Upgrading Your Home Studio: Choosing the Perfect Music Computer

Update for My Home Recording Studio: Building The Perfect Music Computer.

It’s that time: my computer is running slow, VSTs aren’t loading so well, Nuendo is running sluggishly, and I’m running out of space on multiple hard disk drives that are cobbled together in the most unreliable way imaginable!

It’s time to upgrade my recording Studio’s PC for audio production!

Step 1: Choosing the Perfect Case

Being a music producer with limited space and budget, I have decided to go all out on a consumer-friendly home theatre case. I chose the SilverStone Grandia Series GD08 for two reasons;

1. It’s quiet and compact, perfect for home recording!
2. It’s rack mountable! (An audio engineer’s wet dream)

So I hear a knock on the door.  I get up and rush to be greeted by a tank of a man, a man who is carrying boxes across the road towards my house.  I look down and there is already a huge box. My eyes lit up, and I proceeded to wave at the postman to signal that I was there, waiting eagerly for the parcels he carried!

The Grandia Series GD08 PC case has just arrived, and it’s so pretty!

Taken directly from the manufacturer’s website;

• Positive air pressure design for excellent cooling/quietness and dust-prevention
• Support expansion cards up to 13.6 inches (345mm)
• Supports Extended ATX motherboard
• Quick access filters to prevent dust buildup
• Aluminium front panel with premium styling
• LED indicator with adjustable brightness
• Impressive storage capacity of up to twelve drive bays

Sounds perfect for audio production right?

Step 2: The Components.

What About The Good Stuff? It’s What’s Inside That Counts

Being on a tight budget, I have decided to try to purchase components to future-proof my PC to ensure I can interchange, and upgrade parts if I have to in the future. This means a certain amount of money must be invested, perhaps more than I planned but, worth it if it stops my new Studio PC from becoming obsolete in a couple of years!

• ASUS AMD Ryzen ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING II AM4 PCIe 3.0 ATX Motherboard Aura Sync RGB
• AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 6 Core AM4 CPU/Processor
• Corsair Vengeance RGB RS Black 32GB 3200MHz DDR4 Memory Kit
• Samsung 870 QVO 4TB 2.5” Gen2 SATA SSD/Solid State Drive
• ASUS x24 DVD/CD Re-Writer with M-DISC Support DRW-24D5MT
• Be Quiet! Shadow Rock LP Low Profile Intel/AMD CPU Air Cooler (2020 Update)
• 2x Noctua NF-A8 5V PWM 80mm Beige/Brown Fan
• 4x Noctua 120mm Premium Quality Silent Case Fan
• Lycom TI chipset FireWire 800/400 PCIe Adaptor Card
• ASUS Wireless-AC750 Dual-band PCI-E Adapter 90IG02S0-BO0010
• Artic Blue 850W PSU
• SAPLOS Radeon RX 560 Graphics Card, 4GB, GDDR5, 128 Bit, DisplayPort/HDMI/DVI-D, GPU, Computer Video Cards for Gaming PC, Dual Fans, PCI Express x 8

Step 3: Preparing The Case For The Components

As you can see, there are a lot of preparations to make, plans, etc. I had to work out the order in which to install each new component to avoid a situation when you think you’ve finished, only to discover that to install a fan, you have to remove the GPU…

This is a key process which cannot be skipped when using a PC case that is limited in space. I had to meticulously plan each wiring setup and I am grateful for it!

Check out the images below to see the new PC case being prepped!

Ignoring the dusty desk, you can see when you’re planning to build a PC that you need room! This is something that I lack, having a 3-bed terraced house living with 4 children and a wife means space saving is key. I can’t stress how important planning is when starting a project such as this. In my case, I decided to build the new Studio PC whilst the children and wife were away for the day to save any hassle during the build.

Step 4: Installing the Components!

Now it’s time to be meticulous. Plan Plan Plan. I worked briefly on a construction site and where I was fortunate enough to be mentored by a great teacher. One of his words of wisdom was “Measure twice, cut once!”

Every single step of this journey so far has been planned to the Nth degree. However, right at this moment none of that mattered. I was nervous, anxious that I’d made a mistake or something wouldn’t fit etc… Let’s see how it goes.

Step 5: Installing the Software!

I guess it’s time for a test run… No Pressure!

Everything seems to work so far. I have to manually flash the BIOS using an old CPU which was frustrating. I believe that ASUS now sells the motherboard I have but pre-flashed. I used a USB to download the BIOS files and load them onto the motherboard that way.

Now the PC will load using the AMD 5600x, perfect! (Not so perfect as I had to uninstall and reinstall the CPUs to get it to work, but still: She Lives!)

Every PC needs an Operating system. I previously used Windows 10 and despite reading some not-so-good reviews for Windows 11, I decided to upgrade. Remember, this project is about making a Studio Computer designed for Audio Production. This means future-proofing the lot, including the software.

I downloaded a fresh Windows install onto a USB stick, I believe it was Windows 10 originally but during the installation, I was offered to upgrade, so I did!

After everything was loaded and installed, I began to streamline the Windows bundled software to prevent annoying popups (I hate the notifications when I’m tracking something and Windows notifications pop up to tell me something pointless like the weather!) and unnecessary CPU/RAM usage.

Step 6: Installing the PC Case into the Cabinet!

I had originally decided to install the optional rack ears for the PC Case and install it below my Mesa Boogie Triaxis in the rack shelf. I opted to install the PC case into the actual cabinet part instead. This was to reduce noise in the studio. Mounting the PC inside a cabinet also reduces dust, the PC’s worst enemy! As well as protecting it somewhat, a worthy investment. Less noise is always a plus when live-tracking guitar or vocals!

Upon firing the PC up I decided that the cabinet in the rack shelf which you can buy here: Studio Rack Cabinet by Gear4music, Black was perfect (almost) to fit my PC.

I did a test fit and with nothing plugged in, I was amazed that the case fitted! I quickly realised however, the jolly mood was short-lived and I had to make more space to thread the cables and power leads etc.

I grabbed my power tools, to begin with, this was a bad idea, attempting to plunge cut with a wireless circular saw; I don’t recommend it. I swapped to my tenon saw and worked slowly and patiently to cut the correct dimensions I needed.

“Measure twice, Cut once”

You can see the cut is far from perfect. I was careful to get the measurements correct however, plunge cutting into the dense high-density fiberboard was surprisingly tough!

Credit to Gear4Music.com (not affiliated) to create such an affordable and solid piece of the studio that just happens to be perfect for my needs.

The best part about this setup is that I can rackmount my Furman M-10XE Power Conditioner and plug the PC directly into it. Doing this should help prevent surges and save energy consumption when on standby overnight when I shut down.

I was happy overall with the results. I also got tempted to paint the edges black so it blended better but, I decided that would be overkill for my little home studio!

Part 7: Everything Hooked Up and Ready to Make Music!

As you can see, I have rearranged the hardware in my studio somewhat. There have been several upgrades and changes to the setup. I will make a Part 2 soon so stay tuned for that. In the next post, I will go over my (messy) cable management and external peripherals as well as the hardware signal chain for my setup!

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Thanks for reading!

Matt Gwinnutt

My name is Matt Gwinnutt and I am a music instructor based in Louth, Lincolnshire in the UK. I teach guitar and music theory. I am currently studying for a BA(Hons) degree in music and RGT diploma in teaching music!