Help with Desktop PC for home recording

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guitarnine
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Guitarnine

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Hi All,

My old (circa 2003)HP pavilion AMD/winXP PC has finally kicked the bucket, i have been out of the DAW/PC world for sometime and i'm looking for some recommendations on a replacement desktop PC in my budget(under $600). I plan on running Sonar7 64 and a bunch of VSTi's. this will be a dedicated audio PC. I record guitar/bass/synth and e-drums and tend to layer multiple guitar tracks. I would like to keep my Delta66 PCI card if possible(really like the card, and M-Audio has 64-bit driver available for download), which would mean i will need a mobo that has at least one PCI slot.-or supports a PCI card. I know that 8GB ram is ideal. I am being told by some that the intel I7 series chipset is best here. Do i buy off-the-shelf or go barebones route? Looking for suggestions from the experienced who may have purchased a desktop PC here on what/where to purchase from that will support my needs.

Thanks,
Joe
 
Thanks for the links David...how does the model below compare to the gryphon you linked...I can't post links here, but if you search item # B69-1688 at Tiger Direct you will see it.....just looking to get the most out of the PC with a little room for expansion...

Description:
Asus Z87-A (SLI) Socket 1150 Haswell Motherboard and Intel Core i5-4670K Processor and Patriot Viper Xtreme 8GB Desktop Memory Module and WD Blue 1TB Sata 3.5" Desktop Hard Drive and LG 24X DV Bundle
 
Guitarnine said:
Thanks for the links David...how does the model below compare to the gryphon you linked...I can't post links here, but if you search item # B69-1688 at Tiger Direct you will see it.....just looking to get the most out of the PC with a little room for expansion...

Description:
Asus Z87-A (SLI) Socket 1150 Haswell Motherboard and Intel Core i5-4670K Processor and Patriot Viper Xtreme 8GB Desktop Memory Module and WD Blue 1TB Sata 3.5" Desktop Hard Drive and LG 24X DV Bundle
Click to expand...

That looks like a pretty good set up. If you will be using this exclusive for audio work, I would disable the sound in the BIOS. Other than that, looks like it has what you need.

You might want to shop the price around just to make sure. New Egg is another site that I think sells bundles, Tiger is what I have been using for at least 13 years, so I have had positive experience with them.

Good Luck!
 
Hi David,

I am considering the purchase of the PC below...including Win7 prof 64 OS installed it is just under $700 What is your opinion on the PC specs below? and how does it compare to the barebones Asus Gryphon you linked above? I am ready to purchase, but am looking for the best bang for my $$$...


Thermaltake Mid Tower ATX Computer Case (the picture above showing air flow is for display purpose only)
500 Watt Power Supply
Gigabyte GA-B75M-HD3 LGA 1155 B75 mATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Ivy Bridge Quad Core i5 3570K 3.4 - 3.8GHz Turbo Processor
Onboard Integrated Video Graphics Processor -VGA,DVI,HDMI Dual Monitor Ready!
8 GB of Crucial 1333 MHz DDR3 RAM
Realtek 8-Channel Onboard Audio
USB Wi-Fi Wireless Adapter
All-In-One Card Reader/Writer
1 TB SATA III Hard Drive
LG DVD±RW Optical Dual Layer Combo Drive
All drivers and manuals
FREE technical support!
3 Year Warranty
 
Guitarnine said:
Hi David,

I am considering the purchase of the PC below...including Win7 prof 64 OS installed it is just under $700 What is your opinion on the PC specs below? and how does it compare to the barebones Asus Gryphon you linked above? I am ready to purchase, but am looking for the best bang for my $$$...


Thermaltake Mid Tower ATX Computer Case (the picture above showing air flow is for display purpose only)
500 Watt Power Supply
Gigabyte GA-B75M-HD3 LGA 1155 B75 mATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Ivy Bridge Quad Core i5 3570K 3.4 - 3.8GHz Turbo Processor
Onboard Integrated Video Graphics Processor -VGA,DVI,HDMI Dual Monitor Ready!
8 GB of Crucial 1333 MHz DDR3 RAM
Realtek 8-Channel Onboard Audio
USB Wi-Fi Wireless Adapter
All-In-One Card Reader/Writer
1 TB SATA III Hard Drive
LG DVD±RW Optical Dual Layer Combo Drive
All drivers and manuals
FREE technical support!
3 Year Warranty
Click to expand...

Looks pretty good, I think the power supply is a little light, on board audio doesn't matter in this case. Low end graphics these days are still pretty good for pure audio work (even video work for that matter). Only thing you will have to be careful of will be the slots. It probably had two, not sure if that matters, but if you are going for a PCI(e) card you may want to check to make sure it will work. If you don't plan on ever needing to expand it, then no problem.

The great thing is, desktops are having a fire sell. Most companies are to blade servers for infrastructure, dumping the desktops (most engineers these days are using CAD software on Laptops. So, looks like the days of desktops could be closing down. But they are a bargain right now.

From the specs, doesn't look bad. Make sure USB 3.0 (for future use) Also, believe it or not, if you go USB, plug it into the back of the machine on the ports that are mounted on the MB (not the front ones). You actually get better performance. I learned this when I was having issues with something, can't remember and the tech guy told me to do this, I was like, right. But I did it and daaaamn! he was right. Told him thanks and apologized for being a jerk.

Anyway, get recording and let us hear your stuff!
 
Hi David,
running into a problem....

So I purchased a barebones system from Tiger Direct- Asus F2A85-V Pro Motherboard and AMD A10-Series
barebones kit that you linked in the above post, quad core, 8GB ram, OS is Win7 Professional, DAW installed is Sonar 7 producer...I have installed my audio interface(M-Audio Delta 66) from my old PC into the new one and have the latest drivers installed (from M-Audio website). I have also imported some of my old projects (recorded in Sonar 6 producer)

I am hearing random pops/clicks/artifacts when playing back my projects...this is also happening if i try recording new audio (guitar) in a new project. The wave profiler in Sonar is recommending a latency setting of 299 . I am running all of my instruments into a Mackie 1202 mixer...my alt 3-4 bus output of the mackie is connected to the inputs of the m-audio card. and I am monitoring from the mackie any suggestions on what to check to solve this?
 
Guitarnine said:
Hi David,
running into a problem....

So I purchased a barebones system from Tiger Direct- Asus F2A85-V Pro Motherboard and AMD A10-Series
barebones kit that you linked in the above post, quad core, 8GB ram, OS is Win7 Professional, DAW installed is Sonar 7 producer...I have installed my audio interface(M-Audio Delta 66) from my old PC into the new one and have the latest drivers installed (from M-Audio website). I have also imported some of my old projects (recorded in Sonar 6 producer)

I am hearing random pops/clicks/artifacts when playing back my projects...this is also happening if i try recording new audio (guitar) in a new project. The wave profiler in Sonar is recommending a latency setting of 299 . I am running all of my instruments into a Mackie 1202 mixer...my alt 3-4 bus output of the mackie is connected to the inputs of the m-audio card. and I am monitoring from the mackie any suggestions on what to check to solve this?
Click to expand...

Two things as a guess. One would be the buffer settings. Usually 256/512 works pretty good and also your capture/play back rate (16 bit, 92, etc.) I record at 16/44 which is pretty low by most folks standard here. So I would think that would be the first place to look.

I just checked the site for drivers. They must be pretty stable as they have a 3/12 release date. So, up your buffers (higher numbers) and start working down. You might have to do some tweaking to get it right. But that is where you should start. If it happens still at higher rates, if you have another slot, try changing the slot (away from other internal components). If that doesn't do it, try moving your external box. Might some sort of interference.
 
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