SSD for an audio drive?

[Ermz]

Hey guys,

Been a while for me, and my audio workstation is finally starting to run out of steam. I'm doing a new build soon, and wondering whether SSDs are capable of being run as audio project disks? Is it a more elegant solution than my current RAID0 array of standard drives?

Cheers!

 

[JeffTD]

Absolutely, 100%. Huge improvement over spinning platters IME.

I have two SSDs and a couple traditional platter drives in my machine; SSD1 is OS, SSD2 is 'active sessions' and then the platters are "archived work", "samples", and "system backup". That lets you get the speed of the SSD going but not be limited by space as much. An $80, 128GB Samsung 850 Evo or Pro will work perfectly fine.

 

[Ermz]

Epic. Thanks, Jeff.

 

[Terminus]

Yup just moved all my projects over to a 2nd SSD, works perfectly.

 

[MartijnPaauwe]

Highly recommend it! Prepare yourself to be stunned by how fast everything loads up with an SSD, I know I did

 

[Ermz]

While we're all here, I thought I'd get you guys to double check my proposed list of components so far: http://www.pccasegear.com/sc/CD1

I'm new to the current generation of hardware, but it seemed like the Intel Extreme processors were the only ones with more than 4 cores. Just want to make sure that this CPU, with an overclock, will be able to handle substantial sessions. I seem to be largely mixing 200-track synth metal projects with stupid plug-in counts these days. We've yet to add the smaller audio SSD drive into the cart.

 

[ForHerDeadEyes]

While we're all here, I thought I'd get you guys to double check my proposed list of components so far: http://www.pccasegear.com/sc/CD1

I'm new to the current generation of hardware, but it seemed like the Intel Extreme processors were the only ones with more than 4 cores. Just want to make sure that this CPU, with an overclock, will be able to handle substantial sessions. I seem to be largely mixing 200-track synth metal projects with stupid plug-in counts these days. We've yet to add the smaller audio SSD drive into the cart.

It's got hyperthreading, so it's weaker than 8 physical cores, but my Intel processor with 4 cores and no hyperthreading is faster than my AMD with 8 physical cores, so there's no worry.

But get an aftermarket cooler, don't use the stock one, something like this: http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=207_23&products_id=19993

 

[P-E]

I went for 32GB (4x8GB) RAM in case I ever worked on huge sessions with a lot of VST instruments (drums, piano, orchestras, various synths), seems to apply to your situation more than mine. However, 32GB of DDR4 must be ridiculously expensive.

Looking quickly on CPU Benchmark, seems like this CPU is currently the best value you could get for your system. Having tons of cores might and might not help, depending on your DAW (Cubase, IIRC?) and plug-ins' use of the many cores. (BTW for audio stuff you might want to disable the hyperthreading, I don't remember why TBH, but there was a discussion on the REAPER forum about how it was more detrimental than useful for audio applications, and I didn't notice any performance hit after disabling it.)

You surely know this already, but if you overclock, make sure you get at a decent heatsink that's also quiet enough for the studio. I'm pretty pleased with this one : http://www.bequiet.com/en/cpucooler/482 as it's a very quiet and efficient cooler, though if I had the money I probably would have gone for a liquid cooling system.

I'm also new to the newest generation of hardware, but is there any particular reason you went for a mATX motherboard?

 

[~BURNY~]

Not sure I'd trust an Asrock product as my motherboard. I've had bad experiences with that brand but that was more than a decade ago so maybe things have changed. Asus products tend to be more expensive but very reliable in my experience.

 

[Ermz]

So far this is my proposed build list:

CPU: Intel Core i7 5820K - $524 MSY
RAM: Kingston HyperX Predator 16GB 2666mhz - $355 MSY
MoBo: ASRock X99M Killer - $329 CPL
System HDD: Samsung 850 EVO M.2. 500GB SSD - $315 MSY
Audio HDD: Samsung 850 EVO M.2. 128GB SSD - $115 MSY
Storage HDD: Western Digital Green 5TB x 2 (RAID 1) - $498 MSY
CPU Fan: Noctua D15 - $108 MSY

Total: $2,244


I'm currently double checking which memory speed would be ideal to take me to a stable overclock of 4.5GHZ on the CPU. Looks like it's either 2400mhz or 2666mhz. Also checking out different motherboards in the same price range. The ASRock performs well in OC benchmarks, and has a very fool-proof auto OC feature which seems to do very stable overclocks, and I'm a bit too lazy to learn how to overclock this new gen manually, haha. It was enough of a pain getting my i7-920k up to 3.6ghz from 2.4

 

[JeffTD]

A 1tb SSD drive is a waste of money, if I'm honest. The price-point for that technology hasn't broken up that high yet, and you definitely don't need 1TB for your OS drive. I would go with 256GB if you're nervous on space but my OS drive is like 80GB or something tiny and I haven't had an issue with it. The 8TB platter drive I feel more/less the same about - you shouldn't need much more than 2TB and one of those will cost less than half as much.

The other thing to worry about is shelf-life - SSDs have a definite read/write limit, and platters all eventually crash, so investing in large storage capacities at a lower bang:buck doesn't make much sense here.

For the RAM, you might be able to find it cheaper than that - $300 seems insane for 16GB - 2x8GB sticks over here (and maybe that's the kicker) would be $150.

Agreed on not going with Asrock; Gigabyte and ASUS would be my vote for a mobo and both overclock very easily (I've got my 4770k at 4.2ghz from 3.4ghz).


*edit* your updated list in the above post fixed the drive-issues I had with the build

 

[Ermz]

The Australian Dollar is suffering quite hard at the moment, so the conversion rate for the parts is not so favorable. DDR4 from what I gather is quite dear at the moment regardless. Funny how it seems that every time I upgrade my system, RAM is at a premium. Last time I built my system there was a worldwide RAM shortage because the tsunami wiped out some of the factories that made the stuff.

I'll look again at the ASUS motherboard options. Have had a fairly solid run with them over the last couple years. FWIW, I thought ASRock essentially was ASUS rebranded.

 

[JeffTD]

Ach yeah, that makes sense; I was probably looking at stuff that would fit mine which is 1.5-2 years old, component-wise, at this point. It'll be an insane build either way; looking forward to hearing what improvements you get with the SSD audio drive.

 

[Matt-Steele]

On the X99 chipset, I couldn't imagine not just going with the 5960X. I'm in love with mine. I'm also a BIG Asus fan, running the ASUS RAMPAGE V EXTREME in my X99 rig and love it. I have the 5960X overclocked at 4.5ghz. This is the ram I'm running if you're interested... [ame]http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MPIEDZ8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1[/ame]

I agree with Jeff as well concerning the 1Tb SSD for the OS. The Samsung EVO is the way to go hands down but do you really need that much space on the OS drive? Especially when you're going to have a ton of traditional storage? Just go 500GB. If you can afford it and want the best, take a look at the Intel 750 series. I'm looking long and hard at them right now.

Good luck with your build Ermz.

 

[Ermz]

Thanks Matt, unfortunately the 5960X is ~$1,500 here in Oz. As much as I want the tax write off, I don't think I'm willing to plonk down 2/3rds of my budget on the CPU alone, haha. The Rampage V Extreme is quite dear here too. The Dominator RAM looks badass. I'll check some reviews.

Seems like you've gone completely high end on your build. Hope it's working out well. I tend to be a touch more budget conscious, as I know I'll inevitably be binning all of these parts in another 3 to 4 years, given the flow of the tech industry. I'm quite curious though, how is the 5960X handling your sessions? I have no mental benchmark for the new wave of processors, so I have no idea what level of performance increase to expect in projects.

 

[Kaleb Formz]

I have a question when you say to put those projects on the SSD for instance, do I just drag the whole (ex. presonus folder) to the SSD or do I have to also install studio one/pro tools in that drive, and just use the first drive only for OS

 

[JeffTD]

First drive = OS + programs.
Audio drive = Project files and their corresponding and .wav files.

 

[FIXXXER]

So far this is my proposed build list:

CPU: Intel Core i7 5820K - $524 MSY
RAM: Kingston HyperX Predator 16GB 2666mhz - $355 MSY
MoBo: ASRock X99M Killer - $329 CPL
System HDD: Samsung 850 EVO M.2. 500GB SSD - $315 MSY
Audio HDD: Samsung 850 EVO M.2. 128GB SSD - $115 MSY
Storage HDD: Western Digital Green 5TB x 2 (RAID 1) - $498 MSY
CPU Fan: Noctua D15 - $108 MSY

Total: $2,244


I'm currently double checking which memory speed would be ideal to take me to a stable overclock of 4.5GHZ on the CPU. Looks like it's either 2400mhz or 2666mhz. Also checking out different motherboards in the same price range. The ASRock performs well in OC benchmarks, and has a very fool-proof auto OC feature which seems to do very stable overclocks, and I'm a bit too lazy to learn how to overclock this new gen manually, haha. It was enough of a pain getting my i7-920k up to 3.6ghz from 2.4

dude, make sure they SECURE the noctua correctly!
i just had to return my 3K PC because it was damaged.

the shipping box was dropped and the weight of the cooler (over 1000gramms)+gravity did their best.

everything was bent, cooler, tower, GPU (GTX980) also sufffered from that. this all would not happen if they just secured the cooler before shiping.

sorry for the rant

 

[Ermz]

I'll be buying the parts separately and putting it together myself, so I don't think that should be an issue so long as I don't get super baked before starting the build.

 

[Kaleb Formz]

First drive = OS + programs.
Audio drive = Project files and their corresponding and .wav files.

no way, So it can be installed on the OS drive but the project folder (.wav etc.) just needs to be on the Audio drive and that speeds it up noticeably? cool. I would assume by accessing the session folder on a faster drive would make a considerable difference. But if they are both SSD's would it really make a difference accessing it on a 2nd drive?