Guitarhacker, this is wonderful story. I will attempt to build my own model one day. Right now I am also in school, I hardly have time to play music. I am on break now, so I want to buy computer while I am able to read anything other than medical literature. But I am glad it works for you and thank you for reasurance.

Bob, thank you for your pro. opinion. I sure would take 16 Gb of memory. I was asking if 2133Ghz memory would give any benefit compared to 1600Ghz- it says on Intell site that i7 supports 1600Ghz, nothing about any higher speeds of memory. I am wondering if it would recognize that memory is 2133Ghz if i choose that.

The company is based out of Baldwin Park, CA. I am in Virginia- not the best configuration. Also after reading reviews I noted that they suffer from long time turn around for new systems- takes them 3-4 weeks to deliver. I am afraid if I wait that long, some new technology I want might be released. lol.

I am looking on Dell web site and their machines are awful. May be they waiting to after CES 2013- I may wait for that as well- it happens 2nd weekend of January.

@OP
 
I have built my own DAWS for many years now. Yes, I am a retired Tech of sorts but still, it is pretty simple and very cheap.
If I were to pay for a Custom built daw I want to choose the mother board and everything else-not just how much of this and that.
 
As John stated, it's pretty easy- 
Heres another option:
I have done this 3X now with Multiwave.
Buy a Motherboard\cpu combo or a Barebones PC. You get to pick all the parts and how far you want to go.
 
The mnother board bundle saves you probably the most tedious part-mounting the CPU on the mother board properly with heat sink paste and cpu fan so it works the way it should.
 
Multiwave is the company-Just another option.

Also +1 on Stratman's comments.  Building your own you get total control over components, and if you are not comfortable with putting it together you can always bring all the components to a local PC shop and pay them $20 to mount the CPU to the mother board.

The rest of assembling a PC is super easy.  Most of it only plugs in one way, and you already have the experience of ripping defective drives out of your chassis and replacing them - connectors and all.  

Something to consider.

Bob Bone

I am inspired to try to build my own system for the first time. This would be something to be really proud of. But I do not know which motherboard I want to what case. I will not have enough time to research it all before school starts again... Lets say I want to do it. Where would I start? Thanks.

Vlada - check your email when you get a chance.

Bob Bone

Glyn, I have seen that. The company that I started discussion with offers this as well. I was not sure if it increases system performance compared to HHD or SSD.

My worry is this: what you do about the drivers? lets say- I buy the Windows 8 from Microsoft. What about everything else? The DVD drivers, the network drivers- when I look at my hardware list on current computers- there a lot of staff. Silly little things. Everything has drivers. Even USB drives, Fire Wire drives- does it come with the device when you buy a card and should be installed one at a time?

I do not find any disk performance issues with the faster SATA 3 drives, whether they are SSD or not does not matter - they are plenty fast enough for Sonar.

I think just having a computer with a good processor, decent memory, good components, and SATA 3 drives is sufficient - without having to go to extremes.

Bob Bone

 Fair questions.

You do not need a separate card for networking.  Virtually all new motherboards I have seen for years now have built-in LAN ports, as well as several USB ports.  MOST have built in video as well, but not all.  Since you would be using a dedicated video card that would not be an issue anyway.  Most motherboards have built-in hi-def sound.

Your video card would be a separate card, but that should be your only one, other than perhaps a Fire Wire card, although many motherboards also have built-in Fire Wire ports (usually 1, if present).

The motherboard will come with drivers on a disc that you load and run the installs for.  The drivers will be for all of the components that are part of the motherboard, such as the overall chip set drivers, the BIOS, networking, etc., and any cards you plug in, like a video card, will have its own driver disc.

Did that answer your questions?

Bob Bone

That Gigabyte [font="arial; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 16.200000762939453px"]z77-ds[font="arial; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 16.200000762939453px"]3h motherboard has a bunch of ports - it has video ports, but does not have on-board graphics, but again you would be using a separate video card anyways.
[font="arial; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 16.200000762939453px"]

Here are the specs for that motherboard - which would b a great motherboard for your new system, by the way.  There are a lot to choose from, this one would work as well as most, and has great support for memory (32 GB).


Specifications Chipset North Bridge Intel Z77 BIOS AMI BIOS Supported Chipset Technologies Intel Smart Response Technology
Intel Rapid Start Technology
Intel Smart Connect Technology CPU Supported Socket Type LGA 1155 Intel CPU Support Core i7
Core i5
Core i3
Celeron
Pentium Memory Maximum Memory Supported Per Slot 8GB Memory Type DDR3 Memory Speeds Supported DDR3-1600, DDR3-1333, DDR3-1066 Memory Slots 4 x 240pin DIMM Max Memory Supported 32GB Memory Channel Support Dual Channel Supported Memory Technologies Supports Intel Extreme Memory Profile Storage Controllers mSATA 1 SATA 3Gb/s 3 SATA 6Gb/s 2 SATA RAID 0/1/5/10 Video Onboard Graphic Chipset None Audio Audio System Realtek ALC887 Audio Channels 8-Channel Networking LAN Chipset Atheros GbE LAN LAN Speed 10/100/1000Mbps Expansion Slots PCI Express 3.0 x16 1 PCI Express 2.0 x16 1 PCI Express x1 2 PCI 2 Back Panel Ports PS/2 1 VGA 15-pin 1 DVI 1 HDMI 1 USB 2.0 4 USB 3.0 2 LAN RJ-45 1 Audio Ports 3 Internal I/O USB 2 x USB 2.0 Headers (supports 4 additional USB ports)
1 x USB 3.0 Header (supports 2 additional USB ports) Other I/O Front Audio Header
Front Panel Header
S/PDIF-Out Header
1 x CPU Fan Header
1 x Clearing CMOS Jumper
TPM Module Connector
3 x System Fan Headers
1 x Serial Header Power ATX Power Connector 24-pin ATX12V / EPS 12V Connector 4-pin Regulatory Approvals FCC
CE Physical Specifications Form Factor ATX

Paul P


Having just built a new system, I'd like to mention that even though drivers will be included on a disc with the motherboard, the drivers will most likely be out of date. Just plan on downloading them from the motherboard manufacturers's website (probably the best bet) or from the component manufacturer (like Intel).

+1 on that.  I was just addressing the generic question of where does one get drivers.


Thanks, 


Bob Bone

vladasyn


Yes, it does. Would computer boot before drivers and OS or will I have to operate in DOS? I have limited experience configuring hard drives.

The computer first does something called a POST, which stands for Power On Self Test.  Then it gives you the chance to tell it you want to go to Setup (to make bios changes), etc., and then if you have not hit any other keys it will attempt to boot off the hard disk.


When you boot up the first time, you will want to go into the BIOS screen, to make sure your devices and attached components are all seen.  This will include detected hard drives, your optical drive, etc.


After that, you will put the Windows install disc in, and reboot, then go through the Windows installation.  That will give you access to then come back after the install and then run the driver installations from the motherboard disc.


After that, you will have a working network port, sound, etc., and you can then go install an antivirus (do this right away).  I recommend Avast - there are a few out there that are good and are free.  After getting antivirus protection running, you can go search out any driver updates - this is pretty normal stuff.


As far as 'configuring the hard drives'  you will not need to do any of that.  I would steer clear of logical partitions - you will have at least 2 physical drives, if not 3, and that should suffice.  The big thing is to separate programs and the operating system from the rest of your data, and as long as you do that, then you will be fine.

You may never need to go into DOS again, so don't worry about that.

Please ask away - can't hurt to learn :)

Bob Bone

vladasyn


TLW, your specs almost match my dream configuration. How does it work for ya? Who it made by?

Sorry for the late reply, only just spotted your post.
 
I built it myself a couple of months or so ago. I've been putting PCs together for years. The last "factory built" PC (other than laptops) I bought was in 1995 or 96 (it was so truly horrible in so many ways I've rarely even been tempted since), and I've built a few for me and a few for other people since then - and fixed quite a few friend's PCs as well. I generally either upgrade a load of components or build a new PC every 2-3 years.
 
Not everyone is comfortable with the idea of building, stress testing and configuring a PC though, and nothing wrong with that.
 
To cut a long story short, I'd say any properly configured i7 machine with decent quality components and enough RAM (I'd suggest at least 16GB) should be able to handle anything a PC can sensibly be expected to handle. Mine runs X2a and a bunch of other stuff very happily indeed.
 
As for configuration, Win7 seems to need less tweaking than any previous Windows version - editing the registry to switch off cpu core parking is about it. Plus I've switched off the cpu C3/C6 sleep states and Intel's cpu speed-stepping (EIST) in the BIOS so the cpu is kept locked to maximum speed all the time. The on-board graphics and sound ships are also disabled. Whatever PC you end up with there are people here who can give you advice on how to configure it for DAW use.
 
One thing I would advise is re-installing Windows and applications from scratch every year or two. Windows, especially if the PC is used for general purposes as well as DAW, seems to get "cluttered" and increasingly sluggish over time, and a fresh install on a clean, freshly formatted drive can work wonders. And if you're not using an SSD as system drive, using a USB RAM stick as Windows "readyboost" is worthwhile.
 
Finally, if you have a USB audio interface, running it off a PCI USB board rather than using the motherboard/case USB sockets does seem to make a worthwhile difference.

Sorry if this has been posted already or if you've already seen it but here is the Cakewalk recommended systems page...

http://www.cakewalk.com/PCResource/default.aspx

It should give you a better idea of what to buy or build. I built mine based on the specs of one of the ADK systems. Their website is super handy because it lets you virtually build your system with different components. Some things aren't available from other retailers like the motherboards but if you do some research you can find suitable substitutions. I snagged an ASUS PZ68 Pro GEN 3 to susbstitute the ADK MOBO. I forget what else I had to substitute. My system works great and it was my first build. Cheers.

It's tricky yes and if one can afford to buy a prebuilt system for audio then by all means that is preferable but I shaved at least $600 off my costs by building my own (perhaps more) so that money was freed up to purchase Sonar and some other gack I needed. It was kind of fun in a frustrating way and I learned a lot doing it. I do however have more time than most to screw around with stuff like this.

Here is the guide I used from NewEgg TV in case anyone is interested: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPIXAtNGGCw

That is the first part in a series of three that are all easily accessible from the first vid. Watch the whole thing through once before starting because he makes a few clarifications and corrections in the third vid. I should mention that I had a tech friend offering me advice as I went along too but she mostly just confirmed that I was doing stuff correctly and surprisingly I got most things right the first time. It's all about lots of research and patience. All my parts I bought from Amazon and Newegg which made it cheap, quick and safe (due to the return policy and good business practices).

Bill you make a very good point. Of all the builders Jim is one of a kind. I think if its at all possible he is the builder to buy from. 

As much I as I think building ones own is a good thing if that is not going to happen he is the one to go with. I have seen him here for years and I have come to know him. You can't hide here. Truth will come out sooner or later and he has been a truly great asset to this forum. A really nice guy.