Ok, I want to upgrade my computer, but what should I get?

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twangbuck

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My wife and I are planning on upgrading our computer some time in the next few months, and I'd like to get something that's better for recording. Our budget's going to be somewhere around $700 (I think). Right now we have an old Compaq Presario, Pentium 3, 667 megahertz, Windows 98. I think it's got 256 mb of ram. I have an old version of Cakewalk Pro Audio 9, and a Soundblaster Platinum Live soundcard. My problems with it are that it freezes up very often during recording, especially when I have more than 5 or 6 tracks already recorded, and the editing capabilities with the Pro Audio 9 software basically suck. The sound quality also isn't that great, which I think is the fault of the soundcard.
I'm recording for home demo purposes, not professionally, but I'd like my stuff to sound at least somewhat decent. I'm only planning on recording one instrument at a time (mostly guitars, bass and drum machine, some keys and vocals). I'm open to doing a USB interface device rather than going the soundcard route. I think I need to stick with Windows, even though I'm growing to despise Microsoft more and more each passing month. I also need help with suggestions for a good, useable (but inexpensive!) recording program with better editing capabilities than the old Cakewalk program. I keep hearing all these fancy new terms like duo core and that kind of thing, and I have no idea what that means. I didn't even know what a thumb drive was until a couple of weeks ago, and until that point I also had no clue external drives were as affordable and easy to use as they are these days. So if I respond to your post by asking what you meant by a technical computer term, please forgive me!
Thanks for any help you can give!
By the way, this is my first post.
 
twangbuck said:
My wife and I are planning on upgrading our computer some time in the next few months, and I'd like to get something that's better for recording. Our budget's going to be somewhere around $700 (I think). Right now we have an old Compaq Presario, Pentium 3, 667 megahertz, Windows 98. I think it's got 256 mb of ram. I have an old version of Cakewalk Pro Audio 9, and a Soundblaster Platinum Live soundcard. My problems with it are that it freezes up very often during recording, especially when I have more than 5 or 6 tracks already recorded, and the editing capabilities with the Pro Audio 9 software basically suck. The sound quality also isn't that great, which I think is the fault of the soundcard.
I'm recording for home demo purposes, not professionally, but I'd like my stuff to sound at least somewhat decent. I'm only planning on recording one instrument at a time (mostly guitars, bass and drum machine, some keys and vocals). I'm open to doing a USB interface device rather than going the soundcard route. I think I need to stick with Windows, even though I'm growing to despise Microsoft more and more each passing month. I also need help with suggestions for a good, useable (but inexpensive!) recording program with better editing capabilities than the old Cakewalk program. I keep hearing all these fancy new terms like duo core and that kind of thing, and I have no idea what that means. I didn't even know what a thumb drive was until a couple of weeks ago, and until that point I also had no clue external drives were as affordable and easy to use as they are these days. So if I respond to your post by asking what you meant by a technical computer term, please forgive me!
Thanks for any help you can give!
By the way, this is my first post.
Click to expand...

I personally think it will be useless to upgrade that Petinum 3, when u have $700 to spend. Check out circuit city, they always have good computers under $700. I bought mine for $800, its a Compaq 3400+Amd Athlon 64. 1GB Ram, 160GB harddrive, dvd+rw with firewire and usb 2.0 ports.. at my home, i basically use it for what u want to use it for and it works flawlessly.. I mean windows act up from time to time but i still get my job done.

Edit: A Great Home PC for for $599.00
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/HP-P...54140/catOid/-12962/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do
 
Ok, I wouldn't recommend building a computer if your not computer savy, so I'll just suggest going out and purchasing something like this..

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=TS-N9211A-R&cat=SYS&cpc=SYSbsc & upgrading memory to at least 1gb, than use the rest of your money to get something like the M-Audio firewire 410 or presonus firebox for recording on. For a $500 dollar computer you can get an entry level dual core machine like this, http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=TS-N0617M-R&cat=SYS which would be still pretty quick & decent for what you need done.
 
a mac.

10 characters.

never mind, not turning this into a PC vs Mac debate.

but i'd say a used Powermac G5 or iMac G5 would really bang you for your buck (?)
i got my imac G5 2.0 for $900 shipped, upgraded to 2gb memory ($250) and called it a deal.

but windows based.. i would definitley go with something 64bit so you can utilize that when it becomes more availible. build it up! max out the ram, 10k rpm drives.
 
sorry i didnt really read your thread, nevermind.

i'd get a little dell demensions for $299 or whatever it is, those are nice deals and will be fine for what you are doing. so what, celeron's and whatever.
 
NOT a MAC. seriously - if only for a range of options tha mac isn't it.
A good sound card in a reasonable PC running a good software based recorder will do wonders. More RAM = some extra speed but don't get sucked too far into that. I did a heap of stuff that worked fine with a PIII & 128 Meg RAM.
An extra hard drive or a big one you can partition & keep the software on board to the absolute minimum required to support your recording, mixing & editing.
Oh & keep it away from the internet.
 
Yeah sorry I should have been more clear in my original post. When I said upgrade my computer, I meant upgrade to a new computer. Sorry about that. I wrote that post in a hurry. It was a long day yesterday.
 
rayc said:
NOT a MAC. seriously - if only for a range of options tha mac isn't it.
A good sound card in a reasonable PC running a good software based recorder will do wonders. More RAM = some extra speed but don't get sucked too far into that. I did a heap of stuff that worked fine with a PIII & 128 Meg RAM.
An extra hard drive or a big one you can partition & keep the software on board to the absolute minimum required to support your recording, mixing & editing.
Oh & keep it away from the internet.
Click to expand...

RayC, which recording program and soundcard were you using on the PentIII? Also, what operating system is on that? Windows XP? Could it run MIDI?
 
rayc said:
NOT a MAC. seriously - if only for a range of options tha mac isn't it.
Click to expand...

Show me one program that you can run on a non-Mac that you can't run on a current Mac. Hint: there aren't any. Any. All it takes is a copy of Windows XP and Boot Camp.

I just get so tired of people who obviously don't use Macs claiming that the Mac somehow offers fewer options than a Windows box.
 
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