# Making my 1st VEP Server Unit PC... any suggestions? :)



## Gaurav Raina (Apr 28, 2019)

Hi guys, trying to shift to a VEP server based system at my studio to score some tv stuff.

My client machine is Logic on a Mac Pro. 

Any suggestions what to look out for?

I dont have such a great budget, so would like to know which components take priority... RAM v/s CPU v/s MB etc etc...

Anything will really help 

Thanks


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## Ben (Apr 29, 2019)

Hi, here are my 2ct: get a good CPU, buy a descent mainboard. and get more RAM then you know you will need. And don't stick with the system defaults: Disable all power-saving features in the OS and the Bios (there is a great thread here about optimizing your rig).
CPU best price/performance is at the moment the i5 9600k, but if you have the money go for the i9 9900k. Pair it with a z370/z390 chipset.
Go for 32 GB DDR4 RAM or more.


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## Gaurav Raina (Apr 29, 2019)

Ben said:


> Hi, here are my 2ct: get a good CPU, buy a descent mainboard. and get more RAM then you know you will need. And don't stick with the system defaults: Disable all power-saving features in the OS and the Bios (there is a great thread here about optimizing your rig).
> CPU best price/performance is at the moment the i5 9600k, but if you have the money go for the i9 9900k. Pair it with a z370/z390 chipset.
> Go for 32 GB DDR4 RAM or more.



Thank You Ben. Your advice is so helpful, 
I will definitely take your advice and come back with more questions if i need.
Best,
G


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## Pictus (Apr 30, 2019)

May find some tips in my posts https://vi-control.net/community/search/13312654/


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## Gaurav Raina (May 13, 2019)

Hi
cannot find your post on Tips and if any posts on optimising windows for the server? 
Thank you
G


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## Pictus (May 13, 2019)

Try here https://vi-control.net/community/search/member?user_id=18366


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## dtcomposer (May 13, 2019)

The only thing I'd add is that depending on the libraries you might really want to go with SSD's. Maybe even more than CPU it will improve the performance of your libraries and allow you to load less into ram if you are using Kontakt. The difference between the amount of RAM you use loading at stock settings or sliding it down as low as it goes is pretty significant with bigger orchestral libraries. Obviously get the best CPU you can afford, but don't waste that power on an older mechanical drive that will make you use more ram and generally drive you nuts when you get it under load.


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## 0cme (May 13, 2019)

I'm gonna piggyback on this thread and ask about the part list I've come up with:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/hdpwdX

Is DDR4-3200 memory... uh... good? Is that a good speed?  I see faster memory out there but I'm hoping 3200 will be adequate...


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## Ben (May 13, 2019)

Slower RAM will work just fine, and you can save a lot of money. The i9 9900k officialy supports RAM up to DDR4-2666; it will work with most higher clocked RAM, but may not use its full potential. DDR4-2800 is cheaper, but provides enough speed imo.

The mainboard is ok, but you can get the same feature set for ~30-50$ cheaper.

For SSD: personally I prefere Samsung SSDs for their performance for a little higher price. At the moment I would get the Samsung 970 EVO PLUS (NVMe) and for SATA SSD the 860 EVO.


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## Gaurav Raina (May 13, 2019)

Ben said:


> For SSD: personally I prefer Samsung SSDs for their performance for a little higher price. At the moment I would get the Samsung 970 EVO PLUS (NVMe) and for SATA SSD the 860 EVO.


How is the WD Blue 1TB M.2 SSD or Transcend 1TB NVMe PCIe Gen3x4 M.2
Are they any good comparatively? Much cheaper too


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## 0cme (May 13, 2019)

Thanks Ben. I couldn't find much 2800 ram but 3000 seems just as cheap, and I swapped to a more basic Gigabyte board. Saved $100.

I liked the HP NVMe from this review, it seems like it's a good value: https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/hp-ex950-nvme-ssd-2tb,5306.html


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## Ben (May 14, 2019)

@Gaurav Raina: The WD Blue 1TB M.2 SSD is just a normal SATA SSD (not a NVMe) using the M.2 connection. Make sure your mainboard supports SATA on the M.2 connection. Also the Samsung 860 Evo is also a SATA SSD and cost even less (and Samsung has more experience with SSDs).

The Transcend 1TB NVMe PCIe Gen3x4 M.2 MTE220S looks good to me (make sure to get the version with build in DRAM cache, or else it will have not so great read/write performance). Still it is a little slower then the Samsung 970 Evo PLUS, but if you can get it significant cheaper, why not (personaly I have no experience with Transcend drives).

@0cme: Yes, the HP NVMe looks good. Costs around the same (for me) with similar performance.

General rule for all kinds of SSDs: A SSD needs ~10% free space to work as expected and it also helps that the SSD wears down more even.


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## Ben (May 14, 2019)

0cme said:


> Thanks Ben. I couldn't find much 2800 ram but 3000 seems just as cheap, and I swapped to a more basic Gigabyte board. Saved $100.


Also make sure to tune your system in Windows and the BIOS to get the most out of it. After tweaking my system I could almost double the audio load or lower my interface latency. There is a good thread here about how to tune your system.


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## Gaurav Raina (May 29, 2019)

Ben said:


> @Gaurav Raina: The WD Blue 1TB M.2 SSD is just a normal SATA SSD (not a NVMe) using the M.2 connection. Make sure your mainboard supports SATA on the M.2 connection. Also the Samsung 860 Evo is also a SATA SSD and cost even less (and Samsung has more experience with SSDs).
> 
> The Transcend 1TB NVMe PCIe Gen3x4 M.2 MTE220S looks good to me (make sure to get the version with build in DRAM cache, or else it will have not so great read/write performance). Still it is a little slower then the Samsung 970 Evo PLUS, but if you can get it significant cheaper, why not (personaly I have no experience with Transcend drives).
> 
> ...



Thank you Ben 

I will try and find the Thread on Tuning my PC Bios and Windows also.


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## Ben (May 29, 2019)

Gaurav Raina said:


> Thank you Ben
> 
> I will try and find the Thread on Tuning my PC Bios and Windows also.


https://vi-control.net/community/threads/windows-10-settings-stuff-you-can-turn-off-for-music.49446/


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## Gaurav Raina (Jun 27, 2019)

Here's the config i've been suggested. Is this good?

*Audio Server *

1. CPU - Intel i9 9900X (9th Gen. - 10 Cores, 20 threads)

2. Motherboard - Gigabyte X299 UD4 Pro (this board has 8 DIMM slots)

3. Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR4 x 4 = 64GB

4. CoolerMaster Cabinet - 590R3

5. Power Supply - Corsair CX750

6. Cooling Fan - Corsair H100X (liquid cooling)

7. Hard Drive SATA - Samsung 860 EVO 500GB SSD (I already have an M2 NVME 1TB drive i will install in this)

8. Windows 10 pro

I think i need a Graphics card with this board also. I guess Nvidia is not recommended right?

Gaurav


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## Damarus (Jun 28, 2019)

Depending on your monitor setup, you can use the integrated graphics just fine.


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## bradleybboone (Jun 28, 2019)

Gaurav Raina said:


> Intel i9 9900X


No integrated graphics on the X series chip. You’re right you’ll need a dedicated graphics card. NVidia (which I have) has driver/latency issues, I can’t speak to AMD. I disable NVidia when doing audio and run off the integrated Intel chip, but that won’t be an option on the 9900X.


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## Damarus (Jun 29, 2019)

bradleybboone said:


> No integrated graphics on the X series chip. You’re right you’ll need a dedicated graphics card. NVidia (which I have) has driver/latency issues, I can’t speak to AMD. I disable NVidia when doing audio and run off the integrated Intel chip, but that won’t be an option on the 9900X.



Yeah you're right. Read that as 9900k..


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## dzilizzi (Jun 29, 2019)

Ben said:


> General rule for all kinds of SSDs: A SSD needs ~10% free space to work as expected and it also helps that the SSD wears down more even.


I know this is true for disks that are read/write, but is this necessary for sample read only drives? This has been a question I've had as to how full I can go on sample drives. 

On another note, the QVO drives are less expensive because they have a slower write speed. However, their read speed is the same as EVO. Since sample drives only care about read speed once the samples are there, it's a good way to save a bit.


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## jbuhler (Jun 29, 2019)

dzilizzi said:


> I know this is true for disks that are read/write, but is this necessary for sample read only drives? This has been a question I've had as to how full I can go on sample drives.
> 
> On another note, the QVO drives are less expensive because they have a slower write speed. However, their read speed is the same as EVO. Since sample drives only care about read speed once the samples are there, it's a good way to save a bit.


Everything I’ve read says you can completely fill SSDs, like sample drives, that you only read. In practice, I find it useful to leave some space to allow for updates. So I try to leave 50-100GB free on 1TB SSDs. But there is nothing magical about that number.


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## dzilizzi (Jun 29, 2019)

jbuhler said:


> Everything I’ve read says you can completely fill SSDs, like sample drives, that you only read. In practice, I find it useful to leave some space to allow for updates. So I try to leave 50-100GB free on 1TB SSDs. But there is nothing magical about that number.


Thanks. This is about how much I've been leaving.


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## Gaurav Raina (Jul 6, 2019)

Thank you guys for your valuable inputs  truly....
I'm going with a cheap amd Graphics card for now.


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## Pictus (Jul 6, 2019)

Check the 500 series, they only spin the FAN when hot by doing 3D/games.
https://pcpartpicker.com/products/video-card/#c=394,420,416,395&sort=price&page=1


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