New PC

Morgan C

Morgan C

MAX LOUD PRESETS¯\(°_o)/¯
Apr 23, 2008
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Sydney, Australia
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Sup. I'm building a new PC for audio and gaming. What do you think?

So this is my proposed build:
CPU: Intel i5-2500k
GPU: ATI 6950 2GB (bios flash to 6970)
RAM: Corsair 4x 2GB DDR3 (not sure how much the brand matters here)
Motherboard: I really have no idea where to start for this, any suggestions would be great.
Monitors: I've already got a 1920x1080 monitor as a secondary to my laptop's and I'll be getting another monitor, probably a bit smaller. Would prefer to run the games at 1920x1080 but as I said before, graphics aren't a HUGE deal to me, more playability and good frame rates in the future.
Harddrives:
Corsair F60 (60GB) SSD – for Windows OS and select programs
Seagate Momentus XT (320GB) – for data that needs to be accessed quickly, probably games and audio files.
Samsung 2TB Spinpoint F3 (2TB) – for storage

I have some leftover parts from an old desktop that I can use.. namely the case, fans and power supply (the power supply iirc is only 500w though, and I don't think this will be enough?). My dad is pretty experienced with building PCs so that should all be fine.

Oh, also any suggestions for keyboards would be great. I really like laptop keyboards. I find many desktop keyboards are too spongy/squishy/slow, and Mac keyboards are the opposite, no padding and it strains my fingers after a while.
 
The 2500k's are great. They generally overclock really well on air, too. For the motherboard, I've always just gone by which one has the best firewire chipset, obviously for my interface. I'd look toward the P67 boards personally.

As for the SSD, I'd shell out a little more for a SATA III drive. There are new models just surfacing, i.e. OCZ Vertex 3 (probably out of your price range), but they do perform notably better. Look for Crucial / Micron's new M400 / C400 pretty soon. They shouldn't really cost more than the Corsair you chose.

The Logitech illuminated keyboard feels basically like a laptop keyboard: [ame]http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Illuminated-Ultrathin-Keyboard-Backlighting/dp/B001F51G16[/ame]
I got it for a bit less with a rebate, but I really do like how it feels. It's not a mess of mushy keys like most desktop keyboards, and it's much more comfortable than the mac ones, too.

Also, is the Seagate really necessary? I feel like the access times from HDD to HDD (as opposed to SSD) are going to relatively insignificant.
 
One thing to note about the ATI cards is that they generally run hotter and noisier than the Nvidia equivalents. This was the determining factor in me buying a GTX560 SOC rather than a 6950.

Seconded regarding the Logitech Illuminated Keyboard. Mine's been going great for a while now. They don't even seem to wear the same way regular keyboards do.
 
Yeah, I would probably upgrade that power supply. Last thing you want is a bad power supply killing your components :O
What matters with power supply isn't just wattage - you have to make sure to get a trusted, reliable brand. There are extremely cheap PSUs with high watt numbers but are junk.

As far as keyboard goes, anything designated "gamer" will probably work... well, I know for a fact my G15 is an awesome keyboard. Pretty clicky, semi-loud (this is good for me as it shows it has a non spongey response) but keys that actually go down... if that makes any sense? More like an old school keyboard. Also the macro keys on these type of keyboards may allow you to get around your DAW easier.

While you're at it, why not boost the 2500 to a 2600?
 
ballstix said:
The 2500k's are great. They generally overclock really well on air, too. For the motherboard, I've always just gone by which one has the best firewire chipset, obviously for my interface. I'd look toward the P67 boards personally.

As for the SSD, I'd shell out a little more for a SATA III drive. There are new models just surfacing, i.e. OCZ Vertex 3 (probably out of your price range), but they do perform notably better. Look for Crucial / Micron's new M400 / C400 pretty soon. They shouldn't really cost more than the Corsair you chose.

The Logitech illuminated keyboard feels basically like a laptop keyboard: http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Illuminated-Ultrathin-Keyboard-Backlighting/dp/B001F51G16
I got it for a bit less with a rebate, but I really do like how it feels. It's not a mess of mushy keys like most desktop keyboards, and it's much more comfortable than the mac ones, too.

Also, is the Seagate really necessary? I feel like the access times from HDD to HDD (as opposed to SSD) are going to relatively insignificant.
Click to expand...

I'll look @ those SSDs. I kept reading that SATA 3 wasn't really worth it at this stage, I could have misinterpreted it though.

I've already got the Seagate. It's essentially as fast as a Velociraptor in most things, and that way I can just get a cheap 5400rpm for storage.

Ermz said:
One thing to note about the ATI cards is that they generally run hotter and noisier than the Nvidia equivalents. This was the determining factor in me buying a GTX560 SOC rather than a 6950.
Click to expand...

Damn, the GTX 560 SOC looks like a really good deal. How's it treating you, what kind of graphics settings are you able to run?
I can't find anywhere to buy it online or get a price ($270US I read though, around the same as 6950), where did you get yours from?
And finally.. I contemplated a 570 because of Nebula being able to run off CUDA.. but from what I've read, running Nebula off CUDA actually slows down the system rather than speeds it up. Do you use your GPU for Nebula, or jsut the CPU?

Spiritbeast said:
While you're at it, why not boost the 2500 to a 2600?
Click to expand...

From what I've read, the two are pretty much the same.. and the 2500 is arguably better for gaming. At $100 less too.
 
I recently built a new system:

CPU: i7 2600 (not interested in overclocking so not a K version)

MB: Asus P8P67 - Plenty of SATA3 6GB/s, USB3 connectivity for the price. Not good for SLI though (wasn't interested in more than 1 GPU, so it didn't bother me.)

RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB)

GPU: Gigabyte GTX560 TI OC (only oc'd to 900MHz not 1GHz like Ermin's)

HDD1 (OS): WD Caviar Black 1TB SATA3 6GB/s (wasn't too sure about the longevity of SSD drives yet)

HDD2 (Storage): WD Caviar Green 2TB SATA2 3GB/s

PS: Thermaltake EVO Blue 650W - 48Amps on the +12 V Rail

Optical Drives, etc...

There were initial problems with SATA controllers on the earlier LGA 1155 Motherboards, so that's one of the main reasons I went for the ASUS as they released a version of boards known as "REV 3.0 New P67 B3 Revision" where the issue was fixed. As I said this is not a good SLI board, but if you are only running 1 video card, it's all good.

As far as Power supplies you want something with plenty of current available on the +12V rail for your video card. This thermaltake also has a 5 year warranty. If you are going to run the 6950 you might need the 750W version with 56A on the +12V rail to ensure there is plenty of power up its sleeve.

Take a look at the following image that compares the performance between 15 and 17 processors for different tasks:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/24344836/04-pure-performance1.png

I didn't post all the parts to say "wow look at my system", just wanted to highlight what you could run off this particular Motherboard and Power Supply comfortably. :saint:
 
Morgan C said:
Fuuuuu too many choices, maybe I should just get a Mac lmao.
Click to expand...

The hardware game is constantly shifting in the PC world.

Word is that in the 3rd quarter of 2011 Intel will release a Socket 1366 successor. Whereas the current 1155 (the platform the 2500/2600s run on) is just a midrange socket replacement for the 1156. It's all a bit back-arsewards at the moment, since those midrange chips currently perform the best, but the new release should set us straight again. Word is that the first CPU released will be a native octocore. Won't help much for gaming at this stage, but certainly will for audio production.

No matter what you get, your odds are it will be taken down off the top in the not too distant future - whether it be videocard, CPU, SSD, whatever.

The GTX560 SOC is interesting. I think Gigabyte chewed off more than they could handle, because I bought two of the bastards, and both needed to be overvolted at factory clocks in order to run stably in demanding games/benchmarks. So beware when you get the factory OC models, unless you like to tweak your cards further. You never know what quality of specimen you'll get, nor whether it can handle the OC.

I bought it here in Melbourne at CPL for $305. So far seems to handle most titles at very high settings quite well. In retrospect, knowing that my board wouldn't support SLI in any practical capacity, I would have bought a 580 instead, and then a follow-up 580 when I inevitably upgrade my rig in Q3.

Good luck.
 
hmm..

I've posted this on Whirlpool (http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1684493&#bottom)
They've brought up a point which I knew about but forgot about and now I'm not sure still applies.

Is overclocking the CPU a bad idea when it comes to audio? Last I heard it makes it quite unstable and more prone to dropouts and glitches than normal. Is this still the case, even with a card thats 'designed' for overclocking like the 2500k?
 
Overclocking will only be an issue if its unstable. Just a matter of finding how far you can push things without having any hangups or heat problems. Basically its just like having the faster clocked CPU, except you may be pushing a few more volts through, and need to use an aftermarket heatsink.

The audio has no idea that its not running stock.

I run my Q6600 (yea its old) at 3.6ghz and havent had any issues with audio, and the increase in power when running ampsims is well worth it.

Also overclocking has become commercial now, so Intel and AMD have really focussed on the turbo features etc, and with the shrinking die of the physical CPU heat is less and less a problem as the speed goes up.

Whingepool may not be the best forum for PC stuff (or anything) in Oz. Try www.overclockers.com.au
 
These intels are built for overclocking, not to mention they can take some hellish punishment. With average cooling a 50% overclock is easily achievable with perfect stability, so get on with that I say. My most recent dealings with SATA 3.0 have been bad, so I would avoid just for the time being.
 
Boneman said:
Overclocking will only be an issue if its unstable. Just a matter of finding how far you can push things without having any hangups or heat problems. Basically its just like having the faster clocked CPU, except you may be pushing a few more volts through, and need to use an aftermarket heatsink.

The audio has no idea that its not running stock.

I run my Q6600 (yea its old) at 3.6ghz and havent had any issues with audio, and the increase in power when running ampsims is well worth it.

Also overclocking has become commercial now, so Intel and AMD have really focussed on the turbo features etc, and with the shrinking die of the physical CPU heat is less and less a problem as the speed goes up.

Whingepool may not be the best forum for PC stuff (or anything) in Oz. Try www.overclockers.com.au
Click to expand...

kev said:
These intels are built for overclocking, not to mention they can take some hellish punishment. With average cooling a 50% overclock is easily achievable with perfect stability, so get on with that I say. My most recent dealings with SATA 3.0 have been bad, so I would avoid just for the time being.
Click to expand...

Yeah that's what I thought. I think I'll stick with the 2500k instead of moving to the 2600.

About SATA3, that's pretty much what I've heard, or at least that it's not really worth it yet. Running a SATA2 drive into a SATA3 port has no issues though, right?
 
I've run some mastering sessions with my overclocked i7 920 with no issues. The only difference was the greatly-appreciated extra computing overhead. I'm running it at a full ghz over stock, and the temperatures with an aftermarket fan are quite manageable.

If you've got your voltages and your heat under control, you should be fine. Overclocking the 'K' series is almost fool proof anyway - you just alter the multiplier and you're off and soaring.
 
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