Building a machine?

you could always spend loads on better gear (and it's hard to break the habit once you got into it) but gear by itself won't make the music any better ... unfortunately ...
 
so you might want to listen to your wife, or your whole life might just get more expensive ;-)
 
all that irony set aside I can asure you that you can to a lot with an i5 - if you know your tools and certain settings/procedures you can work with ... which would be e.g. ASIO settings, when to freeze synths or tracks, freeze w/ or w/out FX, bounce etc ...
 
I actually do a lot of recording using a standard WIN 8 tablet PC with only 4 GB and no tuning at all - did 20+ tracks live recordings on that thing or backing tracks for entire shows ...
 
for mixing I prefer my real DAW with 32 GB RAM, but rarely get close to fully utilizing that ...
 
well, maybe stick to 44.1 kHz, don't go higher as increased sample rate means more number crunching and needs more power ...
 
 
 

Thanks for your inputs. I'm still a little puzzled of why the freezing rate changed. Maybe it has something to do with having FX and not having them. I'm going do a screen cast I think and out that video in another thread. I wish I would have known then what I know now. I got my VA disability at the end of 2012 and that was after 3 years of waiting. (I've only been recording in DAW maybe a year and a half or a little longer.) I think I'll be ok. I'm just on guy who multitracks one track at a time except for the drums. Addictive drums adds up and those are the most common sounds I start losing first.
 

If all your hardware is going to be compatible, a good solution might be to save a little at a time and upgrade to an i7. Hopefully, then you won't need to jump through so many hoops.
 
Of note, I also had to convince my good lady that this is my passion (being only a hobbyist), and it's better to get the foundation (DAW) set properly so that it will last me well for the next (at least) 4 years. I saved a little every month for a about 18 months before I could afford to build my current machine. It has served me very well for the past 2 years and still going strong.
 
Good luck!!

I see nothing wrong with what you have if your just a basic user and not doing crazy electronic stuff. 
If the video seems funky go pick up a video card. Basic passive cards are less that $50. 
 
I just built a new system and I went with the i5 because I'm mostly just audio with a few synths and drums. It take a heck of a lot more than I use to kill 16 gigs of RAM and a i5 quad core. I had no problems in the past with a Pentium D 3.2 duo core and 4 Gigs of RAM. But it was on the edge. I think 8 gigs is perfect and 16 is overkill but I did it just for the bragging rights. 
You sound like your the same as me so relax and spend your money on a nice new mike or pre amp   :)     
 
PS:  if you want improved performance slap a SSD drive in there for your OS. 

You should be fine with an i5 & 16 Gb of RAM
 
My old DAW was based on a Q6700 chip, running Win XP32 and 4Gb of RAM. This machine could handle a 75 track project, complete with multiple live FX, loads of Midi & multiple unbounced V-Vocal clips.
 
 

Yah man, something you put your life into, takes time to develop, and master...so go slow, spend a bit here and a bit there, and collect interest in something that keeps us out of trouble, and at home where the eye does not wonder....is worth a sacrifice of Money for...in exchange for the limitations it puts on Humanity!....Be free in your captivity tied to the house hold!...and when the wife asks to turn off that noise and come to bed....You better listen!....at least your home doing something good, and staying out trouble...you could plead for understanding with allowance for indulging in?...If needs be, to keep it going on?....lol
 
Ok "HDMI Audio tweak" if used along side a external or add on card.....turn it off...could help in that noiseless session (no clicks and pops ).?
 
And watch out for too many shared IRQ's in setting up a system for Music...and it should go well enough.
 
What the curb is, is the computer will not last forever, and redundancy is built in...in time/by time...so it is constantly improving, yet it is not really necessary for living....Thus a luxury of indulgence it truly is...as it does not make music with you or input from the users.
 
But it does more than help us with doing things as a tool...we learn...something in putting our hearts into something that has no limitations...when one follows the theory of music....could be a voice ...could be a electric sound...but it can be art, and art is what makes ideas come to the costing ill will of it all, with the oppressing rule in play....never enough of, to do...is a oppressed state?...see?
 
The cost is the weakest link...remove the cost, which removes your rights to have...and all is not tainted by it anymore, and the oppression and limitation over humanity becomes unbound...when doing Good onto the whole....give and share is where it must go..from the oppressed, to the free and saved....
 
That is true freedom!....sing halehlujah when you find it as so? or as it is!...sing for it then!
 
Be well.
Be Good!
 
And your wife is saying without saying, we are oppressed...can not afford...and so...we suffer the same bondage!...wink