Audio production

[Almazan187]

what is the best desktop computer made for audio production and gaming for around $1000?

 

[excella1221]

Here's a suggestion.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor ($166.15 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock 990FX Extreme3 ATX AM3+/AM3 Motherboard ($119.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Gaming Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: OCZ Vertex 4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($109.98 @ Outlet PC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7870 2GB Video Card ($239.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Antec Three Hundred Two ATX Mid Tower Case ($57.40 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 750W 80 PLUS Silver Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $993.46
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-11-30 21:59 EST-0500)

 

[Almazan187]

Woah.....That was fast....:O

Any audio cards?

Keyboard and mouse?

Computer chair?

Thanks for the help, I appreciate it!

 

[excella1221]

Onboard sound card is already good.

Here you go,

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/qo1D

You can just get any computer chair you can find with the leftover money.

 

[jaasif]

Computer chair lol. You trickster you! Incidentally, I'm very interested in audio production as well as gaming too. You're saying that motherboard has a good built in sound card?

Speaking to the OP, I would suggest switching to an intel CPU; I hardly understand why people still go the AMD route. Especially in this price range. An Ivy Bridge CPU would be very appropriate. Of course, you'd have to change out the motherboard for something with an LGA slot.

 

[excella1221]

'cause his usage is audio production and gaming.
Meaning you'll have to fit both those in the build without sacrificing too much on the other.

The only Ivy Bridge that can match the 8-core Piledriver in multithreaded tasks(in this case audio production) will be the i7-3770K. That cheapest of that you can find is $315 on Amazon, and even then the FX-8320 or 8350 is just right behind its performance.

As for gaming, Intel i5/i7 would win hands down since most games are single-threaded. An i5 won't be an option though since it's only a quad-core and has no hyperthreading, hence the audio production part will suffer. The FX-8320 would perform fairly well in games since most are GPU-based now and modern ones are slowly evolving to being perfectly well-threaded.

 

[Almazan187]

This guy from tiger direct was trying to sell me this desktop for audio production, was he right in doing so?
http://biz.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5727349&srkey=F121400

Also, I was doing some research a while ago and I keep seeing the same items pop up in discussion boards for audio production and gaming.

I was wondering if you could tell me if the gtx 670, gtx 660 ti or the one that you recommended is better?

I've also been thinking about the i7 3820 instead, but I'd prefer your guy's opinions instead my own. Thanks!

 

[BreadWhistle]

As excella said, I'd recommend the 3770k over the 8320 because of gaming performance, but that would mean adding nearly ~$200 to your budget for the new CPU/Motherboard.

And I'd recommend the 3770K over the 3820 as it seems in multiple benchmarks that the 3770K performs a bit better, and you can overclock it.