Build Advice Build Advice Needed

Hi all,

I am building a computer for my friend who produces music using ableton live. He wants it to run really smoothly with massive projects and I believe the CPU will be most important for this, plus having lots of RAM and running on an SSD.

Budget: Maximum of £900 but I don't think spending that much is really necessary
Main uses of intended build: Intensive audio production using ableton live plus various plugins
Parts required: All but mouse, keyboard and monitor
Previous build information: N/A
Storage requirements: SSD for programs, HDD for media
Will you be overclocking: not initially, but maybe in the future if greater performance is required
Any motherboard requirements: Onboard graphics, USB3
Extra information about desired system: N/A

This is what I have put together on scan: click here

I haven't built a PC since my 2500K build many years ago so I'm a bit out of it but I hope I'm choosing the right things! My friend doesn't care for having a fancy case and bit-tech seem to recommend the spec-01 as a budget case. I just went for the cheapest 16GB of RAM and 2TB HDD. I read the 840 EVO is a good SSD but I don't know that much about SSD's. I have no idea about the motherboard but the Z97-K claims to have good audio. the CS550M is another of bit-tech's recommendations.
My friend says he won't be doing much gaming so on board graphics should suffice, right? Should I buy a CPU cooler now, even though we won't be overclocking initially?
Is there anything else I should consider?

Thanks

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£236.34 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-C12P SE14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler (£51.03 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£63.56 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£220.00 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£148.92 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£49.98 @ Aria PC)
Case: Fractal Design Define Mini MicroATX Mini Tower Case (£61.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: be quiet! 300W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£33.96 @ Scan.co.uk)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/RSBS DVD/CD Writer (£12.64 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £878.42
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-22 08:21 BST+0100

here's what i came up with

smaller, quieter, 2x the RAM, 4x the SSD size

no idea if it's necessary as i have no idea how much ableton can take advantage of, but it should be good for pretty much any task short of heavy video workflows

 

The latest MSI *97 motherboards have very low dpc latency. Great for audio production.

 

Is 32GB RAM overkill or would it actually be useful? Does SSD performance increase at all with size? I know prices are good these days but I'm not sure the larger size is necessary. Would a 300W supply be okay with that build, plus a GPU like a 750 if it was desired at a later point?

And with the MSI motherboards, are you saying any Z97 board will have very low dpc latency?

Thanks

 

32GB would be overkill, unless he was using lots of programs/dsp's at once, even then 16 would be enough.

Larger SSD's do give better performance but I doubt it would be that noticable. For the most part a decent HDD will cope with audio work, I might suggest a 256GB SSD that could be used he was working on something that was extremely heavy on disk access.

 

With music prod rigs, I would always advocate as much RAM as affordable, as many cores as possible, and fast storage. 32Gb RAM is possibly a bit of overkill, but to be honest, it's fit and forget!

A nice quiet 300W PSU will do handsomely

 

okay, so I will stick with the 16GB of RAM I have as he probably wont need 32GB, I've got a smaller PSU, changed to an MSI motherboard and got a bigger SSD. Can anyone recommend a CPU cooler that scan sells? It would be nice to get everything together with the free and fast delivery as I need everything soon. new basket

Thanks

 

Think most z77 are lower latency tbh

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5793/...th-ivy-bridge-asrock-asus-gigabyte-and-msi/15

 

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7966/...-review-overclocking-air-water-heatsink-260/6

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2014...ac_lga_1150_motherboard_review/4#.U_hgI2MXMq4

They are good but the MSI is exceptional.

 

surely a Z97 motherboard is required? Thanks for the suggestions, but my friend thinks that at his level of production, a high end and pricey motherboard will probably not be required. He has external audio interfaces and I don't fully understand what will be a limiting factor so I think we will go with an MSI Z97 GAMING 5 as there is £35 cashback when bought with the i7. It has a good amount of ports and I'm sure it will be sufficient for what he needs. It's just the question of the cooler now really

edit: actually there are no standard PCI ports on the GAMING 5 and I think sound cards would use these so I don't know...