Errr DIVA is one of the most CPU hungry VSTs available today. Doesn't use much RAM but you can probably run like ten instances of Kontakt to one of DIVA in its highest quality mode for the same CPU usage.

The "resources" page at Puget Systems has a lot of information about selected components. Useful even if you don't order from them. Have seen favorable reviews about them, and my experience with them has been great. Interactive advice during ordering was very helpful. They have advice about components and build options that can make the machine quieter. During build you can track the construction, testing, and quality control steps. I have no connection other than as a customer, but am happy to report their philosophy and performance are top level.

djoni
Good to see some people are still building their daws.
I use to do that myself until I bought my first now from adkproaudio.
Will never build one again…to much work putting it together and tweaking it for best performance.
Although, I would like to know how much you save by building yourself.
I wonder if it is worth all the work/trouble...
 

For information purposes here is what I got in the end and the final tally for comparison....
 
CPU Intel Haswell 4770K
MOBO Gigabyte Z87 DH3
SSD Intel 530 240G 
HHD WD Black 2TB 
RAM Corsair Vengeance 8GB
PSU Corsair CX750
CASE Coolermaster Silencio
Samsung DVD RW
Windows 7 Pro
 
The final costing was EUR803.00
 
I'm not sure how that compares to buying a system from ADK but I'm betting there is some saving there, Wether the saving outways the lack of support only time will tell but here's hoping..... 
 
 
 

Looks like a very capable new system, very akin to the one I built last spring (3770 based). Enjoy!

I'm still using an ancient I7 980 which still eats everything alive, even at stock speed.
 
Later generation I7s are still totally overkill, you cant go wrong with them. 
 
I remember AMD needed to clock their latest CPU to 5 Ghz, and its still not on par with Intel's I5's / I7's, and consumes a huge amount of power and runs really hot. Plus most I5s / I7s can be overclocked to 4.5 Ghz+ if you ever want to and then they just just laugh at every feeble program / game that you run.

Sanderxpander
Errr DIVA is one of the most CPU hungry VSTs available today. Doesn't use much RAM but you can probably run like ten instances of Kontakt to one of DIVA in its highest quality mode for the same CPU usage.

I retract my statement...you are absolutely correct! I run it inside VEPro on a slave, so I never really paid attention to the CPU usage until you mentioned it. For a "synth" module, it's suprisingly taxing.