which of these 3 computers should I buy?

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Leatherface74

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Ok, I'm working with a very limited budget and don't want to spend money on things I don't need. All I need is the ability to play at least 30 tracks at 44000, while being able to record 2 tracks simultaneously. I would be using cool edit.

I know some people are going to come in saying that these suck for audio recording and such, but my old computer could record loads of tracks and it was over 3 years old with a 256 meg ram card and a crappier audio card. My friend david has a 2 year old laptop with 512 ram that can record 10 to 15 tracks with protools, which is way more demanding than cool edit.

So basically I'm just looking for something decent, all Im going to use this computer for is recording, nothing else. I'd prefer the cheapest computer that can get the job done.

here are the computer choices:
-------------------------------------
Choice 1
Gateway AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Processor
2 Gigs of DDR RAM
250 Gig Hard Drive
Nvidia Geforce 6100

Cost: 649.99

-------------------------------------
Choice 2
Hewlitt Packard Intel Pentium D 915 processor
2 gigs of DDR2 RAM
300 gig Hard Drive

Cost: 854.99
--------------------------------------
Choice 3
Hewlitt Packard AMD Athlon 64 3800+
1 gig of DDR RAM
200 gig Hard Drive
Nvidia Geforce 6150 LE

cost: 564.99
 
I would pick the gateway spec's but I wouldn't buy a gateway, or a HP, or a dell, or a compaq etc... If I was you, I wouldn't go buy a whole new computer, and you really don't need to upgrade yours either. What you really need to shift your money & do is get yourself a good recording interface & maybe a dmp3 preamp. With a decent interface, you'll be able to record more then 2 channels at a time, at good quality w/ low latency if any. If you got enough money to spend on that almost $900 computer, you can get something like a firepod & a few other stuff along the way or a 1010 delta. You know what I'm saying?

If you really want a new computer, buying better & faster, more reliable parts is cheaper.
 
I was planning on getting a firepod or something of the like actually, if I did I could probably buy a pretty inexpensive computer right? I really don't need to record more than two tracks at once though, it's really not that important to me.
 
Im thinking of getting choice number 3, it seems to have what I want, and it has "lightscribe" for making personalized cd labels without using the stupid stickers.

Is there anything wrong with that? I mean, I'm not trying to do anything amazing with it, I just need something to produce decent music with.
 
Now-A-Days you can get yourself a nice sized 250gb HD for around $100 & a good mb/cpu for $139. I got a dual core Pentium D 930 3ghz 2mbx2 w/ mB for $139, and 2gb of ram for another $139. If you got a decent machine, then all you really need is an interface, a good preamp & a nice mic. The computer doesn't affect the quality of sound really. It's the equipment & how you mix it that really affects how you want your sound to be like. I know my friend has a mbox on a amd 1700+ w/ only 160gb & a MXL 990 that I gave him, and he gets nice quality sound. the 1700 only runs at 1.47ghz? Unless you'll be using your computer for something other then a DAW, you should be fine on that part. I use my computer for a little gaming also, plus I love speed.

but anyways, yeah you would be able to buy a cheap computer.
 
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ok, so just to make sure, if I already have my mixer and condensers and such, I could do what I want with choice 3 and a an audio input (like presonus)?
 
Tough call. the x2 is a fine processer and will generally beat the pentium in just about anything except single thread applications (like cool edit) since it has a fairly low clock speed (2 ghz vs 2.8 on the 915).

I would consider rolling your own machine or holding out for the Core 2's to ship
 
Urgh. I really don't have time to wait. Not that I'm in desperate need of it, but I just don't. I don't want to buy parts and assemble it. I just need advice on these three models. All I would be doing is recording with cool edit or cakewalk. That's it. Nothing else.

I'm probably going to buy a Firebox as well.
 
In that case, I would go with choice 1 because its the X2 :D That will outperform both other computers you have, also has a nice amount of ram & hard drive space.
 
I would second the Gateway also. . . Gateway is what I have, I was skeptical
at first , I was leaning towards a HP , but went with a Gateway ... bigger hd
and more ram . . . for me it's working great, I added my sound card and a hd
from my old HP, I can burn a cd, and do graphic artwork and surf at the same time, without as much as a hick-up...I have the 64 x 2 4200 ... I like it.

Stehen
 
Of the three I would go with the Gateway. Best deal of the bunch really, as it is prolly the most solid component wise. One thing you may want to look at is possible having a small hard drive for your OS and Programs, and having a second larger one for audio. The firepod is a great idea and comes with cubase LE, which is pretty kick ass as well, so this would deffinately be a good rig if you have a good selection of mics already.
 
awesome. I'll likely invest in a detachable drive to store old projects, that or burn them on DVDRs. Im only going to install a few select programs on this new computer, mostly audio editing.
 
another vote for the Gateway. going dual-core will definately help when you decide to get more advanced and do more things. you won't find yourself having to upgrade your CPU or RAM anytime soon.

if you want Lightscribe, you can get an external burner that does that or even replace the internal drive. I'd wait until Lightscribe gets better/faster. I've heard they're making faster versions that will do color.
 
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