BUILDING Music PC Advise Expertise Help Reqd!

[hemantwaghe]

Thanks in advance for looking at this post and sorry for long post


Dear All
Planning to create a Music Pc with some weird ideas.

Currently I have 4-5 laptops ( yes 5) at home ,maybe more and now want to experiment with Sound Cards..Will sell some older laps

As using laps for more than 12 years and never owed a pc I am thoughtfully confused .Also little short on Budget

Currently What I have

1) A Benq 22 Inch LCD HDMI Monitor ,
2) PCI Sound Card ( E Mu 0404)
3) wireless Keyboard + Mouse
4) PC Remote Control
5) 2 TB & 500 GB sata HDDs
6) 1 or2 pata HDDS
7) Some USB HDDs.

PC will USED for

Either

1) Music
2) Surfing ( I do heavy surfing)
3) Some work MS office , some utilities

OR

All above PLUS ( For my wife - as second rig)
1) Auto cad
2) Sketchup
3) May be 3-d max


I think for first solution Atom will be sufficient and for second i3 or 15 is essential

Now PLEASE REFER PICTURE

I want to mount Monitor on sides of CPU and all this on a plank. I want to attach plank to bottom of CPU. Attach a sturdy handle to CPU to make it luggable Planning 2 active speakers both sides of monitor.
Is this plan workable or too foolish?

Now back to RIG

I want

PCI Slot
PCIE Slot ( For Future)
Min 2 IDE HDD , 4-6 is better
6-8 USBs


I DO NOT WANT VIDEO CAPABALITY .I have 2 streamers.

a) What are the cheapest CPU- Motherboard Comboes?
b) Any good AMD Combo at very good price
c) Liked this atom combo http://www.intel.in/content/www/us/en/motherboards/desktop-motherboards/desktop-board-d2550dc2.html - Intel Desktop Board D2550DC2 is this available in india? At what price?

SILENT RIG

a) Want to make a silent rig what should be done? Merly changing fans is enough? What about CPU fans?
b) What are the cheapest silent cabinets? Is changing fan is only needs to be done? Or any cheap i-ball type cabinet is ok with silent fans?
c) How silent is silent. Now most of the places I sit & lug this PC has 2 Fans constantly whirling ( in 1 room roof is small & thee are 2 wall fans) . No plan of installing AC in these rooms . I listen to Classical Rock , Country , Clssical Bollowood and some rock NOW WILL SILENT PC WILL AFFECT THE EXPEREINCE?

I WANT TO USE ANALOUGE OUT OF SOUND CARD Eying for ESI Juli@ in future.

I will connect this PC to

1) M Audio BX 8 Active Speakers Directly or maybe with sonodyne pre in between
2) Maybe Ill get small Yamaha Actives will connect to them
3) Occassionaly to Vintage amps and mid-low priced speakers..

Friend please guide / help / enlighten..

ANYONE WANT TO SELL PC LIKE THIS? Please contact .

Online sellers link will be appriciated..




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[Thad E Ginathom]

How silent is silent? If you go for a low-power CPU that does not require a fan, and you do not fill the case with hard disks, and you don't have a hefty graphics processor, silent could probably be as silent as any fanless electronic item --- because you won't need fans. Modern hard disks don't make much noise.

If, on the other hand, you go for something rather more powerful as a general-purpose PC, then you will need CPU coolers and case fan. Check out sources such as silent PC Review on the net. My favourite fan/cooler company is Noctua. It can add quite a lot to the total cost, though ...especially if you go through a number of fans before you are happy.

So, how silent is that kind of PC? A lot more silent than your ceiling fan. Much more silent than your AC machine. Actually, I'm just aware of my PC, even with the AC on,because the frequency is higher, even thought it is barely more than the sound of moving air rather than hum or vibration.

Bear in mind that whatever sound it does make will be much more noticeable if you close up to it. Keep it under the desk, as far away from you as is convenient and the cables will stretch. I don't think it is a good idea to put it bang in front of you.

 

[Santy]

You can get this fan

I use it and its very powerful and silent at the same time (19db).
You cannot hear it until 1 feet distance.
I think if you are not using it for video, then just one fan is sufficient.
Don't worry about CPU (stock) fan. Its even more silent.

I don't know about Autocad but complex 3D-max rendering might need graphic card (meant for applications like Quadro from nvidia) and may be one more cabinet fan.

I feel you should go for i3 atleast. I use Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3H mobo. Costs some 4k.

EDIT: Depending on power, speed etc, your hard disks could be noisier than cabinet fans! I am suffering from this issue.

 

[jls001]

@Hemant: noise is very irritating in a music PC so please try to get something that is the least noisy. Noise comes from processor fan and SMPS fan. If I were to build a new music PC, I would definitely go with a fanless processor and very low noise SMPS (costs quite a lot, though).

I also tried the blue cabinet fan that Santy linked to but I find it noisy despite it being 19 dBA rated for noise, so I have disconnected the power supply to the cabinet fan.

Noise is one reason why I don't use my music PC often enough. The other being my vinyl rig :lol:

Sound card: your EMU 0404 is a good starting point. What DAC do you plan to use with it? And what is the interface you plan to run from the EMU to DAC? S/PDIF coaxial or TOSLINK optical? I assume you have the break-out cable. Or is it gonna be analog out from the EMU? BTW, that will also work fairly well as the analog out from most sound cards are quite good.

 

[manniraj]

I think the best would be a mini-pc like the Zotac or Foxconn (i got this on Newegg.com, barebones without a HDD and RAM) with a SSD and it comes with a external power adapter. All my music is on the WD external HDD. I think this PC is a fanless and I can barely hear any noise (none at all). I have connected my ODAC which again is fanless to my Denon 510 amplifier, so all in all noiseless and fanless music system.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

@Hemant: noise is very irritating in a music PC so please try to get something that is the least noisy. Noise comes from processor fan and SMPS fan. If I were to build a new music PC, I would definitely go with a fanless processor and very low noise SMPS (costs quite a lot, though).

Absolutely. My power supply unit is just about silent, even though it has a fan. I think this is because it is hugely over-spec: an 850W power supply in a system that usually draws less than 100W. Like driving a Mercedes at 10kph . Over-specifying is one way to achieve this; fanless PSU is another. For a small-cabinet, modest-CPU, audio-only PC, fanless would probably be the answer. Please read power supply reviews. The lesser ones may or may not have fan noise, but some have electrical noise. Not just as radiation possible affecting other components in the case, but audible electrical buzz. That would not be good to live with.

I also tried the blue cabinet fan that Santy linked to but I find it noisy despite it being 19 dBA rated for noise, so I have disconnected the power supply to the cabinet fan.

I tried several different makes/models before settling on Noctua for the main cabinet fans. A couple of the quieter ones now do duty blowing air in and/or cooling hard disks. I did not have the sense to build a lower-power rig, and there are ...six fans in my case!

Fans were my hobby at one time --- like some people change cartridges on their turntables :lol:

Noise is one reason why I don't use my music PC often enough. The other being my vinyl rig :lol:

In my dreams I have a separate machine room and take the cables to my desk through the wall! All part of my never-going-to-happen when-I-get-rich big-house dreams!

Sound card: your EMU 0404 is a good starting point. What DAC do you plan to use with it? And what is the interface you plan to run from the EMU to DAC? S/PDIF coaxial or TOSLINK optical? I assume you have the break-out cable. Or is it gonna be analog out from the EMU? BTW, that will also work fairly well as the analog out from most sound cards are quite good.

I think he said analogue out, and the EMU card should certainly be good enough, at least as a starting point. It has a good reputation.

 

[hemantwaghe]

Thanks all.. thanks

Yes I will be using analouge out - least initially.
The intel atom motherbaoard has passive cooling , but I read somewhere still it requires Case cooling

Now I cannot think of Zotac - as I want to use card and its analouge outs - If I wanted to use USB I could have used my laptops

A reason I need PC is that I spend considerable time surfing and working on PC , so I chose 22 Inch screen which I get at a good prce ( used)

also mounting screen on cpu side is bad idea??How bad?


also any known cheap combo solution?AMD based ? which is equivalant AMD to i3 & i5?

Thanks all

Hemant

 

[ruenigma]

Why not a second-hand/last gen mac mini? Fits the bill perfectly.

 

[denom]

Hemant, your idea is similar to concept of Boom Boxes that were popular back in the day. Who knows if you are successful, you might spawn a whole new market for it

Lage raho

 

[hemantwaghe]

Why not a second-hand/last gen mac mini? Fits the bill perfectly.

can I add PCI soundcard ?? For time being NOT planning USB dac - in future to plan Juli@ or Xonar ( I know u found juli@ kind of dry..)

Hemant

BTW @ DAVE boom Box is my insiration only thing this cannot work on batterieshyeah:hyeah: -

 

[ruenigma]

No expansion option on the mini I agree. But apart from that there are very few "silent" options out there. If you are willing to invest some elbow juice, you can do what I've done with egg crate sponge lined in the case and hand made cycle tyre tube cuttings for washers and vibrations dampeners around hdds and the only case fan. The case fan is an antec tricool 120 at lowest speed setting and the cooler is a Zalman CNPS 10x with the fan disconnected.

Pick a decently powerful dual core CPU (More GHz less cores), so that it does not break any sweat and demand any active cooling. Also keep the components in the case to a minimum.

Next thing I am going to do is move the only HDD out and replace it with an SSD and run all the content off the NAS. One less moving part making noise

 

[Santy]

Noise comes from all moving parts, question is can you hear it and if yes, at what distance. If a low noise fan is also bothering, you could get a fan speed controller (single channel should be available I guess). While listening to music, set it to lowest and while working on heavy applications like 3Dmax, pump it up as needed.

About PSU, mine (600W) has a huge fan and it never operated even while playing games. ie the PC never heats up that much to trigger it. But when it spins at startup (2 seconds) its very very loud hyeah:

BTW, how intensive is the usage of Autocad on it? Though not needed, it seems that a graphic card helps if installed:

Autocad 2013
Additional Requirements for 3D Modeling (All Configurations)
1,280 x 1,024 true color video display adapter 128 MB or greater, Pixel Shader 3.0 or greater, Microsoft Direct3D-capable workstation-class graphics card

As far as processor is concerned, you know that there are different generations and models within i3 family. For instance, latest i3s are more powerful than early generation i5s. So best is to freeze a budget and get the best you can buy with it. You can search for options for a given budget in PC sites like mdcomputers.in, theitwares.com, techshop.in, flipkart, primeabgb.com etc.

If you do no want to buy components online, you can visit Sunrise computers in Vashi Plaza. You can get some good deals there.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

I have turned up my fans for the summer! But even in winter, I can't hear the hard disks. That may be just my ears, of course, but I'd say they are well under the noise floor of even good fans. SSD is fine for those with gadget-love money to spend --- or for those who really wish to get the most performance out of their box. Yes, I'd love to have SSD (gadget love? Guilty!) but the money I spent on my Noctua CPU cooler was a better investment in silence than SSD would have been. The stock AMD cooler was not silent; it whined. In fact it made more noise than the several-years-older Intel cooler on my previous machine.

 

[Santy]

I have turned up my fans for the summer! But even in winter, I can't hear the hard disks. That may be just my ears, of course, but I'd say they are well under the noise floor of even good fans.

I think it varies by models/ brands. I have two HDD inside cabinet. Seagate makes no audible noise. Neither did WD Green which I used for a month. But WD BLACK is very noisy. May be because its faster. Ofcourse not all the time, only while it is seeking hard. May be I got a defective piece. I really donno. :sad:

BTW where did you get the Noctua fans? Are they available online?

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Interesting. After my Seagates died, I now have WD, and I think they are both Greens, certainly the last one I bought is.

Just like music does not super-CPU power, so also it does not need hyper-HDD speed. Fast HDDs run hot, calling for more fan power, and (the Blacks are faster?) make more noise too?

I got my Noctua CPU cooler from USA. Somebody had given me an Amazon voucher which paid for most of it. I searched for Noctua fans offline, even in Singapore, with no luck, and can't remember where I got them, but they turned up on Flipkart. I'm unsure that they still stock Noctua though: relatively expensive, maybe they don't get the turnover, there are not many of us willing to pay over the odds for a few less dB!

 

[hemantwaghe]

any suggestions of best of combinations? also what is amd equivalant of new i3 & i5? are they cheap?

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Leaving these specifics to others. I am very out of date on the current selection of CPUs