Kooz
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Can you Recommend a PC to Meet or Surpass Existing Specs on My Dell
Running Sonar 8.5 on a six year old Dell Dimension (XP, 1 gig RAM, and 2.8 ghz processor) with an M-Audio FW410 sound card for a while now. The PC is a music only machine, runs great, but shows signs it might be time for a new computer. I'm not looking to buy more than is necessary and for lack of better words, "crush an ant with a steam roller", but want to match my existing specs, which shouldn't be hard, and hopefully improve for as little as possible. Completely comfortable, buying an out-of-the-box Dell with minor upgrades (Firewire port and possibly extra monitor port). Any recs from the Dell site to: 1) Match and/or moderately surpass what I'm using 2) Still be compatible with Sonar 8.5 and sound card. Been thinking of the Dell Inspiron 560, 570, or 580 but not sure if these will cut it. Haven't a clue how to compare all the new processors with the simple Pentium 2.8 ghz single I'm getting by with, and totally happy using.
post edited by Kooz - 2011/01/26 13:15:00
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timidi
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Re:Can you Recommend a PC to Meet or Surpass Existing Specs on My Dell
2011/01/26 13:37:59
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You can probably never have enough power. At least as far as off the shelf Dells go. To answer your question more thoroughly would require knowing probably how old you are, how much money you have to spend, what instruments you play, how much patience you have, are you married, kids, job, religous views. you know, the normal stuff. this one looks pretty swell: http://www.dell.com/us/p/studio-xps-9100/pd?oc=dxdwqu5&model_id=studio-xps-9100
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Kooz
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Re:Can you Recommend a PC to Meet or Surpass Existing Specs on My Dell
2011/01/26 14:00:02
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Ambitious goal is to keep this between $300-600. Shocking, but I needn't surpass what I have (one 2.8 ghz processor and 1 gig of RAM). Just not sure how to translate the Pentium 2.8 ghz with Duo Core, Dual Core, etc. What I'm currently using does the job for basic stuff and beyond such as 24 track mixes, each with several plugins going. Granted, bouncing down audio for a mix can take some time, but it works.
post edited by Kooz - 2011/01/26 14:04:58
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Bristol_Jonesey
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Re:Can you Recommend a PC to Meet or Surpass Existing Specs on My Dell
2011/01/26 14:34:51
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You'll need a new motherboard if you want to upgrade your cpu, probably memory & video card as well, and while you're at, you might as well have more hard disk space & a bigger psu.
So.........
1 - find out what type of RAM is in your machine and upgrade to 3Gb - 4Gb if you're comfortable wiht the /3Gb switch
2 - consider adding an extra hard drive to your machine.
Would be my suggestion, and well within your budget.
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Kooz
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Re:Can you Recommend a PC to Meet or Surpass Existing Specs on My Dell
2011/01/26 14:46:44
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Bristol: I like the upgrade suggestion, but the PC is over six years old and showing signs like another Dimension I once owned that its days are limited. Using XP, so I think the most I could upgrade to is 2 gb, maybe 3. Might be worth it for an interim solution. Hoping by comparing my current specs vs. what's out there now that there could be an easier system replacement. Finding it very hard to compare processors of yesteryear with today.
Seems like most audio and gaming machines are designed nowadays without consideration for the law of diminishing returns.
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talonslash
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Re:Can you Recommend a PC to Meet or Surpass Existing Specs on My Dell
2011/01/26 16:51:25
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If you're case is in good shape then you can still use it provided it's not of proprietary design. Keep in mind that when getting new parts, such as new motherboard, cpu, etc. that you may need more power than what you're current power supply can provide, so you may need a new power supply as well all depending. From what I can gather, for what you do a dual core system would suffice. Unless you're running a 64bit OS, 3GB of RAM will suffice as Bristol mentioned. Just make sure to pay attention to the specs of the parts you're considering. Any site that sells components will list certain form factors and styles so you can make sure they match up. Having said that, make sure you know the size of your case (mid-tower, mini-tower, desktop, etc.) so you don't buy the wrong size motherboard.
Also, a lot of newer motherboards use substandard firewire ports so if don't already have a firewire card, it would be wise to get one. You can check with M-Audio on what cards work best for it.
Hope this helps!
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ohhey
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Re:Can you Recommend a PC to Meet or Surpass Existing Specs on My Dell
2011/01/26 17:21:28
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Kooz
Running Sonar 8.5 on a six year old Dell Dimension (XP, 1 gig RAM, and 2.8 ghz processor) with an M-Audio FW410 sound card for a while now. The PC is a music only machine, runs great, but shows signs it might be time for a new computer. I'm not looking to buy more than is necessary and for lack of better words, "crush an ant with a steam roller", but want to match my existing specs, which shouldn't be hard, and hopefully improve for as little as possible.
Completely comfortable, buying an out-of-the-box Dell with minor upgrades (Firewire port and possibly extra monitor port). Any recs from the Dell site to:
1) Match and/or moderately surpass what I'm using
2) Still be compatible with Sonar 8.5 and sound card.
Been thinking of the Dell Inspiron 560, 570, or 580 but not sure if these will cut it. Haven't a clue how to compare all the new processors with the simple Pentium 2.8 ghz single I'm getting by with, and totally happy using.
Any new machine will be at least as powerful as your old one so that's not really an issue. Just get one in your budget. Core Duo is really considered "old" now that the Intel "i" processors have become the norm. The last two laptops I bought had the i3 processor 4 gig or ram and 500 gig hard drives and both were under $600. A desktop machine with no monitor should be even cheaper. Any of the AMD chips would be fine also.
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Kooz
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Re:Can you Recommend a PC to Meet or Surpass Existing Specs on My Dell
2011/01/31 10:09:09
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Thanks everyone. Great recommendations all around.
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