Choosing a desktop PC for audio production.

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fletch1988

New member
Hi all

Just wondering if I could have some help/advice on choosing a suitable desktop computer for audio production. I will be running PreSonus Studio One 2 with it and the audio interface is a firestudio mobile. Monitors are M-Audio AV 40s. I also want it as the general home computer as well so it will be used for other things as well but just wanted to know if these are good enough specs to do what I want to do. :-)

The first one I've looked at is the Dell Inspiron 660. The specs are as follows:

Base Intel® Core™ i5-3330 Processor (6M Cache, 3.00 GHz)
Memory 4096MB (1x4096) 1600MHz DDR3
Video Card Graphics : Intel® HD
Hard Drive 1TB Serial ATA (7.200 Rpm) Hard Drive
Floppy Drive Integrated 8-in-1 Media Card Reader
Optical Devices 16X DVD+/- RW Optical Drive (DVD & CD read and write)
Sound Cards Integrated 5.1 High Definition Audio
Wireless Networking Dell Wireless DW1506 Card
Shipping Documents Documentation Inspiron Desktop 660
Gedis Bundle Reference D116648
Order Information Inspiron Desktop 660 BTS Order
Dell System Media Kit Inspiron Desktop 660 Resource DVD (Diagnostic & Drivers)
Microsoft Application Software Microsoft® Office Trial
Value Added Services 90DAY Premium Software Phone Support
Dell Services: Installations No Installation

That's the cheaper option and sort of a 'bare-bones' type of system I guess. It only has integrated graphics and not a dedicated graphics card, but as far as I was aware this isn't important when it comes to audio production. The more expensive option was the Dell XPS 8500 (the lower end model) specs as follows:

PROCESSOR XPS 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i5-3350P processor (6M Cache, up to 3.3 GHz)
ACCIDENTAL DAMAGE PROTECTION No Accidental Damage Support
PROTECT YOUR NEW PC Microsoft Windows® Defender Included
HARD DRIVE 1TB Serial ATA (7,200 rpm)
OPTICAL DRIVE 16x DVD +/- RW Drive (read/write CD & DVD)
WIRELESS SOLUTION Dell Wireless 1703 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth v4.0+LE
SOUND SOFTWARE Integrated 7.1 with WAVE MAXXAudio 4
MEMORY 4096MB (2x2GB) 1600MHz DDR3 Dual Channel
GRAPHICS CARD AMD Radeon™ HD 7570 1GB DDR5 Graphics Card
Driver Dell 1703 Wireless Label
Speakers No Speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system)
Gedis Bundle Reference D11X8504
Cables 2 Meter Power Cord - UK
Shipping Documents Documentation (ENG, ARA, FRE, TUR, GER, ITA, DUT)
Placemat Placemats(Eng, Ara, Ita, Fre, Ger)
Order Information XPS 8500 Order
Optical Software Cyber Link Power DVD
Additional Software XPS 8500 Resource DVD
Dell Backup & Recovery Dell Backup And Recovery Basic

Obviously neither have a firewire port but I will be putting a pci express card into whichever I choose to buy. Please give me your opinions!! Sorry by the way I've copied all the irrelevant bits of info with it as well!

Thank you :-)
 
Option A. Sink the remaining money into room treatment, or audio gear. A 3GHz i5 is totly suitable for a basic gaming rig, and you're right when you make the observation that a audio rig doesn't need much in the way of display power.
 
Audio in general doesn't need a lot of horsepower. I used to run just fine with a P4 recording 10 - 16 audio tracks and one sample based VSTi with 10 or so tracks. I'd use one or two plugs on wach track and a reverb on a send bus. So, either of your specs listed will be more than adequate for audio.

I would suggest a 2nd hard drive for your audio to stream to.
 
Thank you for both of your responses!

I will go with option A. It generally looks to me as if it is quite powerful computer, just without a dedicated graphics card. The suggestion about a second hard drive to stream the audio to - how does this work? I mean how do you stream the audio to a second hard drive - fairly new to recording as you can tell. And also I have the option of getting an external hard drive with the computer. Would this suffice or does it need to be internal.
 
You'll set that up in your recording program. It's easy enough and explained how to set directory paths in the manual.
 
Suggest:

More RAM.

Split your HDD storage into two physical devices.

Upgrade your video card to one that will feed two separate monitors.

I see no mention of noise levels--check that out if Dell can help and go for something with as little fan/disk noise as possible.
 
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