DIY Project High Performance Audio PC with high quality wiring

[pranabindu]

Wow, what a great thread!  I'm kinda new to DIY audio PC builds, so I apologize if my questions seem dumb.

 

I got stumped trying to pick a motherboard.  What audio performance characteristics should I be looking for?  Chipset stats?  BIOS tweakability?  Once you pick a CPU, there are SO MANY motherboard options, it is overwhelming.

 

About the video (to be able to connect a monitor, to set up what will be a headless PC): if the motherboard has a video output, does the CPU have to be rated for video, too?

 

There is mention here of RAM "quality."  To what does that refer?  The latency numbers?  Any specific stats I should look out for?

 

Does the PCI-E speed (8x, 4x, etc.) make a difference in sound quality if my plan is to use the Pink Faun HDMI card?

 

Pink Faun seems to put its OCXO's all over the motherboard.  They are expensive.  Is there a less expensive solution for a stock motherboard?

 

Thanks for any advice you might have.