Suggestion for a low budget home recording desktop

J

Jackpesadilla

New member
Hello everybody!

First off: I apologize for my English, since it is not my first language; I also apologize in case I post this in the wrong place, I admit I am not really used to write on forums...

In short: I am in need of a home recording desktop, but the budget is pretty low (I am from Italy so I am going to spend around 400 euros - 450 US dollars). On an Italian website, for that price, I have been suggested this:

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I would really appreciate any insight from you. I already have a Fast Track pro and a Windows 7. I am also planning to add a basic cd/dvd player to the configuration I posted.

What do you think about it?

Thank you!
 
The G4400 scores pretty low in benchmarks, it's likely going to be a limiting factor (if not immediately, definitely later on):

PassMark - Intel Pentium G4400 @ 3.30GHz - Price performance comparison

Does the ASRock motherboard come with onboard video? Otherwise you may also need to add a cheap video card as well. The rest of the specs are likely okay. The power supply is probably just enough, and it may be worth investing a little more money there to gain some flexibility and assure you have enough power for everything.

Have you considered getting a laptop instead? If you found a good used laptop with a higher end i5 or i7 mobile processor I think you would be better off.
 
Hi Jack,
I am going to disagree with Pinky here (wtgr) . We, son and I had a Fast Track Pro for a couple of years (he still uses it in France) and as a basic AI it works well (but see later!) it is however a USB 1.1 device so it is not going to task that PC in the slightest. Despite being 1.1 the FSTP still gives lower latency than some modern, USB 2.0 AIs!

Obviously the computing power you need depends on what you want to do but that specc' is better than anything son had and he managed to build some decent tracks. Obviously if you want to use a load of plugins and run a gazillion tracks you will run out of CPU steam but for recording say, guitar and voice then adding a backing, no worries. (the Pro would record, 2 tracks, 24bits at 44.1kHz on an 850 MEGAHERTZ machine for as long as the wee 20G hard drive would let it!)

I would advise against a laptop especially on a budget.Ok, my eyes ARE shot but unless you can afford bigger, laptop screens are a pain. (suggestion, buy a cheap telly!). You cannot easily or at all add a second drive to a lappy, might not have USB3 if cheap, power supplies can buzz and are fallible. Desktops can be expanded with PCI/PCIe cards, more ports, drives. Pinks mentioned a PSU upgrade? (not that I think you need it yet)

The Pro, the "later" bit: Hiss poor mic amps! Low gain and a bit noisy. Solution? A small D capacitor (aka condenser) mic or (and I shall get stick for this!) a small mixer. The latter can be routed through the inserts and bypass the mic amps completely.
The Pro works fine in W7 but I don't know about 8/8.1 and I will bet W10 is out of the question, another reason to avoid a laptop.

Not mentioned yet AFAIK but recording software (called a DAW) Reaper, no brainer.

Dave.
 
64 bit OS, 8GB RAM and SSD, pick any modern processor you want, you will run out of tracks to record before the PC starts to choke. If all you are doing is recording and playback, the specifications you posted are decent. Always refer to the recording software minimum specifications though if you want to avoid trouble. The footnote here is, this doesn't account for memory hungry VSTs or virtual synths, etc. Just basic recording and playback.
My only cautionary note is the on board graphics controller. On board graphics can cause the processor to be overburdened with graphics processing, especially with most modern recording packages increasing all the pretty knobs and meters, etc.
A dedicated graphics card is highly recommended.
Throw that old spinning disk out unless you need a place to archive family pics or projects : )

Best of luck! (Buona notte)
-PC
 
As it happens Cecerre, I am about to have my first "SSD experience" very soon!

The computer I use in my living room (runs printer, BBC iPlayer etc) has a 950G drive in it that is moaning and has twice booted into scan mode (and found a lot of bad sectors!) . I have now purchased a Crucial 240G SSD, the BX200 and will be fitting same over the weekend.
I shall report back in "Contributions" .

Wish me luck!

Dave.
 
I think if someone is on a budget buying a used computer on eBay from a reputable seller is the way to go. For example one computer I bought recently was a Gateway with Windows 8, 8 GB of RAM, i5 4430 processor, 1 TB HD and it was $194 plus shipping. The RAM can go as high as 32 GB with 4x8GB. See I could certainly add a SSD and still be under budget. The cheapest new computer i5 I found recently was a Dell from Staples that was $300. Obviously some people like to build their own machine, but the thing with that is that it probably won't have as much resale value as a name brand PC when you want to sell the thing later.
 
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