Looking for a Decent PC????

[WesP1106]

Hi my names Wes im from chicago.
I really dont know much about PC so i figured id ask you fellas.
I currently have a Pc that i use at the studio which is a buddy of mines.
I want to purchase something that will work well with Reason 3.0 and Cubase Sx3. Mainly i just want to Record my own beats and put vocals onto the track.
i know i need a different soundcard thats not the prob. But what should i look for can you fellas point me in the right direction?

Thanks ,
Wes

 

[TelePaul]

I'd say Intel Duo-Core processor with a gig of ram minimum....more ram the better really. And obviously, the more storage the better but you can get supplementary hard drives. Im not SO hot on PCs so wait for a second opinion. Good luck.

 

[bewildered]

dont use an audigy card, it doesnt work with sx3 and the assholes at creative arent willing to fix it in the firmware.

 

[bigwillz24]

Pretty much any cpu you go into a store and buy today will be enough for what you want to do. Add more ram to it, & a soundcard and you're set.

Will

 

[WesP1106]

So, if i go into Best Buy or COMPUSA and Purchase a cpu i will be ok? any names brands to stay away from? how much is more ram? sorry about all the questions im new to all of this.... although i appreciate all the help..

thanks,
wes

 

[danny.guitar]

For just beats/vocals, you don't need a whole lot. Pretty much anything on the market these days will be plenty for what you're doing. My computer is over 6 years old and it could do what you're wanting without a problem.

What is your budget?

I would say a 2 GHz CPU, Intel or AMD (Athlon), your choice. I prefer AMD.

1 GB RAM at minimum, but I would probably go up to 2GB. If you have to, get a slower processor (~1.5GHz) and use the extra money on RAM.

It's hard to recommend anything without knowing what your budget is.

Also, if you plan on doing more things in the future, besides just beats/vocals, it would be a good idea to get more than what you need so you don't have to upgrade later on.

 

[WesP1106]

Just beats and vocals thats all i do lolol sad but true my budget is ruffly 700 bucks... am i screwd ?

 

[cortexx]

So, if i go into Best Buy or COMPUSA and Purchase a cpu i will be ok?

Dont buy your PC form a big box store , it's going to need service at some time and they simply arn't capable of reliable quality service .

Do some research and buy from a local store that has a popular service department, you'll be glad you did in the long run and it may be $20-$30 more to buy the pc but it's an investment.

I work in an independant PC store with a large service depot and our shelves are always full with at least 50% future shop, bestbuy, dell, HP, Compaq, sony vaio boxes that are less than 3 months old that people have bought and can't get fixed.

Future shop's ( and most box sellers for that matter )idea of service is either giving you you money back or replacing it with another computer , not much good when you have 3 months of project work on your broken PC and cant get it off because the damn thing doesnt boot. Thats when people bring machines to us still under warrenty and pay us to fix it properly "without" losing their data", yes they do lose their future shop warrenty when we do this for them but at that point they arn't usually going to go back there anyways and when a business is in that predicament quite often the data is worth more than the PC !

 

[WesP1106]

so its a bad idea going to best buy huh?

 

[warlock110]

here ya go
AMD 3400 + ECS extreme lite = 100 (new egg) they sell it as a combo

Thermaltake big typhoon = 24 (newegg) it's on sale sometimes, i got mine last time @ this price

400GB SATA or PATA = 100 (frys.com) (it's on an off but it's there)

Antec P180 (black or silver) 90 shipped (frys.com) (same as the HDD)

2GB of PC4000 RAM = 200 (newegg) (ram are getting expensive these days, if u wait they'll probably drop later)

1 PSU ~500Watts from these manufacture (sparkle, fortron, OCZ, antec ect..) look to be around 70 bucks from various places

1 Graphic card (6600GT or 6800OC or X850 ect..) = 100 (various place, u can also look in the classify for those people that wanna upgrade cards and sell them for cheap)

1 Sound card of your choice

Here's what u do with that stuff. go home open the boxes. they ALL have instruction on how to install them, just read read and read, it's not hard.

after u done, pop window XP disc in and install... go to the bios and set the frequency to 250 X 11 with a bump to the vcore (tiny bump)

that's it, this is what you're gonna get with that setup
2 GB of ram (high speed)
400GB of storage (which is ok IMO)
a decently fast single core CPU (2.75 venice is not slow in single cpu standard)
a very nice case (hehe just take a look at that P180)
decent video card to play games with (i'm pretty sure the X850 can drive some games)

most importantly it's quiet big sink + good case = quiet system. as far as sound card i'm not gonna recommend because i don't know much about them. myself i use Audigy 4 pro.. but these people on here would recommend Audiophile 2496 or the 192 or some other pro cards... i'm sticking to my noob audigy 4 pro card ~700 bucks + sound card = 800... no speaker/mouse/keyboard... i say about 1K if u want wireless keyboard + mouse + kick ass speakers

 

[DAFFYDRUNK]

$700 for a tower or $700 for a complete computer including a legit copy of windows XP?

 

[C jOker]

if you need a decent pc at least and this is atleast

a p4 w/ ht @ 3.2 or a dual core each @ 1.5
minimum of 1 gig (not generic mem they die out easy)
hdd min of 160
soundcard- get a pro like delta 1010lt / one that fits your needs
video card of atleast 128mb mem (helps computer run faster if you argue you will be shut down lol)
ummm
dvdrw/cdrw

that should be good...enough

 

[warlock110]

if you need a decent pc at least and this is atleast

a p4 w/ ht @ 3.2 or a dual core each @ 1.5
minimum of 1 gig (not generic mem they die out easy)
hdd min of 160
soundcard- get a pro like delta 1010lt / one that fits your needs
video card of atleast 128mb mem (helps computer run faster if you argue you will be shut down lol)
ummm
dvdrw/cdrw

that should be good...enough

as long as you have a vid card, the video processing (out putting) is solely depend upon the card. even if u have a 8MB card it won't make a difference for 2D out put... now if u wanna talk 3D then that's a different story... never the less it doesn't effect the computer CPU much... onboard vid is another story.

 

[sync]

Pretty much any cpu you go into a store and buy today will be enough for what you want to do. Add more ram to it, & a soundcard and you're set.

Will

+1 (message must be at least 10 characters)

 

[C jOker]

i know but if your running large screens or dual monitors it will help AND depending on how many programs your using at once it may slow it down..

 

[bewildered]

best buy lost my friends laptop when he sent it in for repairs, and that wasnt just progs and schoolwork but personal pics he can never get back.

Incompetent doesnt begin to describe chain store employees. If you cant build and matinence it yourself, dont bother at all.

 

[omtayslick]

Pretty much any cpu you go into a store and buy today will be enough for what you want to do. Add more ram to it, & a soundcard and you're set.

Will

This is the answer you're looking for. Your stated goals are pretty simple, and well within the capabilities of any new off the shelf system. I'm recording with a 5 or 6 year old PIII with no problems.

 

[Farview]

dont use an audigy card, it doesnt work with sx3 and the assholes at creative arent willing to fix it in the firmware.

Most likely due to the fact that the audigy is a gaming card and never meant for serious recording. The fact that the converters only sample at 48k/16 bit is enough to shy away. Especially once you realize that if you set your DAW for any other sample rate, the damn thing does sample rate conversion on the fly...BADLY.

 

[Treeline]

Another plug for getting the rig built at a local computer shop. The best thing is when it screws up (not "if") you have a real person to work with and not some pseudovoice in India.

I agree that 1Gig RAM is where you have to begin; more is better. Same thing goes for disk drives. A good practice is to have more than one hard disk so the programs and operating system reside on one and the other is exclusively for data - songs. That way you don't have odd stuff happening when the R/W head is trying to access a program instruction when it's also trying to record a track.

For a beginner soundcard, look at the basic M-Audio stuff - I have a Delta 66 that is fine for me; I bought it on ebay for about $60. New its about $190. Either way it's not bad for the money. That's four analog and 2 digital I/O at 24/96. Plenty to get your feet wet.

Consider an inexpensive mixer or a preamp like an M-Audio DMP3 and a decent entry level monitor set, plus headphones and you're in business. I have the Event TR5 monitors and they're plenty for me at this stage. I've had good luck with the AKG K66 phones as well - inexpensive, comfortable to wear and pretty decent sound.

For starter programs look at n-track or Reaper - both are powerful and inexpensive. Reaper is efficient of computer resources. Good luck and stay away from the box stores where the best they can do is remember where to park each morning.

 

[WesP1106]

Well, i went to the MAC store at our local mall, and i started to ask a bunch of questions alot of the information i got was from the website thanks again.
From what they told me i Should Get the MacPro Laptop with 2gigs of ram
the price is like 2300 bucks with taxes its a 15 inch, how good are these things for what i want to do? do they work well with cubase sx3 and Reason3.0. The salesmen at the store said for what i plan on doing this is what i should save for! i know it way out of my 700 dollar price range but i can apply for credit threw apple. and get financed.
any advice is much appreciated...
thanks again.