Ane Atsuko Sobreira Minato 1 Posted January 4, 2020 (edited) Hi, guys, I'm helping a friend to build a computer to his first homestudio. He wants a Intel I9, motherboard with chipset Z390, 64GB RAM, 1SSD and 1HD, to start. We found the ASUS ROG MAXIMUS XI HERO (WI-FI) has all he needs but the fact that it's focused to gamers, make us wonder if there's a similar more focused for audio... Can you give some advices? Thanks and happy new year! Edited January 4, 2020 by Atsuko Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rico Belled 43 Posted January 4, 2020 On board WiFi? NOT recommended! R Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
slartabartfast 172 Posted January 4, 2020 (edited) No one is likely to make a motherboard focused mainly on audio--it it just too small a market relative to gaming. Gaming boards are likely to give you much more graphics than you need for audio, but otherwise are not bad as far as performance. Contemporary motherboards are usually more than adequate for the relatively low demand of audio work. Onboard WiFi can almost always be disabled if that is an issue--download and read the motherboard manual before you buy. Edited January 4, 2020 by slartabartfast 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mettelus 389 Posted January 4, 2020 +1, I have the ASUS ROG MAXIMUS X HERO (WI-FI) (previous version) in this machine with an i7-8700K. Back then it was pretty much splitting hairs on performance above a certain level, so deciding was based more on the feature set on the board. You can easily disable hardware without issues, but depending on what he will be doing, an i9/64GB of RAM could easily be overkill for audio work. You have to be pulling some fairly hard-core VST(i)s to require that, which is hard to imagine with someone starting out (it would save money initially to only get a pair of 16GB (32GB total) and see if he actually uses it - then could add another pair later). Audio is not overly stressful to a system, but video work and gaming would be (why MB manufacturers to not target the audio market). Also, for either of those he will want to get a dedicated graphics card (but shouldn't need it for audio only). 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
William W. Saunders, Jr. 48 Posted January 5, 2020 I use an Asrock Z390 Taichi which works great with an Intel Core i9-9900K. It has Thunderbolt and 3 M.2 slots. A great combo and the MOBO is $229. vs $289., at least on Amazon. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chamlin 40 Posted January 5, 2020 The guys at Silent PC have been my go to PC makers for 3 different systems (I'm not an owner, get no commission). Below are their two motherboard options and specs. https://silentpc.com/daw Their "basic" Pro Audio DAW PC Motherboard Specs Asus ROG STRIX X299-E Intel® Socket 2066 for X-Series Processors Up to 128 GB of DDR4 Memory (Quad Channel Memory Architecture) 2x USABLE PCIe 3.0 x16 (x16, x16/x16, x16/x16/x8) 2x PCIe 3.0 x4 1x PCI e.0 x1 Intel® X299 3X USB 3.1 Gen 2 (2x at back panel Type-A/Type-C) 8X USB 3.1 Gen 1 (USB 3.0) (4x at back panel) 4X USB 2.0 ports (2x at back panel) 8X SATA 6Gb/s 2X M.2 (PCIe 3.0 x4) 1X Gigabit LAN Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Bluetooth V4.2 Intel® Optane™ Memory Ready ATX Form Factor OPTIONAL Upgraded Pro Audio DAW Motherboard Asus X299 Deluxe II Intel® Socket 2066 for X-Series Processors Up to 128 GB of DDR4 Memory (Quad Channel Memory Architecture) 2x Usable PCIe 3.0 x16 (x16, x16/x16, x16/x16/x8) 2x PCIe 3.0 x1 Intel® X299 3X USB 3.1 Gen 2 (2x USB Type-C ports, 1x at USB 3.1 Gen 2 at front panel) 8X USB 3.1 Gen 1 (USB 3.0)(4x at back panel) 6X USB 2.0 ports (2x at back panel) 8X SATA 6Gb/s 3X M.2 (PCIe 3.0 x4) 1X Gigabit LAN 1X 5G LAN Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Supports MU-MIMO Bluetooth V5.0 2x Thunderbolt 3 Ports support DisplayPort and Thunderbolt video outputs Daisy chain up to 12 Thunderbolt devices Intel® Optane™ Memory Ready ATX Form Factor 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ane Atsuko Sobreira Minato 1 Posted January 5, 2020 17 hours ago, mettelus said: +1, I have the ASUS ROG MAXIMUS X HERO (WI-FI) (previous version) in this machine with an i7-8700K. Back then it was pretty much splitting hairs on performance above a certain level, so deciding was based more on the feature set on the board. You can easily disable hardware without issues, but depending on what he will be doing, an i9/64GB of RAM could easily be overkill for audio work. You have to be pulling some fairly hard-core VST(i)s to require that, which is hard to imagine with someone starting out (it would save money initially to only get a pair of 16GB (32GB total) and see if he actually uses it - then could add another pair later). Audio is not overly stressful to a system, but video work and gaming would be (why MB manufacturers to not target the audio market). Also, for either of those he will want to get a dedicated graphics card (but shouldn't need it for audio only). Thanks, Mettelus. I think it will be his choice, good to know that you aprove this board. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ane Atsuko Sobreira Minato 1 Posted January 5, 2020 14 hours ago, BRainbow said: I use an Asrock Z390 Taichi which works great with an Intel Core i9-9900K. It has Thunderbolt and 3 M.2 slots. A great combo and the MOBO is $229. vs $289., at least on Amazon. Thanks, BRock, this is going to be a very good competitor for the Asus Rog. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lmu2002 26 Posted January 8, 2020 That Rog Maximus is a huge overkill just for audio. Motherboards do all the same thing with marginal difference in performance. With just one SSD and one HDD you won't gain much by investing in top of the line mb. Obviously it doesn't hurt anything other than wallet, but I have had great results with simple basic boards (prime/pro etc) for 1/8 the price. Just my thoughts of course. If I was spending my friends money, I would use all the info I could get so I wouldn't get crucified later for burning too much cash. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ane Atsuko Sobreira Minato 1 Posted January 8, 2020 Umu2002, I think you didn't read it correctly. I'm not spending my friends money! He chose the pieces, I'm just helping him. You don't know what are his future plans for his studio so, it'd be better be more polite with your comments. Thanks anyway. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
azslow3 137 Posted January 8, 2020 Intel is "stuck" with current technology for a while. Till your friend is going to use advantages of current top mobos immediately, I do not think it is wise to make investment into the "future" (the next generation can bring new USB/thunderbolt standards and current trend is making all new incompatible with "old"). There is some "basic" level of bios tuning which is nice to have for audio PC and exists on gaming boards (but not on "office" boards). Top end adds last percents in overclocking, multiple graphic cards compatibilities, third M2 (while even the second is already limited on 24 lines CPUs, so all current except X and server CPUs) and fancy light (with build-in LEDs and extenders). F.e. that can be effectively useless for a system with one M2, one graphic card and not overclocked (btw overclocking above automatic turbo mode is not really working on normal i9, it start consume above 200W under specific load just with default settings...). I have considered ~€200 Z390 MSI Mobo, i9 and middle range M2 (Evo Plus). I am happy so far, but I have not managed to tune it down to some (rumored?) system latency numbers. It works fine without any tuning under low load, with lowest settings my audio interfaces support (48 samples by 48kHz, 3.1ms RTL). In case of big real-time load and top end latency requirements (under 2ms) more effort should be made to select exact MoBo, Memory and all relevant settings. In such case simpler solution is contact Studiocat (Jim) and get proved as working for the purpose complete system. I do not need extra internal disk for the moment, but I will try to avoid any HDD inside my home computer in the future. I mean I prefer 3x 2TB SSD instead of one 6TB HDD, when possible. Price difference still exists, but it is no longer factor 10. SSD is silent, HDD is not. Do not forget about powerful while silent PSU and cooling. After many "iterations" (at work), I have considered PSU+Cooling approximately as expensive as MoBo+RAM for home. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fitzj 33 Posted January 8, 2020 A good CPU is more important than the motherboard audio works different that graphic packets which handles cores so the more the better not so for audio as most processes are real time this is a good one Intel Core i7-8700 Desktop Processor 6 Cores up to 4.6 GHz LGA 1151 300 Series 65W Motherboard ASRock B365M Phantom Gaming 4 LGA1151/ Intel B365/ DDR4/ Quad CrossFireX/ SATA3&USB3.1/ M.2/ A&GbE/MicroATX Motherboard 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lmu2002 26 Posted January 9, 2020 22 hours ago, Ane Atsuko Sobreira Minato said: Umu2002, I think you didn't read it correctly. I'm not spending my friends money! He chose the pieces, I'm just helping him. You don't know what are his future plans for his studio so, it'd be better be more polite with your comments. Thanks anyway. Ah sorry. And no offence. I thought you were choosing a motherboard for him and asked for an opinion. But anyway, a $300 motherboard will be great, in audio or any other use. Good luck installing everything! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pathfinder 11 Posted January 9, 2020 I have used Asus MB's for decades. Presently, Z-370 Prime A. As far as Wifi, just turn it off in the MB setup-simple. Asus is my go to for MB's. just my opinion of course. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ane Atsuko Sobreira Minato 1 Posted January 10, 2020 On 1/8/2020 at 7:58 PM, azslow3 said: Intel is "stuck" with current technology for a while. Till your friend is going to use advantages of current top mobos immediately, I do not think it is wise to make investment into the "future" (the next generation can bring new USB/thunderbolt standards and current trend is making all new incompatible with "old"). There is some "basic" level of bios tuning which is nice to have for audio PC and exists on gaming boards (but not on "office" boards). Top end adds last percents in overclocking, multiple graphic cards compatibilities, third M2 (while even the second is already limited on 24 lines CPUs, so all current except X and server CPUs) and fancy light (with build-in LEDs and extenders). F.e. that can be effectively useless for a system with one M2, one graphic card and not overclocked (btw overclocking above automatic turbo mode is not really working on normal i9, it start consume above 200W under specific load just with default settings...). I have considered ~€200 Z390 MSI Mobo, i9 and middle range M2 (Evo Plus). I am happy so far, but I have not managed to tune it down to some (rumored?) system latency numbers. It works fine without any tuning under low load, with lowest settings my audio interfaces support (48 samples by 48kHz, 3.1ms RTL). In case of big real-time load and top end latency requirements (under 2ms) more effort should be made to select exact MoBo, Memory and all relevant settings. In such case simpler solution is contact Studiocat (Jim) and get proved as working for the purpose complete system. I do not need extra internal disk for the moment, but I will try to avoid any HDD inside my home computer in the future. I mean I prefer 3x 2TB SSD instead of one 6TB HDD, when possible. Price difference still exists, but it is no longer factor 10. SSD is silent, HDD is not. Do not forget about powerful while silent PSU and cooling. After many "iterations" (at work), I have considered PSU+Cooling approximately as expensive as MoBo+RAM for home. Hi, Azslow, he left the HDD idea and he's going to buy 2 SSDs (m2). Thanks for all the information! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
