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recording computers- a sub $1k build


newholland

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this ain't the BEST place to put this-- but i'll ask anyhow.

 

i'm building a desktop for the express purpose of recording. here's what i'm thinking.

 

an intel i5 2500 on an H67 motherboard.

windows 7 64 bit.

4 gigs of ram (for now, to cut initial cost- but i'll jam it later)

a firewire card.

onboard video.

 

right now, i'm running a 1.7 laptop on a single core machine with 3 gigs of ram. it's bogging down pretty bad with much more than 12-15 tracks of VST's runnning. i suspect this quad core beast'll put it to shame.

 

is an i5 on that motherboard gonna keep me in good stead running the likes of reaper 3 for a while? i'd go with way more juice, but practically speaking-- i record pretty bare bones stuff.. this ain't no commercial production studio.

 

HOW much faster should i expect this thing to be, and am i a knucklehead for not throwing out the extra money for an i7 for the additional headroom?

 

opinions.. puh-leez.

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Honestly, there are soooooo many issues out there with chipset/driver compatibility I went with a PC from ADK Pro Audio. I looked seriously at a self-build but realized I'd never be able to know how it would perform until I got it assembled. It cost just a bit over 1K but it came with my software installed and the system optimized for my particular platform and interface. It's been going strong for almost 5 years and has never let me down once.

 

I realize this isn't really what you are asking; I just thought I'd share my perspective. Good Luck!

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Honestly, there are soooooo many issues out there with chipset/driver compatibility I went with a PC from ADK Pro Audio. I looked seriously at a self-build but realized I'd never be able to know how it would perform until I got it assembled. It cost just a bit over 1K but it came with my software installed and the system optimized for my particular platform and interface. It's been going strong for almost 5 years and has never let me down once.


I realize this isn't really what you are asking; I just thought I'd share my perspective. Good Luck!

 

heya wes! good to see y' round :thu:

 

hrm.. reaper has proved pretty doggone resilient-- and there don't seem to be TOO many driver issues- particularly using a TI chip firewire card, and the legacy driver. my main ish right now is just processor grunt, of which i have exactly.. erm... none. my laptop's 7 years old.. and it RECORDS 8 tracks hitchless-like.. but mixing.. its about to burst into flame... :D

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RIght now, I'm still using the nice mics + nice mic pre+ nice comp + old Sony Tape Deck.
:thu:

 

i support that completely.

 

BUT. that's not what's meetin' the needs right now for the projects at hand. if i had my druthers.. i'd have a 2" tape machine and the knowhow to use it. and the studio that's air conditioned to house it. :(.

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heya wes! good to see y' round
:thu:

hrm.. reaper has proved pretty doggone resilient-- and there don't seem to be TOO many driver issues- particularly using a TI chip firewire card, and the legacy driver. my main ish right now is just processor grunt, of which i have exactly.. erm... none. my laptop's 7 years old.. and it RECORDS 8 tracks hitchless-like.. but mixing.. its about to burst into flame...
:D




:wave:

Totally understand! I'm talking more about chipset/driver issues with your interface and tweaking of the OS for max DAW performance. A buddy of mine was having issues with his interface and laptop seriously under-performing. I turned him on to ADK and through some conversations with Scott it turned out that his particular chipset was causing issues. He vowed to have Scott build his next one after checking mine out. Probably not what you were wanting to hear but I'm definitely having ADK build my next one with this one dies.

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:wave:

Totally understand! I'm talking more about chipset/driver issues with your interface and tweaking of the OS for max DAW performance. A buddy of mine was having issues with his interface and laptop seriously under-performing. I turned him on to ADK and through some conversations with Scott it turned out that his particular chipset was causing issues. He vowed to have Scott build his next one after checking mine out. Probably not what you were wanting to hear but I'm definitely having ADK build my next one with this one dies.

 

 

hrm.. i'll surely look into it! never heard of 'em.. but i'm hardly some hot {censored} compu-recordist :lol: i'm more like a hack basement demo guy :D googlin' now-- thanks man!

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hrm.. i'll surely look into it! never heard of 'em.. but i'm hardly some hot {censored} compu-recordist
:lol:
i'm more like a hack basement demo guy
:D
googlin' now-- thanks man!

 

Ha! That's me too. Even if you don't end up going with them, Scott was really helpful to me on the phone. The work they do is totally custom so you can tell them what you are going for. I was scraping the bottom price range of systems they put together and they didn't shame me for it!

 

http://adkproaudio.com

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that's a cool company-- seems like something i'd definitely jump on if my theoretical ceiling didn't fall about 1/3 lower than their least expensive box.. :( i just priced 'em, and sadly-- i think i'd end up with a way lesser processor that i couldn't upgrade into the future with their least expensive offering.

 

i may still give 'em a call though--that's awesome that they'll still help you out! i hadda do a buncha 'crap offtake' on my laptop to get that bugger setup for some heavy levering-- hopefully with win7 64 and a box fulla ram PLUS the things i learned about keeping that laptop from exploding while really munching the 1's and 0's audio stylee, i can make a rager from the new beast! any help's always appreciated.. so i'll check in!

 

thanks-- how you been?

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Computers are Dirt Cheap. If you'd like, I'd be more than happy to help you spec a build. You should be able to get most of everything you want for around $800

 

Realistically an I5 2500 with 4 gigs and a decent motherboard processor combo. I would STRONGLY recommend paying a lot of attention to your mobo/power supply combo, as that's going to affect everything you do.

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I got my studio comp from ADK too. Best customer service ever! My machine is out of warranty and crashed, complete blue screen of death.Take it to a local tech not thinking about the ADK lifetime support. They have it for nearly a week and make no progress. Picked up the computer after deciding to just replace it. Call ADK to check on a new build and tell them what happened and they tell me maybe they can help. So they connect me to Dave with customer support, and he has my machine back up and running in a half hour!

 

Highly recommend these guys.

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Computers are Dirt Cheap. If you'd like, I'd be more than happy to help you spec a build. You should be able to get most of everything you want for around $800


Realistically an I5 2500 with 4 gigs and a decent motherboard processor combo. I would STRONGLY recommend paying a lot of attention to your mobo/power supply combo, as that's going to affect everything you do.

 

 

thanks zac!

 

yeah-- really-- my intent was to go i7 for the extra threading capacity-- but the extra 20% cost penalty kinda blows. it's a little more future proof.. but then again.. with how fast {censored} changes.. nothing is sacred for long-- so i figured the minor performance hit of the i5 is alright-- given that i can put 16 gigs of ram in it, and it's within striking distance of the i7 2600 benchmarks from all i can find.

 

i won't be overclocking this thing.. i just don't want to get into that territory-- and frankly-- i just don't NEED it. most of my projects fall well within 24 tracks total.. so even with a bunch of {censored} on each channel-- i think i'll still be well safe for a longish time with 16 gigs of ram when she's full up.

 

my power supply-- hell-- i'm thinking 500w ought to be fine, as i do NOTHING with graphics-- so no big card going in, just basictown later on. all i'll need is a coupla fans and my firewire card on the thing. this machine will see NO other use but recording.

 

I was just thinking the h67 (which supports the faster 6Gbps drives), has USB3, and pretty much supports everything (like an offboard vid card) BUT for overclocking, and like i said.. i'm not gonna do that anyhow.

 

still in the ballpark with those expectations? I was thinking a dell vostro 460-- which'd come in at around $700-- and all i'd need would be RAM later, and a firewire card.

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Yeah, that makes sense.
:thu:



Good! Been busy finishing my basement; got a new studio set up finally and I'm back at it. How about you?

 

 

FINALLY workin' for the state university, no less (!), and recording a lot this summer! mostly other folks-- but finally putting that big garage of mine to some good use! other than that-- y'know... same {censored}, different year. :D i never seem to find time to rock out the electric.. but been pounding on my acoustics and banjo to some good effect. otherwise? pffft... not a thing, sir. not a thing.

 

glad the basement's coming together! what's the news with the new studio?

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this ain't the BEST place to put this-- but i'll ask anyhow.


i'm building a desktop for the express purpose of recording. here's what i'm thinking.


an intel i5 2500 on an H67 motherboard.

windows 7 64 bit.

4 gigs of ram (for now, to cut initial cost- but i'll jam it later)

a firewire card.

onboard video.


right now, i'm running a 1.7 laptop on a single core machine with 3 gigs of ram. it's bogging down pretty bad with much more than 12-15 tracks of VST's runnning. i suspect this quad core beast'll put it to shame.


is an i5 on that motherboard gonna keep me in good stead running the likes of reaper 3 for a while? i'd go with way more juice, but practically speaking-- i record pretty bare bones stuff.. this ain't no commercial production studio.


HOW much faster should i expect this thing to be, and am i a knucklehead for not throwing out the extra money for an i7 for the additional headroom?


opinions.. puh-leez.

 

 

It looks fine except that if you are playing to run a lot of VST tracks I would STRONGLY recommend you get more than 4 gigs of ram right from the start and a get dedicated video card. It will cost a bit more but it will make a huge difference.

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It looks fine except that if you are playing to run a lot of VST tracks I would STRONGLY recommend you get more than 4 gigs of ram right from the start and a get dedicated video card. It will cost a bit more but it will make a huge difference.

 

oh no-- i hear ya. that's my plan- it's just avoiding the initial sticker shock-- and to boot-- you can get RAM way cheaper from places like newegg than you will from big builders. i swear they make most of their money on RAM markups! :D

 

but yep-- i totally plan on jamming that turkey fulla memory ASAP. same with the vid card-- those're like $30 nowadays! so for less than $100 after the fact, i'll be lifting a whole lotta weight off the processor.. and i'll probably do that off credit card radar :D;)

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