COMPUTER OPINION

Just decided to buy/build a seperate DAW.Saw this at a local store for under 800.00.I know there would still be some tweaking like the power supply and dumping most of the software. Opinions please!Thanks



Processor & Memory:

• Intel® Core™ i7-2600 Processor (3.40GHz)
• Intel® H67 Express Chipset
• 12GB DDR3 Memory (32GB MAX)

Drives:

• 1TB 7200RPM SATA II Hard Drive
• 22x DVD±RW Drive
• Front Panel 19-in-1 digital multimedia card reader

Graphics:

• Integrated Intel® HD Graphics

Communications:

• 10/100/1000 Mb/s LAN

Audio:

• 10 (7.1+2) channel Intel® High Definition Audio

Keyboard & Mouse:

• USB Keyboard
• USB Mouse

Expandability (total bays/slots):

• 2 x 5.25" external (1 occupied)
• 1 x 3.5" external (1 occupied)
• 4 x 3.5" internal (1 occupied)
• 1 x PCIe x16 
• 2 x PCIe x1
• 1 x PCI

Ports:

• DVI-I+HDMI display output
• 8 x USB 2.0 ports (2 Front, 6 Rear)
• 2 x USB 3.0 ports
• 1 x eSATA back panel port(3.0 Gb/s)
• 5 x Audio ports
• 1 x RJ-45 network port

Operating System:

• Genuine Microsoft Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64-bit

Additional Software:

• Microsoft® Office Starter (reduced functionality versions of Word and Excel; not the full version of Microsoft® Office 2010)
• Access the full Office 2010 experience when you purchase a Product Key Card.  The Product Key Card is a single license card that contains a 25-character code to activate full-featured Office 2010 software on your new PC.  To purchase Click Here 
• Symantec Norton Internet Security 2011 (60-day trial)

Additional Information:

• Dimensions: (HxWxD):  13.9" x 7.1" x 16.9" (approx.)
• Power supply: 350W [will swap out for 700watter]
• Lifetime, 24/7 toll-free phone support
• 1 Year Limited Parts & Labor Warranty

You seem to have found a nice machine there...

My advice would be to buy a nice interface (USB external ) to use for recording.

The factory card will likely not give good results with Cake software. I don't think you will need to disable the internal soundcard. I ran internal sound AND my recording interface at the same time for years. It was actually pretty handy to have them both operational. I could export the "semi-finished" song and open it in my editor and listen to the results, or listen to a reference tune on the computer while working on EQ in the DAW.

I would disable it only if it caused problems.

One more bit of advice: If you want to keep it truly as a recording machine ONLY.... remove the extra software (bloatware from the factory) keep only what you need and KEEP IT OFF THE INTERNET!

My new build is totally off line. No antivirus, no bloatware, no internet.  I will connect to the net only to authorize a new program.....even then, the software manufacturers have a way for us "off line" folks to authorize with out connecting to the net.  I now use that method with my new machine.

My belief is.... if I get it working right, which I have, why do I ever need to do ANY updates? If it ain't broke..... don't try to fix it..... right?

If you want to use faster RAM, you need a P67 motherboard.  
The onboard GPU really doesn't offer much savings over a decent dedicated video card.
 
BTW, The better onboard GPU is on the 2600k

SLOTUNES,

Based on your current recordings you've described I would think that this machine could work out quite well for you (as you've stated you mainly do audio with limited synths).  I'd also expect the V-100 to work very well with Sonar as your audio interface since they are both Roland products.

As I've stated earlier I would look at getting a PCI-e video card rather than using on-board video.  And the second hard drive will make performance a bit better as you won't be doing all read/writes to the single hard drive.

It is great to see how even the most recent technology is becoming so cost effective.

Tom