# CPU/MoBo recommendations for Gentoo audio workstation

## audiodef

I'm going to build a new computer, on which I will install Gentoo and use it as an audio workstation. I've already picked out the chassis I want, so now I'm on to find a motherboard. 

What motherboard(s) do you recommend for this purpose? I'd appreciate any and all tips and insights.

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## poly_poly-man

 *audiodef wrote:*   

> I'm going to build a new computer, on which I will install Gentoo and use it as an audio workstation. I've already picked out the chassis I want, so now I'm on to find a motherboard. 
> 
> What motherboard(s) do you recommend for this purpose? I'd appreciate any and all tips and insights.

 certainly don't buy it for the internal audio - I hope you're using a firewire box (or at least PCI)...

Basically, anything'll work. Avoid (for convenience sake): jmicron sata controllers, "HD" onboard audio (although you're disabling this anyway, right?), any builtin wireless, and that's about it nowadays... otherwise you should be safe.

PS: all those things work, but require extra effort.

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## audiodef

 *poly_poly-man wrote:*   

> 
> 
> Basically, anything'll work. Avoid (for convenience sake): jmicron sata controllers, "HD" onboard audio (although you're disabling this anyway, right?), any builtin wireless, and that's about it nowadays... otherwise you should be safe.
> 
> PS: all those things work, but require extra effort.

 

Yeah, I don't want those anyway. The "onboard" stuff can shuffle itself "offboard", thankyouverymuch.  :Razz: 

I was hoping to get back to my post before anyone replied, although I do appreciate the reply! I realized I should be looking at the CPU first and once I find the one I want, make sure I get a mobo that supports it. 

So far, the i7 looks pretty good. I'm hoping to keep costs down, but I'm also willing to save a little longer and spend a little more if I can really get more out of it and if it will keep me a little longer. 

So if you know of a good CPU for digital audio (which is what I should have made this post about in the first place), I'd appreciate the expertise.

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## poly_poly-man

 *audiodef wrote:*   

>  *poly_poly-man wrote:*   
> 
> Basically, anything'll work. Avoid (for convenience sake): jmicron sata controllers, "HD" onboard audio (although you're disabling this anyway, right?), any builtin wireless, and that's about it nowadays... otherwise you should be safe.
> 
> PS: all those things work, but require extra effort. 
> ...

 erm... anything dual-core or higher?

I'd suggest amd, but that's because I'm a raving amd fanboi (only after I bought my last cpu  :Razz:  )

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## audiodef

 *poly_poly-man wrote:*   

> erm... anything dual-core or higher?
> 
> I'd suggest amd, but that's because I'm a raving amd fanboi (only after I bought my last cpu  )

 

The Intel i7 is a quad-core and seems to have gotten good reviews. Which AMD CPU do you have and what do you like about it?

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## Drone1

I'd look at this the other way. 

What software are you going to be using? Assuming Ardour, but possibly Rosegarden, or Audacity.... ? Now how many channels are you intending to have? How much Display real estate are you planning on wanting? 

I'd give you a solid list, but I don't currently know the state of audio recording on 64bit linux....

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## poly_poly-man

 *audiodef wrote:*   

>  *poly_poly-man wrote:*   erm... anything dual-core or higher?
> 
> I'd suggest amd, but that's because I'm a raving amd fanboi (only after I bought my last cpu  ) 
> 
> The Intel i7 is a quad-core and seems to have gotten good reviews. Which AMD CPU do you have and what do you like about it?

 my athlon 64 x2 4000+ is nice because it was cheap ($40 iirc), uses little power (my whole system idles at 8w), and the whole dual-core thing makes for good performance.

You can specifiy (using some cool smp hacks for any multi-core processor... bunhax?) programs to run on specific cores, too - you could dedicate a core to audio and a core to system, for example.

I'd just go AMD because they tend to be cheaper (i7 will run you $1000 for most of the models, it seems... phenoms are a few hundred.), and much less power-hungry (and thus cooler, meaning you can use quieter fans).

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## n1ghtsn1p3r

AFAIK the i7 Extreme Edition 965 is the only one that is anywhere near $1000

The 920 and 940 are $289 and $560, respectively.

All prices from Newegg.com

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## audiodef

 *Drone1 wrote:*   

> I'd look at this the other way. 
> 
> What software are you going to be using? Assuming Ardour, but possibly Rosegarden, or Audacity.... ? Now how many channels are you intending to have? How much Display real estate are you planning on wanting? 
> 
> I'd give you a solid list, but I don't currently know the state of audio recording on 64bit linux....

 

All of the above and then some. I pretty much want this thing to handle whatever I throw at it in terms of audio processing. 

As n1ghtsn1p3r said, it's only the "extreme" models that cost the megabucks. I'm not gaming, just processing audio, so I don't need more than a nod to video handling - enough for a nice, high res. 

 *poly_poly-man wrote:*   

> I'd just go AMD because they tend to be cheaper (i7 will run you $1000 for most of the models, it seems... phenoms are a few hundred.), and much less power-hungry (and thus cooler, meaning you can use quieter fans).

 

Thanks! That's the impression I'm getting too. Quieter fans would be a plus in my studio so the mic doesn't pick up fan noise. So far, I'm leaning towards the phenom. Newegg has it for $200.

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## szczerb

It will go great with a 780G based mobo (radeon 3200 onboard). It takes almost no power and will give you a nice high resolution. (there are a few models with 128MB of onboard memory for the card - others use only shared memory)

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## n1ghtsn1p3r

Like this board?

ASRock A780GXE/128M AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail ($80)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157139

It's got 128M onboard memory. This was one of the ones I was looking at when coming up with my own rig a few months ago (I was talked into building an Intel rig instead).

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## szczerb

I was about to buy that board a while ago (my current nforce-550 based board is hot like hell and needs a chipset fan which is loud) but had to postpone it. It seems pretty well-equiped and the audio codec is not bad (ofcourse it's nowhere near something usable in a studio but it's good for normal home listening).

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## z3rgl1ng_z

Now really, i think anything will do, my pick would be a intel mb / cpu with a nvidia card.

I did not found a motherboard on which gentoo will not install(new generations).

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## audiodef

Thanks for all the tips so far!   :Very Happy: 

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