Building a recording desktop PC...

[ParsonsMatt]

Well I have grown out of my laptop. It's having a hard time handling the recording I'm doing and it certainly won't like it when I upgrade from GPO to EWQLSO... Plus its lagging, popping, and clicking as is, even with max latency settings.

It's time to upgrade!

So I've specced this desktop out:

[http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151171

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811226020

2 of http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136074

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236050

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151035

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815124050

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134730


Right in my budget. Am I missing anything? Aside from the obvious mobo/processor, but I'm planning on getting a quad core with a decent speed once the prices come down in a few weeks.

EDIT: Parts updated

 

[Unavailable]

Took a quick look. Think you're good to go.

You'll need something for firewire if you have an interface that uses it.

Edit: I'll suggest the Q6600 for your quad. By far the best price/performance out there.

 

[AudioGeekZine]

That firewire card sounds pretty crap by the reviews.

Go for a SIIG if you want the best.

+1 on the Q6600, alternately get an i7. a quadcore with hyperthreading

 

[Glenn Fricker]

Get one of these for case/power supply.
http://www.arctic-cooling.com/pc_case2.php?idx=143

I've had one in use for the last 3 years & it's great. VERY quiet. Big, low rotation fans, acoustic decoupling from the floor, shock-mounted hard drive.... if you're building a PC for recording, it's worth your time to check out.
Noise is the enemy.

 

[AudioGeekZine]

I've got an Antec P182 and it's by far the best case I've seen for PCs.

The only thing better would be a Mac Pro case with the mostly cable free design

 

[Metaltastic]

Cable-free on the inside or outside dude?

 

[AudioGeekZine]

the drives just plug into a slot, no futzing with shitty SATA cables that fall out if you look at them wrong

 

[Torniojaws]

the drives just plug into a slot, no futzing with shitty SATA cables that fall out if you look at them wrong

You can get those for PCs to. They attach to a 5.25" slot, but I'm not sure what they are called. Maybe HDD drive bay or something like that. They're not very common, but the do exist.

Edit:
Here you go, for SATA. They're called a HDD rack.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817998032

 

[Glenn Fricker]

I've got an Antec P182 and it's by far the best case I've seen for PCs.

Doesn't really look like it's been built for low noise though.... no acoustic decoupling, no shock mounts. The almost got the power supply mounting right, though.

-0z-

 

[AudioGeekZine]

its near silent, when I put in my new heatsink on the cpu it will be even better.

I will agree it's not perfect, it is extremely well built and worth the money for sure. The next revision of this model should be very interesting.

There are rubber shocks on all the drives. Yours has 80mm fans, mine has 120mm fans, which move more air at lower speeds.
The case is several layers of aluminum with foam rubber (I believe) between, not a single sheet of aluminum like most cases.
Mine also has 11 drive bays vs 7 for yours.

Mine looks more like the Monolith from 2001, yours looks like a fridge.

 

[Metaltastic]

Mine looks more like the Monolith from 2001, yours looks like a fridge.

Hahahahaha, LET THE CASE NERD WARZ BEGIN!!!! (But in truth, I do have to agree with ya )

 

[AudioGeekZine]

And Matt is nowhere to be found. Perhaps enjoying his new pc?


maybe he said "Fuck it" and bought a Dell.

 

[ParsonsMatt]

And Matt is nowhere to be found. Perhaps enjoying his new pc?


maybe he said "Fuck it" and bought a Dell.

Sorry... I've been mucking about with this a lot actually... Saying "Fuck it" and buying a Dell is what has me in this position. Nice for internet and music listening but worthless for recording. Or maybe its just the Presonus drivers? Either way.

I've added the SIIG card to my order. I actually found a cheaper SIIG card than the no-name I had on order... go figure.

The Antec case looks GREAT. Very dark and sleek looking, would go great with my monitors and desk I might go with that. Another couple of cases I've been looking at:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811144211

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811144196

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146050

So maybe I'm a sucker for blue LEDs...

Will the prices drop much on the Intel Q6600? I'm basically looking at a $200 budget for mobo and processor at this point. Maybe more, but not by a whole lot, depending on how Christmas goes.

I do appreciate all the help! Thanks!

 

[iekobrid]

I will agree [the Antec P182 is] not perfect, it is extremely well built and worth the money for sure. The next revision of this model should be very interesting.

Do you mean the P190, or one that hasn't even hit their website yet?


I've had an original P180 sitting unopened in my garage for years. Hopefully it won't become obsolete before I can be arsed to finally use it.

 

[ParsonsMatt]

I've been doing more research... And a lot of the bench marks I'm finding are placing the Pentium E5200 pretty comparably with the Q6600. One guy even went so far as to say that you get 90% of the performance for 45% of the price.

They both use LGA 775 slots. I'm thinking I could buy the Pentium E5200 now, and when the high end LGA 775 processors are at the end of their line ( around $100 ) I'll upgrade to that. Would this be a sound idea, or is the Q6600 worth the extra $100?

I usually record symphonic metal, so LOTS of plugins and VSTi instruments.

 

[JBroll]

If that system doesn't take care of your VSTi needs it's time to start trying to figure out where your life went wrong.

Jeff

 

[ParsonsMatt]

If that system doesn't take care of your VSTi needs it's time to start trying to figure out where your life went wrong.

Jeff

Well, I'm running something like Superior 2.0 and 30 instances of GPO in more than a few of my songs... Hopefully I'll get away with less with EWQLSO.

 

[JBroll]

What kind of load does GPO...

Wait, 30 fucking instances of GPO? Did nobody ever teach you the meaning of the word "enough"? That box can probably handle it, but... are you trying to give Nightwish cheese envy?

Jeff

 

[ParsonsMatt]

Well its two instances, one ensemble or "lush" track and one solo instrument track. So 15 orchestra instruments. This is what it sounds like: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=442291&songID=6996063

Orchestra, especially brass, sounds fake as hell with GPO..

 

[Unavailable]

Are the benchmarks you're looking at for games or for media type apps?