New to computer building, advice on music pc

MrRalph · Post by **MrRalph** » Thu Jan 01, 2009 1:44 pm

Hi all,

I'd like to hear some opinions on building my own computer. I will use it for music playing, running Vista with an external DAC. Therefor I like to be able to install a extra PCI sound card. The pc has be be quiet, will operate in the living room. Video playback or games is not needed.

The Anitec's SPCR-certified SilenT3 PC article sound like a nice quiet pc for this purpose. Basically I have 2 questions.

1. Will I be able to build it just as quiet as in the article if I do the assembly myself with the same components?

2. These are the main components from the article, I only changed the barebone for an Gbit one and I left the additional video card out. Any suggestions or recommendations to change any?

Asus Terminator T3-P5G31A
Enermax Modu82+ 425W Modular
Intel Core 2 Duo E7300
Kingston ValueRAM KVR800D2N5K2/2G
Seagate Momentus 5400.5 ST9320320AS, 320GB
Asus DRW-2014L1T 20x DVD-Writer w/LightScribe
Scythe Shuriken Low-Profile CPU Cooler with Kaze-Jyu slim fan

Thanks very much for your comments, much appreciated!

Ralph

jessekopelman · Post by **jessekopelman** » Thu Jan 01, 2009 3:06 pm

Are you sure you need a PCI soundcard? The Asus Terminator T3-P5G31A barebones comes with a coaxial S/PDIF that should work fine with an external DAC.

Riffer · Post by **Riffer** » Thu Jan 01, 2009 3:15 pm

You could also use a USB-to-S/PDIF Converter if your motherboard doesn't have a digital coax out.

hybrid2d4x4 · Post by **hybrid2d4x4** » Thu Jan 01, 2009 4:50 pm

Welcome to SPCR!

1) Yes, DIY should yield the same results. You may want to double-check the rap on the slim fans. I think I read that their noise signature is a bit worse than the standard thickness ones. I don't think that case would be considered "low profile", so I'm wondering why that cooler was chosen for the SilenT3 in the first place...

2) If this pc won't be doing anything other than music, an e7300 seems like massive overkill. An e5200 would probably be more reasonable if you are insistent on 45nm Intels. It seems to me like you could probably go down to the 45W AMD X2 processors, or even a low-power Sempron for those needs and save yourself >>$100 (but that would mean you'd have to get a different case).

One recommendation regarding the PCI sound card(if you insist on getting one): stay away from Creative Labs! They use the cheapest possible capacitors, so you periodically get popping noises, and they are horrible for drivers. If you use Vista x64 (and possibly 32bit as well), you'll get flaky drivers and Linux drivers are completely hopeless. They were ok for XP, but there were still bugs (the crossover settings are reset to the default when you restart your pc). This is from my experience with my X-Fi Platinum. I've used a SB Live! 5.1 MP3+ and SB Pro2 in the past with no issues.

I would recommend you give the onboard digital-out a try, just as jesse mentioned. If all you want is 2 channel LPCM output to your receiver, there's probably nothing better.

If you're not a "purist" (listen to lossy MP3 formats) and want multichannel upmixing, Gigabyte has a few boards that feature DTS Interactive, which does a good job upmixing and encoding 2 channel audio into a 5.1 DTS 1.5Mbit stream. This will probably sound better than Pro Logic IIx or whatever matrix your receiver uses for upmixing.

ist.martin · Post by **ist.martin** » Fri Jan 02, 2009 8:58 am

I second the suggestion of going down to an e5200. The two processors will be indistinguishable for music tasks, and the e5200 is just 2/3 the cost here in Canada.

I would also note that Anitech uses some AcoustiPack damping - specifically, if you look at the pictures - http://www.silentpcreview.com/article885-page2.html - you sill see that the hard drive is sitting on some foam, isolating the case from its vibrations.

For the past 5 years, I have been using my desktop system for feeding music into an external high-end audio system. I am a big fan of external USB boxes as the interface between PC and the stereo.

I use a simple ESI Waveterminal box - something that does not do any data rate conversions. You can look into things like this:
http://www.pacificvalve.us/MusilandLILO.html

or this for extra connectivity without the DAC:

http://www.obadimports.com/catalog/item ... 627266.htm

or something like the Edirol UA-25EX for about $200 if you are a musician and will also be recording.

hybrid2d4x4 · Post by **hybrid2d4x4** » Fri Jan 02, 2009 12:07 pm

^ I've been looking into high-end music server builds using external USB sound a bit lately, and it seems like they are the ideal solution for running analog stereo to a preamp. But is there any benefit to running this kind of setup if you are using digital connections, though? Don't modern on-board solutions allow you to disable sample rate conversions and output whatever the source uses as long as you stick with LPCM (I know that the DD and DTS encoders will convert to 48kHz)? And in such a case, with no D/A conversions or any real processing that could be tainted by EMI inside the case and the "dirty" power from the PSU, would there still be a benefit to running a USB box for digital? I hope I'm not hijacking this thread with my questions, but since the OP mentioned using an external DAC, I'm assuming he intends to run digital out to his AVR so this may still be relevant to him.

jessekopelman · Post by **jessekopelman** » Fri Jan 02, 2009 8:53 pm

hybrid2d4x4 wrote:^ I've been looking into high-end music server builds using external USB sound a bit lately, and it seems like they are the ideal solution for running analog stereo to a preamp. But is there any benefit to running this kind of setup if you are using digital connections, though? Don't modern on-board solutions allow you to disable sample rate conversions and output whatever the source uses as long as you stick with LPCM (I know that the DD and DTS encoders will convert to 48kHz)? And in such a case, with no D/A conversions or any real processing that could be tainted by EMI inside the case and the "dirty" power from the PSU, would there still be a benefit to running a USB box for digital?

I'd say no, but I guess it depends what software you want to run. Some software has issues with outputting things the way people seem to want.

hybrid2d4x4 wrote:I hope I'm not hijacking this thread with my questions, but since the OP mentioned using an external DAC, I'm assuming he intends to run digital out to his AVR so this may still be relevant to him.

No. Using a DAC means digital into the DAC and analog from the DAC into the Amplifier (be it an AVR or something else). If he was running digital straight into an AVR he wouldn't need a DAC (as he would be using the one inside the AVR).

jessekopelman · Post by **jessekopelman** » Fri Jan 02, 2009 8:54 pm

Riffer wrote:You could also use a USB-to-S/PDIF Converter if your motherboard doesn't have a digital coax out.

His motherboard does have a digital coax out!

MrRalph · Post by **MrRalph** » Sat Jan 03, 2009 1:26 am

Thanks everyone for the excellent suggestions. Let me explain a little more about the audio purpose. Currently I'm using MediaMonkey and Foobar on my laptop to play my music collection (2 channel, FLAC) through an USB DAC to my normal stereo amp. However, I'd like to build an dedicated PC for this purpose.

Most USB DAC's only support 16/44 or (sometimes 24/94) but no higher. Therefor I like to use a coax S/PDIF out to my new DAC (up to 24/192) so I can also play hirez content. If the specs are right, the mb should indeed support this.

I'm going for the e5200 processor suggestion, thanks. The only thing is that I read very few articles on the suggested barebone on this site. But in the review article they were very positive on it.

Ralph

Matija · Post by **Matija** » Sat Jan 03, 2009 1:37 am

E5200 = overkill.

A plain ol' Atom 230 would do more than fine.

Edit: No digital audio output on those boards, however. But just get a soundcard.

MrRalph · Post by **MrRalph** » Sat Jan 03, 2009 2:12 am

The reason I came up with the ASUS barebone is that I thought made things easier for my first project (case, mb etc) while being able to be quiet. Asus also has the Asus T3-M3N8200 that supports a cheaper AMD Athlon A64 LE-1640 or AMD Sempron LE-1100 and has coax out and Gbit.

hybrid2d4x4 · Post by **hybrid2d4x4** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 7:33 pm

Those should be just fine for your purposes. If you're not satisfied with the sound on the board, you can always add a soundcard.
The GF8200 in the Asus barebones is a good chipset, unlike the old 945 currently leeching on Atom boards, though if Atoms start shipping with the GF9300, that would also be a good platform.

MrRalph · Post by **MrRalph** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 2:46 am

Thanks, if you look at the supported CPU's which one would you recommend? I should be able to use a decent quiet cooler for it as well.

jessekopelman · Post by **jessekopelman** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 3:26 am

MrRalph wrote:Thanks, if you look at the supported CPU's which one would you recommend? I should be able to use a decent quiet cooler for it as well.

Since you are planning on running Vista, you don't want to go too low end on the CPU. I think your best bet would be to go with one of the 4X50e series. Even the lowest-end 4050e would be enough, but there might not be a significant price difference between it and a 4450e or even 4850e -- it all depends on what you have readily available to you.

yaler · Post by **yaler** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 2:20 pm

I currently use an AMD BE2350 based system for music. I game occasionally, but if you're going strictly music I suggest really cutting back and going all passive.

I suggest you get a decent motherboard and a dedicated passively cooled video card. My USB transport (EMU 0404 USB - also something I wouldn't really recommend) would always lose sync using onboard graphics. It still does on occasion.

New to computer building, advice on music pc

New to computer building, advice on music pc

Anitec Stealth