DAW for audio work using Gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UD2H?

[vikki]

I am thinking of building a new computer using the above motherboard and a Phenom 11 x 4  955 cpu.

Here is the spec I've come up with: 

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition 3.20GHz (Socket AM3)
G.Skill RipJaw 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C8 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit
Gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UD2H AMD 785G (Socket AM3) DDR3 microATX Motherboard

Would this G Skill memory be OK in this motherboard, are there any voltage problems or can anyone envisage any other problems with this set up for doing multiirack audio recording and midi recording using Presonus Studio One Pro XP or windows 7 base?

If you can think of a better or alternative AMD spec please let me know!

Many thanks

Vikki
UK

[Dark Mantis]

Hi Vikki and welcome to the forum. You have come to the right place for advice on computer audio but our music god absic isn't online at the moment. He is the best one to answer all your sound related questions and I am sure will be back in the forum later.

[absic]

Hi Vikki and welcome to the forum.

The base components for your new PC are OK but.....
What budget do you have for this build? 
What Audio Sound Card are you thinking of using?
Are you sticking with the On-board Graphics or are you considering a dedicated Graphics Card?
When you are using your DAW will you be using Virtual Instruments and effects and will you want to do multi-track audio recording?

I actually run Cubase 5.5 with a Delta 1010 as my audio card and am running Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit with 8 Gig of RAM. The only reason I am using the Ultimate version is because I need the Japanese Language Interface but, to be totally honest, it is way over priced for the "extras" that you get with it. 

[vikki]

I have been using a P4 until recently.  I have just moved from Sonar Producer 5 to Presonus Studio One Pro.  I have thought of going the AMD route as I thought I might get better value for money.  I already have a case with a reasonable 500w power supply and two hard drives.  I will be using my old M-Audio 2496 for the time being which I think is PCI, might upgrade this later.  I currently run XP Home and XP Pro and thought it would be advantageous to go to Windows 7 x64.   I will be using midi with some virtual instruments.  I will be doing multi-track audio recording using midi and EZ drummer.  There is quite a good midi player / sound module that I use with midi in Presonus Studio One (Presence) and I do have a good quality Ketron SD1 Keyboard.  I record a lot of ballads country vocals and guitar and I must admit I love a good quality reverb like Perfect Space which came with Sonar with the Bricasi impulses - this is what brings my P4 computer to a halt.
I was going to use the onboard graphics for now......

I guess my budget is around US$1000, less if possible - trying to do it on the cheap, I s'pose.  If my spec is poor I am prepared to push the boat out to get the components for a better computer.  I am hoping the AMD machine would smoke the old P4 I am using?  I know everyone seems to be going i7 at the moment but I always seem to be walking in the opposite direction for some reason.

Thanks for taking the time to respond.
Vikki
UK

[absic]

OK

AMD is the way to go are you buying in the UK and if yes how much is $1000 these days?

[Dark Mantis]

About £640 absic. I use this for exchange rates: http://www.xe.com/ucc/

[absic]

Thanks for that DM. I will see what ideas I can come up with for that kind of budget...... This is the part I like most........ Spending someone else's money! 

[vikki]

Yes, I am buying in the UK - Sorry about the US$ thing but I am so used to posting on US Guitar, etc., forums...

[absic]

OK here's a small list of components built around the Motherboard and CPU that you mentioned in your original post and also taking into account the hardware that you say you already have.

Motherboard: Gigabyte-GA-MA785GMT-UD2H ( http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Gigabyte-GA-MA785GMT-UD2H-AMD-785G-AM3-DDR3-1066-1333-1800-SATA-3Gb-s-RAID-Micro-ATX-VGA ) £64.37

CPU: Phenom ii X4 955BE ( http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AMD-Phenom-II-X4-955-BlackEdition-Sok-AM3-32GHz-8MB-Total-Cache-125W-Retail ) £125.64

RAM: Corsair XMS3 Classic 8 Gig Kit ( http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/8GB-%284x2GB%29-CorsairXMS3-DDR3-PC3-10666-%281333%29-240-Pin-Non-ECC-Unbuffered-CAS-9-9-9-24) £182.24

Graphics Card: Sapphire HD5450 ( http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/512MB-Sapphire-HD-5450-PCI-E-21%28x16%29-1600MHz-GDDR3-GPU-650MHz-80-Cores-D-Sub-DL-DVI-I-HDMI ) £40.94

PSU: Corsair Professional 650W Modular ( http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/650W-Corsair-Professional-CMPSU-650HXUK-Modular-PSU-with-80PLUS-Bronze-Certification ) £97.11

Operating System: Microsft Windows 7 Home Premium Retail  ( http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Microsoft-Windows-7-Home-Premium-Retail-%28Green%29-32-and-64-Bit) £111.71

Total spend (excluding delivery) approx. £623. Sorry but, all links are for SCAN UK, which is where I buy the majority of my components and the only reason for this is, that I am too lazy to shop around and you might be able to get the same parts cheaper by doing just that!

Some of the choices in this list might raise one or two eyebrows but I have chosen the parts that I believe will work best for a home based recording studio and also as a general purpose home PC.

One of the main things you can never have enough of when recording and using a DAW is RAM, believe me I know and 8 Gig will give you plenty of room for manoeuvre and will also allow for some future growth.

The Graphics card is not chosen to play games but as a solid and silent component. Using a dedicated GPU means that you will not need to take RAM for the on-board graphics (the more you can keep for audio work the better) and this Card is also silent and the quieter you can make the PC the better it is for recording purposes.

I know you say that you have a good PSU but believe me, the money you  invest in this one component now will prove invaluable and will make the choice of future upgrades that much easier.

For the Operating System I have gone for Windows 7 Home Premium. I use this OS on my laptop and it will do the job that you want. I also checked out there is driver support from M-Audio for the Delta Audiophile 2496 Sound Card you are using, here's the link: ( http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=support&tab=driver&serie_ID=1&PID=adf95efc30b88aba043fa8b83343bfb8&OS=x91#tabs )

I haven't added any extra hard-drives but the addition of HDD's is an area you should be looking into as Multitrack Audio recording takes up a lot of disk space.

Hope this helps and feel free to ask any further questions

[Dark Mantis]

I would just like to add that I have read through absic's recommendations and support them 100%. What he has said makes perfect sense and a good, balanced system for the OPs reqirements. The only thing that I noticed was that nobody seems to have thought of adding a decent CD/DVD recorder to the setup. I would have thought that this would have nbeen a necessity but to be honest this isn't my field.

[absic]

To be totally honest DM I assumed that cd/dvd Drive was already in the equation especially as Vikki is using components from another PC.

[Dark Mantis]

And I am sure that you are right absic. I was just playing "devil's advocate" in case.

[vikki]

Great thanks so much.........
I'm thinking of buying most of the parts from Overclockers uk as they are about 10 miles away and i can go down and collect......http://www.overclockers.co.uk/
This is what i was thinking of doing.....the case i have should fit the micro ATX m/board i think, i'm hoping there's some more mounting holes as the board in there is ATX. I was hoping to use this psu i have in the case its a 550w Q.Tec(shudder not the best i know) i think i will need a 20 pin to 24 pin atx converter plug, can you get a converter olug to convert the 4 pin cpu power? to 8 pin or will the 4 pin fit in the 8 pin socket?
Get the unit powered up in this case and working and in a few weeks buy a better case(perhaps a rack type) and psu and swap the whole lot over, a lot of work i know but i think i can manage it, i built the p4 machine up a few years ago and got it all working. Once i know the machine will work o.k. i'll go to town on it, its just getting over that first press of the power button
Can one of you guys have a look on the Overclockers site and see which memory part numbers i need, there's that many memory kots on there, just don't want to buy the wrong one.....i might go with 4g of memory to start and add some more later.
Thanks again
Vikki

[absic]

Hi
if your current chassis (Case) has an ATX board in it then fitting a smaller board should not prove too difficult. You will probably have to relocate a few of the motherboard stand-offs but there should be the correct holes for them.

I would strongly advise against using your current PSU. I know that it seems an easy and cheaper option but believe me, you will be saving yourself a lot of grief and it will prove to be a good long term investment. A lot of the problems raised on this and other PC forum's are directly due to a bad choice of PSU. Another thing to consider will be if you do decide to go for a rack-mounted case. The flexibility, with regard to cabling, of the Corsair PSU will be a distinct advantage in the confines of such a case. Because of its modular design you only need to plug in the power leads you are using. There isn't much space inside a rack mount chassis even a 4U one. ( I know, I've been there, done that and worn the T-Shirt.)

If i were looking at getting a 4 gig kit I would probably go for this one: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-257-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1516 But you do have the advantage of being able to go to Overclockers, as they are so close to you and asking for their advice on the best Memory. Then, if it doesn't work, you can take it back without a problem.

[Dark Mantis]

To reiterate on what has allready been said it is definitely worth spending out on a decent PSU like the Corsair. You don't want to spend all that time and mone and then have the PSU go down and take all your nice new components with it