Motherboard and CPU for music production?

equalsql

Well my old DFI Ultra Lan Party motherboard has finally died on me, so it seems like a good time to spec myself a new CPU, motherboard and RAM bundle. I built my old system primarily for flight-simulation purposes back in 2006, and overclocked an Opteron 2Ghz up to 3Ghz, but will now be looking to rebuild the computer for primarily music recording user Reaper (or Tracktion) . I've been out of touch with the hardcore computer malarkey for a while, so am not up on the latest CPU and RAM combinations etc.
Can anyone recommend what I should be looking for as a replacement.. My price limit is about £500.

ecc83

I have just put together an Asus M5A97 R2.0 MOBO plus AMD 6300 3.5G 6core Amazon offer for £145.00 . I had 6G of DDR3 ram about anyway but I intend to up that to 8G once the plastic is back in shape!

I also bought the retail Win 7 64 bits because I was upgrading an old P4 XP jobbie.

Not the cutting edge of music PCs I know but should be ok for our limited needs. Beware if you do go for that MOBO... No VGA support! Had to spring another  30 quid for a graph card at Maplins.

I know there are some knowledgeable guys here but www.soundonsound.com will definitely know te top bllx.

Dave.

Heartfeltdawn

^^

I have the same mobo and processor as the gentleman above. Works fine, should be more than enough for your needs. 

ecc83

Heartfeltdawn said:

^^

I have the same mobo and processor as the gentleman above. Works fine, should be more than enough for your needs. 

Ooo! Snap! I had a wee problem with mine. After doing all the music optimizations I later went into Task Manager, fine, but could not get Resource Monitor to display any data. Cut a quite long short. I had turned off Aero! With it back along came RM.

I tried the same stunt on my HP i3 lappy and that was fine with Aero on or off.

BTW you cannot any longer get a modern MOBO into Save Mode by dinking the F8 button, have to go through "CMD".

But yes, all else seems slick as paint!

Dave.

digitalscream

For what it's worth, I use a Core i7 920 and <some Asus motherboard>. It's old hat (one of the really early i7 CPUs), but it's more than enough for music production when I can be arsed to reboot into Windows. I also have a Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz on my main music machine, which again...I haven't come across any problems with CPU capacity. It's probably noteworthy that I use Reaper, rather than one of the resource-hogging DAWs like Pro Tools.

I'd say go with an Intel i5 or i7 rig if you can - don't worry about going second-hand for the CPU, just make sure you get it before the motherboard if you're going on eBay (pay attention to the socket - the older ones are Socket 1366, whereas newer ones are 1156).

Don't skimp on the RAM, either. Get the most appropriate speed for the motherboard and CPU combination, but you don't need to go nuts and get the fastest you possibly can either. There's a happy medium in there somewhere

Heartfeltdawn

ecc83 said:

Heartfeltdawn said:

^^

I have the same mobo and processor as the gentleman above. Works fine, should be more than enough for your needs. 

Ooo! Snap! I had a wee problem with mine. After doing all the music optimizations I later went into Task Manager, fine, but could not get Resource Monitor to display any data. Cut a quite long short. I had turned off Aero! With it back along came RM.

I tried the same stunt on my HP i3 lappy and that was fine with Aero on or off.

BTW you cannot any longer get a modern MOBO into Save Mode by dinking the F8 button, have to go through "CMD".

But yes, all else seems slick as paint!

Dave.

Odd one that. I turned Aero off the minute I installed Windows 7, don't like the theme and it does perform better with it turned off. I'll have to play around with that next week

equalsql

Thanks for all the input folks.  
After @ecc83 and @Heartfeltdawn's recommendation of the AMD multicore processors, I've opted for what appears to be the best bang for the buck..and give me a little bit of future proofing. (I may need to go the Pro-Tools route at some point as my daughter is being taught how to use it as in  integral part of her college course)

So I'm looking at (so far)

Asus M5A97 EVO R2.0 Motherboard 
AMD FX8350 Black Edition 8 Core Processor

Corsair CMZ8GX3M1A1600C9 Vengeance 8GB (1x8GB) DDR3 1600 Mhz 

I like the Asus board cos it's got some room for overclocking, but also include two PCI slots and a Firewire connection. I did considered the Asus Sabertooth 990FX R2.0, but as Amazon are hoisting the price daily on this one (up by £8 overnight), and it's twice the price and I'm looking for stability and therefore not planning any heavy overclocking it seems a bit overkill. It also means I can save some dosh to get solid state drive.

Heartfeltdawn

Hopefully she'll use Pro Tools and realise how much nicer other DAW choices are...

What CPU fan are you going for and power supply? I'd much rather spend money on a quiet CPU fan and PSU than an SSD. My system runs very quiet indeed, can't remember which brand of PSU I went for in the end (purchase from Quiet PC) and a Noctua CPU fan. If you go with the stock CPU fan with the FX8350, you'll find it's not that quiet. 

What soundcard are you going to be using? 

ecc83

Bit more info.

I would belay buying a specialist  CPU fan. The one supplied with the 6core is very quiet. There is a Maplin case fan and one more 80mm "Be Quiet" from 'zon in the case* and I have just set my Maplin cheapo SPL meter 1/2 a meter from the (open!) case and get 25dBSPL(C) . I can hear the kettle going in the kitchen 18feet away (doors open) but I can't hear this PC! The Asus MOBO software lets you setup for "silent" fan op'.

I had intended to fit the MOBO in a Dixons Special 3G P4 xp jobbie but it was too big! The PC repair guy down the frog had a gash case to fit (no sides, cross that bridge...!) PSU 350W and quiet!, Optical drive, 30 quid!

Don't forget you need a VGA card but you do not need anything blinding for music so anything passively cooled off the net will do. Of course you might want multiple screen options?

SSD? I would have HAD I any money left! As it is I am very happy with the 1TB SATA spinner, never had much trouble with HDDs. The drive is a bit "clicky" when working hard and I need one of those acoustic drive sleeves but having trouble sourcing one. Anyone gone SSD and have one for sale?

*Maps only had the Asus HD-5450 graph card at any sensible monies and no fan. Works fine but got hotter than this old 'tronics geezer liked so I have slotted in a fan to blow it. I can now keep finger on heatsink, before, about 10 secs. "Ouch!" Over 50C.

All up this is a very quiet PC and could be made virtually "Is the fekker on???"

Dave.

Heartfeltdawn

^^

When I say 'not that quiet', I mean in relation to everything else! With the Noctua CPU fan, I can get by with no other fans in the system bar the PSU fan and the Noctua would be adequate to act as CPU fan if I upgrade to the FX8350 later this year. 

Casewise I have no regrets going for a Fractal R4. Big, easy to use, and quiet. Can't actually remember what graphics card I have. It's old, passively cooled, Radeon HD4600 from memory... 

equalsql

I've got a Zalman Copper CNPS9900A LED that I used on my old Opteron, and I believe it is compatible  with an AM3+ chip. The power supply is an OCZ 700W and I've got an old ATI HD4850 graphics card.

I used a lot of fan cooling in the case because I was overclocking up to the limit on air, and was running al ot of drives. I figure if I strip the system back to bare essentials then I won't need as much cooling and hopefully is should be much quieter.