First time poster and builder wanting to make audio workstation!

[Jonodog]

Hello all,

I'm hoping to build a powerful machine that will last me a while. I'll use it mainly for audio (Logic Pro X, Pro Tools, Reaper, Ableton Live). Occasionally I might score music to video, but very unlikely to do any video editing. A quiet build would be nice, but not essential....however, a very noisy one is no good!

I've been scouring these pages for quite some time - its pretty confusing with so much choice, so Im inclined to go with one of the Buying Guide suggested builds...still have a few questions though in case anyone can help me make my decision better.

I've been looking at the higher end suggestions, not because Im sure that I will need all the power, but in the hope that a more powerful machine will last me longer.

Below is what Im currently looking to buy, with a few questions, any help greatly appreciated!


MOTHERBOARD: Gigabyte AORUS Z370 Ultra Gaming
(I saw another audio user called BOOMR uses this one)


PROCESSOR: Core i7-8700K
Most powerful one Tonymac suggests for Customac Pro build....but perhaps I don't need the "K"? (Im not gaming at all)
Ive also seen interesting/confusing discussions regarding i5 Vs i7 in iMacs for music (performance vs fan noise etc)


PROCESSOR COOLER: Corsair H60 (Water)
Hoping water is quieter? But perhaps I won't need it if I end up getting a non "K" processor?


RAM: Crucial Ballistix Sport LT (32GB)


SSD: Samsung 850 EVO 500GB
The buying guides suggest a 2nd HD for data I presume, but I have a bunch of externals for that. Could I add 2nd HD later? Also, I see that the motherboard Im looking at has support for m.2 drives...would it be worth me looking into these?


PSU: Corsair RM 650x Watt


CASE: Corsair Carbide 300R - DEFINE R5 BLACK
I've seen another forum member recommend this is a nice quiet case for an audio production build.


GRAPHICS: I'm imaging that I won't need a GPU for music? Or if I do, I wouldn't need a very powerful one? Is this something I could add later?

OTHER:

• I don't plan on using WiFi, but BlueTooth would be handy, and perhaps LAN that I can connect if absolutely neessary (I don't want to be online really for productivity reasons).
• I already have an HDMI monitor, USB keyboard, Apple Magic Track Pad Bluetooth thing and/or a wired mouse if necessary.
• My current audio interface uses USB 2. Perhaps in the future I will need Thunderbolt, but definitely not now...and I think I can add this to my MB later if necessary.
• Can you use Deep Freeze on Hackintoshes? Thinking it might be useful if I make a stable build, something goes wrong and I want to revert.
• Happy to go with High Sierra as the OS, but if anyone thinks an older OSX would be more stable/sensible, please let me know!

I realise I have asked a tonne of stuff....any input would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[Jamesbond007]

Hello all,

I'm hoping to build a powerful machine that will last me a while. I'll use it mainly for audio (Logic Pro X, Pro Tools, Reaper, Ableton Live). Occasionally I might score music to video, but very unlikely to do any video editing. A quiet build would be nice, but not essential....however, a very noisy one is no good!

I've been scouring these pages for quite some time - its pretty confusing with so much choice, so Im inclined to go with one of the Buying Guide suggested builds...still have a few questions though in case anyone can help me make my decision better.

I've been looking at the higher end suggestions, not because Im sure that I will need all the power, but in the hope that a more powerful machine will last me longer.

Below is what I'm currently looking to buy, with a few questions, any help greatly appreciated!

MOTHERBOARD: Gigabyte AORUS Z370 Ultra Gaming
(I saw another audio user called BOOMR uses this one)

PROCESSOR: Core i7-8700K
Most powerful one Tonymac suggests for Customac Pro build....but perhaps I don't need the "K"? (Im not gaming at all)
Ive also seen interesting/confusing discussions regarding i5 Vs i7 in iMacs for music (performance vs fan noise etc)

PROCESSOR COOLER: Corsair H60 (Water)
Hoping water is quieter? But perhaps I won't need it if I end up getting a non "K" processor?

RAM: Crucial Ballistix Sport LT (32GB)

SSD: Samsung 850 EVO 500GB
The buying guides suggest a 2nd HD for data I presume, but I have a bunch of externals for that. Could I add 2nd HD later? Also, I see that the motherboard Im looking at has support for m.2 drives...would it be worth me looking into these?

PSU: Corsair RM 650x Watt

CASE: Corsair Carbide 300R - DEFINE R5 BLACK
I've seen another forum member recommend this is a nice quiet case for an audio production build.

GRAPHICS: I'm imaging that I won't need a GPU for music? Or if I do, I wouldn't need a very powerful one? Is this something I could add later?

OTHER:

• I don't plan on using WiFi, but BlueTooth would be handy, and perhaps LAN that I can connect if absolutely neessary (I don't want to be online really for productivity reasons).
• I already have an HDMI monitor, USB keyboard, Apple Magic Track Pad Bluetooth thing and/or a wired mouse if necessary.
• My current audio interface uses USB 2. Perhaps in the future I will need Thunderbolt, but definitely not now...and I think I can add this to my MB later if necessary.
• Can you use Deep Freeze on Hackintoshes? Thinking it might be useful if I make a stable build, something goes wrong and I want to revert.
• Happy to go with High Sierra as the OS, but if anyone thinks an older OSX would be more stable/sensible, please let me know!

I realize I have asked a tonne of stuff....any input would be greatly appreciated!!

SSD -- Yes, of course you can add HD later, provided your case has space and your power supply has enough power connectors. And you may also use M.2 drives (SATA or NVMe), but if you use NVMe drives you will need High Sierra for native support.

Graphics -- I believe you do not need a discrete graphics card for your purposes and you can just use the CPU integrated graphics in High Sierra.

Thunderbolt 3 -- Your chosen motherboard has a Thunderbolt header and you can purchase a Thunderbolt 3 AIC like the Gigabyte GC Alpine Ridge later to connect to the header and have Thunderbolt functions.

Your system has native support in High Sierra but not earlier versions, so I don't think it is feasible for you to use any earlier version such as Sierra.

 

[Jonodog]

Hi James Bond!

Thanks so much for taking the time to advise me. I will make a separate post about OSX choice for music, I understand that my current choice of processor means only High Sierra will work if I go with that.

Can I ask your thoughts on i7 "K" vs i7 "non-K" for my uses as described above?

Also, great to hear that integrated graphics should suffice...but is this something I could add fairly easily later, so long as I choose a TonyMacx86.com approved GPU? And if so, could you recommend any lower end ones (i.e. cheap, powerful enough to alleviate a bit of processor/RAM load, but not expensive and designed for heavy gaming/video editing?).

Lastly, regarding the m.2 or NVMe drives, the price difference is not huge really;

• Samsung 500GB 960 Evo PCIe SSD (m.2 NVMe) = approx £150
• Samsung 850 EVO 500GB = approx £100

Would you recommend using the 960 as a boot drive? Or are the gains to be made there minimal (with already fast SATA SSD)?

Many thanks again Mr Bond!

 

[Jamesbond007]

Hi James Bond!

Thanks so much for taking the time to advise me. I will make a separate post about OSX choice for music, I understand that my current choice of processor means only High Sierra will work if I go with that.

Can I ask your thoughts on i7 "K" vs i7 "non-K" for my uses as described above?

Also, great to hear that integrated graphics should suffice...but is this something I could add fairly easily later, so long as I choose a TonyMacx86.com approved GPU? And if so, could you recommend any lower end ones (i.e. cheap, powerful enough to alleviate a bit of processor/RAM load, but not expensive and designed for heavy gaming/video editing?).

Lastly, regarding the m.2 or NVMe drives, the price difference is not huge really;

• Samsung 500GB 960 Evo PCIe SSD (m.2 NVMe) = approx £150
• Samsung 850 EVO 500GB = approx £100

Would you recommend using the 960 as a boot drive? Or are the gains to be made there minimal (with already fast SATA SSD)?

Many thanks again Mr Bond!

The i7 8700 (non K) is slightly slower than the i7 8700K, and cannot be overclocked. If you want to save some money, you can go with the 8700 rather than the 8700K.

You can add a GPU later if you want. For a lower end one with native support I suggest a RX 560, which is natively supported in High Sierra and should be easy enough to install.

Personally I have no experience with NVMe drives as I still use older OS like Windows 7 and El Capitan / Sierra. I feel a SATA SSD is pretty fast enough when used as a boot drive. If your work requires lots of reading / writing on a disk, a NVMe drive may be more beneficial as it is supposed to be (much) faster than a SATA SSD on these operations. A 960 should work fine as a boot drive under MacOS High Sierra.

 

[Jonodog]

The i7 8700 (non K) is slightly slower than the i7 8700K, and cannot be overclocked. If you want to save some money, you can go with the 8700 rather than the 8700K.

You can add a GPU later if you want. For a lower end one with native support I suggest a RX 560, which is natively supported in High Sierra and should be easy enough to install.

Personally I have no experience with NVMe drives as I still use older OS like Windows 7 and El Capitan / Sierra. I feel a SATA SSD is pretty fast enough when used as a boot drive. If your work requires lots of reading / writing on a disk, a NVMe drive may be more beneficial as it is supposed to be (much) faster than a SATA SSD on these operations. A 960 should work fine as a boot drive under MacOS High Sierra.

Thanks so much for your advice!