Need help building a dedicated pc for music

megamage

New Member
Hi everyone,
I have a project in mind and need help getting started.

I want to put together a pc that would hold all of my music and be connected to my amp. My current setup is PC -> Dacmagic100 -> Marantz PM6004 -> Dali Lektor 2. It sound really nice, but my current pc is also used for school work, gaming and browsing the web. I'm looking for something like a dedicated music server.

Here are my questions:

1. Is SSD any better than HDD for audio, other than it's silent?
2. Since it's only gonna be used to play music, do i really need a good processor or would something like a Pentium4 be enough?
3. What are the quietest ways of cooling a PC? Fans are usually pretty noisy so that's a big no no.
4. When ripping music to the computer, does the cd/dvd reader/burner have an impact on quality?
5. Should i rip the music in .flac or .wav? Hard drive space is not really an issue for me.
6. My current setup uses Foobar2000, is this my best option or are there any other softwares that could do the job better?
7. Should i use usb to connect to my DAC or have a motherboard with a digital output?


I know im asking a lot, but im hoping to learn as much as i can to get the best possible sound.

Thanks in advance,
Philippe


P.S. I also use a PS1 as a CD player, i got the first model with the RCA outputs which i read somewhere was a very good CD player for the price. Im hoping not to have to use it after this PC is built, because i don't want to have a TV and a controller laying around all the time.
 
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server build

IMO no need for ssd drive my 2 seagate sata 3 drives are silent have to look at Hd light or tskmgr to see if it is spinning.

Any modern 2 core or 4 core processer with 4-8 Gb ram would be enough as would an older core duo
A pent 4 might be kind of slow with small amount of ram and EIDE drive. But it could be done with xp
you could probably find a used P4 on C list for around $50 and try it. I've got an old retired P4 with discrete graphics also and it can streeam HD video .so it might just work.with a newer large drive you could put a lot of ripps on it.

Justv get 65-95 watt processor I have an overclocked AMD Athlon IIx4 chip w/8 gb DDR3 ram in this box fan never comes on unless I'm running prime 95 or something like that. Right now I'm streaming audio and recording it with Audacity in one window playing different music from hd out to interface/preamp out to phones also have about 8 Chrome tabs open. all at once processor load is avaraging 10 to 13 % cores 1 and 2 almost nothing on core 3-4 core temp is 38c on air . it is loafing.

You can get a decent DVD burner for $20 ~ 40 bucks right now . The secret is use decent name brand CD's and burn at lowest speed 1 or 2X,4x or as low as you can get. the chemical formulation of CD's has been changed and they burn better at low speeds less vibration/jitter and incompletes also.

Rip music in .flac decent size low loss good sound. no need for .wav IMO. for home use.

I have never used foobar2000 although it is well known .A lot of AK members like James River for ripping/ archiving I might try it myself.

I would use USB to DAC that eliminates the need/expense for a discrete soundcard with S/PDIF some newer motherboards are coming with USB of course and HDMI instead of S/PDIF
Since USB and S/PDIF are digital and don't carry audio they should not be affected by the switching power supply in your computer. The only reason I could see for using S/PDIF is if your computer has problems with a consistant digital data stream over USB. USB will support most Sample rates you would need
also your sound card/chip wont have the tendancy to alter the sound using USB as opposed to S/PDIF.

Any AMD K10 athlon IIx2 or II x4 propus core and AM3 board with on board video/sound will do the job .
I left out phenom II and FX chips those are other options of course those can make decent Gaming video editing boxes but they usually use more power and need bigger fans.

Also there are the AMD Liano A/4 A/6 two and four core respectively apu proceesors on an FM1 board they will work they are basically Athlon IIx2 or X 4 with integrated video like an Intel Sandybridge. they perform well.You might want to get aboard with HDMI out in case you want to do
movies later. this is an FM1 board with HDMI ASRock A55M-HVS FM1 AMD A55 HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard .

Intel also has some good options all the way from the celeron G540/550 dual core ,or Pentium G630/g640/650
all sandbridge chips with intrgrated video. they would work well with an LGA 1155 board again you might want one with HDMI out.Some 1155 bords have HDMI out and some don't same with AMD boards . The Intel Sandybridge i3 2100's can be had for as low as $ 89 ~ on sale now that the ivy bridge chips are out those I3's are MONSTERS at that price and will spank most AMD's costing 2 or more times as much . Just sayin at that price it's way cool.

The intel 1155 boards give you a more futureproof upgrade path in case you want to drop an I3/,I/5 or I7
chip in it with a descrete video card and turn it into a game or editing monster Later.

Other options are ready made factory refurbished boxes with Win 7x64 installed that can sometimes be cheaper than a build also a lot of those are really new ones in the reseller channel because of store returns /model changes especially the HP's .E Pay has those as well as Tiger and the Egg. Some Kits are real bargins get on the Tiger Direct and Newegg e mail lists or if you have A Micro Center store near you they will be good as well.

My other box is an Intel I/5 sandybridge 4 core it is FAST it will spank the AMD handily but that is a production editing box .
and has to earn a living. In everyday use e mail /web/music listening /You Tube /Netflix etc the difference is negligible. My AMD is a fine daily driver.

All that being said With that nice DAC you have there an I3 will certainly feed it well and then some YMMV.
 
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Frankxbe gave you good advice.

> 1. Is SSD any better than HDD for audio, other than it's silent?

Depends on you you ask. Audio does not require the higher performance an SSD can deliver. People in the "everything matters" camp may hear significant differences.

> 2. Since it's only gonna be used to play music, do i really need a good
> processor or would something like a Pentium4 be enough?

I'd avoid a P4. Too much power consumption and too little performance.

Any dual core Sandy Bridge from the Celeron 530 up will be adequate for a dedicated audio only PC.

A motherboard based on the H61, H67 or H77 chipsets will be fine. Us ethe motherboard graphics rather than a video card.

> 3. What are the quietest ways of cooling a PC?

Silent PC review is a good place to learn and get useful reviews.

Start with a PC configuration that doesn't consume much power and thus doesn't produce much heat. My personal PC with a i5-2400 CPU and a 3 TB hard drive uses 30-34 watts.

Seasonic has some power supplies with high efficiency and low ripple (noise on the 3.3, 5 and 12V lines) and a sensor that doesn't turn on the fan unless power consumption rises above a threshold (20% I think.) Mine has never turned on.

A tower configuration with a convention path from bottom to top is easier to cool than a horizontal case. A very compact case such as a laptop is the worst configuration.

> Fans are usually pretty noisy so that's a big no no.

Large diameter fans turning slowly can be very quiet. A since 120mm case fan and a fairly large CPU heatsink without its own fan might be a reasonable configuration.

> 4. When ripping music to the computer, does the cd/dvd reader/burner
> have an impact on quality?

If you use a good secure ripping program such as EAC, dBpoweramp or JRiver MC, it will either give you the right results or tell you that it failed. Different CD or DVD drives may be able to read more or fewer CDs without problems and may differ in speed. Thin drives intended for laptops are usually slower than drives intended for desktop PCs.

> 5. Should i rip the music in .flac or .wav? Hard drive space is not really an
> issue for me.

Standards for tags in WAV files are not widely supported. Some programs like iTunes may store tag information in its database but noit in the WAV files themselves. More the files and you no longer have tag information.

Some golden ears tell you that WAV files sound better than FLAC files. Be very sure you understand the problems of tags in WAV files and know how you will cope with them before you choose WAV files over FLAC files.

> 6. My current setup uses Foobar2000, is this my best option or are there
> any other softwares that could do the job better?

Depends on what you want from your software. JRiver MC fits my needs better than Foobar did. Foobar is a good fit for some people.

> 7. Should i use usb to connect to my DAC or have a motherboard with a digital output?

You can choose a motherboard with SPDIF output now and keep your options open. A optical output on the rear I/O panel is fairly common. Many motherboards have a header for SPDIF internally. That requires a $ 10 card to take the coax or optical signal to a slot at the back of the computer.

Bill
 
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1. Is SSD any better than HDD for audio, other than it's silent?

no


2. Since it's only gonna be used to play music, do i really need a good processor or would something like a Pentium4 be enough?

I have a Dell PE750 P4 3Ghz, plenty for squeezeserver and ripping.
Loud sucker - but it's far away from where I listen. If you have 2 or 4 core, it will be newer and more versatile.

3. What are the quietest ways of cooling a PC? Fans are usually pretty noisy so that's a big no no.
Bigger fans running slower. Hard drives can be enclosed in a special noise dampening case. Special outer case, interior damping. Hard drives that support acoustic mode. Closet in another room...


4. When ripping music to the computer, does the cd/dvd reader/burner have an impact on quality?
It can if it uses a buffer that the ripper can't control or is just flaky.
They're cheap though, Exact Audio Copy will tell you if it can control the drive properly.


5. Should i rip the music in .flac or .wav? Hard drive space is not really an issue for me.
.flac Smaller, same amount of information and it supports meta tags.

6. My current setup uses Foobar2000, is this my best option or are there any other softwares that could do the job better?
Pretty good stuff if you like the interface.


7. Should i use usb to connect to my DAC or have a motherboard with a digital output?
I'd go for digital out if you have it but mostly on theory. Honestly can't tell the difference when I've tried DACs with both inputs.
 
this is what i think

the less noise you can get from your pc the better

infact i have a pretty quiet pc now...but i'd like to make it even quieter

blah blah blah ...especially since it is an overclocked i5-2500k with gaming video card at idle (or as long as the video card fan don't ramp up ) it is about inaudable it is sitting up by my left ear about 1.5 ft away.

if i move closer i can hear a faint whirring from it.... now if my HD6870's fan ramps up that is another story... it isn't that bad but it can be louder than i'd like...but that only happens while gaming and i game with headphones so meh.


i have a gigabyte triton 180 case (which is a pretty old design i think it is out of production now)

I replaced the two stock case fans with Gelid Silent 12 1k rpm 120mm case fans my cpu cooler is a hyper212+ w/ push /pull Gelid Silent 12 pwm fans (700-1400~ rpm)

I have a Crucial M4 256 GB drive for my boot drive and a Hitachi 1TB drive for data.

considering i have my 2500K @ 4.3Ghz with a HD6870 i think my system is impressively quiet...it is the quietest computer I have owned.


but it could be quieter...and so this could be worth considering for your project .. you don't seem to say a budget but hopefully these suggestions will be ok budget wise


blah blah blah...

Fractal designs Define mini (mATX)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352011


there is also the Define R4 if you want to go ATX

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352020



then socket 1155 of your choise and 1155 cpu of you choice for deciated music server (especially with a low noise target) even a G530 would be fine)

cooler like i said i have a hyper212+ it is dirt cheap and works good... however I think the stock fans suck...

i got a pwm splitter cable and two of these

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835426015

for a G530 or basically even my i5-2500K @ stock one of those fans pushing would be fine.... in fact i had my overclock going w/ just one @ first and it was fine decided to at the 2nd one to drop a couple degrees C.


my power supply is a corsair TX650 (ver 1 made my Seasonic) it is very quiet ...however the new TX650s are a new version made by another oem ..so I can't say how they compare noise wise.


but i might suggest this FANLESS (woOT) Seasonic 400Watt 80Plus Gold

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151097



and ssd prices have been dropping you can get the 128GB samsung 830 or Crucial M4 for around $100 my 256GB M4 was under $200

personally for the speed and silence I feel it is money well spent.


for you data storage you could maybe if you were inclined get a couple really quiet lower rpm (green 5400~rpm) drives and set them up in raid 1 it would speed up the access abit...writes would still be meh. or you could got 3+ drives (with compatible controller or mb with raid 5) and set up raid 5 also

or you could just get one big storage drive and say F*ck it my hitachi 1TB drive isn't too bad noise wise. I had a Samsung F3 which was quieter but my F3 crapped out after 6mos..which has left me bitter

I have a bunch of hitachi drives here at the house none of which are newer than 1yr right now...and they have been solid...not quite as quiet as the Samsung but reliable.
 
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Some golden ears tell you that WAV files sound better than FLAC files. Be very sure you understand the problems of tags in WAV files and know how you will cope with them before you choose WAV files over FLAC files.

Bill

Some 'Golden Ears' need to get the gold and the ear wax out of their ears. All FLAC players decode FLAC to WAV in the digital domain and it's always a BIT FOR BIT identical file compared to the WAV that the FLAC was encoded from. I don't know what part of LOSSLESS escapes these people.
 
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Really processor speed does not effect music files. Now if you have video files, then that is another story. I'm currently running a P4 processor at 3 GHz with 1024k of RAM memory. I'm running Windows XP as the OS. I would invest in several hard drives, one for your main drive and one for backup. Hard drives do fail and you need to backup your music. I would put the most money in a good sound card or an external DAC.
 
Backup. Indeed.
If you spend months ripping, tagging and organizing only to discover what "Mean Time Between Failures" means when it comes to hardware, you'll be kicking yourself.
Also - organization: Use a consistent file naming protocol and file and folder scheme or you'll drive yourself nuts!
 
Thanks again everyone for your comments, it is all greatly appreciated. I have decided to go for a celeron g530 cpu, 4gb ram, and the nmedia 5000b case. It will not be running all the time so I think it won't be too bad for the heat. I also got 2 750gb seagate baraccuda, one for music and the other one for backups. I won't be using raid though, because i don't need the OS and softwares backed up, i can justt schedule windows to copy my music library after x days to the second drive. The last couple parts im waiting for should arrive today and hopefully i can take pictures during the build and upload them pretty soon.

Thanks again,
Philippe
 
Hold on. You're planning on running Win 7 on a Celeron? And the front end? BTW, the Front End is the software that will be playing the music, cataloging it, etc. I'll tell you first hand that anything pre-Pentium 4 is going to crawl. It will play music fine, but once Windows starts doing it's "thing" in the background, all else will crawl and your music will studder. Trust me, it will be a painful experience.

JN
 
Just saw you'll be using a Celeron g530. OK. You "should" be fine, though I would personally not do anything Celeron in a music server/player running Windows. I just would'nt. YMMV.

JN
 
I think he means software like Windows media player , James river media ,fobar2000
etc. I am trying James river Right now not bad so far as long as you uncheck auto import box but that's another story . Are you going to use onboard audio or
motherboard S/PDIF or usb out or line out from souncard or onboard ? The Realtek ALC898
is ok onboard solution for line out not great for headphones though. I hear the Via chip isn't so good.
I have an m audio interface on main music box (it basically replaces the on board sound )
My m -audio is Great for music 10 times better than the realtec on phones or speakers. I have an Xonar Dx coming for this box the onboard Realtec isn't cutting it for the phones should be here soon . it has replaceable op amps so I will be rolling op amps .
your new( edit ) celron should be fine passmark score is 2275 way more than enough for an htpc server http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Celeron+G530+@+2.40GHz
regards
 
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