Ditcher
Hello there folks,

I am planning on buying a new PC only for music production this week.

I have made the following setup, and would like to know what you think and what can be better. My budget is 800 - 900 eur.

Ditcher, just ditch what these guys are yakking about buying one and build your own!!
 
 

 
 

Mesh

Ditcher
Hello there folks,

I am planning on buying a new PC only for music production this week.

I have made the following setup, and would like to know what you think and what can be better. My budget is 800 - 900 eur.

Ditcher, just ditch what these guys are yakking about buying one and build your own!!
 
 

 
 

I notice that PC would perform 20 to 40% better if you replaced the BIOS ;)

Doktor Avalanche

Mesh

Ditcher
Hello there folks,

I am planning on buying a new PC only for music production this week.

I have made the following setup, and would like to know what you think and what can be better. My budget is 800 - 900 eur.

Ditcher, just ditch what these guys are yakking about buying one and build your own!!
 
 

 
 

I notice that PC would perform 20 to 40% better if you replaced the BIOS ;)

Ughhhh!!! Bloody off the shelf PC's!!!

"You Joes are funny guys!"

Jim Roseberry
I'm not talking running a 100 tracks... and doing so at high ASIO buffer sizes.
Set your audio interface to a 64-sample ASIO buffer size/44.1k (for lowest possible round-trip latency).
Set up a 24 track project (24 contiguous 24Bit/44.1k tracks of audio).
Apply quality 3rd-party dynamics and 4 bands of EQ to each track.
Set up three convolution reverbs via sends (one for the drum kit, one for vocals, and one for leads).
Bus each track to one of the reverbs.
Now try recording a 25th track using software based input monitoring.  
You can do this with a well-configured current generation machine.
The only way you'll do this on a 4-year old off-the-shelf machine is to crank the ASIO buffer size thru the roof.
 
I haven't even brought up heavy hitting virtual-instruments like Diva.
Put Diva in "divine" mode... and play some sounds with 16 voices of polyphony.
Many composers want to be able to play these types of instruments at very small ASIO buffer sizes for tight feel/response.
 
All depends on your wants/needs/expectations...
High performance always means a custom solution (doesn't matter what field).
No "distraction" necessary.  
We've been in business 20 years.  That speaks for itself.

Btw I can pretty much do this with a 4 year old machine. ASIO on 64 buffers, I have a good audio interface that runs on FireWire (not even PCI). Admittedly convolution reverbs need to be minimized (really 3 convolution reverbs?) but it's hardly the end of the world. I've never got to 100 tracks yet but near. So imagine what a new machine can do?

Like I say over and over again if people need Max performance then sure go your way. But I suspect 95%+ of people won't need it. I also suspect any high specced off the shelf PC can handle pretty much anything, they could even go for a HP Z workstation for instance.

Doktor Avalanche

Btw I can pretty much do this with a 4 year old machine. ASIO on 64 buffers, I have a good audio interface that runs on FireWire (not even PCI). Admittedly convolution reverbs need to be minimized (really 3 convolution reverbs?) but it's hardly the end of the world. I've never got to 100 tracks yet but near. So imagine what a new machine can do?

Like I say over and over again if people need Max performance then sure go your way. But I suspect 95%+ of people won't need it. I also suspect any high specced off the shelf PC can handle pretty much anything, they could even go for a HP Z workstation for instance.

Four year old CPUs can't sustain the load presented above at a 64-sample ASIO buffer size.  
Doesn't matter what audio interface you're running...
The CPU can't process the small ASIO buffer quick enough to keep it filled (no glitches/dropouts).
 
Now you're just being contrarian...   
What advantage does a Xeon CPU bring to the table (DAW wise)?
Short answer is... none
You'd pay more for a CPU running at significantly lower clock-speed.
Now that would truly be a waste of money... unless you're wanting a corporate server.  
 
In any event, the natives grow tired of this discussion.
Off to ship out some DAWs...
 

Jim Roseberry PC's are the best and not that much more expense. They are totally worth the investment. He stands behind them 150% and knows exactly what he is doing. 
I would not hesitate to buy from him again. His stuff is superb.

Jim I said if a four year old off the shelf PC can do this can you imagine what the latest PC will do? I am not telling people that everybody should go and buy off the shelf 4 year old PC's am I? I'm arguing that most of shelf PC's can generally fulfill the specs a custom one can. Just pay the more money and you get better specs. Maybe custom PC's have a six month advantage ahead of the mainstream manufacturers.. But then again that six month advantage is never really going to improve a DAW performance that much in reality. And just to have that advantage will cost significantly more.

Nope custom PC's are great if you want somebody else to optimize your PC to be silent and to optimize performance. I argue though it isn't hard for anybody to do this themselves.

I wonder how many people are running a massive custom built powerhouse recording 48 tracks for guitar, bass and drums. If they are I recommend they should be running the seti@home screensaver at the same time and put their spare processing power to good use ;)

Anyway if anybody has a custom PC requirement, I'm sure Jim would be the best man for the job.... ! All is said and done..

The one benefit of having a custom PC built is you get a peace of mind. Meaning, you know exactly each & every component in your machine has been hand picked for the job at hand. Even if the "off the shelf" PC's internal components are fairly good, the parts they use are generally the cheapest available and made solely for mass production.
 
Yes, they may work out really well, but you won't get that peace of mind you get from a custom built machine. Now if you're a techy kind of guy and like to fiddle around with the PC (or just can't afford to have one built), then an off the shelf may work out well. Generally speaking though, most people are musicians and would rather spend their time on their craft than be troubleshooting PC issues......."peace of mind".   

I get peace of mind with a worldwide support contract with a company big enough to store spares for everything in case something goes wrong.
The idea that problems only happen with of the shelf PC's, and less likely to happen with custom built is ludicrous.. 
Custom PC's have parts are that are built for mass production as well. And the motherboard parts are not organic either ;).