Building new Audio rig

[the.blode]

For the past five years I've been using a shared Desktop for office/home needs as well as for intensive home studio needs... This has resulted in a computer completely overloaded with software and performance demands, crashing regularly and overheating.

I've been toying with the idea of putting together a new desktop dedicated to my studio needs and taking a load of pressure off the shared desktop, as well as enhancing performance - and now, seeing as this shared computer finally packed it in last night, seems like the perfect opportunity to get on with it.

basically, I was just looking for some advice on hardware for this new computer. I'll be putting it together myself, but it's been a long time since I've had to look at computer hardware, so I'm a bit behind the times.

The computer I'm updating from is a Pentium 3 Overclocked to about 2.4Ghz on some Aopen mobo I can't remember anything about (originally was an ASUS but it died). 1G RAM, 6600GT and a STaudio DSP24 audio interface.. Now I'm looking for something much higher performance

The processor I was considering is the Q6600, with a 975X mobo like the Gigabyte G1975X - but this isn't set in stone. I'm open to consideration. No games or in fact ANY kind of high profile software apart from Audio and DSP is going to be on this computer, so GPU doesn't have to be top of the line. I was looking at 2-4Gig of DDR2 RAM. Cases and Cooling I really have no idea on - the same goes with PC power supplies.

I'm not an avid overclocking techhead, but some options would be nice - stable high performance is the goal.

Thanks for any help

[Technogeek]

Well the good thing is, your not going to have to spend a lot of money on a GPU becuase you don't want to game with this rig. That way you can invest other things. I would get the Q6600. It's a great CPU, and you can OC if you want. As for a good case, I would consider one that's not all about looks (as your not going to be adding lights to impress people), and look for good air flow, lots of HDD space, and price.

As for a PSU, your not going to be adding in any high end graphic cards, so you could get something around a 600w PSU, and have plenty of power for things like optical drives and HDD's. Just go with a good brand, like OCZ, PC Power and Cooling, Thermaltake.

Remember if you plan on getting 4GB of RAM, you will need a x64 bit OS.

I have a home studio, and I use the rig in my sig for all my audio/MIDI work. I have a PreSonus Firepod for my interface, and with my system, I have recorded a gutiar player, a keyboard player, a sax player, at the same time I was sending MIDI to one keyboard, and everything running though my mixer back into my PC with no issues. I also use Cakewalk Sonar 6 Pro x64 bit, and it's very fast.

Good luck, and let us know what you decided on.

[the.blode]

Okay, so how does this sound ----

CPU: Intel Q6600
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-G1975X
PSU: Corsair HX-620
GPU: nVidia 7600
Case: Gigabyte Aurora 570
Cooling: Thermaltake Silent 775
RAM: 4 x OCZ PC2-6400 (1024)
HD: 2 x Seagate 200 IDE 7200

Monitors (there'll be two) I'm still undecided about.. they don't have to be anything spectacular, I'll probably just get a couple of reasonable 19" or something.

I've just upgraded to Cubase 4 and I'm also running Reason 4, a full NI suite + Yellowstone software, a couple of hundred Plugins and virtual instruments. I guess I'll have to buy vista too, which is going to be a pain.

My (sound) monitors are being upgraded to a pair of Dynaudio BM5A and my interface to a Motu 828 or Presonus Firepod.

[Technogeek]

That looks pretty good. If your going to be saving a lot of audio files, it won't take to long to fill up those HDD's though, but they will be fine for a while. I have almost 2 TB of storage between 3 comptuers, and a network storage device. That GPU will be fine for what your wanting to do. And yes, if your wanting to use 4GB of RAM then you will need either XP x64 or Vista x64 OS. I would use Vista over XP personally.

I have seen but never used the Motu 828, but it looks like a nice device. I am using the firepod, and for what I'm doing it works fine.

Those Dynaudio monitors look great! I have two Roland DS-30A which do pretty good.

If your going to be recording with live mic's in your studio, then make sure to have as quite of a system as possible. That's where I kind of went wrong. My computer sounds like a dang jet engine, so I get a lot of noise when I'm recording with any of my decent condensor mics. I have to use filters and software to clean up my recordings.

One more thing. I just upgraded to a Acer P221w 22" monitor, and it is so nice. I am running two monitors also, one is the 22" and the other is a 19". If you can afford it, get at least one nice widescreen. It's very nice when your working with Cubase 4.