Cheap PC to work with 16 track audio interface.

C

cxax

New member
Hello, I'd like to get some help on building a cheap PC for drums recording.
I used to use my ASUS EeePC 901 with TASCAM US-1641 and it worked well to capture a kick (trigger), snare and two overheads. Recently I bought tom mics and I want to expand my hardware be able to record at least 10 tracks simultaneously.
I want to stay with my US-1641, I also use Cubase and/or Nuendo. I just need to build a cheap win XP or win 7 based PC. This PC will be used to recording only thus a simplest graphic card is enough. No music card is needed as I will use US-1641 or YAMAHA MG 166C USB (for stereo rehearsal recording).
Please suggest me:
- motherboard
- CPU
- operating system: win XP or 7
- RAM
- power supply
- case
- cooling
I want it to be inexpensive yet reliable.

Thanks for your help.
Cheers.
 
Intel BOXDH55PJ 1156 Micro ATX board - $65
Intel Core i5-650 (4 cores and 3.2 GHz with integrated graphics) - $180
Windows 7 Home premium 64 OEM - $100
G.Skill Eco 8 GB (2x4) DDR3 kit @ 1333(10666) (Low voltage, low latency, incredible timing) - $55
Corsair Builder series CX430W PSU - $45
Cooler Master HAF 912 (2 120 mm fans included) - $60

You don't need after market cooling unless you plan to overclock. If things start to heat up (which they won't), the HAF has two additional 120 mm (besides the two it already has) spots.

Total: $505 before shipping

But you could probably drop that down even further if you opt for a cheaper case. There are some decent $30 ones.
 
If its going to be used for recording only, I suggest checking out nLite. The a version for Windows 7 also, somewhere.

It's a utility to strip the unnecessary crap that Windows installs onto every system, which you don't need if you are running it strictly for recording. You process the DVD through the software, it creates a new image and you burn it to DVD or USB stick.

If you ran a stripped down system, you'd probably be able to run fairly well on 2 GB of RAM and you'd never need more than 4, simply because Windows wouldn't be wasting resources on crap you're not using.

You could also achieve a similar outcome if you disabled all the crap from a standard windows install, but it's more of a PITA that way.
 
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