New PC - Does this look ok?

If you go with a SSD for your main drive, I'd say to go with a larger capacity than 64 gig. You'll use that up in no time. I'm currently experimenting with two 64 gig SSD's and I love 'em, but their capacity is limited to your budget. I have heard that Intel is planning on releasing a new line of larger capacity drives in the coming months. (See links below)

They are pricey but I'd say to get at least a 128 gig drive for your main drive, and you can add more drives as needed, but make sure you motherboard has plenty of SATA connectors available. You may even want to consider getting a PCIe SSD. I've heard that those are used to avoid a bottleneck with the SATA inputs.

I'm planning on waiting a few months to see what new products and prices will be, before upgrading my main drive to ssd. I will say this about my two 64 gig SSD's, they seem to add a whole new dimension to my computer, it's almost like having 128 gigs of RAM connected to my computer.

I'm using SSD's for my Ivory II piano samples and my East West Symphonic Orchestra Gold Complete samples. They load up fast and I'm seeing no latency problems at all. Sonar 7XL works fine with them.  With the tests I've done so far, these exceed all expectations, and I'm eagerly awaiting having a nice quiet all SSD computer. I just need the prices to come down.
 
Here's a couple of links to some reading material I found on the Intel drives....
 
http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2010/10/07/intel-next-gen-ssd-specs/1
 
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/08/16/intel_lyndonville/

Tripecac

If you go with a SSD for your main drive, I'd say to go with a larger capacity than 64 gig. You'll use that up in no time.

I always save all my audio and project files on a separate disk.  I also put my samples on a different disk.

Do you recommend installing samples on the SSD drive itself? 
Yes, but I'm using a ssd that is seperate from the main drive.
 
When would you see the speed difference?  When loading up samples.
 
When previewing samples? 
 
Yes that too.
 
 How about during actual performance/playback?
 
During my performance checks, I experienced absolute perfection, not one click, pop, crackle, or any latency. My midi keyboard worked as perfectly as it could during a very hard and fast performance.

They are pricey but I'd say to get at least a 128 gig drive for your main drive

Right now a 128 GB SSD is around $270.  64 GB SSD are $130 each.  So, for less money than a single 128 GB SSD, I could get two 64 GB drives, one for the OS and one for samples.  Would that be faster than a single 128 GB drive?
I bought two OCZ 64 bit drives, at $109 each, with a $20 rebate on one (Rebate terms only allowed one rebate per household), So I got 128 gigs total for approx $200.00. I would say yes have one drive for OS and one or more for samples. I would recommend getting a ssd large enough to hold all your samples for the programs you're using.....an example..my Ivory program total is 77 gigs, so I was only able to load up two of the three piano sound samples. Which is okay with me and was planned. You want all your sample on one drive because there's no way of directing your player to more than one drive, and it won't be able to find a second drive.
 
 
I'm thinking I could get one SSD for the OS, and then defer the purchase of the SSD drive for the samples until the prices come down.  In the meantime, I can have the samples on one of the 7200 RPM drives
 
My main drive is a 7200 RPM drive, and I recommend using the ssd for the samples first, then go for the larger ssd for the os when the new ones come out early next year. (So I hear)
 
Is there any reason to consider a 10,000 RPM disk rather than a SSD for the system drive?
 
I've never had any experience with a 10,000 RPM drive, but I would prefer to go with the ssd because there is no moving parts, and should be more reliable.
 
Think of an ssd as like a really big flash card that is used in digital camera's.

 
 
Hope that helps...

That set up looks great to me. I have an older model ASUS board which is loaded with bells and whistles, but this board leaves mine in the dust. This should take care of your computer needs for a very long time.

I would verify that the CPU is compatible with that motherboard, by going to the ASUS website and look up the board and compatible CPU list. I know that I've had problems trying to upgrade my cpu, and found out the hard way that even though it looks like it'll work, it should work, but does it work and is it officially supported, are all different things.  If it's not officially supported, don't buy it. 


My midi keyboard connects to my computer thru a USB port so I really don't need a midi input card anymore.

I'm using the Delta 1010 LT sound card, because I wanted more inputs, but I'm finding I don't need that, and could get by just fine with my Delta24/96 soundcard.

I'm using Windows 7-32 bit Home Premium, and that's working fine for me. I'm not a big fan of 64 bit OS yet, as there are still some things that don't work with it. I'm using Sonar 7XL and that's only 32 bit anyhow. Maybe in a couple of years I'll upgrade to 64 bit, but for now 32 bit is working fine for me.

I'd also suggest you look at aftermarket cooling fans for the CPU. In the past Intel's cooling fans have had problems, I don't know if they've been fixed yet or not.
 
I'd also suggest you get a decent power supply, not one of those cheapies that come with the case. And make sure that if it has a 110/220 switch, that it's switched to the right voltage. When I built my computer the psu was set for 220 volts at the factory, and we went crazy trying to figure out what was wrong and why the computer wouldn't start.

Check the spec of your new board. 650 watt may be good enough, but is it an old ps with older connections on it ?? Some of the newer mb's have different configurations. Same with SATA drives, they need a special power supply connection. An older ps may not have these connections you'll need.

That one should be just fine.

I'd go with the largest case you have for airflow, future expansion, and it's just plain easier to work on rather than being all cramped up.  You may end up like me with a case stuffed with stuff that accumulates over time. Main drive, back up drive, SSD drives, soundcards, all that stuff takes up space and can become a wiring nightmare fast. So go with the bigger case, and try to keep your wiring and cabling neat and orderly. You'll be glad you did.

Check the form factor of the case vrs the motherboard. The smaller case may not work.

midi card: WaveCenter PCI (from old pc) NOTE: Might not work with Win7 :(

There appear to be Vista drivers here, so there is a good chance that you will be able to use it. The Vista and Win 7 driver models are pretty much the same. There was a big change from XP to Vista that left a lot of people sitting on obsolete hardware, when the manufacturer's decided they would rather sell new stuff than pay to write drivers for their older products.

I'm reluctant to do RAID, but I do think I'll end up with a bunch of drives, some SSD and some 7200RPM SATA. 

Do you think I should aim higher than the 650W Antec PSU?  Or should I give that a shot and see if it works, then upgrade if there is a problem?  (How will I know if there is a problem?)

Thanks for the info.  The PSU Calculator says I only need 460 W, even when I overestimate the amount of RAM, CD drives, and hard disks. 

My "old" Antec PSU is really only a year and a half old; I bought it in 2009 as a replacement for one that was going sour.  Do you still think I need to buy a brand new one?
 
(I am overseas, so all computer parts are more expensive than back in the US...)

Tripecac


I'm reluctant to do RAID, but I do think I'll end up with a bunch of drives, some SSD and some 7200RPM SATA. 

Do you think I should aim higher than the 650W Antec PSU?  Or should I give that a shot and see if it works, then upgrade if there is a problem?  (How will I know if there is a problem?)

I really think that Antec is going to let you down, if you plan on filling those 3 slots with video cards, I would settle for nothing less than one of these.

http://www.corsair.com/pr...er_supplies.aspx  I would get the 850.

 All we could get in my area for a long time was Antec and I went through 3 of them on this old box before I got my Corsair 650
I was continually upgrading video cards before I found out that they were just not pushing enough amps to the 12v rail.

I definitely don't plan to have 3 video cards.  Or even 2, really.

I agree with not overbuying and overbuilding.  When I look at how much those "nice" components will cost me, I cringe.  It's so hard to justify that expense to myself.

Tomorrow I'll try to spec out a "budget" version and see how much I can save. 

I need to remember not to lose sight of the big picture which is this:

My goal with this upgrade is to allow me to enjoy learning and using soft synths.  I've fiddled with them in the past, but my PC has always been too slow to inspire me to complete a song with them.  I want to change that, by increasing the preview speed, decreasing the latency during performance, and increasing the number of tracks and effects I can use before I start getting dropouts. 

To get that speed increase, I need a much faster cpu than my 2.8 GHZ Pentium 4 (from 2004).  To support a decent cpu (even one of today's budget cpus), I need a new motherboard, and with that I will need new RAM.  Since I'm replacing the motherboard, I will need to re-install Windows, and right now Windows 7 seems to make more sense than XP.  While I'm at it, I might as well upgrade my 500 GB drives to 1 or 2 TB drives.  And instead of a 10,000 RPM main drive, I could get a SSD drive.  And I might as well throw in the new HD 5850 (video card) I bought, and use this computer as my main computer as well.  The HD 5850 is really long, so I feel like I need a full tower case, and with all these fast components, I'm wondering if I need a new power supply.  And so on.

So I end up with a long list of parts, and a big dollar amount at the bottom.  It doesn't make me happy.

However, I want to make sure all the parts work well together; I don't want a fast cpu bottlenecked by slow ram, or vice-versa.  And if I'm to use this as my main PC as well,  I'd like the cpu and motherboard to be fast enough to take advantage of the HD 5850.  So I want to stick to the same "class" of components as the HD 5850.  That's how I came up with that list.

If you have any ideas for "budget" changes, where the savings is far greater than the performance different, please recommend them!  I'm very curious where you think the savings lies.

(BTW, right now Corsair's CL7 ram seems to be cheaper than its CL8;  I don't know why!)

Thanks for the suggestion!  I will through it line by line and see what the savings and performance diff is:

P55 board
There are a ton listed at Newegg.  They do indeed seem cheaper than the LGA1366 X58 boards I've been considering.  Do you have any specific recommendations?

870
I'm guessing this means the i5-870.  Where I live, they're exactly the same price as the i7-950.  Performance seems similar.  In some times, the i7-950 is faster, and in others the i5-870 is faster.  So, the main benefit of the i5-870 seems to be that it lets you get one of the cheaper LGA1156 boards.  Is that correct?  Or are there other benefits?

8 gig 1333 cl 8 (mushkin or corsair)
I've bought corsair before, but not mushkin, so I'd side with corsair.  Where I live, 4x2gb is very expensive, 2x4gb is impossible to find, and I can't find any corsair 2x2gb 1333, so I'd have to go with two sets of 2x2gb 1600, which costs 27% more than the proposed 2x3gb 1600 CL7; I'd get an extra 2gb but lose a ram slot.  If I eventually want 12gb total, three 2x2gb CL8 is about 5% cheaper than two 3x2 CL7.  I have no idea what the performance difference is.

500G OS Seagate
If you're talking 7200 RPM, then that would definitely be cheaper than an SSD, and in fact would cost me nothing because I have some spare 500GB-1TB drives.   However, my main PC is using a 10,000 RPM main drive, and if the new PC is intended to replace that PC (in addition to my DAW), I want something at least as fast. 

Here, even a 300GB 10,000 RPM WD drive (I cannot find any Seagate) is more expensive than a 60GB SSD.  I could go smaller, to a 150GB, but then I'd be breaking even with my current PC.  It would be nice to have more room on the fast main drive for samples.

1TB WD black with 64meg cache
My main PC already has two 1 TB data drives and a 1.5 TB.  I'd move the 1.5 TB to the new pc, but those 1 TB drives I'd like to replace with 1.5TB or 2TB, because I'm also replacing my DAW (with 2 500BG data drives).  So it's hard to justify buying yet another 1 TB drive, since I need at least 1 + 1 + .5 + .5 = 3 TB to match what I'm replacing.

coolermaster 700w
This would definitely be cheaper here than a Corsair 750 or 850.  However, I'm concerned that 700w isn't that much higher than the 650w that I'd be replacing. 

win7 home premium
Since this will be replacing my DAW and my main PC, I want to maximize the chance of something working, so I'd love that "XP mode", which is in Pro but not home premium.  If XP Mode is a waste of money, then I agree; I could go home premium and save a few bucks.

---------------

So, some of the items you mentioned could help drop the price (mobo, main drive, power supply, os); others would break even or be more expensive where I live.  I'd want all the parts to be in the same league, so I'll do some more research and see which of the budget adjustments I can get away with without sacrificing much overall performance, stability, and expandability later.

I tested Dimension Pro on my main PC today, and was really frustrated by dropouts and the fact that samples take a few seconds to load.  I think a newer PC will fix the dropouts, but in order to get the samples to load quickly (in less than a second), I probably need an SSD drive, right?  And that means I need one big enough to hold both the OS and all my Cakewalk files.

Currently, my [32-bit] cakewalk plugins (e.g., dimension pro) take up 18 GB.  Vista and all my apps take up 35 GB.  Since that's a total of 51GB, a 60GB SSD seems like it's cutting it close. 

I could either get a bigger main SSD, or get one SSD for the OS and one for the samples.  Since SSD drives are expensive, I could defer purchase of the second SSD drive until SSD prices come down.  Does that make sense?  Or does it make more sense to get a big SSD drive now, so that I get a fast-loading Dimension Pro from the start?

IF you go SSD you would put your OS on a 500G your audio on something else and only your libraries on the SSD

i have to wonder how is it pros who do score to film and have 100's of tracks of samples can use standard Sata
for their samples drive but you think you need to have an SSD?