mondaydave
Thanks for all your input guys,
 
I have done some more research and can go the Intel route for not much more expense using an I7 4770K and gigabyte D3H MOBO. 

Sanderxpander
If you're considering ever flipping in another hard disk and booting hackintosh, Intel, Gigabyte and NVidia are safer bets too.

This is one of the reasons I might go with Intel as I was interested in the whole Hackintosh thing a while back but since dropped it, Have you done this yourself?
 

hockeyjx
 
All of the other components look solid for a DAW. Oh, are you getting a silent/dampened case?

 
I hadn't given much thought to the case but have since opted for a coolermaster dampened case, cheers.
 
Thanks again everyone, Anyone any thoughts on windows 7 vs 8 debacle, I really dislike the feel of Windows 8 but I'm guessing the new way of working with Windows is not gonna go away.
 
 
 
 

For whatever the worth, I have Windows 8 on my main DAW, and have the Desktop 'tile' as the first one in the upper left when it boots up.  So, all I have to do is click on that to get into my normal look and feel Desktop view.
 
I then built a handful of little shortcuts to do things like: Restart, Shutdown, and Lock.  Additionally, I went through a eon-time exercise of making sure the applications I want quick access to were either pinned to the left-most side of the tile screen, OR were pinned to the Task Bar.
 
This makes it really quick and easy to lunch applications, and to restart/shutdown etc.
 
I DO like Windows 8, and will stay with it - am getting ready to up it to Windows 8.1, which will be soon.
 
If you or anyone wants the shortcuts I built for restart/shutdown/lock just PM me and I will send them.
 
Bob Bone
 

mondaydave
Thanks for all your input guys,
 
I have done some more research and can go the Intel route for not much more expense using an I7 4770K and gigabyte D3H MOBO. 

Sanderxpander
If you're considering ever flipping in another hard disk and booting hackintosh, Intel, Gigabyte and NVidia are safer bets too.

This is one of the reasons I might go with Intel as I was interested in the whole Hackintosh thing a while back but since dropped it, Have you done this yourself?
 

hockeyjx
 
All of the other components look solid for a DAW. Oh, are you getting a silent/dampened case?

 
I hadn't given much thought to the case but have since opted for a coolermaster dampened case, cheers.
 
Thanks again everyone, Anyone any thoughts on windows 7 vs 8 debacle, I really dislike the feel of Windows 8 but I'm guessing the new way of working with Windows is not gonna go away.
 
 
 
 

I've done the hackintosh thing, but a while back, on my Q6600 and my laptop's P9300 (I think??). I needed it then but don't have it running anymore as I upgraded and don't currently need it for anything specifically.
The ATI card in my desktop caused by far the most grief. I was lucky enough to have accidentally gone with a Gigabyte mobo though, so all chipset stuff worked right off the bat.

This is a really nice buyers's guide for stuff that is completely compatible;
http://www.tonymacx86.com...ide-december-2013.html

I'm still on Win7 and don't have a need to go to 8. I guess if you want to go all touchscreen happy it would make sense to go with 8 straight away.

Others disagree, but in my experience building a custom DAW machine is the only way to go. I highly recommend an i7 along with a MOBO that can handle multiple SATA III drives and over 32GB Ram in case you need to upgrade later on. I personally love Gigabyte boards, as they have never given me grief. Good choice on the power supply, 600w is the minimum I would consider.
 
What are you going to use for a sound card or interface?
 
Regarding Windows, I still use Win 7 Pro so I can't speak for Win 8. If I were to build a new machine, I would go with Win 8 because I've read a lot of good reviews about stability, etc. If you go Win 7, get the pro version, as it will recognize more than 4GB Ram. 

Pretty good choices... depends on your experience.  Built many systems since the 486... I had an intel system that had the proc fail and couldn't get a refund, so i built amd for years, but it just seems to me that Intel is a tiny-bit more stable, so my latest build last year was the i5-3570... 
oh, and the Pro OS seems more stable, but you need a 64 bit OS to use more RAM.   Pro doesn't have anything to do with RAM usage.  I also have Win 8 on my laptop and IMO if you don't want to mess with the new desktop learning curve or using a touchscreen, I would stay with 7... and hope that Win 9 will have a desktop 'version' feature when it comes out, maybe the end of this year?  

Why would you say 600W is minimum? The largest drain on a PSU is traditionally the videocard and if you don't go with a high end one you really shouldn't have any trouble. Hard disks and SSDs don't really draw that much.

I have a 700 Watt, which is overkill but the price point was really good when I bought it (I think cheaper than a lot of lees wattage ones because of a rebate). If you have more horsepower, you have room to expand should you choose to. But as most things, it is price dependent.
 
Get a quiet one!

I like Intel as they tend to have less problems with DAW software than AMD does.
The cost difference is just not worth it IMHO.
Gigabyte UD boards are built like tanks (pick one up and feel how heavy it is).
Nvidia for graphics. Don't go crazy. Pick a low to mid level card. You do not need a gamer card.
Quality brand power supply. It's more important to get a supply that can actually deliver it's specs without breaking a sweat than one which is running on the hairy edge all the time.
Quality CPU cooler.
 
I would suggest heading over to DUC and look at the builds those guys use for PT.
They are proven and known to work together combinations of parts.
 
http://duc.avid.com/
 
Have fun!
 
 

I recommend a good power supply because its the "life blood" of your system. Once you start adding peripherals it puts more strain on your PSU, so IMO it's safer to spend a little extra and get a quality unit with plenty of extra power.

Maarkr
Pretty good choices... depends on your experience.  Built many systems since the 486... I had an intel system that had the proc fail and couldn't get a refund, so i built amd for years, but it just seems to me that Intel is a tiny-bit more stable, so my latest build last year was the i5-3570... 
oh, and the Pro OS seems more stable, but you need a 64 bit OS to use more RAM.   Pro doesn't have anything to do with RAM usage.

I mentioned Win 7 Pro because it DOES affect Ram usage. The Home version only supports up to 16GB. Home Premium might, but I don't think it does.

i7 4930 is the best money I've ever spent... meters barely budge... until I was playing with 192 samples just to see... I spent mega hours...probably over a hundred... googling/reading/comparing and all the tech/performance guys say for a DAW the i7 series is way ahead of AMD... wish it weren't so... but data shows it so... I use to only buy AMD to support the little guy but it ain't even close...
 
Of course, depends on what ur gonna be doin'... if it's light duty stuff, fine... but if ur thinkin' of using vst's like DIVA, get the fastest i7 you can afford... and the 4930 is top of the heap by a long shot, for a $500 cpu budget.  I figure this will take me through another 2 years until the big Haswell 8 cores come on line... and AMD 8 cores aren't the same... not even close.