Damn thats a lot of $$$. It's not a good time to put so much money in a new system because Intel will be releasing a brand new plattform in 2011 with new 6 core und 8 core CPU's. Don't know if you can wait that long.
I'll try to make this short...lol
AMD CPU's are not recommended for audio use because they are slow. In video games, video rendering etc. they are pretty quick and quite comparable to Intel but not in audio situations.
Benchmarks can be found here:
The picture basically shows different CPU's at different latencies. They basically load a music project in cubase and see how many Compressor plugins they can load until they get sound issues. As you can see Intel wins pretty much everywhere.
There are currenly two intel platforms out right now. Both plattforms will run out in 2011 and be replaced by LGA 1356 and LGA 2011 (Q3)
The
LGA 1156 (mainstream plattform)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGA_1156
The
LGA 1366 (high end plattform)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGA_1366
Can't really say that one plattform is faster than the other one especially when the
LGA 1156 was released a while later. It depends more on the CPU.
The only thing that sets apart the
1366 platform is the Triple Channel memory and the PCIe Crossfire und SLI support (if you're a hardcore gamer and you need to get 2 videocards). The
1156 platform has only dual channel memory. It's a little bit slower. At the same time the LGA
1156 came out some time after
1366 so it's more up to date.
If you compare a 1156 Platform with an Intel i7 860 and a
1366 platform with an intel i7 920 the cheaper mainstream plattform (
1156) is even a lil bit faster:
But like you see there is not a big difference.
Now if you look at the memory benchmarks you see that the i7 920 on the
LGA 1366 platform is faster:
Like I said before it's because the
LGA 1366 platform uses triple channel RAM.
Before I forget it... Triple channel means that you should have 3 Ram sticks preferably each 2 GB = 6GB.
LGA 1366 boards usually have 6 Ram slots so you could put in 6GB (3X 2GB) 12GB (6 X 2GB) or even 24GB (6X 4GB)
LGA 1156 only supports Dual channel so you have 4 Ram slots available: 4 GB (2X 2GB) or (4X 1GB), 8GB (4X 2GB) or 16GB (4X 4GB)
Keep in mind that you can only use more than 4GB of Ram on a 64 bit operating system.
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I just updraded to a new system a week ago. I decided to get the
LGA 1366 platform. Why ? Because for me it was much cheaper than a LGA 1156 system. There was this X58 mainboard from DFI that they were selling really cheap over here in europe and of course I got it.
Would I decide to get the LGA
1366 platform if it wasn't for that blow out deal ? NO !!!
-
LGA 1156 is cheaper
-
LGA 1156 is more up to date
-
LGA 1156 and i7 860 CPU consumes less power
-
LGA 1156 and i7 860 CPU doesn't get as hot as the 1366 i7 920
counterpart
- You can get 8GB of Ram for 200$ (6 GB on 1366). In other words
for 200 $ you get two 2 X 2 GB kits for the
LGA 1156 or one 3X 2GB
kit for the
LGA 1366.
I think I provided enough information. You have to decide what you like more.
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Those components are valid for both systems:
Case
(of couse you can choose one you like...matter of taste...don't get a cheap one though)
Recommended brands: Antec, Xigmatek, Cooler Master, Thermaltake, Lian Li, Silverstone
Never get a case with a built in power supply unless it's an Antec. As far as I know only Antec puts high quality PSU's in their bundles. You should know that the PSU might be the most important part in your pc. Most people who complain about their coputer crashing a lot and get a mac are those who buy power supplys for 10 bucks. Apple knows this and puts high quality psu's in their macs. But it's recommended to buy the case and the psu separate.
Here are some cases I like:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129062
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163135
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119150
If you decide to get a mini uATX board you could get some small stylish cases like:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163112
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112221
The big advantage of those are that they are not a heavy as those big cases. You can always take em with you or to your friends house to work on some music etc. I have a small uATX system in my living room...now not for music but a media center to watch movies etc.
But that doesn't say that they can#t be used as music machines.
+ that white Lian Li looks dope as hell if you ask me
Now enough with those cases..
PSU:
Recommended Brands: Seasonic, Enermax, Corsair, Antec, OCZ
For your build you usually don't need more than 400W...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139008
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...7151074&cm_re=seasonic-_-17-151-074-_-Product (that's the one I got)
Hard Drives:
Recommended brands: Western Digital (never had problems with them)
1 TB WD Sample Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...re=western_digital_1tb-_-22-136-284-_-Product
1 TB WD Backup Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...re=western_digital_1tb-_-22-136-490-_-Product
Western digitals are available in 3 different colours / performance classes:
WD Black = High Peformance Drive
WD Blue = Mainstream Drive not as fast as WD Black
WD Green = Energy saving and reliable HDD. It's slower than Blue and
Black but great for backups because it doesn't spin at
full rpm and get too hot
SSD's
With a big budget like yours I would buy a
SSD drive for the OS partition:
OCZ seems to have the best one out right now.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227528
Those drives are really fast because there are only memory chips inside and no mechanical parts or magnet disks spinning like in a conventianal hdd. Keep in mind that you only get 50 GB so you still have to put some conventianal hdd's in your pc.
DVD Drives:
LiteOn's are good
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106335
Could also get a
blueray drive if needed (burning blueray discs, watching blueray movies etc.)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106346
Might as well get rid of the WD Green backup HDD because you can burn up to 50 gigs to a Blueray Disc. It will be more expensve though.
Video Cards:
(wanna play some video games in your free time ?)
Gaming (good pefromance):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102878&cm_re=5830-_-14-102-878-_-Product
Gaming (average performance):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102901&cm_re=4850-_-14-102-901-_-Product
Thats the one I got. It's cheap and quite ok for some gamign here and there. I don't have that much time for video games anyway.
Non Gaming: (slow performance)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102877
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814134112
The only advantage of those are that they're silent. Otherwise they're too slow.
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Now for the real important parts:
LGA 1366:
Mainboard ATX $199
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128423
Mainboard uATX (for small uATX cases) $165
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136066&cm_re=dfi-_-13-136-066-_-Product
The DFI is the one I got. I've put it in a big ATX case though. Like I said before it was really cheap and I didn't really care. Normally you buy the board that fits to your case. Doesn't make sense putting an uATX motherboard in an ATX case because you loose expension slots. But in 90% of all cases you don't need them anyway.
Memory: 185$ or $170
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231254
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145236
Need to pay attention to the big RAM coolers on the Trident because it might not fit in your case or it blocks the CPU cooler. Corsair is slower but it should fit in every case.
CPU: $290
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115225&cm_re=i7_930-_-19-115-225-_-Product
The i7 920 seems to be not available on newegg. If there's a 10-20 $ price difference between them I would get the 930.
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LGA 1156:
Motherboard:
ATX: $125
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128437
uATX: $95
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131623
(video card may block one PCI slot)
Memory: $200
2X
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277
CPU: $289
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115214&cm_re=i7_860-_-19-115-214-_-Product
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Will make some edits to this post later...tired right now.
Hope I could help. I will also post this as an update to my "Build your own custom DAW" thread
I must say I'm in a good "help and teach" mood today lol
Edit: Newegg should pay me $$$$$$ for that promo lol
If anyone got any questions or needs help hit me up on twitter @AndreyAE
