Powerful PC for Music Production and Gaming

[MaltonSeadog]

Hi all,

I'm finally upgrading from this:

OS Version: Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition, Service Pack 3, 32 bit
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz, x86 Family 15 Model 2 Stepping 9
Processor Count: 2
RAM: 3326 Mb
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 6200, 512 Mb
Hard Drives: C: Total - 76285 MB
Motherboard: Dell Computer Corp., 0F4491

...to something which can run the following music software and games:


Symphonic Choirs - (req: Intel or AMD Quad Core 2.0GHz, 8GB RAM, 64-bit OS and host)

Sibelius 7 - (req: Intel Core 2 Duo (or equivalent) or better, 4 GB+ total physical RAM, 40 GB total hard disk space (7200 rpm or faster drive recommended; SSD preferable), ASIO-compatible soundcard)

Hollywood Strings - (optimum req: tel Core i7 2.66GHz or higher
16GB RAM or more
64-bit Windows/Host Sequencer
SSD (Solid State Drive) for sample streaming)

Lord of the Rings Online at ULTRA HIGH settings with all bells and whistles - recommended req unknown, sorry, but this game is power hungry!

----

So - here we go, would this do the trick? My budget is around £1,300 initially, to keep the payments under £40 a month.

This following system comes in at £42.75 a month. Where could I cut corners or improve?

I want it to be easily upgradable for years to come, as this is a big investment for me:


PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-3770K (3.5GHz) 8MB Cache
ASUS® P8Z77-V LX: USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX
16GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (4 X 4GB)
3GB AMD RADEON™ HD7970 - DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
240GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£69)
COOLIT ECO II A.L.C ADVANCED LIQUID COOLER (£59)
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)

 

[MaltonSeadog]

Actually, may be worth me considering a better sound card as I'm a composer?

 

[keynes]

I'll go for a GTX 680, should be cheaper and better. If you are not overclocking then you can downgrade the cpu cooler.

 

[MaltonSeadog]

Thanks. Here's another cheaper system, based on a modified Skyrim Ultra system (which I imagine has higher requirements than LOTRO, so playing it safe). I've upgraded to GTX680 and to SSD HDD.

Any better than the one above? It's certainly cheaper:

Case
PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD BULLDOZER EIGHT CORE FX-8120 (3.10GHz/8MB CACHE/AM3+)
Motherboard
ASUS® M5A99X EVO:USB 3.0, SATA 6.0Gb/s, Quad CrossFireX™/SLI™
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 680 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
180GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
600W Quiet 80 PLUS Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£59)
Processor Cooling
TITAN FENRIR EVO EXTREME HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£39)
Sound Card
Asus Xonar DG 5.1 SoundCard & Headphone AMP (Award Winner) (£20)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,280.00 including VAT and delivery.

 

[iain_m]

Generally it looks good but if you intend to compose while sitting next to the PC you will find that the graphics card fan is distractingly loud (not a flaw with that specific card - it's a general issue).

You'll need either to fit an aftermarket cooler to the graphics card, or look for a silent/very quiet one.

If you want a fanless one you may have to accept a slightly less powerful graphics card because the top of the line cards run too hot to be cooled properly by a fanless heatsink.

In terms of sound card I'm a wee bit surprised by your question because if you are getting into the EastWest stuff I would expect you already know about ASIO drivers and the kinds of hardware that supports them. In a nutshell the best approach is to use the onboard sound for games and multimedia etc, then buy a professional USB or Firewire external sound card and route the onboard audio through the professional card, out to your speakers.

RME are one of the best pro sound card brands, but there are many others (M-Audio, Native Instruments, etc). Don't use Creative for this.

(Lastly by the way have you already bought the EastWest libraries? If not, hang fire and check out other options. There are many less expensive and more customer-friendly soundware developers out there, who make libraries for Kontakt rather than EastWest's PLAY. PLAY is very slow and unreliable in comparison to Kontakt.)

Good luck!

 

[MaltonSeadog]

Hi Iain,

Thanks for the reply.

I'm more of a hobby composer, but have scored 3-4 short films and also done 5 years worth of university-level composition.

My main software has been Sibelius 6, running with Garritan Personal Orchestra, which is satisfactory for what I need, but I am looking into some nice string samples, which is Garritan's only weakness IMO.

I have to admit - the graphics side of things is more important to me than the composition side for the time being. As long as I can run Sib 7 and some basic sample libraries, that's probably going to be enough for the time being. Gaming and general office work is the priority, with composition as a side-bonus.

 

[Rakk]

Symphonic Choirs - (req: Intel or AMD Quad Core 2.0GHz, 8GB RAM, 64-bit OS and host)

Sibelius 7 - (req: Intel Core 2 Duo (or equivalent) or better, 4 GB+ total physical RAM, 40 GB total hard disk space (7200 rpm or faster drive recommended; SSD preferable), ASIO-compatible soundcard)

Hollywood Strings - (optimum req: tel Core i7 2.66GHz or higher
16GB RAM or more
64-bit Windows/Host Sequencer
SSD (Solid State Drive) for sample streaming)

Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)

You may want to up the RAM to 16GB as you had in your first spec, due to the high memory usage of some of the software you mentioned in your first post, for example the Hollywood Strings thing seems to want 16GB minimum - RAM is also fairly cheap at the moment.

 

[MaltonSeadog]

Ok, here's the newest version:

Case
PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD BULLDOZER EIGHT CORE FX-8120 (3.10GHz/8MB CACHE/AM3+)
Motherboard
ASUS® M5A99X EVO:USB 3.0, SATA 6.0Gb/s, Quad CrossFireX™/SLI™
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 680 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
180GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£69)
Processor Cooling
TITAN FENRIR EVO EXTREME HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£39)
Sound Card
Asus Xonar DG 5.1 SoundCard & Headphone AMP (Award Winner) (£20)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,346.00 including VAT and delivery.

To be honest, I'd like to save some money somewhere, but still be able to play LOTRO on ultra high settings. I can't seem to find any specifics regarding what LOTRO requires though which is frustrating. It may be that I'm way over-speccing here.

 

[keynes]

Generally it looks good but if you intend to compose while sitting next to the PC you will find that the graphics card fan is distractingly loud (not a flaw with that specific card - it's a general issue).

The GTX 680 with fans running at 30% is almost silent, I need to open the case and put my ear close to the gpu to listen to the fans.

 

[Karnor00]

I don't know for sure what GPU requirements LOTRO has, but I'd be amazed if it needs anything like a 680 to run in ultra high settings. It's what, 3 years old now? I'm pretty sure you could save some money by dropping to say a 570 or 7950 and still having way more than you need for LOTRO.

The other really important thing is that you are going to need a sizeable HDD which you don't currently have in your spec. And your existing PC only has a 76GB HDD which won't really help even if you transferred it acrross. I'd suggest dropping the SDD drive and replacing it with a (rather cheaper) Caviar Black 2TB HDD which is very quick.

I also had a quick look at the optimal specs for Hollywood Strings. Now bear in mind I no next to nothing about this type of software, but the optimal specifications require 310GB of space (as do the minimum specs) as well as an SSD. It's very possible that this means that the speed critical components can be installed on the SSD with the rest on the larger regular HDD, but if not then you would be looking at a monster sized (and priced) SSD to fit the software on because a 180GB SSD clearly couldn't fit 310GB of program. And even if you can restrict speed critical components to the SSD then you are still going to need a sizeable HDD (either as your primary or secondary drive) for the rest of the program.

 

[MaltonSeadog]

OK - more slight amendment. Added a 2TB HDD instead of SDD, added 32GB RAM and Windows 7 Pro. Now at the very top end of my affordability, at £47 a month.

Case
PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD BULLDOZER EIGHT CORE FX-8150 (3.60GHz/8MB CACHE/AM3+)
Motherboard
ASUS® M5A99X EVO:USB 3.0, SATA 6.0Gb/s, Quad CrossFireX™/SLI™
Memory (RAM)
32GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (4 X 8GB)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 680 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
600W Quiet 80 PLUS Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£59)
Processor Cooling
TITAN FENRIR EVO EXTREME HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£39)
Sound Card
Asus Xonar DG 5.1 SoundCard & Headphone AMP (Award Winner) (£20)
Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£16)
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£109)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,516.00 including VAT and delivery.

 

[MadMan]

You could downgrade to the triple copper cooler and upgrade to a corsair power supply as it's more reliable and better.

 

[MaltonSeadog]

Regarding the power supply, it suggested that 750W is too much, and that my PC would only need 580ish, therefore I lowered to 600W.

What do you suggest?

 

[MadMan]

There is a Corsair 650w power supply

 

[Karnor00]

I still think it's overkill on the GPU. I've had a quick look on google and found reports of people running LOTRO on max on 6850s and 5870s which are both slower than a 7950 (which is £140 less than the 680 you selected). The 680 is certainly an excellent GPU, just expensive too.

 

[MadMan]

I still think it's overkill on the GPU. I've had a quick look on google and found reports of people running LOTRO on max on 6850s and 5870s which are both slower than a 7950 (which is £140 less than the 680 you selected). The 680 is certainly an excellent GPU, just expensive too.

Yeah but he stated gaming is a priority and for that you would want the best gpu you can buy

 

[MaltonSeadog]

Gaming in terms of LOTRO is a priority.

Really, I'd want the peace of mind knowing that if I wanted to go out and buy any game, I could.

 

[MaltonSeadog]

Taking into account what people have said, I've knocked £500 off by downgrading certain things.

Is this still a very capable gaming PC?:

Case
STYLISH PIANO BLACK ENIGMA CASE + 2 FRONT USB
Processor (CPU)
AMD BULLDOZER EIGHT CORE FX-8150 (3.60GHz/8MB CACHE/AM3+)
Motherboard
ASUS® M5A78L-M/USB3: M-ATX, USB 3.0, SATA 3.0Gb/s
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPERX GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1866MHz X.M.P(4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
3GB AMD RADEON™ HD7950 - DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£69)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE AMD CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,053.00 including VAT and delivery.

 

[Rakk]

I'd suggest getting a better case than that, everything will get very very toasty in that one with those specs, your PC components will be much happier with better cooling provided by a better case.

I'd go for at least the PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE

 

[MaltonSeadog]

Is it worth going double-whammy and getting both a better case AND better cooling, such as water cooling?