PC for Music Production and Gaming

Hello, I’m in the market for a PC that can handle both music production and gaming. This is my first ever PC configuration, so it’d be great to get some feedback and whether or not this is a solid build.

Budget: $3,000

Expectations: I plan to run Cubase 12, Kontakt, and a lot of instruments as I usually like to create orchestral music. I understand that this will require a lot of CPU single core power and RAM. I decided to just go with 16GB of RAM for now, but upgrade later on. I also want to game at 1080p with 60fps and 144hz.

Usage: I plan to use this computer for everything that I do which includes: music production, gaming, web surfing, watch movies, etc. The two main uses will be music production and gaming though. As music production relies heavily on single core performance, I just opted for the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D CPU as it also seems like a good CPU for gaming too. For my GPU, I decided to go with the RTX 3060. I love to play a lot of games like Final Fantasy 14, Call of Duty, Tomb Raider, and pretty much most AAA titles honestly.

Saved Ticket #: 4502024

Specifications:
Chassis Model: Digital Storm Lumos
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D (8-Core) 4.5 GHz Turbo
Motherboard: ASUS ROG Strix X570-E Gaming (Wi-Fi) (AMD X570 Chipset) (Up to 3x PCI-E Devices) (No SLI)
System Memory: 16GB DDR4 3200MHz Digital Storm Performance Series
Power Supply: 850W Corsair RMx Series (Modular) (80 Plus Gold)
Expansion Bay: - No Thanks
Optical Drive: - No Thanks
Storage Set 1: 1x SSD M.2 (1TB Samsung 980 PRO) (NVM Express)
Storage Set 2: 1x SSD M.2 (500GB Samsung 980 PRO) (NVM Express)
Storage Set 3: - No Thanks
RAID Config: - No Thanks
RAID Card: - No Thanks
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Graphics Card(s): 1x GeForce RTX 3060 12GB (VR Ready)
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
HPC Processor: - No Thanks
Extreme Cooling: H20: Stage 3: Digital Storm Vortex Liquid CPU Cooler (Triple Fan) (Fully Sealed + No Maintenance)
HydroLux Tubing Style: - Not Applicable, I do not have a custom HydroLux liquid cooling system selected
HydroLux Fluid Color: - Not Applicable, I do not have a custom HydroLux liquid cooling system selected
Cable Management: Premium Cable Management (Strategically Routed & Organized for Airflow)
Chassis Fans: Standard Factory Chassis Fans
Internal Lighting: Remote Controlled Advanced LED Lighting System (Multiple RGB Color Modes)
Airflow Control: - No Thanks
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Noise Reduction: - No Thanks
LaserMark: Option Not Available
Boost Processor: Stock Factory Turbo Boost Advanced Automatic Overclocking
Boost Graphics Card(s): - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)
Boost OS: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Home (64-Bit)
Recovery Tools: USB Drive - Windows Installation (Format and Clean Install)
Virus Protection: Windows Defender Antivirus (Built-in to Windows)
Office: - No Thanks
Mouse Pad: - No Thanks
Display: ASUS 24 inch VG248QG (165Hz Refresh) (1ms Response) (1920x1080)
Surge Shield: - No Thanks
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: Digital Storm Devastator Bundle (RGB) Keyboard & Mouse
Mouse: - No Thanks
Branded Gear: - No Thanks
Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 5-10 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed
Warranty: Life-time Expert Care with 4 Year Limited Warranty (4 Year Labor & 2 Year Part Replacement)

Thank you in advance!

Originally posted by Cretae Looks okay from here for what you want to do. Just okay however, because AMD is due to release it's next generation of CPUs on the 27th. Yes, Tuesday. They are expected to be a quantum leap ahead of the 5000 series, so you'll want to hold off until DS makes them available very soon. The Ryzen 7 7700X is the 5800X3D replacement, and is expected to be up to a 29% generational gain in single core performance. Up to 45% in multi-core. It's also expected to retail a bit lower in price. The AM5 motherboards will cost a bit more, and they will require DDR5 RAM, but all that means far better performance than what you've chosen. I would bet you could build one within your budget or very, very close. In any case, you should flip the order of your SSDs. Storage Set 1 is your primary "C" drive for your operating system, and should be the smaller of the two for faster scanning and maintenance for the life of your system. It's not a huge deal, but it makes sense. Bottom line, I would hate to see you leave all that performance on the table when it's so close. Hope it helps.

I actually just discovered this a couple days ago lol and thought what a coincidence. I was looking at some benchmarks of the Ryzen 7 7700X and it truly is just insane with the performance increase. Do you know, by any chance, when DS would have these new AMD processors and motherboards available exactly?

Oh, and yeah I’ll go ahead and flip the SSDs around. I actually didn’t know that’s how it worked. I really appreciate your input!

Originally posted by Cretae My pleasure. I totally agree about the 7700X! I'm pretty sure DS would know at this point just when they will be offering the new procs. There are variables, of course that I would have no knowledge about, being just a customer as you are. I can guess they would want to have enough of the three component parts of a Zen 4 system: CPUs, mobos, and DDR4 RAM, to be able to meet demand. I have no idea if they can do that in advance of release, or they have to wait until it's official. I'm pretty sure they have it mapped out, and would be glad to share that with you. Shouldn't be long. I'm excited for you!

Ah yes, that makes sense. That’s gonna be awesome and I am pretty excited for it!

Also, I have a quick question about the SSDs. So, my idea was that I’d use the 1TB SSD for my primary storage while the 500GB SSD would be used strictly for games and whatnot. Would it be alright to keep the 1TB SSD as the Storage Set 1 in this case? Later on, I do plan on getting larger Storage Set 2 and 3.

Originally posted by Cretae Games usually take up much more space than the other things you might want to store alongside your operating system. Of course, you can put all the games that will fit on your primary drive, so it's up to you how you want your rig configured. At the speed of these PCIe gen 4 SSDs, the size is less of a concern. I like a more compact primary drive myself so that I can scan it, and make clones regularly to guard against the drive failing, or the OS bonking out. The less time that takes, the more likely I am to maintain it regularly. If you want 1TB for your "C" drive, maybe it would serve you better just to go with one of the 1TB DS SSDs in second spot for more room for games. They should load pretty fast from one of those, and then you'd have extra room at less cost than the 500GB 980 PRO.

Oh, I see what you’re saying. I also just discovered that SSD speed only really helps with boot-up speeds and not really gameplay. In that case, I think you are right about switching my second storage spot for the DS SSD. I would just have to wait a second or two longer for booting up games, but that’s not too bad since I’ll be getting double the storage. And I save a little money for it too.

Again, I really appreciate you taking your time to give me some advice, as like I said, I’m new to all of this and this would be my very first PC ever. I’ve always just been a console gamer and used an iPad for a lot of productivity work. So, I’m pretty excited to realize the power and potential of a PC that can handle both gaming and productivity work.

Thanks, Cretae!

It's a pleasure to be helpful. I think I know a lot of ways to maximize bang-for-buck when it comes to parts selection here at Digital Storm. I meet a lot of folks just like you without a lot of experience in this realm, and I do my best to give solid ideas. You are most welcome, and welcome to our world!    

Music production, unlike video editing and rendering, doesn’t really utilize multi-core performance (at least as good) and rather single core performance. My build initially had the Ryzen 9 5950X; however, I realized I’d be wasting my money with the 16 cores that it has since my DAW wouldn’t be able to really utilize those 16 cores. Fortunately, most decent gaming PC’s are actually very capable of running any DAW, so I just decided to go with the Ryzen 7 5800X3D as that seemed the best. Although I’m very excited for the Ryzen 7 7700X processors though as they look like they’d completely shred music production. Not to mention, the introduction of DDR5 compatibility now and whatnot.

Originally posted by MrCheetah It depends on the project complexity (e.g., number of tracks and plugins) and software -- which is indeed up to you to assess your workload. One more source: Multi-core Processors For Musicians | Sound on Sound To gain further improvement, you need to split the audio processing in some way between the various CPUs, so that it can be processed in parallel. This means added code and complexity, and rather explains why some audio software really benefits from four or more cores, while some doesn't. Steinberg introduced their 'Advanced Multiple Processing Support' on Cubase VST version 5, splitting the audio processing between the processors and giving much larger performance boosts of 50 to 60 percent. I am not trying to push you to spend more money or worse, overspend/overspec. My point was your mention of "a lot of instruments" in orchestral pieces may make it worthwhile to consider a higher core count -- no, it doesn't need to be a 12900K or 7950X. I will add, the Ryzen 7000 series does focus on clock speed more than AMD has done in a long time, truly competing with Intel in both single and multi-threaded demands. Unfortunately, adopting the latest comes at a significant cost.

That’s actually very interesting stuff. I admittedly was not aware of the Advanced Multiple Processing Support Steinberg introduced as well as everything else within what you quoted, so I’ll definitely be looking into that further starting with the sources you’ve provided. From what I’m seeing, it does look like DAW’s are perhaps getting better at utilizing multi-core processing, which is very interesting. I really appreciate you taking your time to give your input.



... fixed broken format-quote ...

Edited by Snaike - 28 Sep 2022 at 3:20am

Originally posted by Cretae A bit of MrCheetah here or there never hurts!

Ha!

Part of it is over (but then lack of) ambition: I thought I could be a cinematic video editor, dabbled in DAWs such as Apple's Garage Band, intrigued by 3D modeling/animation (e.g., tried Maya 3D), but jump into the next quickly. Although, I still do various levels of image editing.

The other reason is I try to be as well informed as possible and try to help others have the same.


@Kage7: I updated my original response with more new AMD CPU reviews and benchmarks.

Edited by MrCheetah - 28 Sep 2022 at 12:00pm