I am asking for advice building a desktop

J

JFoshee

New member
I have spent quite a bit of time reading on this forum about what computer to use. At first I wanted a laptop, but after reading I have changed my mind to a desktop. I somewhat wanted it to be portable, but I have an area that could be built into a small studio (9x14) so I could set up something permenant there. I have also decided to buy quality parts and put it together myself. While I know there is much discussion about using a MAC or Windows based system I believe I want to stay with the Windows format 64 bit. I have not decided on an OS yet either. I'm thinking Windows 7 right now. I have been inside a few computers before to replace a drive or add RAM so I'm sure I have the ability to assemble the parts. What I'm lacking is the knowledge to know what parts to buy to put in it. I plan to use an interface to get the audio to the computer, so do I still need an awesome audio card? I know I want USB 2.0 and firewire inputs. I would like the ability to do some video editing, so a decent (video?) card will be needed for this, also I want the capability to use at least two monitors. I want at least 8GB of RAM. Audio may not need this much, but I know from experience that video takes alot of RAM. I understand what the motherboard is, but do not understand if this comes with an operating system? From what I have read I have decided an ASUS. Or do I have to purchase that seperatly? What about the power supply? How big? I know I want it quiet. I want a lot of hard drive space. 1T would be nice, but may not be able to swing that much $ after building the rest of the computer. I will need a CD burner to get the music off of the computer to. I have not decided on any software yet, but this is another discussion entirely and I have already read a couple threads on this very topic.
I am not trying to stirr the pot on what the "best" hardware is to put into a computer. I am simply asking for what, specifically, in the your opinion can I use to build a quality computer for recording?

Side bar question.
What are plug-in's ,refering to the audio software? Are these downloaded or purchased on a disk?
Thanks for any advice you may have. Sorry about the rambling.
 
With a USB or firewire interface, you will not need an internal sound card. Windows 7 should be fine as your OS. In fact, I sometimes wish I still had it instead of 8. The motherboard will not come with an operating system, you'd have to buy it separately unless you happen have an old copy laying around somewhere. I do not have any recommendations on a power supply, perhaps someone will chime in and enlighten us both :) Good luck!
 
Morning JF.
Some months ago I bought the ..
Asus M5A97 LE2.0 MOBO which was bundled with the AMD FX-6300 six core CPU.
Can't find that deal again quickly( you might) but the same MOBO is sold with other AMD processors, a quad core and all up for less than 80 euros.

I have not had the opportunity to stretch the combination but the set up (6G ram) seems very slick and has not given any bother at all in 6 months. Running Win 7/64. Do not bother with 8, wait for 10!

Bonus! The MOBO does not have on board graphics. Bugger to me but you will not be paying for something you don't want. You have a bit of a conundrum however in that powerful vid cards have noisy fans. I paid 30quid for a passively cooled (another Asus product as it happened) card but you might need better? Others here can surely advise.

Budget for an SSD for the system and DAW drive (may be even more important for video?) and I would have said up to 3 months ago, another, 1 -2TB internal spinner? But the MOBO comes with 2 USB 3.0 ports and I bought a Seagate USB 3.0 external drive for £70/ (~100ees? ). Soooper fast!

AI. Yes, the World HAS gone external and they are many and legion but If you can find it in the budget I would still fit an M-Audio 2496 sound card. So useful to have a selfcontained audio/digital/MIDI interface of very acceptable quality and really low latency. They can be found very cheaply now on evilbay and are so reliable you are very unlikely to buy a pup. The Asus has two PCI slots.
The inclusion of a PCI sound card in no way impinges on the use of an external. I just plug in me KA6 or 8i6, select in DAW and bish-bosh-bash.

CD/DVD burners are cheap as chips.

Power supply: Folks go on about these...A LOT! Never been an issue for me in 10 years of 'puting but maybe go for a decent make and 600W min? Above all you want QUIET!

No doubt you will be told to go for an i7 or at least i5 setup but if cash is tight it is easy to forget all the extra costs. Case, PSU, burner, ram, software, graphcard, drives and have a stonkingly fast MOBO and CPU sitting there doing nothing coz you can't afford the support bits!

Oh yes! And sod the laptop! Just bolt a guitar cab handle to the top of the case.

Dave.
 
There was no one thing really. I guess just realizing that I had an area at home that could be dedicated to recording and I did not need to be mobile. It will take some time, but as money allows I can add the acoustic treatment, quality monitors, etc.
 
JFoshee said:
I am going to try to attach a link to a CPU from Newegg. Could I get some opinions on wether or not this is a good start? What parts are left off that I will need. Not counting the obivious, OS-keyboard-mouse-etc.
Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, LED LCD TV, Digital Cameras and more - Newegg.com!
Click to expand...

I am NO building guru! But I would rate that as expensive? Breakdown...
ram ok
HDD ok
burner ok
case might be too small for an upgrade MOBO (my Asus was too big for the nice case I had handy)
PSU under powered at 480W imho and might be noisy.
CPU 3G dual core? Nothing to write home about
MOBO cannot say.

And you don't want the included graph card because it has a fan on it. The MOBO already has VGA and digital graphics ports.
Bloody minefield ain't it!!??

Dave.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top