Anderton

swamptoothi was looking at pc audio labs a while ago, but honestly i don't really think i'd be comfortable with any company that's willing to charge over a grand for a 32-bit pentium machine.

Huh?!? All their desktop computers use 64-bit Core iX processors. Their $1,299 laptop uses a 2.4 GHz Intel Core i7-4700MQ (4 cores, 8 threads) with 8GB of RAM. Their $1,899 laptop uses a 2.7 GHz Intel Core i7-4800MQ (4 cores, 8 threads) with 16GB RAM, a 120GB mSATA SSD C: drive, and for a secondary drive, a 750GB SATA2 drive. Hardly a 32-bit Pentium machine...

Then they really need to update their website...
http://pcaudiolabs.com/rokbox_CR2H-buynow.asp

Hello Anderton...I wish I knew more about those tweaks....so I could say for sure to some others here giving me advise not to tweak...a lesson....which I am following their calls...But it is not going well....and I have pissed them off...cause I do not want to go in circles with suggestions that will cause my system more woe than has been experienced in past...which my tweaks helped solve for some cpu spiking with Protools 9.3 and this system back in 2011 or so...and with sonar x1, x2, and now x3c....the tweaks were re aplied  for x2...and left to keep things noiseless on recordings and no dropouts with play back...but it was shotty work done in tweaking, but it reduced the cpu spikes a lot so no noise would be recorded...drop outs persisted , then X3 came out, and I thought maybe some fixes will stop this.
So I upgraded...and got x3c...I installed it wrong in the rush for bliss..along side 1x?...2xa...and then the fun began with project corruption ...most likely due to the bad install...which went unnoticed...some crashing of sonar x3c and then x2a opening projects...and the drop outs continued on....some more tips to do this or turn off 64bit engine or delete Aud,ini...resulted in more odd project crashes....and same old drop outs, clicks and pops, no matter the buffer used or maxed out kHz set or bit rate of the waves being created....till it ended up that so much corruption of win 7, brought about a new install of win 7....So all my tweaks are now gone....win 7 fresh, and sonar x3c installed as admin....and some eye candy and adobe reader,, and quick time, and engine 2 library player ...all drivers and my mixing desk Allen and Heath r16 installed...internet onboard nic has issues with the audio desk..and has to be turned off in bios...if it is turned off in win 7 it still seems to cause issues with the desk running.
 
also background apps are running as requested to not tweak em....so they can see the problems.....But this is serious, and I hate going round in circles,....Sonar x3c is now showing spikes of the cpu to max levels...this is not good.
 
And they are frustrated with me and my supposed compulsion to tweak those services using "BLACK VIPERS" SUGGESTION FOR AUDIO SYSTEMS.
 
 
Could You check that out for us?...and help the formies here and myself know if they even come close to your secret tweaks please....SO I can move forward with this build.
 
Thanks if you can...Just google Black viper...and post your opinion in a new thread if you can....
 
 
thanks for letting me know tweaks are needed.
Sir Les

@Sir Les - I think it would benefit you to perhaps post a link to your other thread here, and that way the discussion will all be in one place, rather than in multiple threads.
 
I also have recently replied to your other thread.
 
@Craig, As to the purpose-optimized hardware/software computers that these companies offer for audio processing, they seem REALLY good at making sure everything just 'works'.
 
I happen to build my own - would never buy a pre-built machine from a Best Buy, due to frequently sub-par components and all kinds of bloatware, but as I indicated, those ready-built DAW machines are also a good option, for those not wanting to delve into building their own.
 
Bob Bone
 

FCCfirstclass
+1 for a home built box.  I have been building boxes since 1986 using a new 386 chip and 2 Mb of RAM.  Plus DOS 3. I have never had major problems for music or video outside of equipment development.

Same here FCC.  My first audio PC was a 386 (before I upgraded to the massive 486DX).  Those were the days when one MEG of ram was $100.

In defense of the store bought computers, My 3 year old Dell has never given me a single problem since I've had it and has run all my audio stuff amazingly well considering the now dated specs. I regularly have 10-20 VSTi's running on it and I've never had to set my buffers above 256 (mostly 128). I'm not dissing audio specific builds and indeed I will be calling Jim very soon for a new rig because I'd quite like to try my hand with an orchestral library and I definitely need more power for that. But it should be said that you can get very good results from a decent quality mass produced machine. When I bought that Dell I didn't even have audio production in mind (that came a couple of years later) but I'm very pleased with the performance it's given me for the price (just over a grand).

sharke
I'm not dissing audio specific builds and indeed I will be calling Jim very soon for a new rig because I'd quite like to try my hand with an orchestral library and I definitely need more power for that. But it should be said that you can get very good results from a decent quality mass produced machine. When I bought that Dell I didn't even have audio production in mind (that came a couple of years later) but I'm very pleased with the performance it's given me for the price (just over a grand).

If you want more power and reliability, you can still go with Dell.  Check out their Precision tower workstations.  I spent time weighing those against building my own but ended up doing it myself.
 

Teds_Studio
 
One thing that I would advise anyone to do is add a cooling fan to EACH hard drive in your system.  Even the cheap ones made in China on Ebay for $3 each work OK (although you sometimes have to replace them more frequently).  A hard drive without a cooler will be so hot within 3 minutes of turning it on that it will burn your finger if you touch it.  But a hard drive with a cheap cooler will be cool to the touch even after an hour.  I know this for a fact because I have tried it.

I have seen quite a few mentions of it being possible to have your HDDs running too cool.  There is apparently an optimal range.  I'm no expert on the matter, though.

Yup I go with Dell and I love it, especially in the evenings alone:
http://youtu.be/rqqK-f2QcUM
 

It pays to do A LOT of research before buying...I studied different motherboards for weeks and searched the net for known issues.

I am mourning the passing of Rain Computers. I bought an Ion Studio a couple of years ago and it has been a great machine. Their customer support was excellent. I still had a years support left on my Raincare agreement. Quality is a hard principle to maintain in a world run by hedge fund managers.