Recommend me a recording desktop computer.

[depths of europa]

So I'm in a good spot to upgrade my recording rig.
I'm moving into a new house and will have a dedicated recording room. I already have a desk, monitor and everything else, but I need to buy a tower.

So I'm a PC guy, that isn't going to change. Other than that, I'm not sure what specs I should be looking for.

I searched futureshop.ca and couldn't find any towers with an i7 processor. Are i7's just for laptops?

 

[Rygar91]

All you need really good is a fast processor and lots of ram, at least 8gb of ram but you'll want more. Nothing else is really important. Also if you couldnt find a desktop with i7 on Futureshop then youre blind, half the pc's on the first page of the computer section are i7 desktops haha.

 

[depths of europa]

All you need really good is a fast processor and lots of ram, at least 8gb of ram but you'll want more. Nothing else is really important. Also if you couldnt find a desktop with i7 on Futureshop then youre blind, half the pc's on the first page of the computer section are i7 desktops haha.

Really? I can't find any. Is the AMD a8 or a10 the equivalent of an i7? Cause I don't see any i7's, just i5's.

 

[TheDarkiron]

Really? I can't find any. Is the AMD a8 or a10 the equivalent of an i7? Cause I don't see any i7's, just i5's.

totally not. a10 are affordable APUs (cpu and integrated graphics card)
made for family computers.

i7 on the other hand, is a top notch processor.

well, coming back to the topic, i recommend you to find a cpu with the AMD 9590, if im not wrong is cheaper than the i7 and have a monster power, multi task is awesome,you can have a very good editing.

if you like videogames, you will be able to have a music editor and 1 or two games without problem lol. but if you dont like it, just do your thing ( more important obviously).

but to be honest, here the most important thing is to have lots of ram , 8gb or 16 if you can

good luck bro.

if you have a good budget, get the parts and ask someone for help, a coustomised pc will adapt better to your needs.

 

[Yo_Wattup]

If you could build the PC yourself, that would be the cheapest option. But if you can't, a quad core i5 will be plenty powerful (its what I use) and get 12-16gb ram. You can save a lot by not getting a great video card, or skipping the video card altogether.

Also I'm not some rookie recording a guitar track and calling it a song, I've had songs with 50 tracks, all with plugins on them, all while tracking guitars being rendered with amp modelling plugins, at 5ms latency, with zero hiccups. This is with a quad core i5.

 

[Daybreak]

You'll get long with an i7 CPU. And lots of ram. I have 16 GB ram, and it works fine. Ram really isn't expensive either. Also, if you're a Pro Tools guy, be sure to upgrade to Pro Tools 11 while you're at it so you can actually use more than 4 gig ram. Unless you're doing video editing, graphics card really isn't needed. And SSD harddrive is wonderful, but not essential.

 

[depths of europa]

That's awesome. Thanks a lot guys. What operating system should I go with?

My current setup is still on Vista :/

Is Windows 8 compatible with most DAW's, vst's, plugins etc?

I am using Reaper, SD2, LePou

 

[pushpull7]

Well, I'll not wow you with my new computer specs but I feel the need to make some points.

a) NEVER use onboard graphics. Get a fanless VGA for about 50 bucks. Using the onboard graphics frequently causes glitching for users.

b) Get the best processor/mobo you can afford so that you don't have to do this again. Not that an i5 isn't any good (it certainly is) but if you can swing up to the i7, it's not wasting money. The i7's are hands-down the best thing that has happened to processors. Reaper is a very efficient host so you don't need the latest greatest, but if you get into other hosts (like studio one) it makes a big difference.

c) Get windows7 (x64) oem. You don't have to get ultimate, but it's stable, has been used gleefully for years by many, and doesn't have issues with software and hardware (generally, drivers are stable and plugs work) 8 is totally unnecessary for DAW work. Drivers don't always work and apparently 8.1 has some severe limitation. No, I can't give them to you but considering win7 being stable I have no clue why someone would want to take the chance.

 

[pushpull7]

Oh yeah, and DO NOT get a corsair PSU. Noisy little f....ers (definitely will be replacing this one when funds get better)

 

[Vanzeplica]

Build your own tower. Right now I'd suggest getting an i7 ivy bridge cpu or wait until next year for the new gen just because haswell cpus really don't seem to be up to snuff. 16gb ram (ram is has well over doubled in the past 6 months ), ssd to store your sound libraries on (the cost is well worth the speed), good motherboard (I'd recommend ASrock or Asus sabertooth but you can play that by ear), gtx 650 ti or hd 7770 for running multiple monitors and around a 550 watt psu. Oh, and a case. I'd recommend the NZXT Tempest 410 because it's really sleek and isn't in your face like most good towers out there

 

[pushpull7]

Well I don't agree with that. In fact, the 4770 is rated as one of the best i7's ever. (but I wouldn't know, it's not like I have one )

 

[Vanzeplica]

Well I don't agree with that. In fact, the 4770 is rated as one of the best i7's ever. (but I wouldn't know, it's not like I have one )

Stock haswell is great but they have temperature and stability problems when overclocking which kinda defeats the purpose of having a 4770k.

 

[Winspear]

I recommend looking at ADK Audios configurations and then putting one together yourself if that's what you are planning to do.

That's if it actually works out cheaper. I was doing the same with SCAN in the UK for a monster 32GB i7 system and it ended up being cheaper to have them do it!

 

[pushpull7]

Stock haswell is great but they have temperature and stability problems when overclocking which kinda defeats the purpose of having a 4770k.

You'll forgive me for being completely confused but the whole point of getting the 4770 was to have the power w/o futzing with the dicey world of overclocking. They only processor that was better was the way more expensive 6 core i7's but they required the x79 chipset which digging around appeared to be more problematic than the newer z87 chipset.

I dunno, it's too new to tell how things will go on down the road but performance wise I'm pretty surprised how much better it is than the older i7 860 and how cool it runs.

 

[Narrillnezzurh]

a) NEVER use onboard graphics. Get a fanless VGA for about 50 bucks. Using the onboard graphics frequently causes glitching for users.

There's absolutely no reason to get a dedicated graphics card for recording.

 

[Vanzeplica]

There's absolutely no reason to get a dedicated graphics card for recording.

It's much preferred for multiple monitors

 

[pushpull7]

There's absolutely no reason to get a dedicated graphics card for recording.

Except all the people I've seen over many forums that have tried to use onboard graphics that have had to get an outboard VGA because everything they tried didn't work

 

[skcidrgross]

I'm a mac guy. Ableton Live for Writing, Protools for mixing.
Whatever you get, load up with ram and have a kick ass processor.

 

[Hollowway]

Yeah, personally I haven't heard anything about these Haswell issues. And I most certainly would NOT overclock a processor for music recording purposes. It just makes no sense why you'd want to do that.

And if you get a new generation chip the onboard graphics are likely plenty powerful to run dual monitors, etc. Personally, these days I think money is best spent on a decent processor and RAM (and a good MOBO, of course), but leave it at that, and then spend any other money on software, plug ins, monitors, etc.

No need to go hog wild on RAM right out of the gates, either, since you can add more later. I'd start with 8GB (on sticks that leave room for another 8) and then adj as needed.

And I also vote for Win 7. I think 8 will largely be skipped by the computer buying public, much like Vista was. You can easily buy Win7 machines from Dell, etc.