Recommendation for Audio Workstation Custo Mac Pro

[monkeymanx]

I have been running a trusty sandy bridge i7 2600k build overclocked to 4.5ghz for quite some time. I'm looking at getting into something more modern. Mainly I'm looking for thunderbolt support so I can get an audio interface that is based off thunderbolt. After reading up on it, it looks like Broadwell E is risky territory and Skylake is the way to go right now. It doesn't seem like Skylake will over clock too much though but does appear that the base performance of Skylake is far beyond sandy bridge. Broadwell E would be even better as the 6 core is pretty affordable.

I've had pretty good luck with my build unintentionally. I like Asus boards as I have had a good run with them. Probably sticking with air cooling as my Noctura cooler I have now is excellent. Mainly looking for some overclocking with good compatibility for audio and video editing. Recording too at low latencies.

So any recommendations for a fairly headache free build? Broadwell E would be awesome but Skylake appears to be just fine.

 

[trs96]

Yes, Skylake is your best bet for an audio build. Asus now makes and EX3 add in card.
https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboard-Accessory/ThunderboltEX-3/

Make sure the Asus motherboard you buy works with this adapter, not all do. A few of the Premium Asus
boards have it onboard but the prices of those are sky high. So get a 6700K and and a Z170 motherboard
and the two main choices are taken care of.

Here's a list of the Asus motherboards you'll be choosing from:

Look for some of the User/Golden builds with the Maximus 8. Stork has written up his myHero Build in great detail.
He's always helpful and supportive if you have questions about the build.

 

[monkeymanx]

I was looking at the Z170 Pro and it seems solid. I may end up getting the older thunderbolt add on card because all the audio interfaces use the older thunderbolt connector so I would have to get a converter to go from the 3 port to the older style of connector.

The other option is the Gigabyte UD5 TH, but I'm not sure how well that stacks up with overclocking. Also it doesn't seem to be available currently at Newegg or Amazon. I only found used ones.