Pro Tools Motherboard compatibility...New computer being built

[Old School]

Wow! Reading some of these posts about PC hardware compatible with Pro Tools, I feel as if I've pulled off some minor miracle. This is my current hardware configuration:

AMD FX-4100 processor (quad core)
ASUS M5A motherboard
8Gb RAM
On-board video only

After the usual frustrations installing Pro Tools, it ran PT10 fine - for a while. Played back several audio tracks simultaneously and worked well with Structure Free (included). My requirements are fairly modest - I'm not planning to write a symphony - but 4 MIDI tracks wasn't going to cut it, so I "invested" in IK's Total Workstation2. Now it won't play for more than about a minute without stalling and I'm wasting a lot of time trying to reconfigure the Playback Engine to something usable. So it's not just PT that causes problems. Sometimes it's additional software.

I would gladly remove some the 'native' plug-ins to free up resources if it would only tell me how!

[Old School]

P.S. I should have included MBox3 in the hardware list.

[floored2112]

Originally Posted by NickRyanAudio

Good luck! Avid products are not friendly with PC's, especially self-build. And they have no plan to patch, update, or offer help in any way besides tell you to "buy a mac"

Be prepared to install, test, return to store, install, test, return to store, repeat for CPU, mobo, graphics card, FW card and more.

This is correct, if you don't know what your doing buy a board from someone who tests all configurations. I have had no problems with Gigabyte boards since they use TI built firewire ports. Make sure your drives work well with DAW and I would recomend going with 10K RPM drives(more headroom) keep your DD3 at 1600 or less unless you are prepaired to adjust the clocking on your computer. I build 4 new computers every 3 years in my studio and never have issues.

[craigmont]

I must be lucky too- just goofing around, I installed PT 10 in the box configured below, and it runs without a hitch. I'm doing 48-track mixdowns.

ASUS P8H67-M EVO LGA 1155 SATA 6Gbps and USB 3.0 Supported Intel H67 DDR3 1333 Micro ATX Motherboard
Intel Core i5-2500K Quad-Core Processor 3.3 GHz 6 MB Cache LGA 1155
Corsair Vengeance Blue 16 GB DDR3 SDRAM
MOTU 2408mk3 with PCI-424 card
AMD Radeon 7750 1GB
Antec Sonata III 500 Quiet Super Mid Tower ATX Case
Windows 8 Pro

[forgotteng]

Originally Posted by craigmont

I must be lucky too- just goofing around, I installed PT 10 in the box configured below, and it runs without a hitch. I'm doing 48-track mixdowns.

ASUS P8H67-M EVO LGA 1155 SATA 6Gbps and USB 3.0 Supported Intel H67 DDR3 1333 Micro ATX Motherboard
Intel Core i5-2500K Quad-Core Processor 3.3 GHz 6 MB Cache LGA 1155
Corsair Vengeance Blue 16 GB DDR3 SDRAM
MOTU 2408mk3 with PCI-424 card
AMD Radeon 7750 1GB
Antec Sonata III 500 Quiet Super Mid Tower ATX Case
Windows 8 Pro

The ticket here that doesn't get mentioned enough is you are using PCI instead of firewire. I also have been running a MOTU PCI card with over 24 tracks in and out and have no issues with an ASUS board and Intel processor. My experience is that Firewire is a nightmare. Once I went to PCI and PT10 was released things became stable for the first time in 8 years of protooling.

[Old School Audio Guy]

Originally Posted by albee1952

Intel i7 9xx (socket 1366) on an X58 motherboard is proven solid and reliable. SandyBridge E(socket 2011) on an X79 motherboard looks really promising(a few builds are up and running with excellent results). There are simply too many options and combinations for any company to test them all. Apple makes a handful so it doesn't take long to test and verify those.

I have an older ASUS P6T and have a solid system that works fine I have used Asus for many years and my computer friend at Cal PolyTech recommends them as number 1
They have good support as opposed to none and a whole system cost a quarter or less than a Mac in fact I am converting a friend who has had Macs for year over to Window and an ASUS with dual 6 core Processors. Remember to get Windows 7 Pro it is very solid and make sure it is Service pack 1. This is a very good solid and reliable system you can go wrong with and Asus and an i7 4 or 6 cores. Just do all of the OS and system optimizing that is all over this Forum. Win7 works fine there are lots of engineers using them everyday. Just stay away from the AMD they have issues with Pro Audio. Oh yea use an SSD for your OS and Programs and either a Seagate Barracuda 7200 drive or a WD Black Cavier for your audio drives and a separate drive for your video if you are using video. Enjoy your build and go have a few great Dinner with the money you save or get yourself some great plugins from Flux, Softube or Waves.
Good luck!

[popajoe]

Hi,I have never used a mac whit protools;pcs all the way from pt 7,8,9,10.I used amd cpus an asus mbs win os xp,vista,win7,8.why pay 1k for a name.all mbs can run protools but whit limted pci's;type of cpu;ram etc.this is what i need to know, what ps,cpu,mb.ram,hdd,how many external and what they are.why to get the right ps,ram,mb a ps can cause a lot of problems.I build pc's for arist all of them are working ok .reason you don't see a lot of pc's on here could be no problems.:

[Flyingonempty]

asus here at bunkerop.com with win 7 and loads of ram. 10,000 rpm drive for working and 7200 for backups. no loss or slowdowns at 38 tracks with all kinds of plugins running...best advice is copy the cats who it works for. (we did)
I agree ...I get 2 PC towers for the price of not quite 1 mac.

[Flyingonempty]

:) no problems? never! just little hiccups..............

[LochNESS]

My first post on these boards. Sorry to dredge up an old thread. Google brought me here.

Thinking of purchasing my first-ever ProTools to install on the PC described in my sig. I'm not good at memorizing tech specs, so some details are missing; I'll add those in later when I have them handy. Meanwhile ...

Thoughts? I read most of this thread before posting ... I saw a lot of Intel i7 cpu recommendations ... will I be ok with an i5 chip? I have a PCI-express slot available, as well as a PCI slot. I've been told that PCI-express is the way to go. But when reading comments, I saw a few mentions of MOTU PCI card. Does the ProTools software not come with its own PCI card? Is the MOTU card just an interface? sold separately?

Would buying an older version of ProTools run more smoothly than the most current version? is that even an option? I'm sure there are questions I'm not even asking ... thanks in advance