Computer for Music Production Needed - Help, Please.

Meek

Hi everyone,

So, I need to build a PC for music production (specifically for using a number of sound libraries--a number which will increase as the years go by). The basic essentials that I'm sure I have to have are an i7 processor, 16GB of RAM with space to upgrade to 32GB, and a soundcard / audio interface that supports ASIO drivers.

Budget is probably between €1000 and €1500 at the very most.

I'm quite new to all of this, so any help in layman's terms would be helpful.


Some further things I'm wondering about:

I was told that it would be preferable to have a 250 GB SSD to hold the OS and programs
and 2 TB magnetic HDD for the sound libraries? Would you agree? A video card with two DVI to allow me to run two video monitors has also been suggested.

I'm a little out of my depth with the lingo and what is necessary and (maybe equally as important for the budget) what is not necessary to have.

Any help you might have would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Meek.

RustyGtr

Hey man, this build is very similar build that a friend of mine is using as a studio PC.

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor (€387.76 @ Mindfactory)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler (€87.99 @ Aquatuning)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X99P-SLI ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard (€241.74 @ Mindfactory)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR4-2666 Memory (€82.56 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (€96.56 @ Mindfactory)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (€158.85 @ Mindfactory)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GT 740 2GB Video Card (€90.89 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (€107.84 @ Mindfactory)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (€92.42 @ Mindfactory)
Total: €1346.61
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-07-09 04:28 CEST+0200

That's an excellent 6-core CPU that with the Noctua fan can easily be over clocked to 4.2-4.5 GHz
If you look on Geekbench which is a program/website that runs cross platform benchmarks of the processing power of various Macs and PC CPUs, the 5820K has a multi-core score (which is the most important for music production) of 23442. The multi-core score of the highest scoring iMac is 16646, that iMac costs €3000 so you're getting 1.5 times the processing power for half the price.

SSD is perfect for installing your OS and main music production software and plugins etc.

That motherboard has USB 3.1 Type-A and Type C connectors. The type C has Thunderbolt 3 which with an adaptor can connect to Thunerbolt 1 and 2 and then with another adaptor you can connect to Firewire 800 which gives you the option of connectivity to all audio interfaces currently available.

The BLACK series WD hard drive is recommended highly for fast writing of audio compared to something lesser like the WD BLUE series or a Seagate Barracuda (the BLACK also has a 5 year warranty as opposed to 2 years for a BLUE)
The Fractal case is excellent and is one of the quietest available with great airflow, the Noctua CPU cooler fan is also very quiet.

The video card is the main thing I wouldn't know too much about and you should research more about the DVI thing, my friend who has this build has an expensive GTX 980 for video editing and rendering but for your needs something like an ASUS GeForce GT 210 SILENT video card is inexpensive and will run 2 1080p monitors with HDMI

For an interface a solid 2 preamp combo Mic/Line/Instrument starter choice would be a Focusrite Scarlett USB 2.0 2i2 it's €109 on Thomann and supports ASIO. If you need 4 or 8 mic inputs for tracking drums etc. the Scarlett line has other options. My interface is an 8 mic preamp Focusrite Liquid Saffire 56 that connects via Firewire. I've used it daily for 5 years now and I can't recommend it enough, has 2 channels of vintage preamp modelling that have different impedance settings to get the most out of your mics.

For OS I'd go with Windows 8.1, type in "Windows 8.1 tweaks for music production" on youtube and you'll find a great video for setting it up perfectly

Any questions let me know