New PC - Audio Considerations?

Hi All,

I am almost ready to upgrade my C2D All0in-One PC. I have had it for over 2 years and it has been great, but it is getting a bit slow with DDRII RAM and C2D cPU, weak GPU - especially after I upgraded my laptop with an SSD in a dual setup with HDD. 

I will be ordering a custom-built PC and even found a shop that will do it for me. I am still deciding between two cases:

SilverStone FT03 and SilverStone LC16 both in black.

Since I use my PC as a source for my audio system (Burson HA-160D>WA2>Beyer T1 - Burson to be soon replaced by a dedicated DAC) and am wondering if there is anything I should include i the initial build to optimize it for audio playback.

The specs will be something like this:

Intel i7-2700

8GB RAM DDRIII - 12800

Some mid to high-end GPU

SSD for OS and HDD for data

USB 2 and 3.

Thanks in advance for your input,

Szadzik

Quote:

Originally Posted by loopfreak 

Thats plenty of power for some audio production and it will sure be enough for audio playback, no worries. Think that you should consider a dedicated usb to spdif converter, nothing else IMO(since you are getting a DA).

I read a few threads about SPDIF out vs USB>SPDIF and still think USB>SPDIF gives more options to buy something really good.

Anything else I should be considering when building it?

Quote:

Originally Posted by WNBC 

As loopfreak mentioned, you will be fine, those specs are more than enough to do computer audio.  I have something with the same RAM but haven't ordered the SS drives for my OS and music drive yet.  Your processor will be newer than mine as well.  I use FLAC > Foobar + WASAPI > DAC-2 > V200/LYR > LCD-2.  No hiccups, no issues, etc.  Throw in an APC battery backup/voltage regulator for icing on the cake.  I've been thinking of tweaking with something like a Mdht USB bridge to do S/PDIF into my DAC but probably don't need it.  The USB implementation on my DAC is top-notch.  I wouldn't worry about any bridges at the start.  Listen for any issues but otherwise I think you'll be fine.   

I will have to think about a voltage regulator - will probably hold off with buying an APC, quite a big investment. 

Will not be buying a bridge until I buy a DAC and see how it works with USB. 

P.S. Use a small 60GB SSD for the OS only and you will see a huge boost in performance. I did that on my laptop adding an SSD to the existing HDD and I am very satisfied. Could not go back to using an HDD only. If I could , I would buy another AIO as I love the form factor, but the lack of dual drive support kills it for me at the moment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Texpect 

Dude, get i5-2500k CPU!! Best price-performance!

 

And I suggest getting z68 motherboard.

MoBo is going to be z68 of course, no other choice. 

The slower CPU I buy the sooner I will have to worry about replacing it, no?

Quote:

Originally Posted by loopfreak 

For me ssd is good but if you frequently turn off on computer and you have plenty of demanding programs.It is good, but boost in performance is questionable since everything will be stored in ram once it gets fired for the first time and graphics now have 2gb as mid priced, it is too expensive for what it gives.

Totally untrue. 

When you have an SSD you disable Prefetch ans Superfetch as they are both less effective than using an SSD. I have 8GB RAM in my laptop and that had little effect on the overall speed of opening applications. When opening appliations like Nikon Capture NX, Excel, Word I still had to wait a few moments for them to start up, even though they are used frequently and certainly remembered by Prefetch. When I changed to SSD the difference in the speed is enormous and other things like searching, opening windows and everything else. An unbelievable performance boost. And I am talking about a laptop with good specs too.

Going back to the topic.

Do you guys recommend any audio card at all or just the onboard card? 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sganzerla 

 There were some good differences in sound, between my old computer - P5KSE + Coolermaster 460w power supply - and my new computer - P8Z68 Deluxe + Corsair AX 850w - in my system. I wouldn't overlook power supply, if I were you. Well, there were many variables on play, but I think those 2 were the responsibles for this improvement.

What should I be looking at when choosing a PSU and MoBo?

Quote:

Originally Posted by saisunil 

Do consider Mac-Mini - they apparently are better sounding for audio only - assuming you are getting this PC dedicated for audio.

Also there are some tweaks to reduce background processes ...

 

Playback software also makes audible difference and so do USB cables

 

here's a good USB dac and there are many more to go ... but at this price - buying a separate USB converter and dac and cable may not be very cost effective ... 

 

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?dgtlconv&1328016286&/Ultra-Fi-DAC-41-usb-dac---Cybe

 

cheers

No Mac for me, thanks.

I need a Windows PC as I will be using it as my home PC and not only for audio.

I will be getting USB cables and a DAC - Onkyo DAC-1000, YuLong Sabre D18, Rein X-DAC, Anedio D1 or something like that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sganzerla 

 Sorry Szadzik, but I really don't have enough knowledge to say something worth about this topic, but I have some friends who said to not overlook these components, and I didn't - and found an improvement in my new setup.

 

 I think someone will help on this matter very soon.

 

Thanks.