Need Help with Choosing Components for Audio PC

T

Tym Hartwich

New member
Hello everyone!

I am an aspiring recording artist/producer (DAW music + vocals) and I am in the process of putting together a home recording studio.

At the heart of it will be a Windows desktop PC built specifically for making music.

My budget for the PC itself (excluding monitor screen, keyboard, and mouse), is around 1.100€ ($1.200).

Now, as I am completely new to the PC building & music production world, I'm wondering about 2 things:

1 ) Is there a guide/website/resource/... that is specifically geared towards helping people put together an audio PC (that you can recommend)?

I've already watched (and worked through) Robin Vincent's "How to build an audio PC" video series and that helped a lot.

BUT, I'm really not trying to leave anything to chance here as that could delay the start of me making music by a lot of time.

2 ) I've put together a preliminary list of components, would you say that it is a good pick?

Motherboard: ASUS Prime Z690-P WIFI 04 LGA 1700 DDR4

Processor: Intel Core i7-12700K 3.6GHz 12-Core Processor

RAM: Corsair 32GB DDR4 Vengeance LPX 2666MHz CL16

Power Supply: EVGA 210-GQ-0650-V1 650 GQ, 80+ GOLD 650W

Storage:

1. Western Digital WD_BLACK 4 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM
2. Samsung 980 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280

Cooler: Noctua NH-L9x65

Case: be quiet! SILENT BASE 802

The whole build is sitting around ~$1.100 currently.

Thanks in advance! :)
 
Hello Tym...and welcome to the forum!

What you've outlined will certainly work...but I have a couple questions. Personally I think it could be a bit of overkill but we don't really know what your overall goal is. Are you planning to have a bussiness or is this for personal use?

Why not an SSD?

Do you have an overall budget for the other equipment you'll need? Mics...Audio Interface....stands....etc...etc...lots of stuff.

What DAW will you be using?

We can help you best by having more detail about your plans.

Mick
 
Last edited:
Tym Hartwich said:
1 ) Is there a guide/website/resource/... that is specifically geared towards helping people put together an audio PC (that you can recommend)?
Click to expand...
There are hundreds of guides - Music Production PC Guides.
Tym Hartwich said:
2 ) I've put together a preliminary list of components, would you say that it is a good pick?

Motherboard: ASUS Prime Z690-P WIFI 04 LGA 1700 DDR4

Processor: Intel Core i7-12700K 3.6GHz 12-Core Processor

RAM: Corsair 32GB DDR4 Vengeance LPX 2666MHz CL16

Power Supply: EVGA 210-GQ-0650-V1 650 GQ, 80+ GOLD 650W

Storage:

1. Western Digital WD_BLACK 4 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM
2. Samsung 980 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280

Cooler: Noctua NH-L9x65

Case: be quiet! SILENT BASE 802

The whole build is sitting around ~$1.100 currently.
Click to expand...
I would go with SSDs and not old school RPM drives - and I'd probably go with a TUF GAMING Z790-PLUS WIFI D4 for it's Two-Way AI Noise Cancelation feature - I would also up the ram to at least 64 GB - and use a Intel Core i9 Processors instead of the i7 - but really I wouldn't use a PC - I would use the new MacBook Pro laptop with the M2 chip - yes its triple your estimated costs - but you get the functionality of Apple.
 
In spite of what Papanate says, I don't think you need to go with a Core I9. Significantly more money, and for general audio performance, I doubt you will see any gain unless you are running a gob of virtual instruments, and frankly, the 12th and 13th Gen I7s are really fast. You can always add memory if you need it. I don't use use much in the way of virtual instruments but I'm running a 4th Gen I5-4570 processor with 12GB for both audio and video editing. I've done songs with 15-18 tracks with no problem at all. A 12700K should be 3 to 5 time faster than what I have.

Newer generation processors are getting quicker. The 13th Gen of the same processor is 10-20% faster than the comparable 12th Gen. A I7-13700K will actually be faster than a I9-12900K by about 10% but at a lower price. The question is do you need that last 10-20%? If your whole system is only using 25% of it's potential, then you've got 1000HP and only using a couple of hundred.

What are you using for an interface? The MB you listed and the Z790+ have the option of going Thunderbolt. That should be a positive if the equipment you plan to use has support for Thunderbolt under Windows.. If not, the USB should be more than adequate. You can alway consider going Thunderbolt in the future.

The M2 980 is a good SSD. You will see a boost if you use a second SSD, especially if you are loading VSTs and instruments from that drive. If you are worried about space, I would go with a 2TB second drive, then add an external spinner as a backup. It doesn't need to be especially fast. Start a backup and walk away. It gives you a layer of security from a drive failure. It's cheap insurance.

Do you plan to do any video work? If so, think about a video card, as it helps with performance. Rendering video is a lot more intensive than rendering audio. I can render a 23 minute song in Reaper in a couple of minutes. The video rendering took about an hour.
 
Yes you need an SSD at least for the OS and DAW because I understand that Windows 10 was designed to run from an SSD and will not perform at its best on a spinner? I assume Win 11 is the same with knobs on.

However, I would save yourself a good deal of trouble and buy a machine from one of the companies that build audio computers. One such is Scan who have a very good name. I hasten to add I have no commercial interest in the company.
I have put together a couple of desktops and I spent a lot more time "de bugging" than it took me to bolt the bits in.

Re graphics cards. Yes, good idea but in the past I do recall that certain brands do not play well with certain audio systems but those days could well be behind us? You will of course need a card with passive cooling.

Dave.
 
I quit building system 10 years ago, but I can still put one together if I need to. Lately, I've been spending more time taking old systems and tweaking them up so I can play some of my old games, stuff that won't run under Win10. A cheap SSD and a couple of memory sticks does wonders.
 
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Mickster said:
Hello Tym...and welcome to the forum!

What you've outlined will certainly work...but I have a couple questions. Personally I think it could be a bit of overkill but we don't really know what your overall goal is. Are you planning to have a bussiness or is this for personal use?

Why not an SSD?

Do you have an overall budget for the other equipment you'll need? Mics...Audio Interface....stands....etc...etc...lots of stuff.

What DAW will you be using?

We can help you best by having more detail about your plans.

Mick
Click to expand...

Appreciate the welcome!

1. It might well be overkill, but in this case I think more is better haha. I am planning to keep that PC for 5-10 years, so I think I'm better off with "overshooting" rather than regretting it later down the line. Plus, I'll have more performance along the way which always helps. My goal is to "go pro", but that'll take a couple years so right now I guess you could consider it "personal" use.

2. The second storage facility on my list is an M.2 SSD (I'm planning to buy both an SSD and an HDD, 1 for the system and 1 for samples etc.), I just didn't have the letters "SSD" there. Unless these are not the same thing, in which case correct me LOL.

3. Yes, I do have all of that factored in. I will be able to buy all of that good stuff once I get my paycheck next month. This month is all about building the audio PC, setting everything up, and trying out a couple of DAWs to figure out what I'll settle on when I have the money to buy it.

4. I haven't settled on one yet, difficult for me to do because my current laptop barely runs BandLab. My plan is to try a few lite versions once I have the PC up and running and do more research, and then decide. First I had my eyes on Ableton as I like the design and mechanics, but since it's supposedly not optimized for vocals but rather for instruments, I'll have to think about it.

And Mick, thank you for taking some time out of your day to help me here ;)
 
TalismanRich said:
In spite of what Papanate says, I don't think you need to go with a Core I9. Significantly more money, and for general audio performance, I doubt you will see any gain unless you are running a gob of virtual instruments, and frankly, the 12th and 13th Gen I7s are really fast. You can always add memory if you need it. I don't use use much in the way of virtual instruments but I'm running a 4th Gen I5-4570 processor with 12GB for both audio and video editing. I've done songs with 15-18 tracks with no problem at all. A 12700K should be 3 to 5 time faster than what I have.

Newer generation processors are getting quicker. The 13th Gen of the same processor is 10-20% faster than the comparable 12th Gen. A I7-13700K will actually be faster than a I9-12900K by about 10% but at a lower price. The question is do you need that last 10-20%? If your whole system is only using 25% of it's potential, then you've got 1000HP and only using a couple of hundred.

What are you using for an interface? The MB you listed and the Z790+ have the option of going Thunderbolt. That should be a positive if the equipment you plan to use has support for Thunderbolt under Windows.. If not, the USB should be more than adequate. You can alway consider going Thunderbolt in the future.

The M2 980 is a good SSD. You will see a boost if you use a second SSD, especially if you are loading VSTs and instruments from that drive. If you are worried about space, I would go with a 2TB second drive, then add an external spinner as a backup. It doesn't need to be especially fast. Start a backup and walk away. It gives you a layer of security from a drive failure. It's cheap insurance.

Do you plan to do any video work? If so, think about a video card, as it helps with performance. Rendering video is a lot more intensive than rendering audio. I can render a 23 minute song in Reaper in a couple of minutes. The video rendering took about an hour.
Click to expand...

I don't think so either. Not to mention that my budget wouldn't allow for it anyways.

I haven't even bought an interface yet as I'm technically speaking a total newb to all of this (have played around in BandLab and analyzed and broken down a couple of songs, but I'm literally just a few weeks deep). But I had my eyes on a small Focusrite Scarlett something to start with... I've heard of Thunderbolt, is it better than USB? And if so, is it worth choosing over USB?

Oh yeah, also: I've reconsidered the motherboard choice. The mobos that ASUS and Gigabyte make (and that would fit my requirements) seem to have a lot of flaws and inconsistencies and risks associated with them in this current generation, e.g. them not even working at all on arrival or severe BIOS problems. Right now I'm tending towards an MSI mobo with almost identical specs (https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16813144490?Item=N82E16813144490), don't know if it even has Thunderbolt though.

Yeah, I've thought about setting up the 3-drive system... might be able to squeeze that into my budget if it's worth it. Would you rather have me spend extra money on another SSD, or on some other component in the mix?

I do not plan on doing anything graphics-intensive, right now I'm only planning for audio purposes. Intel has decent graphics built into the processor anyways... if the need ever arises, I'll consider buying a better GPU.
 
ecc83 said:
Yes you need an SSD at least for the OS and DAW because I understand that Windows 10 was designed to run from an SSD and will not perform at its best on a spinner? I assume Win 11 is the same with knobs on.

However, I would save yourself a good deal of trouble and buy a machine from one of the companies that build audio computers. One such is Scan who have a very good name. I hasten to add I have no commercial interest in the company.
I have put together a couple of desktops and I spent a lot more time "de bugging" than it took me to bolt the bits in.

Re graphics cards. Yes, good idea but in the past I do recall that certain brands do not play well with certain audio systems but those days could well be behind us? You will of course need a card with passive cooling.

Dave.
Click to expand...

For sure, that's what I had in mind with the storage.

Yeah... I know about pre-built PCs but I actually don't mind having to solve some problems along the way if it's in exchange for having control over what goes into the PC (not to mention the immense drop in price when you compare building it yourself). I'll acquire some knowledge about PCs in the process, which is also nice to have.
 
"Yeah... I know about pre-built PCs but I actually don't mind having to solve some problems along the way if it's in exchange for having control over what goes into the PC (not to mention the immense drop in price when you compare building it yourself). I'll acquire some knowledge about PCs in the process, which is also nice to have."

Fair enough but there is "not minding problems" and having a real stonker that drives you nuts for weeks and remember, the MOBO people will 'blame' the ram. The ram people the PSU ...dah di dah!
I profess no knowledge of computers at all, am an old valve amp tech but I have been on forums for over ten years and have read about people's dire experiences that have nearly put them in the funny farm. I in fact had some faulty. 'new' ram that took a good while to diagnose. Buying 'ready made' avoids all that hassle and I am sure many here will tell you that the cost difference between ready to go and DIY is no longer that great?

Focusrite make some excellent kit but IMHO don't buy a "small" interface. If you want something cheap to start off with something like the Behringer UMC240HD will deliver excellent sound quality and the mic pres' ain't bad either!

The ultimate in AIs is probably RME. Versatile and expandable (check out 'ADAT') and noted for their longevity through OS upgrades. Next in line I would put MOTU. Son and I both have an M4, cracking bit of kit.

Ableton is known to be a very powerful DAW but no DAW 'does it all' at least some are better at some things than others but whatever you do get Reaper. Cheap as chips and will do most things. I think most 'pros' and serious hobbyists here use at least two DAWs?

So, have fun building your 'dream machine' if you will but do consider that you could be in for weeks of pain and frustration.

Dave.
 
I’ve been bitten sometimes by going for the next ‘I’ number up, with your idea, but then discovering it wont upgrade. Both my computers here will not upgrade to windows 11 as the processor doesn’t meet the spec nor will the motherboard. When I bought them they were in the next box up. Always a risk going in at the bottom of the next category up, when the lower category best performers often have legs for upgrades. 10 years is very unlikely. Even 5 years is a dinosaur. In apple world, my two year old MacBook is now called legacy, and in their world, antique.
 
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Even a modestly sized desktop with one of Intel's "hottest" processors and a lot of RAM + storage (especially the spinning kind) will be quite noisy if you want to keep it with safe operating temps. This is fine if you're using all VIs, emulators (Kemper, et al.) and samples, but if you're going to record anything with a mic, it can be a problem.

Honestly, for just audio, less can be more. What you might need is a big monitor (or two). You don't need massive power or even [system] storage, so putting less in the box and moving your stuff to external SSDs can keep things quieter. You do need a lot of back-up space, though audio is nothing like video in that regard, and that kind of storage can be put elsewhere, and the cloud is certainly an option if feasible. (If you're going to do video, you'll probably want to max out on cores, and if you're talking 4k, then your RAM might even be on the low end, and storage, hahahah, you'll need gobs.)

I gave up on Wintel a few years back (when the 10 upgrade left a system useless), so now I've been assimilated, and don't have any advice other than to echo what others suggest, that spending time building and debugging something might be satisfying, and you *might* save money, but if you want to *record*, it's not going to be the quickest way there.
 
Tym Hartwich said:
I don't think so either. Not to mention that my budget wouldn't allow for it anyways.

I haven't even bought an interface yet as I'm technically speaking a total newb to all of this (have played around in BandLab and analyzed and broken down a couple of songs, but I'm literally just a few weeks deep). But I had my eyes on a small Focusrite Scarlett something to start with... I've heard of Thunderbolt, is it better than USB? And if so, is it worth choosing over USB?

Oh yeah, also: I've reconsidered the motherboard choice. The mobos that ASUS and Gigabyte make (and that would fit my requirements) seem to have a lot of flaws and inconsistencies and risks associated with them in this current generation, e.g. them not even working at all on arrival or severe BIOS problems. Right now I'm tending towards an MSI mobo with almost identical specs (https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16813144490?Item=N82E16813144490), don't know if it even has Thunderbolt though.

Yeah, I've thought about setting up the 3-drive system... might be able to squeeze that into my budget if it's worth it. Would you rather have me spend extra money on another SSD, or on some other component in the mix?

I do not plan on doing anything graphics-intensive, right now I'm only planning for audio purposes. Intel has decent graphics built into the processor anyways... if the need ever arises, I'll consider buying a better GPU.
Click to expand...
Thunderbolt has some inherent advantages over USB in that it ties directly to the PCIe lanes vs USB's "polling" system. It's not just total data rate. In a somewhat simplistic explanation, in USB, there is a buffer, and the system basically checks the buffer at intervals, dumps the buffer and moves on. If the processor is busy doing other things, it may take too long to check the USB flag, at which point you can get a buffer overrun and you can lose data which means a glitch in the audio.. The fix is to increase the buffer. That can cause latency (delay) in the sound (which can be calculated from the sample rate and the buffer size). Remember, it's a two way street, so it needs to process both up and down data. For moving a mouse or keyboard, it's not an issue. We're talking milliseconds, but in some cases, it can become significant. If you start getting over 10-20 ms in delay, some people notice a loss in response time.

Thunderbolt is able to tell the processor to process it's data, rather than waiting for the system to come back around the block. This means You can use smaller buffers and minimize the wait time between data transfers. The two technologies are now converging, so in a generation or so, there won't be any difference. Apple has been on Thunderbolt for a long time (and Firewire before that). The new Intel 690 and 790 chipsets support Thunderbolt. The key will be if the proper drivers are available.

It sounds like you're just starting out. If you are looking at a small Focusrite Scarlett interface, then you're talking USB. Thunderbolt interfaces tend to be more expensive, although that is changing. For USB interfaces, I've heard lots of people singing the praises of the Moto M4. Don't fall into the trap of getting a Solo or other single channel interface. The day will come that you'll want to record an acoustic guitar with 2 mics, and have someone sing. BINGO! You're out of inputs. 4 is the minimum I would consider, but I have 8 on my setup. Drummers can use up that whole thing.

With regards to the drives, I have a TB SSD and a 2TB Barracuda. It's served me fine for years. I've been upgrading systems to SSD and it is a huge improvement. A system that once took a minute and a half to boot up does so in about 10 seconds. No noise, no heat. I have two 4TB Seagate externals, and I can back up all my data, and clone the OS drive and STILL have room. I don't know how many songs you're planning but some of my bigger sessions are only 18GB total, and that's mix data, and several hours of multichannel audio. You can hold 2 or 3 hundred of those on a single back up drive for about $90.

The computer you are looking at should easily last 5-7 years. My system, a measly Lenovo H50 is 8 years old and still running fine. The demands of audio processing shouldn't increase dramatically. Where video has gone from 480i to 720p to 4K to 8k, audio won't be going much beyond the current max 384K. 192K and 24bit is more than sufficient for just about anything. The only increase I see in the near future would be going to full 32bit floating point. Current systems can handle that pretty easily.

I don't know much about Bandlab, but I would recommend you look at Reaper. It's cheap, free to try for 60 days, resource efficient and has great support. You can use as a basic recording setup, or get as complicated as you want. I looked at Ardour, but didn't like the workflow. I've used Cubase SE, and it was ok, but I really prefer Reaper.
 
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TalismanRich said:
. . . Thunderbolt has some inherent advantages over USB in that it ties directly to the PCIe lanes vs USB's "polling" system. It's not just total data rate. In a somewhat simplistic explanation, in USB, there is a buffer, and the system basically checks the buffer at intervals, dumps the buffer and moves on. If the processor is busy doing other things, it may take too long to check the USB flag, at which point you can get a buffer overrun and you can lose data which means a glitch in the audio.. The fix is to increase the buffer. That can cause latency (delay) in the sound (which can be calculated from the sample rate and the buffer size). Remember, it's a two way street, so it needs to process both up and down data. For moving a mouse or keyboard, it's not an issue. We're talking milliseconds, but in some cases, it can become significant. If you start getting over 10-20 ms in delay, some people notice a loss in response time. . .
Click to expand...
Thanks for that explanation on USB and buffering.
 
I could easily be wrong here but, I have read that Thunderbolt on Windows MOBOs is not really up to snuff yet?

In any case, USB 2.0 will do everything you are likely to want. The trick is, get the right interface with good drivers. As I said, RME is pretty much king of the hill for super stable USB drivers and very low latency. Next in probably equal second are MOTU and, in my experience Native Instruments. If you can find a second hand NI KA6 that will serve you very well for a time at least.

The latest ultra low latency system is Ethernet. Dante and a couple of others. Not only is latency very low but the link cables can be very much longer than USB or TB.

Dave.
 
That reminds me. . .I've got a brand new 33 FT ethernet cable I haven't used yet. Planned on using it to connect my wi-fi to a new Smart TV in the next room. . . the purchase of which I've been putting off. Good odds it'll be this year, though 🤞
 
I might be off base, but if Tym's worrying about exceeding a budget of 1.100€ for the computer, he's not going to be looking at RME or UA. Pricing for something like a Babyface or Apollo is in the 800-1000€ range. Even an M4 might be more than he's planning to commit to the project. I might be more inclined to hunt for a used Scarlett 18i8 for 300 than to spend 200 on a Motu M2. I won't even bother with a Scarlett Solo!

We all try to look for the bargains, especially starting out. What we sometime overlook is what our future needs will be. When I bought my first digital recorder (AW16G) I was in a position that I could plug in 8 mics and hit record. It came it handy for several recordings. It was more than I needed when I recorded a jazz ensemble in a 2 channel setup. My 4 channel tape deck let me put up a pair of mics, plus a spot mic on the piano of a choir recording. It wasn't enough for a 4 piece band plus vocals, when I didn't have a good mixer!

What we don't know if what type of recording he plans to do. Is it going to be a lot of keyboards in-the-box and a rap vocal? Will it be collection of real instruments? A bluegrass session will be different from an electronica synth piece. These things have a bearing on what you need, but in the end, its better to have capabilities you only use a few times, than to constantly wishing you had the ability to do something but don't have the equipment to do so.



 
ecc83 said:
I could easily be wrong here but, I have read that Thunderbolt on Windows MOBOs is not really up to snuff yet?

Dave.
Click to expand...
That would be strange, since Intel is the original developer of the system, along with Apple.

The biggest obstacle to Thunderbolt on PC systems was mainly patent related royalties. With USB you have to pay a fee to implement the system. For Thunderbolt, you had to pay Intel a royalty, so if you are making a million units, the costs could be significant. As of 2018, Thunderbolt 3 is royalty free. Some Intel chipsets now include support. AMD chipsets haven't had native Thunderbolt support, so that also puts a barrier to implementation. Lots of systems have AMD chips. Since it's not completely implemented, device makers are less likely to support the system.

USB4 spec is essentially Thunderbolt 3. It should be more widely used in the coming years, but frankly, it's taking longer than I thought it would. Maybe 2 or 3 more years will be the turning point.
 
Rich. As I said, just an impression I gathered from things on forums re TB.
I am not suggesting the OP goes into debt for an RME interface I am simply stating that they are very highly regarded in the industry (AFAICT!) and so to point him that way. I DID suggest two budget starter devices, the 204HD and a second hand KA6. I have little experience with Focusrite except that I have a Mk1 8i6 I never use now. The mixer software totally defeats me!

Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
"Yeah... I know about pre-built PCs but I actually don't mind having to solve some problems along the way if it's in exchange for having control over what goes into the PC (not to mention the immense drop in price when you compare building it yourself). I'll acquire some knowledge about PCs in the process, which is also nice to have."

Fair enough but there is "not minding problems" and having a real stonker that drives you nuts for weeks and remember, the MOBO people will 'blame' the ram. The ram people the PSU ...dah di dah!
I profess no knowledge of computers at all, am an old valve amp tech but I have been on forums for over ten years and have read about people's dire experiences that have nearly put them in the funny farm. I in fact had some faulty. 'new' ram that took a good while to diagnose. Buying 'ready made' avoids all that hassle and I am sure many here will tell you that the cost difference between ready to go and DIY is no longer that great?

Focusrite make some excellent kit but IMHO don't buy a "small" interface. If you want something cheap to start off with something like the Behringer UMC240HD will deliver excellent sound quality and the mic pres' ain't bad either!

The ultimate in AIs is probably RME. Versatile and expandable (check out 'ADAT') and noted for their longevity through OS upgrades. Next in line I would put MOTU. Son and I both have an M4, cracking bit of kit.

Ableton is known to be a very powerful DAW but no DAW 'does it all' at least some are better at some things than others but whatever you do get Reaper. Cheap as chips and will do most things. I think most 'pros' and serious hobbyists here use at least two DAWs?

So, have fun building your 'dream machine' if you will but do consider that you could be in for weeks of pain and frustration.

Dave.
Click to expand...

I see what you are saying... I'm still willing to take that risk, and I actually think that the experience in forums is a different thing because who's gonna come here and say "my build went awesome"? It's mostly the negative experiences that are being talked about, and I'm not gonna let that stop me ;)

AI looks good, gonna give that some thinking and collect some more opinions as well.

Thank you for your advice!
 
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