What brand of motherboard, what processor, what video card should I be looking to buy to make this setup bullet-proof?

S

Stephan Williams

New member
I mothballed a top of line first gen i7 loaded computer just after I bought it over 12 years ago when I was diagnosed with cancer. It was loaded - Babyface soundcard with the works inside.
By the time I got interested in writing music and recording again last year all my software was outdated and no longer supported and nothing worked as it should so I decided to upgrade the computer by putting in a 2 terabyte SSD drive, a 2 terrabyte hard drive and all new software. For some weird reason I decided to go with ACID11 as my DAW because I'd had a lot of good luck with ACID 4 way back and I planned to make up a few CD's worth of loops to sell online in between recording what I've been writing. It's been a challenge. They provide no support.

It's taken me and my computer-savvy wife over a month to get rid of the bugs in the system since the changeover and software installations and last night was the first time in decades that I felt proud of what I was recording, but then when I got up this morning ready to get right back at it - the computer refuses to boot up...

Thank god the SSD drive is healthy so it can be moved into a new computer that's going to do what it's supposed to dependably.

MY QUESTION IS: What brand of motherboard, what processor, what video card should I be looking to buy to make this setup bullet-proof? I'm running out of time and patience. LOL

PS I'm now using a Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 4th gen soundcard, 12 Gig of Ram and a premium but ancient Asus Motherboard and what I think is a defective video card I no longer remember the name of.

Your advice will be appreciated.

Stephan
 
Are you still using a 1st Gen I7? You won't find a motherboard for that processor anymore. Plus the memory is going to be SLOW compared to the DDR4 and DDR5 used today. A 12th or 13th Gen I5 or I7 should be solid. The onboard video processor will outrun just about any 12yr old video card. As for the motherboard, it would depend on what you need... PCIe slots? Thunderbolt? MSI and ASUS boards with the Z790 chipsets are good boards. You'll need to get a good size cooling system to keep the noise down. If you like building machines, you can do that but it won't be cheap. You'll probably need to replace the power supply as well.

For basic recording/mixing purposes, you can buy prebuilt systems which are completely adequate.

I recently bought one of these. You can put your 2TB SSD in and you should be good for 5 more years at least. I added memory to take it to 24GB. The onboard video is more than sufficient for running any recording software. I've done video editing with DaVinci resolve. I use Reaper for my recording It's very CPU efficient, but it might not work for your building of loops and stuff. I am more of a linear recording type of person so I like the workflow of Reaper. I don't know Acid, so I can't compare them.

 
Hi Stephan, and welcome back!

How heavy are your needs and requirements? 12 year old sounds old but it's entirely possible that your 1st gen i7 setup has more than enough grunt for what you plan to do.
If your requirements are fairly modest maybe we can help you get the old girl back up and running?
If this interests you, tell us more about 'refuses to boot up'.

If not, you're still in the right place. Stick around, either way. (y)
 
TalismanRich said:
Are you still using a 1st Gen I7? You won't find a motherboard for that processor anymore. Plus the memory is going to be SLOW compared to the DDR4 and DDR5 used today. A 12th or 13th Gen I5 or I7 should be solid. The onboard video processor will outrun just about any 12yr old video card. As for the motherboard, it would depend on what you need... PCIe slots? Thunderbolt? MSI and ASUS boards with the Z790 chipsets are good boards. You'll need to get a good size cooling system to keep the noise down. If you like building machines, you can do that but it won't be cheap. You'll probably need to replace the power supply as well.

For basic recording/mixing purposes, you can buy prebuilt systems which are completely adequate.

I recently bought one of these. You can put your 2TB SSD in and you should be good for 5 more years at least. I added memory to take it to 24GB. The onboard video is more than sufficient for running any recording software. I've done video editing with DaVinci resolve. I use Reaper for my recording It's very CPU efficient, but it might not work for your building of loops and stuff. I am more of a linear recording type of person so I like the workflow of Reaper. I don't know Acid, so I can't compare them.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the sensible advice, Rich. I'll probably build one out of parts so that I end up with NO WIFI, NO BLUETOOTH and no crap already installed on the drive.
 
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Steenamaroo said:
Hi Stephan, and welcome back!

How heavy are your needs and requirements? 12 year old sounds old but it's entirely possible that your 1st gen i7 setup has more than enough grunt for what you plan to do.
If your requirements are fairly modest maybe we can help you get the old girl back up and running?
If this interests you, tell us more about 'refuses to boot up'.

If not, you're still in the right place. Stick around, either way. (y)
Click to expand...
Thanks for your reply. I'm a songwriter more than a performer, Steenamaroo and I'm definitely not much of a gear head which is why I use Acid to fill out the arrangements with loops I manipulate to add to the instruments and vocals I record. It's not that I need 36 gig of Ram or a wickedly fast processor. Its that I need something that can handle the more sophisticated processing software I've upgraded to. I'm beginning to think recording has become detached from the songs we record - we're becoming slaves to tech rather than inspiration

The message on the computer says: "cd rom boot priority no medium" over a blue screen. And that's all it does.
 
I think you'll find that most motherboards will have built in WiFi, ethernet and BT. It's nothing like the old days when you had a slew of cards for each function. Video is on the processor unless you buy the "F" version. However, unless you're into heavy gaming, or heavy video editing or bitcoin mining, I think adding a video card is pointless. Of course, you can easily disable the stuff in BIOS. As for crap on the drive, I've pulled out the original drive before, cloned it and then killed off a bunch of the stuff that came. I have no use for Office 365, Xbox, Candy Crush or Cortana. They're gone. I put the original drive (smaller than the new one) in a box in the drawer, in case I ever need to restore to the original setup.

IF you're getting a CD Rom boot message, you should be able to put the original Windows boot disk (if you have one) and boot that way. Or you might try running one of the Linux distros that run from CD or flash drive, so you can check the boot disk.

As for "recording has become detached from the songs we record - we're becoming slaves to tech rather than inspiration", I don't agree. I'm no more of a slave to my DAW that I would be to a tape deck. If anything, a tape deck requires WAY more involvement, with swapping tapes, alignment, cleaning. I just turn my computer on, pull up Reaper, plug in the mic and go when the inspiration hits (which, unfortunately, hasn't been all that much lately).

The software may have a million things that it can do, but I only use the ones I need. Its a tool box. Just because I've got 30 wrenches and 20 screwdrivers and 50 sockets doesn't mean I have to use them all. If I only need a hammer, that's what I use.
 
"I just turn my computer on, pull up Reaper, plug in the mic and go when the inspiration hits."

That sounds fantastic! That's how I want this trial to end for me too. Thanks for filling me in on what's been going on while I've been asleep at the wheel, Rich. I've decided to take my tired old computer back to my service guy and have him build me a new one based on the advice I've received here. I'm only going to keep the SSD drive and my new Scarlett 4i4 4th gen, (which I LOVE!!!)

I just want to turn it on, adjust my levels and record a clean track or two that I can play with later.
Simple. That's what I'm looking for.

I'm a songwriter - not an engineer.
 
Stephan Williams said:
Thanks for your reply. I'm a songwriter more than a performer, Steenamaroo and I'm definitely not much of a gear head which is why I use Acid to fill out the arrangements with loops I manipulate to add to the instruments and vocals I record. It's not that I need 36 gig of Ram or a wickedly fast processor. Its that I need something that can handle the more sophisticated processing software I've upgraded to. I'm beginning to think recording has become detached from the songs we record - we're becoming slaves to tech rather than inspiration

The message on the computer says: "cd rom boot priority no medium" over a blue screen. And that's all it does.
Click to expand...
Ok, what is the software? You mean Acid 11?

Anyway, whether upgrading or carrying on, it sounds like that computer isn't broken at all.

It's trying to boot from CD ROM which means, most likely, either the boot priority settings got changed or, perhaps more likely, the CMOS battery died and bios has reverted to default.

It could mean a harddrive failed, got disconnected, or got moved to a different port,
or it could mean the motherboard failed,
but on a 12ish year old computer that has sat unused for some time I'd expect the CMOS battery to have died.

If you have the time or inclination I'd replaced the coin cell battery on the motherboard (easy to do), then enter bios and set your HDD as priority boot.
Chances are that'll sort it right out. (y)
 
I always tell people that if you want to turn on, and be recording before you forget the tune, and don't want to know about computers - buy a mac. Windows is fine, but very quickly it slows down and you have to learn to speed it up again, and learn what the software you buy actually does. I guess that's why IT support in companies is so busy. It's what people do to them that causes problems to solve?

on my mac, I can just send stuff to them from my phone. On the PC, I have to email myself - it's the quickest, but Microsoft annoy me. My 3 year old PC is now antique and my expensive adobe subscription will no longer let me update - which is exactly why I pay adobe. Worse, software is getting less likely to allow you to save in old formats. My wife's laptop boots up and she can be on ITV player in around 40 seconds. This PC is now around 4 minutes before it's finished housekeeping and allows me to open stuff.

last year's motherboards are hardly cheap, but 3 year old ones are, because they're ancient. Buying flash video cards can be very disappointing - when you put them in and very little changes.
 
I just posted something before I was ready. Newbee on steroids. Sorry.

I just wanted to thank everyone for their advice. I no longer want to throw the computer out the window. Watch battery replacement is next and then a service call tomorrow.
I'll keep you posted.
 
Cool. If it's not that simple and you want further help troubleshooting, don't hesitate to ask.
Of course if you choose to go the new machine route there's nothing wrong with that too. (y)
 
Steenamaroo said:
Cool. If it's not that simple and you want further help troubleshooting, don't hesitate to ask.
Of course if you choose to go the new machine route there's nothing wrong with that too. (y)
Click to expand...
I replaced the battery and yes! that was the problem. So thank you from the bottom of my heart! Now all I have to do is convince my long-suffering wife to set the BIOS up again. LOL
 
Steenamaroo said:
Anyway, whether upgrading or carrying on, it sounds like that computer isn't broken at all.

It's trying to boot from CD ROM which means, most likely, either the boot priority settings got changed or, perhaps more likely, the CMOS battery died and bios has reverted to default.
(y)
Click to expand...
Nice catch Steen! It's been so long since I've changed out a CMOS battery, it slipped my mind.
 
That's great news!
Hopefully setting the main hard drive back to #1 should sort you out then.

Most BIOS have another key for selecting your boot volume on the fly which you might be able to do in the meantime.
It's usually f10, f11, or f12, but it should tell you, briefly, on the screen near the start of the boot process.
If you can get that, it should just show you a list of available drives and you pick the main hard drive, to boot from it.
 
Steenamaroo said:
That's great news!
Hopefully setting the main hard drive back to #1 should sort you out then.

Most BIOS have another key for selecting your boot volume on the fly which you might be able to do in the meantime.
It's usually f10, f11, or f12, but it should tell you, briefly, on the screen near the start of the boot process.
If you can get that, it should just show you a list of available drives and you pick the main hard drive, to boot from it.
Click to expand...
It's looking like there may be another problem, Steenamaroo. My wife got into the BIOS but it wouldn't allow her to choose a drive...I'm going to have to wait for my tech to look it over on Monday. Thanks again for all the great advice. I've learned a lot today, thanks to you fellows. This is a great site! I've just spent an hour reading through some of the threads. There's a lot of knowledge being generously shared going on here. I can hardly wait to dig in deeper tomorrow.
 
I can't see that helping since it's such a vague and misused term, and there's no reason to think we're getting anywhere near windows, yet.



@Stephan Williams
Is the 2TB drive you added the only drive (I.E. a replacement) or an additional drive?
If it's the only drive, how have you determined that it's healthy.

Great that you say replacing the CMOS battery was needed but if you can't boot, and can't select your hard drive for boot, how did you determine this?
Were there other messages indicating the bios had reset, such as incorrect date/time or something, which are now gone?

Was your main system hard drive ever removed, or perhaps moved to a different port by mistake?
If so double check that the drive, if SATA, has a power cable and a sata cable connected to it,
and that the other end of the sata cable is seated properly in one of the motherboard ports.

Ignore if it's an m.2 drive.


"My wife got into the BIOS but it wouldn't allow her to choose a drive"
The drive wasn't listed, or you couldn't navigate the menu or... What happened?


There's plenty of basic troubleshooting that can be done here.
If your tech is going to charge the earth don't be afraid to run through a few things with us first instead, if you want. (y)
 
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