New PC build - Please Review and Suggest???

I'm about to order parts for a new build. I think what I'm getting will be nice, but I'd like to see if there are any poor choices here. I will be using with Win 7 Home 64 bit. I'll mostly use Sonar X1 PE, but also have various other stuff (Reason 4, Garritan Personal Orchestra, Waves CLA Signature, Addictive Drums, various other VST's and VSTi's). I'm do not do a lot of synths - mostly audio. But I do use drums and pianos and strings, etc. I'm usually just recording 1 or 2 tracks at a time, and mixing 15-20 or so. I will also be doing basic internet/ email with the same system. I do not play games or watch movies, but I do edit home movies with Vegas Pro, but nothing serious.

Processor: i7-2600K (I would like to overclock, when I figure out how)

Case: Cooler Master Elite 430

VC: GeForce 9500GT 1GB

PSU: Corsair CX600

MB: Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD3-B3

Memory: Mushkin Blackline 6GB

Wireless: Trendnet TEW-623PI

I already have 3 SATA 1TB drives (1 is 6GB/s, 2 are 3 GB/s), And I have a FW card (Siig). Was planning on using those. My current audio interface is a Focusrite Saffire, but I'm considering a change. Maybe a Presonus Firestudio Mobile or a new Saffire Pro. But it will still be FW, either way.

Any potential problems or hurdles you see with this setup?

Thank you!

Your best bet, would likely be 8 gigs of ram.


So - the Mushkin ram is ok, but use 8 Gigs? Say, 4x2G sticks?

Thank you!

you need a really good cpu cooler as well if OCing.
in fact even at default speed the included fan sucks.
yes Mushkin 8 gig DDR3 1600 (2x4gig)  9-9-9-24 blackline
i would look at the coolermaster 700w quiet PS


Outstanding, Scott. I was hoping you'd chime in. A have a lot of respect for your advice. Thanks for sharing! I was looking at a Corsair fan cooler, but the thing looks HUGE - maybe too big for my case. But I'll find a good one.

Thanks, again.

    I have a gaming tower I use as my main DAW.  The thing has 7 fans and could probably could cool lava if it happened to be flowing through the PC.   It's not "whisper quiet" but has never interfered with any recordings due to noise.  Not that I am suggesting a gigantic gaming tower for air flow but heck, I dont think heat will ever be the issue when things start to go bad.
    Or you could have Scott build you a computer and be worry free.   As I just bought a laptop from him and have had 0 issues.  Good luck with your build, the Sandy Bridge does seem like a great deal for the performance, when compared with the 980X

most of the 1366 also fit 1155/1156
quiet pc is where i would look

For cooling:

What I have is:

1. The graphic cards has a small fan.

2. The cpu has it's stock fan, it's ok - that is a little loud, but later on I will switch it for $40 - $60.

3. The case has a fan in the back 120mm, very quiet.

4. I added a 120mm Antec tri-speed fan and mounted it onto the side of the case (there was holes for air flow there or a fan already). These fans are great and cheap $19.99. If it got hot or I decided to over-clock, I can turn the fan up. low is quiet, medium is still pretty quiet, high is noticably loud. Mine are on low.

5. There is room for a fan in the front of the case infront of the hard-drives. I have 4 drives, and they were starting to hurt when touched they got so hot until I put another 120mm Antec tri-speed fan there. Also on low. The hard-drives dropped about 10 degrees off the bat. I did not use them much before, since I was scared they would fry.

Since you are using multiple drives, get something for air-flow infront of your HDD's and out the back.

Nice setup, remember Sandy Bridges have started to ship with the problems fixed, apparently. I am AMD though.

slartabartfast


I suppose you have a good reason to use a wireless NIC. Just remember to disable it before you try to do any serious DAW work. They are notorious for sucking up processor attention during real time recording or playback.

+1 and interefernce as well