What is limiting an internal cards performance? And what makes it a crappy RF environment for audio? Im honestly curious as im far from an expert. Direct connection to motherboard means the soundcard is exposed to noise from the board, other components connected to the motherboard, and even the PSU...

<shrugs> There's a limit to the performance of any sound card inside a PC. It's just a crappy RF environment for audio. At some point in the $'s spent, it's just lipstick on the pig and if I wanted to blow $300 on PC audio, I'd spend it outside of the PC. What is limiting an internal cards performa...

The baseline noise of the Raven's case fans is 18-19dBA. You'd be better off with a stock 84W i7 and a Scythe Kotetsu cooler than with a degraded S part and the no-fan. More performance if you need it and you won't hear the Scythe's fan over the baseline noise. Also worth noting is the new Fractal ...

Ah, good to know. Was updating my build according to suggestions, but makes sense Sorry for this extra post then, feel free to delete it.

I had a post up about a silent audio workstation I was planning on buildings. It disappeared it seems... Was there anything particularly wrong with the post? If not, I would like to ask if it is okay to re-post to continue seeking advice?

Welcome to SPCR. I get distracted by component selection. :) Most of the DAW builds I've seen do the analog sound processing outside the PC and use a digital interface (lately USB) to the PC for the rest of the processing. So, the Creative cards are puzzling. gfx card: do you have an application th...

Against all advice I have read, I am looking to build a 100% passive system... Reason? It is for an Digital Audio Workstation that will be in the same room as all recording equipment, and I want the room to be as silent as possible and to have no inaudible vibrations effecting any of the equipment.....