Expert: Karl Zick - 10/20/2011

Question
Hey Karl, I'm needing advice on building own computer mainly for music recording/production and some Photoshop and movie making. I know you're probably not too up on audio stuff but any tips would be fantastic. I've written up the highest rated hardware on Newegg and Amazon into two builds below. I understand that might be all wrong so any personal recommendations and best build ideas would be most appreciated. Budget is somewhere below $1500.

Thanks so much for your time!
-Luke

Build 1
•Apple Mac Tower Case (I'd dearly like to have firewire - probably affects the rest of this)
•GIGABYTE GA-990XA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990X SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
•HIS IceQ X Turbo H695QNT2G2M Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity
•Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I72600K
•CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9
•Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC128MAG-1G1 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
•Seagate Barracuda Green ST2000DL003 2TB 5900 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
•ASUS Black Blu-ray Drive SATA Model BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS - OEM

....and build 2
•Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced Case with USB 3.0
•ASUS Socket AM3/AMD 890FX/CrossFireX/SATA 3.0 and USB 3.0/A and GbE/ATX Motherboard Crosshair IV Formula
•HIS Radeon HD 4670 IceQ 1 GB (128bit) DDR3 HDMI Dual DL-DVI (HDCP) PCI Express 2.0 X16 Video Card Retail (RoHS) H467QR1GH
•Intel Core i7-960 Processor 3.20 GHz 8 MB Cache Socket LGA1366
•Corsair XMS3 12GB ( 3 x 4GB ) 1333mhz PC3-10666 240-pin DDR3 Triple Channel Memory Kit for •Core i7 12 Triple Channel Kit DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM CMX12GX3M3A1333C9
•Crucial 128 GB m4 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive SATA 6Gb/s CT128M4SSD2
•Western Digital 1.5 TB Caviar Black SATA 6 Gb/s 7200 RPM 64 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive - WD1502FAEX
•ASUS Black Blu-ray Drive SATA Model BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS - OEM

Answer
Hi Luke,

I like your build 1 because of the Gigabyte motherboard.  I've never had one fail - and I cannot say that for ASUS. One important thing you messed up on though is the CPU.  You cannot put an Intel CPU on an AMD motherboard.  I suggest you stick with the AMD motherboard and an AMD CPU and since the Athlon has been around longer than anything else, look at those first.  While you are studying the issue, go to this benchmark comparison of AMD vs Intel hi-end processors.  I found it to be a real education - especially on prices: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

Once you get your motherboard/cpu team matched up, you have made about 70% of the serious decisions.  While making this decision though, I do not recommend overkills because they are a waste of money.  It is like putting 1,000 watt speakers on your stereo system and feeding them with 5 watts of sound. I would not spend over $100 on the motherboard or more than $150 on the CPU.  Go to Gigabyte.con and check out their motherboard selection.  Since you have a video card picked out, I wouldn't' worry about on-board video. I know CPU's get confusing when you start looking at models and numbers of cores but unless you are a heavy gamer, which it doesn't sound like you are, I would avoid the very hi-end ones and stick with something like the AMD Phenom II X4 970 for $140.  CPU speed is more important than cores so make sure your processor has over 3Ghz of clock speed - which most of them do.

Going down the list of other components......
> VIDEO: That is quite a video card you have picked out but I think $300 is a little more than you need to spend.  Also, I did not know what `HDCP ready' meant, so I looked it up: "HDCP-ready video cards can play Blu-ray and other copy-protected, high-definition video on HDCP-ready monitors. High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection blocks unauthorized copying of Blu-ray and other HD content. PC buyers who wish to view HD video must choose HDCP-ready systems."  You can buy a very nice 500 MB NVIDA video card with HDMI output these days for $35 - but you know your needs there.  Just make sure you have a good HDMI monitor to go with it {suggest Samsung} and if you get the Radeon card the monitor should also be HDCP ready..
> RAM.  RAM used to be the big money-ticket when building a new system {I paid $65 for my first 1MB RAM board) but today it is cheap and it is all good.  Just shop around and order 4 2GB DDR3 or 2 4GB DDR3 boards.  You should be able to get them for about $5 a gig and 8GB should handle any multi-tasking you throw at it.
> HARD DRIVE:  In a way, the most important component in your system because it contains all of your system data and your personal files.  I hate Seagate drives because I have seen too many go belly-up.  I used to like Maxtor until Seagate bought them so now I don't like those either.  Toshiba makes a decent drive, but I stick with Western Digital.  I have seen a couple WD drives fail but it is usually when you are first loading and configuring them.  
> SSD: Why are you adding a solid state device {SSD} to your system?  They usually replace the hard drive for system file and key application use and then people store their personal files on external hard drives.  They are still very expensive compared to a hard drive and I cannot tell any speed improvement using them.
DVD BURNER:  The basic ones are all good and cost around $25.  If you go Blu-Ray which it looks like you are with the fancy video card, I would stick with Sony instead of the ASUS.

Hope this helps.....