I stuck this up on gearslutz but am also posting it here as it might help if any of you folks on here are considering building a music production PC using an AMD solution.
This is a Ryzen build for someone contructing a DAW PC on a modest budget.
The system is rock-solid with Reaper and currently not breaking a sweat with my latest project which is a 24 track midi VI and audio combination.
No services suspended and wifi and bluetooth active on motherboard.
No glitches, farts etc at 44.1Kz with ASIO setting of 128 (update) or at 96k at 128 or 64 samples.
Running 1 instance of Superior Drummer 2
2 instances of EZ Drummer
3 Omnisphere instances
1 Kontakt Player with Vintage Organs
1 Addictive Keys Grand Piano
1 Lounge Lizard EP
2 instances of Amplitube 4 with multi-pedal configs
1 instance of S-Gear
24 Console 1 instances
1 instance Waves Abbey Road Chambers
Build is:
Windows 10 Pro
Ryzen 2600x (not overclocked) with stock cooler
MSI B450 Gaming Carbon Pro AC Motherboard
Corsair CMK16GX4M2B3000C15 Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4 3000 @ 15.17.17.36
Samsung (MZ-V6E500BW) 500GB EVO PCI Express 3.0 x4 NVMe SSD (C drive)
Crucial MX500 CT1000MX500SSD1(Z) 1 TB Internal SSD (D Drive)
Zotac ZT-71302-20L NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 PCI Express 2.0 2 GB Graphics Card at 2560 x 1080 into LG Ultrawide monitor.
Corsair CC-9011023-WW Carbide Series 200R Compact ATX case.
Old Coolermaster 700W PSU.
Interace is a Roland Octa-capture with v1.51 firmware.
Build notes:
Required the latest Windows 10 image (obtained using Microsoft's media creation tool) for a stable build. An earlier version I had caused many BSDs.
Octa-capture drivers would not install until I temporarily turned off the MS antivirus and firewall services in Windows Defender.
(pronounced: equal-sequel) "I suffered for my art.. now it's your turn"
Comments
Thanks for taking the risk on my behalf
Also word from CES is that the new Zen 2 Ryzens due out later this year are pin compatible with the current boards and are expected to be both lower latency and a big whack more powerful - so the upgrade path looks good.
The 2600x was the best bang for the buck being £100 cheaper than the 2700x. It also runs at considerably lower power than the 2700x so is kinder to motherboard's vrms. The motherboard has a certain level of future proofing too as it has an additional 12v power connector which will help it cope with the next generation of AMD AM4 processors (well that's the theory anyway).
I was thinking an i7 based board, 16GB DDR4 3000, but less SS space. Thinking 3 drives, a 250GB SSD for the OS, a 500GB SSD for music, and a 1TB standard HD fro everything else (and archiving). Cost will be bumped up,m as Ill stick a half decent Graphics card in for the odd game as well. Probably a GForce 1050ti, or 1060.
Thing is, with those specs and the graphics card, its a little more than I was hoping for. Coming in at around £1400.
Any advice of getting the cost down, or streamlining the build (those SSDs arnt cheap either).
Feedback
An 8 core Ryzen 2700x and B450 chipset motherboard would cost you aroun £400 and that is a monster combo.
Some amazing wisdom on there, but a mess too
My concern is biggest bang-for-buck, and I need threads. Ergo...Intel aren't likely to figure into my thinking.
It was also specking the 2700x top speed processor. Dont know much about mother boards though - no idea what works and what doesnt, went for a B450 Elite.
As I say - same price but more SSD space and more RAM.