abacab
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How to build a cheap but powerful gaming PC for $500
EDIT: Maybe instead of gaming, "How to build a cheap but powerful gaming DAW PC for $500"? This headline caught my eye. I started wondering about what you could do by re-allocating the $200 budgeted for the graphics card in this example, into something more useful for a budget DAW? Sort of becomes "How to build a cheap but powerful PC for $300-$500", depending on what you need for a budget build. Maybe more RAM and SSD's for that $200 ... http://www.itworld.com/ar...utm_term=itworld_today Think you could come up with something better for $500 or less?
post edited by abacab - 2016/09/20 11:31:27
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Jim Roseberry
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Re: How to build a cheap but powerful gaming PC for $500
2016/09/18 17:32:15
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Depends on what you consider "powerful".  Anything reasonably current and fast, it's going to be at least $400 for the CPU and motherboard. If you're talking socket 2011-3, a 6850k will cost well over $500... just for the CPU.
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abacab
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Re: How to build a cheap but powerful gaming PC for $500
2016/09/18 17:48:54
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Jim Roseberry
Depends on what you consider "powerful".
Anything reasonably current and fast, it's going to be at least $400 for the CPU and motherboard.
If you're talking socket 2011-3, a 6850k will cost well over $500... just for the CPU.
The term "powerful" is obviously a magazine editor's idea of clickbait. Well, some may certainly need the best. That's why you have customers  But others may not always have the budget or the high end requirements of a pro recording studio. So the question is really, can a "functional" budget DAW PC be assembled for under $500 total, for those with non-professional needs? Such as a hobbyist, for which a $500 CPU may be overkill ...
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mettelus
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Re: How to build a cheap but powerful gaming PC for $500
2016/09/18 18:04:18
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"Gaming" often implies dedicated GPU, which a DAW does not require. Conversely, most gamers couldn't care less about an audio interface, so this is almost comparing apples to oranges.
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abacab
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Re: How to build a cheap but powerful gaming PC for $500
2016/09/18 19:15:14
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mettelus
"Gaming" often implies dedicated GPU, which a DAW does not require. Conversely, most gamers couldn't care less about an audio interface, so this is almost comparing apples to oranges.
In my comment, I suggested swapping the $200 budget for the gaming GPU for DAW enhancing features. I think we could up it to 16GB memory, include an SSD, and probably even add a 2x2 USB audio interface for that other $200. Still under $500, and apples to apples, again  If you decide to buy a desktop computer. they usually don't include an external audio interface. Not even boutique system builders. The assumption I think is that audio device belongs with the budget for the rest of your outboard studio gear.
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robert_e_bone
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Re: How to build a cheap but powerful gaming PC for $500
2016/09/18 22:11:37
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I LITERALLY just got home from a trip to a downtown Chicago computer store I usually get parts for, and today's trip was specifically made to guide my friend through the purchase of a bunch of brand new computer components, to build him a PC suited for running Sonar Platinum in Windows 10.
We did not have to get ALL computer components - he already has a good display, and a Windows 10 license, but all told we picked up a BUNCH of parts, and built it - for less than $500. ($497, which included tax, a couple of warranty extensions, and a giant bottle of Gatorade for me).
1) CPU A10-7870 FM2 3.9 Ghz WITH Asrock AA88B-11 motherboard - $130 (with 2 year warranty on motherboard through Microcenter) has USB 2, USB 3.1 (type C), 8 SATA ports, supports 32GB memory.
2) 16 GB memory (DDR3 2133) $59.99 though effectively $49.99 due to a $10 discount because of the CPU/MB bundle.
3) 275 GB SSD drive - $59.99
4) 2 TB SATA III HDD 7,200 - 3-year warranty $52.99
5) 600 watt power supply $39.99 effectively $29.99 due to mail-in rebate
6) CD/DVD optical drive - $15.00
7) Nice ThermalTake case with 7 drive bays, and 4 pre-installed fans, along with support for cooling system. $39.99
I think that was about it - altogether it was just under $500. The PC rocks nicely - not as fast as some, but plenty fast for Sonar.
Bob Bone
Wisdom is a giant accumulation of "DOH!" Sonar: Platinum (x64), X3 (x64) Audio Interfaces: AudioBox 1818VSL, Steinberg UR-22 Computers: 1) i7-2600 k, 32 GB RAM, Windows 8.1 Pro x64 & 2) AMD A-10 7850 32 GB RAM Windows 10 Pro x64 Soft Synths: NI Komplete 8 Ultimate, Arturia V Collection, many others MIDI Controllers: M-Audio Axiom Pro 61, Keystation 88es Settings: 24-Bit, Sample Rate 48k, ASIO Buffer Size 128, Total Round Trip Latency 9.7 ms
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abacab
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Re: How to build a cheap but powerful gaming PC for $500
2016/09/18 22:55:12
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Bob, I'm gonna go shopping with you next time I need parts A 3.9 GHz quad core CPU, integrated Radeon graphics, with a mobo for the cost of an Intel Core i3 CPU? SMH ... Just think, what if you already own a case, power supply, and drives that you are happy with? You can get a cool system upgrade with a great combo deal on CPU & mobo, + memory. That comes to $179.99 total, Gatorade not included ...
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kitekrazy1
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Re: How to build a cheap but powerful gaming PC for $500
2016/09/19 21:04:42
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Tom's Hardware Guide has a system builder marathon and they have one for gaming system for $500. Most of the cost is in the video card.
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abacab
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Re: How to build a cheap but powerful gaming PC for $500
2016/09/19 21:57:03
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kitekrazy1
Tom's Hardware Guide has a system builder marathon and they have one for gaming system for $500. Most of the cost is in the video card.
Exactly! I was thinking, what if we took that concept and remixed it, so that the same GPU budget was used for more audio friendly options ... so then the question becomes, what is the best $500 DAW PC that you can build???
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Larry Jones
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Re: How to build a cheap but powerful gaming PC for $500
2016/09/19 22:18:01
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The last computer I built specifically for SONAR cost $1100 including tax, but no display (had to pay for a Win 7 license, too). It's the one in my sig, and I cut a few corners (but also added some frills, like a card reader and blu-ray drive), but it's been a solid machine for more than six years.
Good going, Bob Bone, on your build, but I abandoned AMD processors in the 80s because of test results I read in magazines, which meant an extra couple hundred bucks for an i7 in this PC. I feel like I paid in advance to avoid some frustration down the road, and so far it's been worth it
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abacab
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Re: How to build a cheap but powerful gaming PC for $500
2016/09/19 22:37:52
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Here's the truth ... You don't NEED an i7 to run Sonar.
What???
Blasphemy!!!
It all depends on how you intend to use your DAW. The CPU is least likely to bottleneck your audio nowadays unless you really like to load up the plugins. Then you may need to spend some cash ... but for a hobbyist, the i7 is overkill, IMHO...
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Larry Jones
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Re: How to build a cheap but powerful gaming PC for $500
2016/09/19 23:24:11
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abacab
Here's the truth ... You don't NEED an i7 to run Sonar.
I should have mentioned that I use this machine for video editing, too. Video rendering is processor-intensive. I didn't buy a fancy video card, which I think ends up putting more stress on the CPU.
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patm300e
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Re: How to build a cheap but powerful gaming PC for $500
2016/09/20 07:36:46
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abacab
Here's the truth ... You don't NEED an i7 to run Sonar.
What???
Blasphemy!!!
It all depends on how you intend to use your DAW. The CPU is least likely to bottleneck your audio nowadays unless you really like to load up the plugins. Then you may need to spend some cash ... but for a hobbyist, the i7 is overkill, IMHO...
I'm a believer...Look at my Sig! Yes, I am a hobbyist here and do not do much in the way of instrument tracks or loops so no real need for that type of horse power. However, If I were Video Editing, I WOULD have an i7 with a BUNCH more RAM!
 SPLAT on a Home built i3 16 GB RAM 64-bit Windows 10 Home Premium 120GB SSD (OS) 2TB Data Drive. Behringer XR-18 USB 2.0 Interface. FaderPort control.
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abacab
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Re: How to build a cheap but powerful gaming PC for $500
2016/09/20 10:54:07
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patm300e
abacab
Here's the truth ... You don't NEED an i7 to run Sonar.
What???
Blasphemy!!!
It all depends on how you intend to use your DAW. The CPU is least likely to bottleneck your audio nowadays unless you really like to load up the plugins. Then you may need to spend some cash ... but for a hobbyist, the i7 is overkill, IMHO...
I'm a believer...Look at my Sig! Yes, I am a hobbyist here and do not do much in the way of instrument tracks or loops so no real need for that type of horse power.
However, If I were Video Editing, I WOULD have an i7 with a BUNCH more RAM!
Yep! When I built my current system, I just wanted to be able to layer a bunch of soft synth instrument tracks. My old Pentium 4 with Sonar 8.5 could run a couple VSTi's, but the CPU choked up 100% when adding effects plugins. So I decided that if I could start out with a fast i3, then I would have an upgrade path to i5 or i7 with the same gen socket, if needed. So far, I have rarely seen my i3 CPU spike over 50-60% under the conditions that I use Sonar. Replacing my system and program drive (C:) with an SSD gave a crazy boost to both boot speed and launching programs. I think maybe the next upgrade will be to add RAM, or replace my 7200RPM data drive (Cakewalk Content) with another SSD. Those are the only potential bottlenecks for me right now. The Intel HD integrated GPU is great with dual monitors, no gaming here, so a discrete GPU is not a consideration. So my bottom line thoughts are that the choice of motherboard is probably most important. Make sure you get one with enough slots and ports for your needs now, and maybe later. Pay attention to the CPU socket, type of RAM supported, plus the rev of the SATA, USB, PCIe, etc. If I could do one thing over, my board would support the SATA 6GB/s spec, instead of the 3GB/s, to get the full throughput of my SATA 6GB/s drives ... but 3GB/s still gets it done for me. LatencyMon is all green, ASIO buffer size 128, ASIO reported latency total roundtrip 9.8 msec Just for grins, I loaded up the Sonar_AudioDemo.cwb in the Platinum tutorials folder, to see what my CPU could do. It has 9 audio tracks (5 guitars/bass, 4 drums) with EQ on Rhythm Guitar, Bass, and Toms, as well as FX bus EQ for lead guitar. The project ran at an average of 10% CPU (based on Windows Task Mgr). Then I decided to see what happened if I added an effect to every track? So I tested with Breverb added to every audio track, and with the Master Pro Channel QuadCurve EQ enabled. I managed to get the CPU up to 25% Not gonna track a 100 piece live orchestra with this rig, but that's not my goal either ...
post edited by abacab - 2016/09/20 11:32:48
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robert_e_bone
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Re: How to build a cheap but powerful gaming PC for $500
2016/09/20 12:08:54
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abacab
Bob, I'm gonna go shopping with you next time I need parts
A 3.9 GHz quad core CPU, integrated Radeon graphics, with a mobo for the cost of an Intel Core i3 CPU? SMH ...
Just think, what if you already own a case, power supply, and drives that you are happy with?
You can get a cool system upgrade with a great combo deal on CPU & mobo, + memory. That comes to $179.99 total, Gatorade not included ...
Well - I get almost all of my computer parts from a national chain store called Micro Center. I think they have like 30-40 stores around the country. Chicago has 3, DC has 3-4, etc. They are also at: www.microcenter.com Brand new mouse or keyboard for less than $5. 32" HDTV for $130. (last week's sale included a 55" HDTV for $299) The AMD CPU/Motherboard bundle deals run all the time there, and it makes going AMD versus Intel a no brainer, as far as cost is concerned. It's hard to beat a CPU with 12 cores (4 C, 8 G), 3.9 GHz, and built-in Radeon graphics, and a really nice motherboard (USB 3.1 and supports 64 GB RAM) for $150 (includes a 2 year warranty for the motherboard - so they will service right on premises instead of sending back to manufacturer). Love that store. Bob Bone
Wisdom is a giant accumulation of "DOH!" Sonar: Platinum (x64), X3 (x64) Audio Interfaces: AudioBox 1818VSL, Steinberg UR-22 Computers: 1) i7-2600 k, 32 GB RAM, Windows 8.1 Pro x64 & 2) AMD A-10 7850 32 GB RAM Windows 10 Pro x64 Soft Synths: NI Komplete 8 Ultimate, Arturia V Collection, many others MIDI Controllers: M-Audio Axiom Pro 61, Keystation 88es Settings: 24-Bit, Sample Rate 48k, ASIO Buffer Size 128, Total Round Trip Latency 9.7 ms
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abacab
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Re: How to build a cheap but powerful gaming PC for $500
2016/09/20 13:39:57
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robert_e_bone
Well - I get almost all of my computer parts from a national chain store called Micro Center. I think they have like 30-40 stores around the country. Chicago has 3, DC has 3-4, etc. They are also at: www.microcenter.com
Looked at a few great AMD bundles in their web store. The motherboard is almost free in many cases. It's a shame that there isn't a store near me, because the CPU's are in-store pickup only ... Oh wait! Maybe that's a good thing
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Mesh
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Re: How to build a cheap but powerful gaming PC for $500
2016/09/20 13:52:00
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I wonder what the longevity of a sub $500 built system would be? My goal would be to have something that would last for sometime.
I'm currently helping my nephew build a gaming machine, but his budget is $2k. He's also planning on using it for video editing/general usage when he goes to college next year.....so, it's got to last at least 5-7 years (even more if he takes care of it).
The interesting part about doing a sub $500 machine (DAW) is it might work out really well as a starter kit for someone who doesn't have the funds to go all out.
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abacab
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Re: How to build a cheap but powerful gaming PC for $500
2016/09/20 14:23:30
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☄ Helpfulby Mesh 2016/09/20 15:34:22
Mesh
I wonder what the longevity of a sub $500 built system would be? My goal would be to have something that would last for sometime.
I'm currently helping my nephew build a gaming machine, but his budget is $2k. He's also planning on using it for video editing/general usage when he goes to college next year.....so, it's got to last at least 5-7 years (even more if he takes care of it).
The interesting part about doing a sub $500 machine (DAW) is it might work out really well as a starter kit for someone who doesn't have the funds to go all out.
The longevity of a home built $500 PC with wisely selected parts, stands a greater chance than a store bought $500 PC with inferior components. I would imagine that with a $2000 gaming machine budget, there are no rules, LOL! Have fun!!! But regarding the starter budget, and based on many comments here on the forum from folks that didn't have the cash laying around to upgrade to Sonar 4life this summer, money doesn't grow on trees for many musicians either. I've still got a couple of Pentium 4's running running Windows 7 that I built 10 years ago as Win XP systems. One is running 24/7 as a print server at my sister's house, and the other is in my living room running a home theater/HDTV PVR setup. I dismantled a 3rd that was still running to upgrade the CPU/mobo in my DAW a couple of years ago. I used the Intel brand desktop boards and quality power supplies. I believe that they all fell under the sub $500/machine budget. Intel is getting out of the motherboard business, so you will need to seek a quality mobo builder. I used Asus boards with Intel chipsets for my last two builds, and they seem very stable. My upgrade to a 3rd gen Intel Core system cost me around $280 for an Asus mobo, i3 CPU, & DDR3 RAM, and a PCIe Firewire card. Reused the case, drives, and power supply. So you can get a lot of mileage out of quality components. Use surge suppressors or UPS to prevent power spikes, and keep the fans clean and spinning. And overclocking probably shortens the life of components. My latest Asus boards have solid polymer capacitors for long life. I recently replaced the mobo in a friends HP media center PC, that had burst capacitors, swollen, and leaking. Never saw that on any of my stuff ...
post edited by abacab - 2016/09/20 15:03:30
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Jim Roseberry
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Re: How to build a cheap but powerful gaming PC for $500
2016/09/20 15:54:13
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If you're looking for longevity... spend the little extra and get a fast Intel CPU.
When factored over the life of the machine (say 5 years), the cost difference is insignificant.
The difference in DSP processing power is significant.
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Mesh
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Re: How to build a cheap but powerful gaming PC for $500
2016/09/20 15:59:04
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Jim Roseberry
If you're looking for longevity... spend the little extra and get a fast Intel CPU.
When factored over the life of the machine (say 5 years), the cost difference is insignificant.
The difference in DSP processing power is significant.
Confucius say: Good things no cheap, cheap things no good
Platinum Gaming DAW: AsRock Z77 Overclock FormulaI7 3770k @ 4.5GHz : 16GB RAM G.Skill Ripjaws X 250GB OS SSD : 3TB HDD : 1TB Sample HDDWin 10 Pro x 64 : NH-D14 CPU Cooler HIS IceQ 2GB HD 7870Focusrite Scarlett 2i4The_Forum_Monkeys
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abacab
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Re: How to build a cheap but powerful gaming PC for $500
2016/09/20 16:16:58
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Jim Roseberry
If you're looking for longevity... spend the little extra and get a fast Intel CPU.
When factored over the life of the machine (say 5 years), the cost difference is insignificant.
The difference in DSP processing power is significant.
I think that is a good point. I have always built Intel based PC's, and have never had a motherboard or CPU failure. I've had maybe one power supply, one HDD, a few graphics cards, a few DVD/CD-ROM combo drives, a few fans, and several mice and keyboards fail in 15 years. But I must admit that I was curious about the recent AMD APU's due to the favorable number of cores and GHz/$$$ ratio. So I looked up the specs, and that stuff draws some wattage! Needs some serious cooling to remove that waste heat. Heat is one enemy of longevity. Intel seems to have the edge in power consumption. The one thing with Intel that has always bugged me is how fast they change sockets on their CPU's. For once I would like to be able to upgrade just a CPU without needing to change the board and all, as well. Progress I suppose???
post edited by abacab - 2016/09/20 16:46:09
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Larry Jones
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Re: How to build a cheap but powerful gaming PC for $500
2016/09/20 19:43:49
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Jim Roseberry
If you're looking for longevity... spend the little extra and get a fast Intel CPU.
When factored over the life of the machine (say 5 years), the cost difference is insignificant.
The difference in DSP processing power is significant.
Thanks, Jim Everybody was making me feel a little sheepish for springing for an i7. But my machine is going on seven years old now, and still going strong.
SONAR Platinum 2017.10 • CbB • Win10 • i7/2600 • 16GB RAM • Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 • NVIDIA GeForce 8400GS
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abacab
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Re: How to build a cheap but powerful gaming PC for $500
2016/09/20 20:24:26
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abacab
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Re: How to build a cheap but powerful gaming PC for $500
2016/09/20 21:14:26
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Larry Jones
Jim Roseberry
If you're looking for longevity... spend the little extra and get a fast Intel CPU.
When factored over the life of the machine (say 5 years), the cost difference is insignificant.
The difference in DSP processing power is significant.
Thanks, Jim Everybody was making me feel a little sheepish for springing for an i7. But my machine is going on seven years old now, and still going strong.
Hey, this post was never intended to take a swipe at those that decided to go with an i7. But rather, to give hope to those that cannot afford the ultimate dream DAW at this point. Cakewalk has a range of products that appeal to everyone from bedroom producers and garage bands, all the way up to pro recording studios and film composers. It all comes down to your needs and your budget. If you can swing it, of course, go for the best!!! But look, if you can't afford the best, and if you don't make any income with your music, no need to be embarrassed because you can't afford the ultimate DAW computer yet. If it's any indication of the need for budget DAW equipment, Cakewalk recently ran a study that showed the #1 audio output in Sonar sessions launched was ASIO4ALL. What does that stat say??? It screams laptop. The last time I checked the basic laptop specs, except for the very high end, most models were crippled with low power CPU's to extend battery life. Seriously, the desktop i3 is better than any average laptop in performance. It is half an i7 as far as the number of cores and threads go, but as for the same clock speed, it can keep up until the threads are fully occupied. So the number of tracks and virtual DSP's you plan to use need to be considered. If you set up a starter system with i3, and it's not enough, you can always drop in an i5, or i7 later. But unless you are a serious power user, it's possibly overkill to run the fastest Intel CPU available. IMHO, you are better off budgeting for a real audio interface, if you do not already own one, then buying a high end CPU first.
post edited by abacab - 2016/09/20 21:48:30
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Jim Roseberry
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Re: How to build a cheap but powerful gaming PC for $500
2016/09/21 12:40:03
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abacab
IMHO, you are better off budgeting for a real audio interface, if you do not already own one, then buying a high end CPU first.
Kind of a "cart/horse" situation. You need both. Aside from the machine, the audio interface is the next most critical choice for having a rock-solid DAW. We all have to live within some means. Though the cost of high-quality music production is a fraction of what it was 30 years ago, it's still not cheap. ie: Having a high-end mic is great... but if you're running it thru a mediocre preamp, you're not hearing its full potential. The higher-end the gear, the more it reveals other weaknesses. The whole chain (end-to-end) is all that much more important. Speaking in general terms, I'd rather have fewer higher-quality pieces of gear. Doesn't matter if you're talking guitars, bass, microphones, preamps, or software/plugins
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patm300e
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Re: How to build a cheap but powerful gaming PC for $500
2016/09/21 13:12:41
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Jim Roseberry
Speaking in general terms, I'd rather have fewer higher-quality pieces of gear.
Doesn't matter if you're talking guitars, bass, microphones, preamps, or software/plugins
I Agree... I realize that "good" is subjective and a $69.00 MXL condenser in the right engineer's hand could possibly be better than a $3,000 Neumann in the wrong engineers hand.
SPLAT on a Home built i3 16 GB RAM 64-bit Windows 10 Home Premium 120GB SSD (OS) 2TB Data Drive. Behringer XR-18 USB 2.0 Interface. FaderPort control.
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abacab
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Re: How to build a cheap but powerful gaming PC for $500
2016/09/21 13:39:52
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Jim Roseberry
abacab
IMHO, you are better off budgeting for a real audio interface, if you do not already own one, then buying a high end CPU first.
Kind of a "cart/horse" situation.
You need both.
Aside from the machine, the audio interface is the next most critical choice for having a rock-solid DAW.
We all have to live within some means.
Though the cost of high-quality music production is a fraction of what it was 30 years ago, it's still not cheap.
ie: Having a high-end mic is great... but if you're running it thru a mediocre preamp, you're not hearing its full potential. The higher-end the gear, the more it reveals other weaknesses.
The whole chain (end-to-end) is all that much more important.
Speaking in general terms, I'd rather have fewer higher-quality pieces of gear.
Doesn't matter if you're talking guitars, bass, microphones, preamps, or software/plugins
Jim, I have been reading your posts for years and I respect your knowledge. I have been working with computers for 40 years, but building them is only a hobby for my own use, as well as volunteer work for my family and friends. Regarding the whole chain. Agreed! It all works together. But less cores is not going to impact the sound quality (signal path), unless you overload them. In fact it was Cakewalk that gave me the initial inspiration years ago to try building a system that could handle virtual instruments, as well as real-time effects plugins. Remember VSampler??? Desktop i3/ i5/ i7's are all "high-end" CPU's now. An i3 is just half of an i7 capacity wise (cores), not clock wise (GHz), with some minor differences. So it's actually just a matter of how many tracks, instrument plugins, DSP's, etc. that you wish to use at the same time. If you are not keeping all 8 cores/threads busy, then you are over-engineered. Simple as that. Of course, it's easier, and sometimes safer, to buy more than you need. But the challenging task is to understand how much processing capacity you actually need, and just target that. If you need an i7, go for it! It would be nice to have a chart that showed the real world use cases of how the CPU load scaled across threads as you added tracks & plugins to Sonar.
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Larry Jones
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Re: How to build a cheap but powerful gaming PC for $500
2016/09/21 16:51:47
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abacab
Desktop i3/ i5/ i7's are all "high-end" CPU's now. An i3 is just half of an i7 capacity wise (cores), not clock wise (GHz), with some minor differences. So it's actually just a matter of how many tracks, instrument plugins, DSP's, etc. that you wish to use at the same time. If you are not keeping all 8 cores/threads busy, then you are over-engineered. Simple as that.
Of course, it's easier, and sometimes safer, to buy more than you need. But the challenging task is to understand how much processing capacity you actually need, and just target that. If you need an i7, go for it!
It's actually even simpler than that: Buy the most power, headroom and future-proofing you can afford. If it's within your budget, you will never regret having more capability than you "need," but you will surely regret buying just the "right" amount of power only to find that you need more down the road. Good point about sound quality on a "lesser" chip vs. an i7, but with modern VSTis, plugins and track counts you need to think big when building a DAW.
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abacab
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Re: How to build a cheap but powerful gaming PC for $500
2016/09/21 19:16:03
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Larry Jones
It's actually even simpler than that: Buy the most power, headroom and future-proofing you can afford. If it's within your budget, you will never regret having more capability than you "need," but you will surely regret buying just the "right" amount of power only to find that you need more down the road.
Good point about sound quality on a "lesser" chip vs. an i7, but with modern VSTis, plugins and track counts you need to think big when building a DAW.
That is a true statement as far as professionals should be concerned. This thread was never intended to go there. It was actually intended to inspire some non-professional Sonar users to consider getting off of their old PC's or laptops, and explore what a modern desktop DAW can do, on a frugal budget. And to dump ASIO4ALL, 4ever There are no regrets if you build your own PC. Plug in the i3 - Intel® Core™ i3-6100 Processor (3M Cache, 3.70 GHz) for $117.00, and see what it can do. If you still want more power, sell the i3 on eBay, and get an i7 - Intel® Core™ i7-6700K Processor (8M Cache, up to 4.20 GHz), for $350.00. Drop that into the 1151 socket on your board and you are good to go!!! For non-professionals, there obviously is going to be a wide range of needs. Tell me it can't be done? I must be dreaming then, as I sit watching 20 tracks (many with effects) run on my i3 (which is pegging around 30% CPU), without dropouts So how many tracks would you consider "big"???
post edited by abacab - 2016/09/21 19:37:18
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Larry Jones
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Re: How to build a cheap but powerful gaming PC for $500
2016/09/21 20:04:39
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abacab
Tell me it can't be done?
I must be dreaming then, as I sit watching 20 tracks (many with effects) run on my i3 (which is pegging around 30% CPU), without dropouts
So how many tracks would you consider "big"???
I'm not a heavy track user myself -- I've probably only reached as many as 50 in one project one time -- but I would refer you to this post for a discussion of big. I don't think we disagree on this, so I don't know what your point is. I'm sure you noticed in my comment that I said "Buy the most... you can afford," and " If it's within your budget..." The fact that you can run 20 tracks on an i3 (I never even implied that you couldn't) is really not a reason to buy less than you can afford when assembling a PC for audio. I am not recommending that you sell the children to get a better DAW, only that you get the best you can afford. And two personal notes: I'm a musician, so I've been broke most of my life. I saved for a long time before I put together my current machine. I'm not a trust fund baby who doesn't have to think about the budget. And... ...I broke a processor once trying to upgrade. No returns, and no warranty if you damage it yourself. Cha-ching! How many forum members would be comfortable upgrading chips inside the box? I really don't think that's an option for most of us. I know I won't be trying it again.
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