Building a new computer

[tsaro]

Finally got all the pieces together last month, and it's really become a monster. I tried maxing it out but gave up at some point, with CPU load at just over 70%

Did think it'd be be fast but this is just ridiculous, a lot better than expected.

Used an i7 7280x, 32 GB RAM, 1030 Windforce graphics, total being just above €1900.

If someone is interested in a parts list just let me know, as it seems to work flawlessly, though maybe with this fast succession of CPU generations piling on it could be possible to build something even faster or the same money. Not sure that would even be necessary for music production, but hey, it probably can't hurt either

[nomadjames]

I am for sure!! I am working on a 7820x build, probably with the Gigabyte Designare x299 ES Mobo...If i can find one. they're sold out.

[nomadjames]

Voodoo, what's your DAW?

[Hades]

sure, hit me with a part list

[tsaro]

Alright, tracked down the parts list:


Asus Prime X299-A

i7 7280x

be quiet! Dark Rock 3

Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3200Mhz 16GB (x2)

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050 Windforce OC 2G

Samsung 960 EVO M2 250GB

Samsung 860 EVO 500GB

WD Red WD40EFRX 4TB

be quiet! Pure Power 10 CM 700W ATX24

Fractal Design Define R5

And Bluray, card reader and some cables, standard misc stuff.


Upgraded the GFX card (black friday deal, completely forgot I did that), kind of a waste since I haven't spent more than an hour gaming since I installed it.

Used Black Viper configuraion for W10 and a few additional register tweaks, also diabled hyperthreading and a slight overclock (at 4.5 GHz), temperature stays low even though it's air cooled.
It's also really quiet, so no real need to go for liquid cooling if you're not going to OC agressively.

@nomadjames: Mainly Reaper and Mulab atm, Renoise/Mobius for creating loops and sequences, and also Samplitude and Live lite when I feel like it.

[nomadjames]

I’m pretty much headed towards a similar build with Gigabyte Designare EX, 7820X, 64GB of RAM, and NVMe drives on the MOBO, for Ableton.

Your overclock runs OK?

Why disable Hyperthreading?

[tsaro]

Don't know what you're using now, but it will probably be a greta upgrade. Couldn't be happier with it.

No problem with OC, though I didn't exactly push it hard. Temperature stays below 50 under load, so probably could push it much further with just air cooling, and down the line liquid cooling could perhaps be a nice upgrade before needing a whole new setup again.

Last time I built a system I got better performance with hyperthreading disabled, though didn't test it with this one yet... Maybe I should check out whether the programs I use now gain any advantage with it switched on, just assumed it was still the same.

[nomadjames]

Don't know what you're using now, but it will probably be a greta upgrade. Couldn't be happier with it.

No problem with OC, though I didn't exactly push it hard. Temperature stays below 50 under load, so probably could push it much further with just air cooling, and down the line liquid cooling could perhaps be a nice upgrade before needing a whole new setup again.

Last time I built a system I got better performance with hyperthreading disabled, though didn't test it with this one yet... Maybe I should check out whether the programs I use now gain any advantage with it switched on, just assumed it was still the same.

I'm upgrading from a Mid 2010 MBP. Its a i7 620M processor, which is dual core, 2.66GHZ, with 8GB of RAM, LOL! it's gonna smoke that shit. Will be like a whole new world for me.

[timc3]

How much RAM do you guys use with a typical session? The price of RAM these days is crazy so I was wondering whether you often go over 16Gb?

More is nice obviously, but I don't see a problem with 16gb on my MacBook Pro.

[nomadjames]

My current MBP is maxed out at 8. I don't usually have a problem with RAM. I was gonna go for 32 and upgrade it to 64 later. RAM prices are through the roof right now.

[timc3]

Yeah, that's why I was wondering. Perhaps if you use huge Kontakt Libraries... But seems that 16Gb is enough for usual DAW usage to me if you keep the browser tabs to a minimum.

[nomadjames]

Absolutely. I used to be able to write entire drum and bass tunes in one instance of Kontakt with like 4GB of ram, tops.

[nomadjames]

Well, I ordered the 7720X, Gigabyte X299 Designare EX, and a 1 TB Samsung EVO 860 NVMe drive, along with starter RAM. Ram is so expensive these days. I’m excited.

[nomadjames]

Just went with all Be Quiet! stuff where it counts...Case, PSU, and Processor fan...I'm so excited!

[nomadjames]

We were having a hard time getting system to boot from 960 Pro NVMe. I think my dude figured it out last night.

[tsaro]

Do you have it set up yet? I think you'll really be blown away by the difference coming from some 'ancient' dual core machine.. Got it to stutter for the first time yesterday by the way, turned out to be an old plugin with some bad code, eating 40% cpu, it would probably just keep rising given the chance

[Hades]

Do you have it set up yet? I think you'll really be blown away by the difference coming from some 'ancient' dual core machine.. Got it to stutter for the first time yesterday by the way, turned out to be an old plugin with some bad code, eating 40% cpu, it would probably just keep rising given the chance

pfff, just no respect for vintage code here at all...

[nomadjames]

Do you have it set up yet? I think you'll really be blown away by the difference coming from some 'ancient' dual core machine.. Got it to stutter for the first time yesterday by the way, turned out to be an old plugin with some bad code, eating 40% cpu, it would probably just keep rising given the chance

Well I bought a refurb graphics card and as soon as it came out the box my friend was like "That thing is fucked"...It had a big kink in one of the headers, so that didn't work. He's a stubborn bastard, he was blaming the NVMe drive...So I got a different GPU on the way. Pretty sure he got the OS up and running on it. Haven't been able to get it back here yet, though.

[tsaro]

Do you have it set up yet? I think you'll really be blown away by the difference coming from some 'ancient' dual core machine.. Got it to stutter for the first time yesterday by the way, turned out to be an old plugin with some bad code, eating 40% cpu, it would probably just keep rising given the chance

pfff, just no respect for vintage code here at all...

You're right, I should just let the glorious vintage code fuck the computer till it starts smoking as it blesses my music with its heavenly tones...

Seriously it's too bad it does that, since it's a unique little plug, Qwarpfilter it's called. It can make some really nice hollow resonant tones of whatever you feed into it. When you set it just right it can be amazing, but 1 millimeter off and it'll blow your ears off, and it has an lfo built in (which you can't seem to switch off) so you never know until it's too late... And now this

Though it might be a good idea to keep an old pc running with these forgotten 'vintage' plugins and use it for sends.

[nomadjames]

This fucking thing, I had to RMA one graphics card, now I have to RMA a mobo. There isn't much help out there for high end Gigabyte mobos. The suspense is fucking killing me.