First Audio PC Build (£1000 constraint)

A

Ape-x

New member
I have decided to build my first PC from scratch. It will be used mainly for making music but I will also be using it for gaming. If you could give me some guidance on parts and review the list I have compiled I would be very grateful.

I make Hip-Hop instrumentals mostly, and use Fl Studios 10 as my sequencer, although I will be expanding on my software library along with the new rig. I use hardware such as the MPD 26, midi keyboards and I have some RP5 monitors. Again, I am looking to expand on hardware and maybe buying an analog synth (perhaps Juni Di?).

On my current pretty old computer I get bad latency when using my MPD which is really frustrating. What ways can I reduce this on my new build? I was considering getting an external soundcard so I can plug in my RP5's using XLR cords instead of these crappy RCA wires, but I have heard it causes latency. Could you suggest either an internal or external soundcard based on what I will be using it for?

Here's what I have so far:

CPU: Intel Core i5-2400 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor (£144.99 @ Dabs)

Motherboard: Asus P8H77-V LE Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£79.98 @ Scan.co.uk)

Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£29.99 @ Maplin Electronics)

Hard Drive: Samsung Spinpoint F4 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive (£94.99 @ Dabs)

Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1GB Video Card (£154.98 @ Scan.co.uk)

Case: Fractal Design DEFINE R3 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case

Power Supply: XFX 550W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£49.99 @ Amazon UK)

Monitor: Asus VE228H 21.5" Monitor (£113.46 @ Scan.co.uk)
Monitor: Asus VE228H 21.5" Monitor (£113.46 @ Scan.co.uk)

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit) (£69.45 @ Ebuyer)

Keyboard: Cherry STREAM XT Wired Standard Keyboard (£21.24 @ Amazon UK)

Mouse: Microsoft 4YH-00001 Wired Optical Mouse (£8.36 @ Scan.co.uk)

Total: £880.89

Thanks for your time.
 
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That motherboard is a micro-ATX, while your case is a full ATX size. It should fit, but you might get more connections with a full size motherboard (maybe you don't want them, but more USB ports, etc. often come in useful).

Your hard drive is 5,400 RPM, which is kinda slow, especially if it's your only drive. Your OS, applications and audio will all be coming from and/or being recorded to the same slowish mechanical drive. I'd consider supplementing with a 60GB SSD for OS and apps or upgrading to a 7,200 RPM drive (this will be louder, though)

I would always recommend pushing the RAM to 16GB and the processor to an i7 (like the i7-2600) if you can afford it for future proofing, but you're already close to your budget top end. Worth thinking about, though. You can add another 8GB of RAM later, though (assuming you're motherboard has 4-slots - worth checking).

You realise your RAM is 1600 MHz, but the i5 processor will only utilise it up to 1300 MHz (I think it's 1300 MHz) - so, you'll have to overclock the front side bus in your BIOS to make full use of your RAM. If you're not going to do that (or if your motherboard doesn't support it - best check), you can get cheaper RAM, perhaps.

There are many external sound cards that will suit your needs - check the Newbies forum for vast swathes of threads on this subject. I'm afraid I don't know what an MPD is.
 
Have to agree. 5400rpm probably isn't a good idea.

I have an 100gb intel SSD to get rid of in the UK if it interests you, but if not, seriously consider a 7200 drive instead.
 
Ok I have changed up the hard drive for this:

Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive

I dont really want to get i7 because then I will have to have everything else at that kinda level for it to be worth my while. Also I need to get and comfy chair, so I will probably be spending over 1k anyway.
 
£90 on ebay at the minute. It has been used but that pretty much doesn't matter with SSD.
There are no moving parts.

I took apart and sold my pc cos my new macbook turned out to be faster than it! lol.

My pc had two ssds, both for sale. The other is OCZ vertex2 80gb.
Both are mental fast.
 
Yea the only problem would be 100gb of storage isn't much. But I suppose I could always buy an external HD.
 
An ssd isn't for storage, but for speed of loading OS, apps, plugins - you should use it in conjunction with a larger hdd or external or network storage.
 
That's right. You can buy massive SSD's (for massive money) but usually people put the OS and apps on the smaller sized SSDs, then all their sessions and samples on another drive.

I currently use an 80gb ssd in the laptop and external storage. Proper lightening speeds. :)

On my desktop pc I had 100gb SSD for OS, 80gb SSD for current sessions (overkill) and 500gb 7200rpm for storage.
 
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