I have a chance to get a Dell XPS 435 which has a i7-920, for about $200.
I think it may be about 6 yrs old.
Would this be a high end enough desktop to run, for example, heavy VSTs like EastWest etc?
I am looking at another desktop, the Lenovo Thinksever which has an i7-4770, but thats about $700.
Would the i7-920 be powerful enough for the heavy stuff?


XPS 435:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2341728,00.asp

Lenovo:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017MXVW7C...QXQQ4O2N&psc=1

How much memory?  My guess is you will top out the system fairly quickly, but memory may be more of a constraint than processor.
 
Can you post all the specs?  The link didn't seem to have them readily available.

dwardzala
Can you post all the specs?  The link didn't seem to have them readily available.

thanks,   currently 8GB RAM.  I think upgradable to 24GB.  
Core i7-920 2.67Ghz
NVIDIA Gforce GTS240
1TB HDD
Windows 10
Dell XPS 435 (I think its called the Dell 9000 now)

Hi,
Check the pci and pci e slots because if you aim toward a pci e or pci soundcard, theese slots are not all equals when it comes to use them..

MrBansaw
I have a chance to get a Dell XPS 435 which has a i7-920, for about $200.
I think it may be about 6 yrs old.
Would this be a high end enough desktop to run, for example, heavy VSTs like EastWest etc?
I am looking at another desktop, the Lenovo Thinksever which has an i7-4770, but thats about $700.
Would the i7-920 be powerful enough for the heavy stuff?


XPS 435:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2341728,00.asp

Lenovo:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017MXVW7C...QXQQ4O2N&psc=1

No.  Play products are resource heavy despite what system you use.  It's still a nice machine for $200.
 

I have a dell 435 which I am about to retire although it is a good machine that has served me well. It does 
seem challenged by Komplete though I think that is a hard drive issue. Mine is a little older than 6 yrs I think and the motherboard is limited to 12gB max ram so you might want to double check the ram capacity. Id you run large projects Ibues the processor could become limiting but for 200 bux, even though it is getting old, it is a nice unit.

For a laptop to handle streaming audio for sample libraries, in addition to handling tracks, audio, and plugins, in addition to the processor you really need the ability to have a 2nd hard drive, and if you can get 16 GB or more ram that helps.
 
Many laptops do not have internal capacity for a 2nd hard drive, and that can create a bottleneck, as it is potentially being asked to read and write from two locations, and deal with a whole bunch of data coming through at the same time.
 
You certainly would be able to do some level of projects on a laptop with a single drive, but once you start streaming sample files in addition to reading/writing audio data, I think you would run into some issues that would be beyond what such a laptop could handle.
 
For the money though, I would think that laptop would be OK - good for general use, and good to a point for Sonar - the battery pack is likely toast, so you also face either replacing that (and I would replace the hard drive too), OR losing data and possibly corrupting files when the system instantly were to shut off if the power adapter to the laptop was jarred or came loose.
 
Bob Bone
 

The laptop should be fine for many things IF you swap out the crappy hard drive with an SSD... prices are rock bottom right now but you might pay as much for the SSD as for the laptop.  But 200 is a steal and at 400ish you'd be set for awhile.  The play engine isn't as efficient as Kontakt but generally it's the load time that gets you for large sample heavy sound sources.  That's where the lightening fast load time of an SSD comes in handy, especially as Kontakt can stream samples...
 
The soft synths are the real challenge... try before you buy... stuff like Diva womps on MY rig