Fractal Design case. Also that 1000W power supply is probably overkill, 750W Platinum should be perfectly fine, considering you don't have a graphics card in that list (and you don't need one because 9900K covers it decently for our purposes).
> 
> I also recommend getting Noctua NH-D15 cooler. It's a beast, but it's also quiet and cools really well, it can outperform many liquid cooling solutions. Should have no problems in getting that 9900K to work at 5 GHz across all cores.



good advice.


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## hbs100 (Jun 6, 2019)

THANKS EVERYONE

So I have been taking your advices and updated the build







So apparently in early July 2019 AMD is dropping not only the AMD *Ryzen 9 3900X (500 $) *(I don't use the live playing @EvilDragon)
but also X570 Motherboard with PCIe 4.0 that will allow new SSDs that have 5 GB/s speed

@Quasar Anyone have an idea about the pricing of the new motherboards x570?
In case the new SSDs are out of price, what SSD do you advice me for a full SSD setup in the meantime ?

Build should be 813 + CPU (500) = 1313e and then the rest will be for the motherboard and the SSD setup

EDIT :
Gigabyte will even launch a PCIe 4 adapter that can combine 4 nextgen SSDs to go up to 15 gb/s :o 

THANKS again you provided a great help


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## StillLife (Jun 7, 2019)

hbs100 said:


> THANKS EVERYONE
> 
> So I have been taking your advices and updated the build
> 
> ...



I am in a simular situation (building a pc for music and some light gaming), and this thread is very helpfull. The only thing that remains a bit difficult for me is the choice of motherboard. I would like one with plenty (10+) usb ports, wifi/bluetooth, and good quality overall. But there are so many to choose from and I am having a hard time reading and understaning the specs. Cant even find out the number of usb ports... Anyone who has the perfect motherboard (socket 1151 - That I know) to recommend?


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## EvilDragon (Jun 7, 2019)

Why bother getting a mobo with plenty USB ports when you can always add a hub?


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## StillLife (Jun 7, 2019)

Because I am afraid a hub is not as stable as an internal one. When I plug my Maschine Jam into a hub, it sometimes crashes. Never happened when I plug it into an internal one. Might be due to that specific hub, of course, I don't know.


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## EvilDragon (Jun 7, 2019)

I suppose that would depend on how well the hub delivers power to the device (if you power the device through USB)... I have a bunch of stuff connected to my 10-port hub and nary an issue.


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## StillLife (Jun 7, 2019)

EvilDragon said:


> I suppose that would depend on how well the hub delivers power to the device (if you power the device through USB)... I have a bunch of stuff connected to my 10-port hub and nary an issue.


Yes, that might be it. The Jam is powered through USB.
Do you have a MB to recommend, EvilDragon? I already have your cooler on my list.


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## EvilDragon (Jun 7, 2019)

I don't, actually. I chose my motherboard 3 years ago, I don't wanna think about motherboards until my next machine, and when that happens, I'm gonna read the reviews before I decide. Worth going for tomshardware and anandtech reviews.

I chose an AsRock mobo and it's been decent. Not the best overclocker, but it does keep my i7-6700K at a constant 4.5 GHz all-core overclock and everyrthing is stable.


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## StillLife (Jun 7, 2019)

EvilDragon said:


> I don't, actually. I chose my motherboard 3 years ago, I don't wanna think about motherboards until my next machine, and when that happens, I'm gonna read the reviews before I decide. Worth going for tomshardware and anandtech reviews.
> 
> I chose an AsRock mobo and it's been decent. Not the best overclocker, but it does keep my i7-6700K at a constant 4.5 GHz all-core overclock and everyrthing is stable.


Thanks, will go there!


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## Damarus (Jun 7, 2019)

Just do a quick search. Seems you really can't go wrong with ASUS boards these days.


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## EvilDragon (Jun 7, 2019)

Asus, Gigabyte, AsRock, they all seem to be pretty much top-notch.


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## Pictus (Jun 9, 2019)

StillLife said:


> I am in a simular situation (building a pc for music and some light gaming), and this thread is very helpfull. The only thing that remains a bit difficult for me is the choice of motherboard. I would like one with plenty (10+) usb ports, wifi/bluetooth, and good quality overall. But there are so many to choose from and I am having a hard time reading and understaning the specs. Cant even find out the number of usb ports... Anyone who has the perfect motherboard (socket 1151 - That I know) to recommend?



For the Z390 chipset the best motherboards are the Gigabyte Xtreme/Master/Designare/Ultra/Pro.
The Xtreme/Designare have built-in Thunderbolt ports, but they do not like Thunderbolt version 1
audio interfaces, Thunderbolt 2 or 3 = OK. For the other models you can add a TB card later.

My choice would be the Designare or the Ultra.

You will have more USB ports by using the motherboard internal readers, check the manual.

I would select a case with USB-C port like this
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/VN...blackout-atx-mid-tower-case-fd-ca-def-r6c-bko


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## StillLife (Jun 10, 2019)

Thank you all. I currently have the following on my list:

Fractal design define r6 usb-c
Gigabyte z390 Ultra
i9 9900
64 gb 2666
4 tb Samsung SSD
Noctua cooler
Be Quiet! 650 watt
Gigabyte GForce gtx 1050ti Windforce

I am currently on a 2013 I74770 machine (with internal and external ssd) and really want to experience a boost in speed and performance when working in Cubase 10, Maschine, Adobe creative suite and occasional light gaming. When making music, my track count hardly exceeds 40 tracks, but I do like to use fx and some vsti's that are heavy CPU hitters (Spitfire Glass and Steel, Diva). What do you think? Would the above build make me smile? Or should I wait / is this not the time to upgrade / swap some elements for better ones?
Thanks in advance.


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## Pictus (Jun 10, 2019)

I prefer AMD GPUs, see why
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/mus...tter-amd-graphic-cards-3-card-comparison.html
For the price of Nvidia 1050ti you may get AMD 580/570
https://pcpartpicker.com/products/video-card/#sort=price&c=392,391

For cooler, Noctua NH-D15s





Noctua NH-D15S 82.52 CFM CPU Cooler







pcpartpicker.com





For PSU I like the silent Corsair CP-9020180
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Vg...-fully-modular-atx-power-supply-cp-9020180-na
Look at the review, up to +-250W the fan does nor spin and up to +-600W the noise is +- 10dBA
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/corsair-rm850x-v2-psu,5568-5.html

For backup with external drive, ICY DOCK DuoSwap MB971SP-B


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## EvilDragon (Jun 10, 2019)

StillLife said:


> Be Quiet! 650 watt



Quite suspect... If you wanna OC that 9900K, should have at least 750 or 850W. And probably Corsair, CoolerMaster, Seasonic brand.


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## StillLife (Jun 17, 2019)

Thank you, Pictus and Evil Dragon. I have had bad experiences with AMD gpu's, so I think I'll stick to Nvidea.
This should be the build, I think:
https://azerty.nl/basket/?code=YToxMDp7aToxNjA0OTk4O2k6MTtpOjIzMzE4MjA7aToxO2k6MjA5NzYwNTtpOjI7aToxNTM4Nzk4O2k6MjtpOjE0MjAwMDY7aToxO2k6MTU5MDAzO2k6MTtpOjI3MTg4OTc7aToxO2k6MjY0Mzg4NDtpOjE7aToyMzU4NjUyO2k6MTtpOjIzNjg1NzI7aToxO30=


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## Pictus (Jun 17, 2019)

You are welcome, the cooler is the wrong model, the Noctua NH-D15 *SE-AM4* is for AMD.
For the Intel it is the https://azerty.nl/product/noctua/831828/nh-d15s-koeler-voor-processor-amd--intel

Why buy a SATA SSD Samsung 860 EVO 2TB for €327,59 when you can buy a *much faster* and also *bigger endurance* NVMe SSD CORSAIR Force Series MP510 2TB https://azerty.nl/product/corsair/3698633/force-series-mp510-solid-state-drive-1920-gb for €303,95 ?

Buy the Case R6 with USB-C https://azerty.nl/product/fractal+design/3614663/define-r6-usb-c-black-towermodel-uitgebreide-atx


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## StillLife (Jun 17, 2019)

Pictus said:


> You are welcome, the cooler is the wrong model, the Noctua NH-D15 *SE-AM4* is for AMD.
> For the Intel it is the https://azerty.nl/product/noctua/683612/nh-d15-koeler-voor-processor-voor-lga1156-am2-am2--am3-lga1155-am3--lga2011-fm1-fm2-lga1150-fm2--lga1151-lga2011-3-square-ilm--lga2066-
> 
> Why buy a SATA SSD Samsung 860 EVO 2TB for €327,59 when you can buy a *much faster* and also *bigger endurance* NVMe SSD CORSAIR Force Series MP510 2TB https://azerty.nl/product/corsair/3698633/force-series-mp510-solid-state-drive-1920-gb for €303,95 ?
> ...


Brilliant, thank you!


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