What is the longest a Recording Computer has ever lasted for you?

[ibleedburgundy]

I've had mine for 6 years now. My brother built it custom to the specifications of Pro Tools 6.9. I don't have it online and the only program it really has is pro tools. Also Windows XP. I haven't bothered with any upgrades because 6.9 does everything I want. I'm not into editing all that much, I just want my 16 simultaneous tracks with decent sound and I'm happy.

This is the longest a computer has ever lasted for me. I just installed a 2 terrabyte hard drive a few weeks ago. My laptops that I use on the interwebs traditionally last 3 years or so.

How long do computers last for you guys?

 

[chris in indy]

I have had several computers that out lasted the operating systems, and software they needed to run. I have upgraded my main recording software many times over the last decade or two, and have had to change my hardware to keep up.

At the present I am using a Dell desktop (one year old) running Windows 7, and a HP laptop (three years old) running Windows XP, in my home studio.

 

[moresound]

After I record a song. I purchase a new computer!

 

[miroslav]

My DAW computer is 10 years old, bought in 2000 and still runs perfect (knock on wood)...never crashes, no hiccups, nothing crazy.
I still run W2K on it.

I have another tower that I'm going to be switching to in the next few months, only because I want XP on it and USB 2.0 (the older one was only the USB 1.0...which makes USB transfers a rather lengthy process.)

The "new" computer is not really new, it is already about 5 years old (I bought it a couple of years ago as a backup)....but I expect to get at least 5-10 years out of that.
The reason for staying with an older model for my upgrade...is the PCI slots. My three 8-channel A/D/A boxes need PCI slots...and none of the new computers support that, or best case they may only have 1-2 PCI slots.
But even though this "new" computer is a few years old...it's still faster and newer than my 10-yearold box.
It also more than serves my needs since I mostly mix OTB and the DAW simply plays back 24 channels of D/A audio, but I can still do a fair amount of ITB processing/mixing without any issues. I rarely go any further than 30 tracks of audio.

One thing...my DAWs are ONLY used for audio. They are stripped down to the bare-bones OS...all unnecessary functions are disabled (like network, etc)...and they never touch the Internet or any other garbage...so I don't even need anti-virus software or any of that extra baggage that most computers end up with.
I think that's why my DAWs run well and last long...not to mention, they are high-end towers, almost "server grade", with robust internal hardware, all SCSI drives...etc...rather than your typical "home" computer fare.

 

[kcearl]

I have a 5 year old PC...but its a decent powered dual core HP running XP with new 1TB drives...its not online and I wont be updating it anytime soon because of my UAD and TC cards all being PCI's...I run a Macbookpro alongside it anyway

I have considered going all Mac next year but its unlikely....

 

[chris in indy]

I agree with not having anti virus software on a DAW, I keep mine off line entirely, except when I first was setting it up, and then only to register some of my software.

I keep an external fan blowing on my laptop whenever it is running and it keeps the temps down. My desktop has a variable speed fan that only speeds up when I have quite a few plug-ins running or have more than ten or fifteen tracks processing at the same time. It's a 64 bit quad core machine, but I run "Windows 7" in 32 bit mode. I take a hit in the memory, as I can only use about four gigs of the eight available, but it runs more to my liking than in 64 bit mode.

I miss my old computer, because I loved my M-Audio Delta 1010lt sound card, but it needed a PCI slot, and I had to give it up.

 

[chris in indy]

My DAW computer is 10 years old, bought in 2000 and still runs perfect (knock on wood)...never crashes, no hiccups, nothing crazy.
I still run W2K on it.

By the way .............. very nice video, and great guitar too.

 

[miroslav]

By the way .............. very nice video, and great guitar too.

THANKS!

I miss my old computer, because I loved my M-Audio Delta 1010lt sound card, but it needed a PCI slot, and I had to give it up.

Yeah...that's why I bought the older (but newer) computer a few years ago and just kept it on the side...because I saw that PCI was going away, and I really didn't want to give up my current PCI based converter cards when I changed over my PC.

 

[chris in indy]

I always thought that I could set up my equipment and software and be done with all the heavy expenditures. But as my pocket book will confirm, that is not how it works. If you don't succumb to gear lust fever, then you find yourself trying to make unsupported software and gear work with the latest and greatest operating system.

I still have an old DOS based computer that I used with Pro Audio 9, and Windows 95. It actually still runs, but I can't connect it to anything I own now.

 

[miroslav]

I still have an old DOS based computer that I used with Pro Audio 9, and Windows 95. It actually still runs, but I can't connect it to anything I own now.

I got you beat.

I still have an Atari computer that runs the original Cubase!
It still works, and it's connected/sync'd to both my DAW computer and my 16-track tape deck via MTC/SMPTE...
...but I can't recall the last time I used it for anything, though at one time it was my main sequncer when I was into the whole MIDI thing.
I've been thinking about not connecting it to my rig anymore once I transition to my other PC, but I'll probably still keep it since it's now considered an antique!

 

[chris in indy]

Pretty cool ................

well have a happy turkey day. (I'm assuming you are in the US)

 

[miroslav]

Yup...I'm in NY.

Same to you.

 

[ranjam]

My 2¢ is that it all depends on what you expect. My Dell laptop is almost nine years old, and I run a Fast Track Pro into Cubase 4 without any problems (other than getting my license to download, but that's another thread ). But I don't do plug ins or have 912 tracks going. Where my investigation lead me to was this;

1. A laptop with a 5400 rpm hard drive is just slower than a desktop with a 7200 rpm hard drive.
2. Most laptop processors have less onboard cache.
3. Most older desktops have usb 1.1, which is slower.
4. New computers have faster processors.

.... and, as I say, you live with these restrictions by keeping it simple. If you can do that, there's no reason you can't have a desktop or laptop last ten years, or as long as XP has been around. You can add ram or go to a bigger hard drive. And a ton of software was designed for XP Pro, so why not use that laptop you bought new in 2000 or 2001? There ain't much still around that was designed for Windows 95, so there are limits.

 

[altitude909]

heh. I have a dell Pentium 100 running win95 and Labview 3 that gets used daily and has been for over a decade..

 

[ibleedburgundy]

Damn, I thought more than 5 years was going to be the outlier. Had I known it would turn out like this I would have created different poll options.

And here I was thinking I was special for making a recording puter last 6 years.

 

[VomitHatSteve]

I got you beat.

I still have an Atari computer that runs the original Cubase!
It still works, and it's connected/sync'd to both my DAW computer and my 16-track tape deck via MTC/SMPTE...
...but I can't recall the last time I used it for anything, though at one time it was my main sequncer when I was into the whole MIDI thing.
I've been thinking about not connecting it to my rig anymore once I transition to my other PC, but I'll probably still keep it since it's now considered an antique!

I've still got my old Amiga (Younger than me by a matter of months), but I mostly just use it occasionally for the "speak" program. Modern text-to-speech tries too hard to sound human and decipherable.

I'm actually typing this on my first "recording" computer. It was an all-purpose XP desktop when I built it 5 years ago. Now it's an all-purposes-except-heavy-recording box, and I've upgraded most of the hardware.

My dedicated recording box is an XP desktop from 3 years ago. Chugging along with no problems besides the software glitches that showed up when I first built it.