should i go with the PC???

[thajeremy]

I currently use my PC with a Terratec EWS/88MT soundcard. I also have a Behringer 2004A mixer that I use just for the pres. I am about to upgrade to a new PC (P4 3.4 ghz, 1.0 GB RAM, 160 and 120 gig dual HD's). This PC is gonna cost me about $1,600 (should be more but my company has a contract with DELL).

Now...here is my question...Rather than spend this money on a PC and continue using my terratec soundcard, does anyone have any suggestions to an alternative or is it possible (for someone who knows what they are doing) to get a quality, professional sound by recording straight to the PC and using Cool Edit for everything else?

thanks
Jeremy

[manning1]

the quality of pc sound depends completely on the quality of convertors in the sound card. if you want the best consider lynx or rme. but pricey.
if you want still excellent sound which tons of folks are happy with
your terratec should do the job great.
just search under my name - and look at a thread currently going on in other equipment. youll find it usefull.
fyi - i can get an amd athlon system in my area for about 600 bucks or even less that will do 80 tracks.
if you want a real barebones system still that will do 40 tracks look for a
used duron system (under 2 years old) and stick a good sound card in it.
a friend of mine just got a perfect one for 100 bucks. we added a nice new drive with a 8mb cache and it does loads and loads of tracks.
now all you need is your mixer land a few mics.
for multitrack software just search this forum using my name.
hope this helps.