ARRGHH! Need new recording PC

[JimmyS1969]

Alright guys. I need a new PC. Please lend me some suggestions. I was using an HP Pavilion 3700 mini. AMD Dual Athlon. Not pro at all. I filled the hard drive to about 80% and shit went haywire. Cubase lost it's preferences and started crashing. After backing up all projects to an external drive and erasing files to create space, Cubase will no longer run projects it normally did with ease without VST meter going red and fizzing out. I guess reinstalling OS and software, may fix it. But if I'm going to take the time to do that, I may as well do it on something other than this tiny little toy.

My budget is $1000.

Any thoughts on Micro Center? There is one in town here.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I do not know much about specific brands, my brain is frazzled, and I need to get a new PC pronto as I am in the middle of a pre-paid mixdown that is already overdue.

Anything I should stay away from?

Things to make sure to get?

I am searching forums as I ask this question here.

Thanks!

Jimmy

 

[ranjam]

I don't know the HP 3700 at all, but really, most PC's will do. It is up to your processor, and RAM. The 'better' you have the more plug ins and 'stuff' you can have going.
I am a huge believer after I watched YouTube - ‪Learning how to use Cubase LE‬‏. If Bill can do it, anyone can. But that doesn't mean you take an old PII and try to replicate Dark Side Of The Moon. Just get as good as your budget will allow, not worrying if you have the latest and greatest. RAM is King, and the faster the processor, the better. Then you can have 912 plug ins going. But I grabbed an old junker PIII laptop out of the closet after watching this video, cranked up the RAM, and I'm recording on it. It works fine, as long as I don't use plug ins. I have had 20 tracks going no problems (knock wood). $1,000 should get a sweet desktop or laptop. Well, maybe a laptop. For a desktop it should at least get a very good system.

 

[RobbieL]

Build your own, if you can. You can buy all the parts OEM and have complete control of performance needs. Plus, no bloatware. My studio PC (custom built obviously) will be 4 years old in July and has never had a problem.

 

[JimmyS1969]

Build your own, if you can. You can buy all the parts OEM and have complete control of performance needs. Plus, no bloatware. My studio PC (custom built obviously) will be 4 years old in July and has never had a problem.

Thanks ranjam and Robbie! That is exactly what I did. No bloatware. Got a Core I7 with 8GB ram and two 1TB HHD's for right at a grand. It's like Christmas in June!!!

 

[DD83]

Rok Box MC LE Plus $999.00 from PCAudioLabs I had a PC custom built from them and it's been rock solid (pardon pun), super quiet, and the support is excellent. I think it's only like 3 guys running the place. They even have a cheaper model around $799...Definitely worth looking into as they are built based on being an audio computer. Ha! just read your last post. Oh well...

 

[arcadeko]

Thanks ranjam and Robbie! That is exactly what I did. No bloatware. Got a Core I7 with 8GB ram and two 1TB HHD's for right at a grand. It's like Christmas in June!!!

Win! guess you already set up your os - if I saw this earlier I would have told you to configure RAID drives

// sounds like you already got RAID - sweet

 

[rfahey86]

See if you can find a used Macbook Pro or iMac. Even if it is a few years old it should still do what you need. Plus OSX seems to be a little more stable than windows.