Advice for audio/gaming rig

[Kilty]

Hello,

I'm looking for some advice from you fine folks over here at Hexus again for a rig intended for audio production and gaming.

Here's what I have in mind so far. I'm aware noise could be an issue on this build and may not be the most desirable when listening through monitors but I'm open to suggestions all around.

I was thinking about picking up a Scan 3XS Bundle first of all because I like the idea of an all inclusive warranty and getting a well tuned OC without hassle on my end. I understand this limits me to be to specific components and I've heard that the Corsair closed loop water coolers can be a bit noisy but I really don't enjoy the look of (and cleaning out) big heatsinks on the cpu.

Scan Bundle:

• i7 6700k @4.6GHz
• Asus Z170 Pro Gaming
• Corsair Hydro H100i V2 (Could throw SP120 Quiet editions on here if recommended)
• 32GB (4x8GB) Corsair DDR4 Vengeance LPX Black, 2666MHz, CAS 16-18-18-35, 1.2V

Other stuff:

• Corsair Vengeance C70 (will move case around a little bit, good size and I like the look of it - will replace window with full clear transparent acrylic)
• GTX 1070 (not an FE edition - so still up in the air pending third party benchmarks)
• 1TB sata 7200rpm hard drive (haven't decided)
• 128GB 840EVO (From old computer)
• 500GB Samsung hd502hj (from old computer)
• OCZ OCZ600MXSP-UK ModXStream Pro 600W ATX Power Supply (From old computer)

Will be picking up a new external audio interface, but I am still undecided on that. For the computer itself excluding the re-used components mentioned I'm trying to keep it ~£1200

If you have any suggestions or there is anything missing let me know.

Cheers,

Dave

[kalniel]

Audio production and gaming are almost the two opposite ends of how you build a PC - you are going to have to compromise one to maximise the other. Which is most important?

For audio production I'd recommend not overclocking, and not using water cooling - go for a mid-range spec at most - look for motherboards with the lowest DPC latency, minimise the peripherals and go for the ones with the most solid driver support to avoid driver issues (particularly DPC latency issues). Go for a quiet air cooler and consider undervolting to keep everything cool and quiet. Look for sound proofed cases (which tend to be poorer on ventilation, another reason that air cooling is better).

For gaming your aim is largely to remove the GPU bottleneck as much as possible. That means getting a CPU that can feed the GPU with as little a budget as possible so you can put the extra into a beefier GPU - overclocking is historically the way to do that, but there's such a market around it now that you can easily waste so much extra money that you're better off just buying a better CPU or putting it into the GPU and simply replacing the CPU a few months earlier than you were going to.

[Kilty]

Thanks for your response.

The build is primarily for gaming then, but I wouldn't mind the extra ram for loading in samples. Noise will be a factor, but switching the fans into quiet mode (some graphics cards have completely idle mode now as well?) should be good enough for myself. I don't mind if it's audible. In the house, I mainly use a decent of pair reference headphones because of noise, and will use studios for proper monitoring.

As for the motherboard issue, I don't know anything about what boards are better than others in that department. If it's something you think I should go and research on my own first I can do that, or if you have a suggestion that could work in a gaming build that would be great. I plan to play at 1440p maximum, So I thought a GTX 1070 seemed suitable based on benchmarks since there is a big jump in cost to a GTX 1080.

If you think the whole build needs a re-work though, some suggestions on components would be helpful.

Thanks again,

Dave

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would wait a month to see what Polaris brings to the table and it should help with pricing of the Nvidia cards IMHO.

Regarding the CPU I would more inclined to go with a socket 2011 based one like a Core i7 5820K or its Broadwell E replacement.

Also,for a decent soundproofed cased,maybe look at a Fractal R5??

[MrJim]

You might like to look into a PSU that has a 'semi-passive' mode, which turns the fan off below 20% load.

My choice of PC case for quiet operation would be the Corsair 400Q:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-CC-...s=corsair+400q

[g8ina]

Lowe might have something to add, but Kalniel and Cat have pretty much nailed it.

[Kilty]

Ok I've had a little think, thank you all for your input!

It seems like I should just focus on a build for gaming. Maybe down the line I can build another computer specifically for audio production, but I definitely want gaming to be the priority on this build. If I'm going to focus on gaming then benchmarks show that currently the i6700k outperforms the Core i7 5820K from what I've read. I think I'll focus on aesthetics and gaming performance overall.

With that in mind, what are your thoughts on the 3XS bundle I originally posted? I should probably bump the ram down to 16GB on that.

Thanks for all your help,

Dave

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Ok I've had a little think, thank you all for your input!

It seems like I should just focus on a build for gaming. Maybe down the line I can build another computer specifically for audio production, but I definitely want gaming to be the priority on this build. If I'm going to focus on gaming then benchmarks show that currently the i6700k outperforms the Core i7 5820K from what I've read. I think I'll focus on aesthetics and gaming performance overall.

With that in mind, what are your thoughts on the 3XS bundle I originally posted? I should probably bump the ram down to 16GB on that.

Thanks for all your help,

Dave

As DX12 becomes more common,expect the Core i7 5820K to run past the Core i7 6700K,and it is going to be soon replaced by the Core i7 6850K too.

The Core i7 6700K is very poor value TBH,and you might as well buy a Core i5 6600K and put the remainder into a the graphics card or a bigger SSD.

[Kilty]

Ah, you can get an i5 6600k overclocked to the same speed of 4.6GHz for basically £100 less, which basically amounts to the same performance in gaming. I see what you mean by poor value.

Ok thanks, I'm looking at Core i7 5820k builds just now as well. If what I'm reading is correct then the new 6800k won't be worth the extra cost over the 5820k? So it really seems like for future proofing right now, the 5820k would be the way to go as games begin to take advantage of the extra cores?

I'll keep reading, thanks for all the info though!

Dave

[kalniel]

Ok thanks, I'm looking at Core i7 5820k builds just now as well. If what I'm reading is correct then the new 6800k won't be worth the extra cost over the 5820k? So it really seems like for future proofing right now, the 5820k would be the way to go as games begin to take advantage of the extra cores?

Another mistake people make is spending money now in the hope that it'll be useful in the future, without really knowing. Given the VAST majority of gamers are using 4 cores or less, game developers are going to be targeting them with their games. Performance advantage for extra cores is going to cost much more than the performance advantage of a better/newer GPU.

6600K is faster in games, and Z170 boards seem to have lower DPC latency than X99, so I'd recommend going 6600K and Z170 rather than the 5820K/6800K for your uses. But price up some builds and have a look - see what you could get extra for the saving.