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Perfectionista

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So I am setting up to record on my computer. That said, the first step is getting a computer I imagine. Now, being somewhat of a compu-moron, I need some advice. I want something that can support lots of tracks, effects, and 96khz recording. I want it to be top notch but under $2000 if possible

1) Do I have it custom built by a small shop or do I go and buy it from Dell, like I did last time?

2) I dont need a monitor or speakers, so please give me some advice on what this computer should consist of in terms of processor speed and type, hard drive, ram, vidoe card, cdrw etc.... the more specific the better. As for sound card, I will save that question for another post. I just need help getting started.
 
The best way to shop for a new PC is to define first exactly what you want to spend, and then get as much as possible for that money. Once you fix your dollar limit, we can list out hardware possibilities that won't break your bank.

Slackmaster 2000
 
Not an expert...

not sure if you want to choose each and every componant for someone, or buy yhem yourself, or what. but here is some price info so you can think about price/performance

Well two choices, intel or amd.
These are recent AMD processor prices from sharkyexteme.com

Athlon XP 1700+ (1.47GHz) $62
Athlon XP 1800+ (1.53GHz) $76
Athlon XP 1900+ (1.6GHz) $104
Athlon XP 2000+ (1.67GHz) $122
Athlon XP 2100+ (1.73GHz) $154
Athlon XP 2200+ (1.8GHz) $200

Vs Intel

P4-1.8GHz Sock 478 $160
P4-1.9GHz Sock 478 $173
P4-2.0GHz Sock 478 Northwood $189
P4-2.2GHz Sock 478 Northwood $238

so amd are a bit cheaper, and perform the same at this range. I personally would go with a high end AMD, but think its preference rather then huge difference.

RAM is pretty much all about the DDR 2700 i think. you could start with a 512stick and add more later if you wanted.

PC2700 128mb $40
PC2700 256mb $62
PC2700 512mb $121

video card- some gforce 4200 model i think.

Chaintech Geforce4 Ti4200 $137.00
MSI GeForce4 Ti4200 (128MB) $175.00
Asus Geforce4 Ti4200 (128MB) $203.00

Harddrive- any modern 7200 RPM drive will do. western digital WD800JB is 80 GB and lists for $130 (80 GB) it has an 8mb buffer and performs a bit better then an average 7200 HD. you could just get a 40 GB and put everuthing on there, but my philosophy, is that if you are serious about recording, get one big HD and dedicate it to audio. this drive will do great for that.

CDRW i don;t know much about. I know these Lite-on burners are all the rage, my computer geek friends use them and they rant about them. think its the LiteOn LTR-24102B CD-RW, there is one review here
but search for more and i think they all agree its one of the best cdrws around. (its around 300$)

hmm lets see, processor, ram, hard drive, video card, cdrw. thats about it ain;t it?

I humbly recommend you build you own. its not that hard! Read like hell for a few months and you will be able to do it. otherwise you could put down a list of specific componants, and then get it built to order. a bit more expensive, but easier.

do you know about mobos?
if not thats a whole can of worms.
some good ones for AMD all using the newest kt333 chipset. they all have onboard something, so you have to look into them to see if they have extras. I personally like onboard stuff if its good, like the soyo, since it saves $$$ and can avoid conflicts. stuff like RAID, USB 2.0, 5.1 sound, network/ethernet.

soyo dragon ultra (onboard everything)
Gigabyte 7VRXP VIA KT333
Asus A7V333 VIA KT333

they run from 100-150$

these are all ideal prices, online vendors and stuff. a bit more in the real world, unless maybe you buy the whole package together and get a deal, but then they ding you for assembly and stuff.

anyways, think it over and tell us what appeals to you. some expert will help you from there on.

SirRiff
 
The VPRMatrix PCs being sold at BestBuy have been getting alot of good press lately and I'm thinking about picking one up myself (that says alot because I've been building my own systems for about 6 years now).

These PC's don't make use of any proprietary components and use quality parts. The prices aren't that bad either. They come standard with USB 2.0 and Firewire ports.

www.vprmatrix.com
 
pardon my stupidity but what are proprietary parts? I checked out the comp and it really is at a great price... please tell me more about it if you can... like how is it different from, say, a dell?
 
Dell, Compaq, HP... all make use of non standard size motherboards, power supplies,etc.

Should one of these parts break or become obsolete, you cannot just go to your local computer store, pick up a new motherboard/power supply and pop it in - you would have to buy components from the manuacturer and it would cost more.

The reason Dells, Compaq's/HP's and Gateways are so cheap is because they cut corners to reduce cost. They use inferior performing components that for the most part wouldn't make a difference to Joe Schmoe who is running Office and browsing the web. The problem is when you start using the PC for high performance/non-mainstream applications like DAW, you need more.

These companies have been known to write their own BIOS for their systems which adds another problem area in terms of compatibility.

The VPRMatrix is made up of all off-the-shelf parts that can be easily replaced and would not require you to go back to the PC vendor to buy them.
 
hey thanks so much for your help! I had a feeling that that is what you meant by proprietary components. I am definitely looking for a system that does what I need it to do VERY well, not something that does a little bit of everything in a kind of half baked way.
Now, i have a few more questions (and I am sure I will keep having them lol)

1) Do you know if you can just buy the tower, without the extraneous add-ons they try to force you to buy (i.e. monitor, speakers, printer etc...)? I am really looking to get the best foundation I can, so I'd rather spend money focusing on the ram, hard drive and processor (I am buying a sound card separately). 2

2) do you know if the cd-rw they put in the VPR is any good? All I could find out about it is that it is 40x.

3)I have 128 mgs of sd-ram in my current computer (and a 40 gig hard drive). Is it worth it for me to just put the sd-ram and the hard drive in the new comp also? I had a very confusing time installing the hard drive when I did it. BIOS really fucks me up!

thanks for all your help, I am getting closer to making my decision!
 
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