I've been looking for some time at upgrading my creaking desktop for something more in keeping with SPLAT. Everyone here holds Jim Roseberry at Studiocat in high esteem and I took his advice earlier in the year regarding the Gigabyte Brix system. However, living in the UK makes it difficult to purchase one of his systems. The question therefore is - has anyone out there in the UK found a good, reliable team who assembles DAW systems? I discovered Robin Vincent recently at Molten Music Technology and he looks like a good bet. Any advice would be helpful.

groverken
Everyone here holds Jim Roseberry at Studiocat in high esteem... However, living in the UK makes it difficult to purchase one of his systems.

Jim still may be able to consult for you and have someone across the pond (or you?) do that actual build...

Take a look at this older thread on UK DAW builders......you can always PM one of these guys on their experience with the builder.
 
http://forum.cakewalk.com/Have-any-of-my-UK-based-DAW-users-had-any-experience-of-this-company-m3282848.aspx
 
On s side note and if you're inclined to do so, building your own is quite easy, economical, and you can handpick ALL the components you want in your DAW........it's quite gratifying as well.   

Well I wrote a how to article on building a PC that got buried somewhere here....but I digress. I'm guessing that you don't want to build it yourself.
 
Usually the major differences between a DAW PC and a standard PC have more to do with a silent build for recording, (simply make sure you buy more quiet fans and cases)  I/O ( inpouts and outputs) and lastly, slightly upgraded hardware. I/O depends on your audio interface. Some people call it a sound card but this term is archaic because seldom do we see interfaces internal anymore. 
 
Most DAW prosumer hardware I/O now is some flavor of usb. All computers have usb. Most interfaces are usb. Problem solved.
 
The rest of the differences are in hardware capacity,quality and maybe a small software tweak here and there.
 
A standard desktop may have only 8gb of memory, one hard drive which is smaller and probably termed "power saving" and a slower cpu. A dedicated DAW PC will have at least 16gb of memory and usually several hard drives that aren't power saving because power saving looses performance.The cpu will usually be a grade or two above what's in an office PC. The basic components will usually be better because the builder has his butt on the line if it fails. 
 
My point to all of this is- Any builder can build your PC. Tell him or her you want a quiet rated case and fans. Mid grade or better gamer PC hardware. A good mid level cpu. 16/64 gb of memory. Latest generation hardware. There's no voodoo involved in a DAW. 
 
You could try the setup with no software tweaks and see what happens. Sonar doesn't demand tweaks to run. Most interfaces have accompanying software that optimizes audio latency buffer settings for you. Other OS related adjustments can help to optimize performance. In most cases it isn't like night and day, but it helps.
 
So any good builder in the UK worth his or her salt is capable to do it if you don't want to do it yourself.JMHO

Starise
So any good builder in the UK worth his or her salt is capable to do it if you don't want to do it yourself.JMHO

Anyone can bolt parts together.
The devil is in *all* the details.
Building a great DAW is similar to a mechanic building a great race car.
Fast yes... you don't want a "Sprint Car" to run an endurance race.
 
A local custom computer shop has no idea about the specifics of building a DAW.
I know... I bought my first PC from the local custom computer shop.  
They couldn't even install my two Turtle Beach Tahiti cards. 
I had to figure it out... and (ironically) that launched my career.
 
Simply choosing "gaming components" is not going to produce the best possible DAW configuration.
Certain parameters in the BIOS result in low/consistent DPC latency.
Some motherboards expose those parameters... others don't.
If you don't have access to them... there's no tweaking them.
 
Gaming is all about high frame-rates (for video performance).
As DAW users, we're not pushing video hard... this is not a priority for our work.
That high video performance may come at the expense of high DPC Latency.
To achieve high gaming benchmarks, some drivers may monopolize CPU time (high DPC Latency).
 
Building DAWs is no different than any other trade/craft.

• Anyone can construct a patio deck
• Anyone can work on a car
• Anyone can lay carpeting
• Anyone can paint a house
• Anyone can landscape their yard

Anyone can do the above (there's no voodoo involved)... but the person who does it all day/every day is a professional.  
There's a level of experience/knowledge that a novice doesn't have.
Anyone can bolt together a computer.
A professional builds a top-performing DAW from top to bottom (no guessing, no gamble).
The tech assembling machines at "Crazy Kenny's Custom Computer Warehouse" is not that professional.  
 
 

I guess we'll need to agree to disagree on a few points Jim. I'm certainly not out to minimize the importance of knowing the ins and outs of DAW building. I'm sure there are things you know that will make a computer a great DAW. 
 
In speaking from my own experiences in electronics in general and also computers. I haven't ever had any problems in building my own DAW and I don't do it as a full time profession. Maybe my own experiences don't reflect those of others. Sonar has a minimum system requirement and depending on what kind of projects you mix many basic computers will handle it. I'm thinking of a 1+1 thing with a guitarist and a few vocals etc. 
 
I made a few assumptions about " Crazy Kenny's Computer Warehouse". Hopefully Crazy Kenny has built quite a few computers and knows what he's doing. This is my first assumption. That a person in the Uk visits a reputable known good builder. My second assumption is that if he can build a good stable gaming rig, then he can certainly build a good DAW. There really isn't a huge difference. Both systems are designed to maximum performance. If the computer is fast on graphics intensive programs, then it is likely  also capable to be a decent DAW, though maybe not maximized for audio until it gets an adjustment or two. But even as it is, capable to record at least 24 tracks and tons of vsts.
 
I would disagree that "anyone" can put those computer parts together. There are some who simply can't or shouldn't try assembly. Not really difficult either, but a person needs to have the aptitude. We have been using all kinds of tools since we could walk almost so an easy thing for us is a difficult thing for someone else.
 
I think that if a person thinks they want to try it, simply look at the computer sig of anyone here who builds computers, buy those parts and start. Sometimes the toughest thing to do is start. After that the rest gets easier.

Jim Roseberry
 
The tech assembling machines at "Crazy Kenny's Custom Computer Warehouse" is not that professional.  
 
 

 
If you happen to think that's nonprofessional  , you should see their guitar department 
 
Kenny

Disclaimer- This is in no way representative of the entity we know here as "Kenny"  He's a pretty cool dude who looks good on a guitar and plays it well. 

LOL!  
 
The ironic part...
That's the actual name of the company.
Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction...

Thanks to everyone who commented.
I've been looking here on the forum and trying to get advice for ages and only seem to be getting more confused by the day.
Since I had my last DAW built, things have changed a lot. I've been advised by some that a dedicated video card is definitely not required while others say that something like the ATI Radeon R7 240 would be preferred. The  ASUS Z170-A motherboard seems to be being well received but how do you make comparisons with limited knowledge? And as for processors, is it a 6700 or 6700k and do you need a "k"?
When it comes to "build it yourself", anyone who has seen my attempts at other types of self assembly would realise that it's a real non-starter.
I see from another thread that Wookiee had a system built recently by Inta Audio so I'm going to investigate them a bit further.
Maybe I'll have something sorted out before the next generation of processors arrive and confuse me even further!