Hi,

What is the best audio pc that is both super quiet and fast?

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www.richardpenrose.com

That's funny - i just put your question into Google and the top result was this forum post





i thought it was funny anyway.....

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PC-Music.com hints, tips & reviews
Rain Computers UK - Creative Audio PC's

Drop a PM to Peter Kaine on these fora. His company has built my audio PCs for a number of years now and I'm very pleased with them from both a performance and a noise perspective. Are they 'the best'? Dunno, but I'm happy to keep going back to them.

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An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.

Happens a lot Robin, SOS scores very highly in search engines thanks to it's long history and the work put in by the web team.

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

Quote The Elf:

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Drop a PM to Peter Kaine on these fora.

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I never tried one of Pete's computers but his suggestions, for my questions regarding silent components, were always very useful; +1 for Pete

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Pro. violinist who likes some experiments...
www.myspace.com/pagannini

Quote robinv:

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That's funny - i just put your question into Google and the top result was this forum post

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Robin - Neither of us made the front page for that search... an evening of SEO ahead for both of us then is it?

And yeah, SOS always scores well I've noticed. Aged rankings, relevent (good) links, cleanly presented, trusted info and a whole host of other design reasons implimented by the SOS team I suspect keeps it up there.

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ScanProAudio & 3XS Audio Systems
ScanProAudio Blog

Quote Pete Kaine:

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Robin - Neither of us made the front page for that search... an evening of SEO ahead for both of us then is it?

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Damn those dark arts! I bought some magic beans from a guy who claimed that i would see enormous growth.

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PC-Music.com hints, tips & reviews
Rain Computers UK - Creative Audio PC's

Personally I find Scan to be excellent. They have a custom range called 3XS which I've found to be absolutely superb, as is the service that goes with it. My system is a video editing rig, but I'm sure their DAW systems would be every bit as good.

Ok, I realise that sounds like an advert.... I have no affiliation with them whatsoever, just a very happy customer!

Quote robinv:

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Quote Pete Kaine:

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Robin - Neither of us made the front page for that search... an evening of SEO ahead for both of us then is it?

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Damn those dark arts! I bought some magic beans from a guy who claimed that i would see enormous growth.

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SEO is a con and always has been. Content is king - end of debate really!

Thought I'd chime in here with a hopefully relevant question for people in the US who were wondering the same thing as the OP ... if in the States, is it best to go stateside for custom-built audio pc/laptop? I have a going on 10 year old Clarion AC that has needed NO service ever. It was built in England, shipped over to a stateside distributor. But if I had problems, the local distributor would presumably have made sure things went smoothly.

What happens if the next unit DOES need attention of the hardware variety and there is no stateside distributor? I love my SOS forum colleagues, and would love to support them when the time came, but all things being equal, I'd rather not have to ship a unit all the way over and back for everything like that.

Thanks -

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Alexis -Cubase 6.5.0/SX3.1.1.944, XP SP2, 4GB RAM (1GB not accessible, but used just to balance the computer so it doesn't tip over); Delta 66 in Omni i/O Studio; Motif8; UAD-1

There are loads of audio PC builders in the US. Buying a UK-built PC that would have to be shipped back to the UK for repairs would be insane.

In my humble opinion, I have made a few attempts at a 'quiet' PC, and if you don't fancy paying a premium for a bespoke build - had I the money I would get one in an instant mind you - but say you're 'aspirational' like me.. nowadays a lot more run-of-the-mill components are better designed, to help you slot together a 'quiet' PC yourself.

For eg. CPU Liquid Cooler Kits that just bolt onto your motherboard with ease. A good option (and they're made with non-conductive coolant too which I only recently realized the advantage of!) for £60 or so.

Also, modern cases tend to be muuuch better designed - allowing larger, quieter fans. If you add a quality PSU, a lower-spec fan-less graphics card, RAM, CPU of choice and a 128/256gb OS SSD to your shopping list you have a very quiet PC right there at no additional cost.

From there, the only real noise to contend with are storage HDDs. And quite noisy they are too once everything else is shhhed!

Some dedicated HDD inclosures would be the only out-of-the-ordinary thing I'd consider investing in. 2 x 2TB 7200rpm HDDs in a couple of these perhaps?

http://quietpc.co.uk/smartdrive-2002c
http://quietpc.co.uk/smartdrive-classic
http://quietpc.co.uk/smartdrive-cooper

Cheaper than a 2TB rack of SSDs at £3000 a piece!
Tony

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[Type your personal signature here]

I've just bought an Event-Muse from Robin at Rain Recording and am delighted with it...completely silent and faster than I need Great service too, thoroughly recommended.

Those a are quite affordable actually. The Nimbus Z2 model has the same case I bought. Good case.

On the home-build front, I forgot, the latest intel processors have onboard graphics too, appropriate for most DAWs, if no video editing required. More of a saving if you scratch video card off the list.

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[Type your personal signature here]

The main down side with a self build is there's obviously no support. If you're a techie and don't mind having to do the legwork to track down problems and find solutions yourself, or ask on forums etc., that's fine, but it's worth considering if you're the type of person that wants to be able to shout help if something breaks.

Fair point. Free up that energy for making music!

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[Type your personal signature here]

Try Carillon.Virtually inaudible.

I've always 'built' my own rackmount PCs for running ProTools. The only source of noise is the fans. So you want to use a motherboard that has a silent fan option. This is actually software in the bios that monitors the fan and adjusts the fan power and frequency to keep it quiet.

Also, buy a case fan that is rated for quiet operation.

Audio apps usually top out on memory before topping out the processor, so to make it super fast, add plenty of RAM.

'Building' a PC these days is really just assembly of parts in one afternoon.

Quote DC-Choppah:

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Audio apps usually top out on memory before topping out the processor, so to make it super fast, add plenty of RAM.

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Not sure that's quite right my friend. Ableton Live, Pro Tools and until recently Reason are all 32bit and so can't use much RAM and yet they would all peak CPU well before hitting the low RAM ceiling. More RAM is good if you use sample heavy instruments but CPU is more likely going to be the key.

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PC-Music.com hints, tips & reviews
Rain Computers UK - Creative Audio PC's

Quote DC-Choppah:

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Audio apps usually top out on memory before topping out the processor, so to make it super fast, add plenty of RAM.

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This isn't my experience. Plenty of RAM is always a good idea, but it's rare that I've hit RAM restrictions before processor chokes - and only then with a few hefty Kontakt multis loaded up, so it probably depends on your working methods.

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An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.

Both can happen, depends on your working methods and how much RAM you have, and how fast your CPU is!

My self built system consists of the following:

Fractal Design Mini Case
Gigabyte 880GMA-UD2H motherboard
Phenom II x6 1055 CPU (95w version)
Seasonic X-Series 560W PSU
16GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3 RAM
2 x Samsung 830 SSDs, 2 x Samsung 840 SSDs
OCZ Vendetta 2 CPU cooler
Antec 3 speed case fan with a diode to slow down speed further.

With having gone completely SSD in terms of HDs, the PC is now inaudible. I don't mean quiet, I mean inaudible. You'd have to literally place your ear next to the machine to hear the CPU fan, and even then you have to concentrate to hear it. Nor does it overheat.

Having recently cost the parts for an insurance quote, this cost me in parts £1250.

It is fast, it has plenty of memory, it hasn't crashed once in, well, I can't remember when it last crashed. We're talking over 18 months ago, when I had some issues with gfx drivers.

The secret to the silence here is the case, the CPU cooler and the PSU which only allows its fan to kick if a certain voltage is reached. I wouldn't know if I've ever reached that voltage as I've never heard the fan kick in... and I've had some demanding projects.