on the other hand, my £400 Ebay PC is still going fine after 4 years...i did make sure of some of the components (i5-750, fanless 1gb graphics card, Win 7 x64), but the hardware is essentially cheap (MSI mobo, no-name PSU etc). use onboard FW with an Echo Audiofire AI.
i don't do mega-intensive work, but 20 audio tracks, 5 softsynths, 50 FX+ on most projects, no sweat. and it's also an Internet PC, does video-editing, office work....
 
so you can make music on cheaper gear!
 
 

sharke
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.

DELL does have one of the better business models out, which is why they survived the late 90's. Essentially, to do business with them you have to be one of the top vendors in your area or expertise. Vendors who fall from that ranking then lose business, and DELL continues to stay out in front without spending a dime for R&D (they throw that overhead back onto their vendors). Because of this, DELL is one of the few COTS (customer off-the-shelf) items I would recommend.
 
That said, when this machine was built (6/2011), it exceeded all of the $4000+ "Alienware" builds for 1/2 the price. Also during that period, Intel had shot themselves in the foot by updating "Sandy Bridge" cores with the introduction of the 6-core "Extreme" CPUs (X1 was used in this "audio benchmarking"), and ASUS was the first MB vendor to openly adopt USB 3.0. Because of this, the ASUS MB/i7-2600K option was the ideal choice at that time. For audio applications, this machine is still "excessive overkill."
 
 Edit: Bottom line is to research anything you build/purchase.

Some tweaks are hardware/bios tweaks, (turn off power-saver, etc..) naturally, but IMO; most of them are are OS, services, and software configuration based (get rid of services and auto-loads not needed).
 
The speed of the CPU and memory helps with ultimate performance - but the previously mention tweak categories, if not done (and are needed), can dash DAW performance and introduce those dreaded clicks and pops - even with the fastest beast of a PC you can buy.
 
BTW, most OS and service tweaks apply to both audio and video workstations.
 
Dell generally gets good marks because most of us know better than to buy the lower rated machines, and they're (usually) not too loaded up with gunk-ware (and is easily removed).
 
Didn't know there was a PCAL office in ABQ, it's not listed according to a quick google... ABQ is my neighborhood..

I have a purpose-built music PC and agree that is the way to go.
 
Although there is way more to it than this, disabling all the crap that Windows wants to run at Start-Up by default and setting up the BIOS correctly make a big difference. 

swamptooth

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

Swamptooth... the link above is a historical "saved" webpage/site, and cannot be found on the actual PCA site... that was a loooooong time ago.... I perused the "compare" link and it took me to lots of pentium machines...
 
be real, dude... don't know what cha trying to say but it's bogus...

A lot of the tweaks Brian made were hardware ones that related to reducing noise and heat. He also uses Vegas Pro, so he knows how much that can exercise a machine during a long and complex render. 
 
He didn't do much with the software, other than get rid of temp files and uncheck some msconfig stuff that had worked its way in since last time I did a mass uncheck. Also, regarding the comments of people here who build their own machines - I should have mentioned that is indeed a great alternative to getting cheapo office supply computers, as long as you know which motherboards etc. have a good track record in music applications.

Is that all...?...well beyond that for some builders as SuperG said...I am on the look out for those kinda tweaks, the ones everyone is told not to touch...especially by Microsoft techs.
 
But we know you can, if you know what to do in there..and do not turn off system services vital to the OS and APPLICATIONS BEING USED...or DEVICES....the redundant stuff should be terminated...is MY understanding...and each system is different for each user and Software being run.
 
This makes for a more robust and stable platform ....AVID Have tweaks for Protools..But they do not delve into Win Services Much if at all...But they do tweak the machines systems...
 
My Build is a bit hard to get going with the desk I bought....So I need some real tweaks to reduce IRQ paging of redundant services...So I can reduce those cpu spikes and issues with Sonar I am having since 1x ,2x, 2xa, and then the most corrupting and hassle of all x3c...which killed off the OS...too corrupted to try to fix.
 
So If you have more input than that , as secret formula...in your pocket...and they are long side the Viper Tweaks...SuperG kinda thinks are happening?...Then I may be doing something in that direction...although not sure...correctly.

Msconfig...on my system ...does not terminate the services...if you do end task...and check the services turned off in Msconfig...You may see them still running in End task viewer.
 
And that means the app is still running in the background!!!!....the right way to terminate apps is in services and set to manual or disable.
And that stop em dead!
 
But we are told not to do this by Microsoft and other techs here....from my  knowledge so far!

I, too, have been building my own since the 70s (my first was an Altair 8800 running Microsoft Basic!!) and have actually never bought a 'turnkey' desktop system. In the early 80s some of us at Hewlett-Packard got a version of a MIDI sequencer and Sysex backup going on a few of these. I have had experience with laptops and music and there are a couple of things that are not tweaks, but rather completely mainstream that are important:
1. Don't ever expect good performance with the system load from the vendor with all the advertising, teaser applications, etc. Do a fresh system load from an OEM loader disc...you can use the same Microsoft registration code, if you load up the same system...I have always used the Professional version systems, as there are always a few important capabilities available...mostly around networking/shares
2. Load only what you must....don't put Microsoft Office or Adobe products on the system, as they are ugly culprits. 
3. Disable all auto-updates, but make yourself a schedule of updating. 
4. Learn about page files, and set up yours as static (i.e. not resizeable) using 30-40% of your RAM. 
5. If you are going to use a browser, use Chrome...it is the most secure, and least evil. 
6. For me, audible noise is important, so I have, for the last decade or more, used high-tech internal cooling (i.e. heatpipes or monster heat spreaders with low-speed, variable speed fans of large diameter...these are the quietest and coolest. My Shuttle system puts a lot of stuff in a very small box, but it is silent with some of the lowest disk/CPU temperatures that I have managed to see. 
7. Get familiar with Mike Lin's startup management tools and use them slavishly to get clean system starts. http://www.mlin.net/StartupMonitor.shtml
8. Don't use encryption (you would be surprised how many people don't pay attention to this)
9. Don't make your expectation of building your own to be mainly about saving money...make it about getting the absolute best system you can while gaining the knowledge of why it is the way it is...
 
The list could go on....but these are some of the obvious ones

I have a Jim Roseberry built machine and it has been great. Very fast and quiet. It's almost 4 years old now and still going strong. Jim is a great guy to work for getting the best performance vs price point. Highly recommend.