Building a music production PC

[pushedbutton]

Ok, sounds like I've had a very good offer that I might be able to extend to some UK residents, though shipping and handling might be something you'll have to sort out on your own.

Intel i7 skylake 4.0GHz (water cooled for quiet operation)
32GB *DDR4* RAM
240GB SSD (system drive)
2TB 7200rpm HDD (storage)
DVD-RW
Nvidia GeForce 970 (4GB gaming card)
Windows 10 64bit (with disc & license)
£1160 Inc vat and set up

Just a guy who I met locally so as far as I know you get a nod and wink rather than a warranty but what could go wrong, right?

[GRIFTY]

Don't you think that RAM speed has any significant impact?

TBH no. almost none at all. DDR3 is more than sufficient.

[boobytrap]

CASE: CyberPowerPC X-Titan 100 MID-Tower Gaming Case w/ Side-Window Panel

CD: 24X Double Layer Dual Format DVD+-R/+-RW + CD-R/RW Drive

CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.50 GHz Eight-Core AM3+ CPU 8MB L2 Cache & Turbo Core Technology

FAN: Phanteks PH-TC12DX Series High Performance CPU Cooler U-Type Dual Tower Heat-Sink with Dual PWM Premium Fans

HDD: 120GB SanDisk Z410 SSD + 1TB SATA III Hard Drive Combo

MEMORY: 16GB (8GBx2) DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Memory (Corsair or Major Brand)

MOTHERBOARD: GIGABYTE 970-Gaming SLI AMD 970 ATX w/ USB 3.1, Intel GbLAN, 1x M.2, 2 PCIe x16, 2 PCIe x1, 2 PCI

POWERSUPPLY: 600 Watts - Standard 80 Plus Certified Power Supply - SLI/CrossFireX Ready

VIDEO: AMD Radeon R7 360 2GB GDDR5 PCIe 3.0 x16 Video Card (Single Card)

ONLY 845 USD @ http://www.cyberpowerpc.com

[Olivier]

From what i remember an 8 core AMD FX cup only has 4 floating point processing units. Which in practice means it will be utilized the same as a 4 core hyperthreading CPU by Reason. Reason will only use the main cores (-1) on a quad core CPU.

I mean, it's cool that AMD CPUs go fast, but what you need for Reason is lots of floating point speed. AMD is still behind on IPC (instructies/second) compared to Intel. IPC also doesn't scale linearly with clock speed. So saying they are faster doesn't mean much. Sure it's less expensive per ghz, but you really get what you pay for.

For great performance in Reason (CPU wise) more cores are better.. Dont count hyperthreading cores. Also, a 4 core will have 3 used, a 6 core 5.. 8 core 7.. etc. For the best futureproof pc get a socket 2011-3 motherboard (like an Asus x99). Get a 5820 6core now and you'll outperform a newer skylake. Then in a few years upgrade you cpu to an 8core broadwell or something.

[orthodox]

MEMORY: 16GB (8GBx2) DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Memory (Corsair or Major Brand)

Never Corsair! Only Kingston ValueRAM(not HyperX) or Samsung. They at least respect JEDEC standards. Much cheaper btw.
Most vendors violate standards in order to write greater MHz value on the box. In fact, they sell you the same memory, just overclocked and overpriced.

[boobytrap]

MEMORY: 16GB (8GBx2) DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Memory (Corsair or Major Brand)

Never Corsair! Only Kingston ValueRAM(not HyperX) or Samsung. They at least respect JEDEC standards. Much cheaper btw.
Most vendors violate standards in order to write greater MHz value on the box. In fact, they sell you the same memory, just overclocked and overpriced.

I always use Kingston and never use corsair. but I thought that's a popular brand.

[Faxxer]

Reason will run just fine on AMD or intel cpu's of modern era, no need to overclock anything! (That just adds unneeded heat to the mix)

Get a quality mobo, and lots of RAM with SSD....the cpu will be fine if it's newer. (AMD is cheaper for more cores, I am an AMD fan and I run reason on the 8120 just fine with....get ready to laugh... a sound blaster Xfi card....reason runs absolutely fine on this machine.

If you don't want to spend alot on your pc, you can buy an external sound interface instead and reason will run just fine shunting the bulk of cpu to that.

note: leaving OUTLOOK running in the background with reason will cause intermittent audio degradation every so often...learn what makes the pc lag....use a clean boot option for music production if he pc has trouble running reason...freeing up all that junk makes a difference.

This is the shotgun post.

~Faxxer

[KEVMOVE02]

I'm not sure that you will get a decent ROI custom building a PC that is intended for music production. Sure, you can carefully spec out your build and probably save a few bucks by DIY, but how much time will you end up spending evaluating system performance, hoping to harness every bit of processing power? Running endless stress tests, tracking down the most recent drivers for key components, disabling and removing non essential processes, background apps and programs. To what end? If you end up not actually composing and arranging music, because you were too busy tweaking every setting and component, would it have been worth it? If you are starting with core I7 with 16 gigs of ram, there's not much else you need to create and record broadcast quality audio. Save on the purchase price of PC and focus on getting a top notch microphone, recording interface and control surface.

[MadMarcsen]

Here are my 2 cents:

CPU:
As mentioned before by another user, you can find a thread in the forums with benchmark results from various machines. As you can see there, the few AMD systems are slower than the Intel ones. Also, the more real cores you have, the performance is better.

But... problem is the price. If you have the money, than go for a 6 or 8 core Intel.

Also keep in mind, that AMD CPU's have a higer TDP, so they produce a lot more heat. Cooling can be critical and eventually noisier.

Cooler:
We have a lot of customers who think that a watercooler is more silent than an aircooler. This might be true if you build your own watercooler. But in general, the prefilled all-in-one cooler are louder than a good aircooler.

If you want a silent watercooler, expect it to be around 300$ or more for the needed components (pump, tubes etc.).

For silent aircooler look for BeQuiet, Alpenföhn or Noctua.

Also keep in mind, that your case is big enough for the cooler .

Case:
There are cases on the market which come with built in noise dampening mats and other noise reducing stuff. Don' buy a cheap one, they are really crap. BeQuiet and Nanoxia, for example, are good.

RAM:
If you go for a Haswell or Skylake CPU, the mainboards support dual-channel mode. If you want 16GB, go for 2x 8G. The CPU can than send data to both modules in parallel.

For Broadwell, Haswell-E and so on, the boards support quad-channel mode, means that 4 modules can be used in parallel. So if you want 16GB, go for 4x 4GB.

SSD/HDD:
Depends on how you use your system.

Operating System and other programs should be on an SSD.

For data, i recommend HDD. Most of the time, SSDs die suddenly and you don't have the posibility to rescue any files. If a HDD dies, you can rescue most of the time.

If you work a lot with samples, SSD for data can speed up things a lot.

So either go for SSD only and backup like hell, or buy a small SSD and a second HDD. You can, however,built a RAID system and mirror your private files. But than go for a hardware RAID because it is much more stable and safer than software RAID.

Also, m.2 SDD's are a lot faster than SATA SSDs.

For mainboards etc., EVGA is a good choice here in Germany. Good quality and, if you buy directly from the EVGA website, you get 3 or 5 years warranty with the option to extent it to 10 years .

If you have questions, feel free to ask.

[Kategra]

double post -sry

[Kategra]

Here's my benchmark results.

CPU : AMD FX 8350 4 ghz 8 core (no OC)
RAM: 2 x 4gb (single channel 1600 mhz)
motherboard: gigabyte 990fxa
OS : Windows 10 64 bit
Audio Interface: Focusrite scarlet 2i4
Buffer size: 960 samples
settings: sample rate 44100 hz cpu limit 95%
Playback stop @ Bar - 11.1.3.45, seconds - 20.3s

Changed it to asio4all driver with buffer size 2048 samples and got a second and a half extra playtime.

I am quite disappointed to say the least. Not that I have some crazy machine but still I expected it to perform a little better.
I still haven't run into such problems in my own songs though.

New custom PC:

I7 6700k s1151 4Ghz (not overclocked)
MSI Z170A SLi plus s1151 (motherboard)
Corsair Vengeance LPX 2 x 8GB 2400 mh (16gb RAM)

Focusrite 2i4 (forgot to note buffersize, but the stress test was done at minimum latency; around 3 or 4 ms)

- Song stops at 38 seconds with internet connection
- Songs stops at 53 seconds when pc is offline (!)

Pretty average result i guess for a new pc
But the increase of performance in offline mode is remarkable!!!

Had previous results that looked something like this:

•Intel i7-4790k @4.0Ghz - Not even overclocked yet!!
•16gb
•Asio Mbox2 Mini
•44100 Hz 4096 b/speed
•37.4.2.233 0:01:13:747 @ 95%
•30.3.4.130 0:00:59:443 @ 80%

I will post again if I decide to overclock. Not bad if I say so myself for a build well under €1000

It is indeed a good Friday!

Simply put, at the moment, a PC with CPU i7 4790K or 6700K and Windows OS gives you the best BANG/$. But if you can afford it... go with i7 8 core Intel - fastest desktop PC for Reason.

[Gorgon]

Don't you think that RAM speed has any significant impact?

TBH no. almost none at all. DDR3 is more than sufficient.

This is bullshit, for obvious reasons. Faster RAM = faster loading and manipulating, ergo, faster performance. If you build a new computer today with DDR3, you're out of your mind.

[Gorgon]

i would say, of all your components, really spend on your CPU. the rest you can kind of skimp on.

i recommend the cheap gfx card because it takes load off your CPU which can be invaluable when running big projects. It won't impact your performance drastically otherwise though.

This is also bullshit. Better buy a good motherboard, get a mid range CPU, it will be more than enough for now and you can upgrade for cheap later. Buy a better CPU in 1 or 2 years and you're good to go for another 4 or 5 years.

[Jivethompson]

Don't you think that RAM speed has any significant impact?

TBH no. almost none at all. DDR3 is more than sufficient.

This is bullshit, for obvious reasons. Faster RAM = faster loading and manipulating, ergo, faster performance. If you build a new computer today with DDR3, you're out of your mind.

Not entirely, though i must agree you are better off with DDR4 at this point in time, the difference of performance in Reason between 16 gb of ram and 32 gb is truly minimal and not worth the money.

[orthodox]

TBH no. almost none at all. DDR3 is more than sufficient.

This is bullshit, for obvious reasons. Faster RAM = faster loading and manipulating, ergo, faster performance. If you build a new computer today with DDR3, you're out of your mind.

It needs measuring. We're talking about the performance of sound processing, which is mostly FP calculations. Memory throughput might be enough for that and not play any role.

[svenh]

Thanks to all of you for your input! Obviously, modern computers are very complex with all their parts and it is difficult to know *exactly* how well the chosen parts will work together with the software that *I* use and in the way *I* use my software...

Anyway, I ordered parts yesterday, to build a computer based on i7 6700K. From what I have read on reasontalk and other www-sites, this seems to be the sweetspot for me with regards to cost, performance and how long it can last. With that, I ordered pretty fast memory, silent GPU, PSU and case. If anyone is interested, I can post the full spec - but maybe that is not interesting until I have run the dreaded CPU stress test...

Thanks guys!

[scifunk]

I'm having trouble running Reason on my Spectrum ZX81 - any tips?

[Olivier]

I'm having trouble running Reason on my Spectrum ZX81 - any tips?

Need more info.. can post screenshot plz ?

[GRIFTY]

ok but RAM at common ddr3 speeds is already almost instantaneous.. you're not going to get bottle necked by your ddr3 speed that's for damn sure.

you're better off upgrading your main storage to SSD, which he already is planning on ammirite???

so from there i recommend CPU first because it'll allow long effects chains and multiple synths to run concurrently.

as far as the memory amount, to get a bit specific, i recommend considering 32 GB if you're gonna be working with a lot of audio. recording, sampling, etc. if not you're fine with less.

you'll also be totally capable of having a bunch of different projects open, a million tabs open in chrome, and a media player and recycle running simultaneously without tanking your system performance too hard. if you're like me this is important

but dude memory speed is already so fast it's not even detectable.. admittedly i haven't worked on a ddr4 machine yet, like, ever. but i can't imagine it having any noticeable effect that's worth the premium pricepoint

[Gorgon]

TBH no. almost none at all. DDR3 is more than sufficient.

This is bullshit, for obvious reasons. Faster RAM = faster loading and manipulating, ergo, faster performance. If you build a new computer today with DDR3, you're out of your mind.

It needs measuring. We're talking about the performance of sound processing, which is mostly FP calculations. Memory throughput might be enough for that and not play any role.

Yeah sure, your computer isn't doing anything else but "FP calculations". Let's just call it sound processing. It also has to keep afloat an entire operating system that runs and uses resources as well. And Reason doesn't do anything in RAM of course. Nothing at all.

[svenh]

I ended up building a computer with i7 6700K. Specs shown in the stress test result: http://www.reasontalk.com/viewtopic.php ... 25#p273061

Thanks again all for your input!

[SoundStruggler]

I suggest AMD.

I suggest this too. I don't think I've had an Intel CPU since the 1990's. AMD has never failed for me.

[SoundStruggler]

I ended up building a computer with i7 6700K.

Oh, OK then. I replied too late.

[4filegate]

INTEL'S FIRST 10 [ZEN] CORE PROCESSOR!

core-i7-for-x-series-platform-product-brief.pdf

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