Best computer for the $?

I'm thinking about upgrading for more speed and to accommodate more tracks, etc. Price is a BIG issue, so I' not talking about the ideal, but the best for $5 to 600.

So far I've found a dell at Sams for 599.: Intel Pentium 2.7 dual core, 6 gig mem., 640 HD,DVDRW 19- 1 card reader, and a 23" flat screen.

OR:  Best Buy has a Quad Core with 1T HD, and NO screen. I just saw it quickly and don't remember the processor. In this case, I could use my old monitor and get a faster computer.

Any advice? None of the above? Best choices for that amount of money to get the best performance out of 8.5?

Thanks

Whatever you buy at that price, it'll be a good investment for you to get a friend who's skilled with computers to come round and remove and fix all the unnecessary background processes that are typically running on new consumer machines. That sort of optimisation can be equivalent to the performance gain you'd get from spending an few hundred dollars more on your pc.

Have you thought about building one?

If you're gonna reuse parts make sure you get a few of these:

Also, if you are going for new parts, make sure that you get a good power supply that can handle your new mobo/processor/ram.  The last thing you want to have happen is to buy the new parts and then fry them as a result of power problems.

www.studiocat.com

You should be fine w/ a "off the shelf" computer, tho the more you spend on it the better parts will be used.  If you have the cash or can afford the performance, Scott etc. are the best thing going and can save you headaches.

However, I've never spent a lot of money for my home computer/studio.  I've bought Sony, HP and one built by a local guy (not a music guy, tho).  My 8 year old sony still works - I still play a couple of tank games on it that won't play on new computers.  My 10 year old boy uses it.  Well built (obviously) and quiet (a big consideration).  HP are good (and I except Dell are too), tho all of those companies (including SONy) put so much crap on their OS and cheap programs it is silly.  You'll need a separate OS disk to get the most out of them.  The computer the guy built died early and was noisy, but he built it cheap and it lasted 5 years.

So, I would buy the best you can afford but have money left over for:

OS, 2nd hard drive, video card (and two monitors).  I recycle all of those accesories.  Ten years ago on a Window 333 I was able to run a bunch of tracks from a second hard drive.  Not too many effects, of course.  W/ a 2 gig single core I could run soft synths fine and then freeze them.  Plenty of effects except for convolution reverb.  With my present dual core I still freeze synths but seldom freeze the one or two convolutions I run.  Works fine.

Buy the best computer you can and upgrade the accessories as you can.  It will last for years and most computers today are quite capable of running most projects if you are sensible about it.  The money you save can buy you a custom built job in a year or two afer you've learned how to make do (I learned on an 8 track analog).  You'll appreciate your 8 core more then.

@

Based on the collective advice I got here and elsewhere, I found a guy to order what I need (at Newegg), and put it together for me.  Interl 2 quad Q8300, 2.5GHz, 8gig ram, etc., $600. (for any who are curious).

Crg
 Personally, I wouldn't touch a DAW PC that was under 2 grand. 

Fer realz? For $2K I could put together a DAW that would melt my walls!


I think I dropped $1200 when I built my first DAW, and then "frankensteined" it up for about $700 every major upgrade. That's two generations of DAW and still under $2K.


Anyhow, +1 for building your own. It's surprisingly easy, and you then know the ins and outs of your system. Plus, you can then tweak specific components for your needs and not have to "whole hog" a major upgrade. And the money you save can go towards things like audio interfaces, mics, and all sorts of other yummy toys.

...wicked

Crg
Personally, I wouldn't touch a DAW PC that was under 2 grand. 

Fer realz? For $2K I could put together a DAW that would melt my walls!


I think I dropped $1200 when I built my first DAW, and then "frankensteined" it up for about $700 every major upgrade. That's two generations of DAW and still under $2K.


Anyhow, +1 for building your own. It's surprisingly easy, and you then know the ins and outs of your system. Plus, you can then tweak specific components for your needs and not have to "whole hog" a major upgrade. And the money you save can go towards things like audio interfaces, mics, and all sorts of other yummy toys.

That's great Wicked. If you're a computer builder. I'm told it's pretty easy but I'm not up on it. I lost focus somewhere around choosing what chip controller to use and setting up a custom BIOS. $1900 is close enough for me and I bet you're not done yet.
I'd really love to build a beast DAW but there are factors that just aren't clear to me. Time lost is not found again.

True, and if the OP already has a computer he can prolly bootstrap up what he's got. A new CPU/Mobo/RAM combo is a most-healthy shot in the arm. That was my first DAW upgrade, next time around I added a PSU to it. 

And yeah, in this case one would have to do some legwork to figure out form factors and expansion slots... but that's not that hard and surely nearly everything I know came from posting my questions on this very forum!

Based on the collective advice I got here and elsewhere, I decided to build my own. I found a guy to order what I need (at Newegg), and put it together for me. For any who are curious: $600, Interl 2 quad Q8300, 2.5GHz, 8gig ram, etc. (no monitor).  Somebody said I could have gotten an i7 quad for same $ at Tiger Direct.  I checked and it was $200. more than I paid. 

Thanks, ol pal.  Will do.  In fact I'm workin on a new project right now.  I'll keep ya posted.

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