BTW are any of you running 64 bit?

Some people have great luck buying off the shelf systems. Most do not. If you want a dedicated DAW, go to StudioCats, ADK Pro Audio, or one of the many dedicated DAW manufacturers that post on this great forum.

If you want a potential headache you'll never truly solve, go cheap.

Just my two cents... Good luck!

Corey

ORIGINAL: aj

A few comments:-

1. There is a widespread belief that memory speed is a BIG factor in system performance. Actually it is not. Typically, slower memory might compromise performance by at most 5%. CPU performance is by far the biggest factor in system speed. (e.g going from DDR667 to DDR800 might give you 2% performance improvement if that. It's true and I can point to exhaustive tests that prove it).

2. Intel has certainly outgunned AMD on raw performance. That said, if you can pick up an AMD-based system for an attractive price, and are willing to factor in that it will be something like 25% less powerful than the Intel equivalent, this still might be more than enough power for you. Looking at the sample projects that come with Sonar 8, by far the most demanding is the softsynth-based Dark European Space Adventures (or whatever its called). Now, looking at that, it's pretty much pushing the limits of a dual core AMD 6000X2 and for comparison a Core 2 Duo Mobile T7250 (on my laptop). Do you need more power than that because of softsynth count?. Then a quad-core AMD Phenom will give you about 60-70% more capability and the Intel equivalent probably around 100% more capability.

Incidentally the AMD processor still has better memory bandwidth than the Core 2 Duo/Quad which to some extent mitigates the performance penalty. The i7 (see below) fixes that, of course.

3. The Intel i7 is about to hit the market. This will bring the price of the Intel Core 2 quad CPU down and the total cost of the machine accordingly. So if you can wait 3 months or so, you will probably see some really attractive deals on Intel-based hardware

4. Any off-the-shelf solution is likely to be rather noisier than you would like, as its designed for an office environment where humming fans are not an issue. See below

5. While it is true historically that getting audio applications to work on 'off the shelf' hardware was a somewhat hit-and-miss proposition, a number of issues that resulting from technology that hadn't settled down - USB2, PCI Express and SATA, not to mention Firewire - have settled down a lot more now and the more modern chipsets are a lot better in this regard and issues have become rarer (though not unknown)

6. While you say you aren't comfortable building a machine yourself, there are tons of little computer stores where the owner would be only too happy to put everything together for you - and it will not cost you a fortune. If you're really strapped for cash, a lot of university students know how to put together a PC. It's about as complex as assembling flatpack furniture, truth be told. All you have to do is order the motherboard, case, etc. This sounds daunting but it is fairly simple:-

(a) choose a motherboard from a reputable vendor e.g Asus and Gigabyte spring to mind as the two obvious choices. Even a low-end model from these guys will be fine. The extra money is for overclocking and gaming features you don't need or want, so spend it elsewhere. Also these mobos come with decent manuals that show all the plugs and stuff with proper installation instructions. Written in English you can read. You want a mobo without integrated graphics. Don't worry too much if it has integrated sound - you can always turn that off - just don't install the drivers in the first place.

(b) Choose branded memory e.g Kingston. Speed really isn't important as long as it's compatible with the motherboard and don't waste your money on so-called 'premium' memory - like high-octane gasoline, it's just a waste of money, believe me. Depending on platform, DDR2-667 or DDR2-800 will be just fine.

(c) Disk drives are pretty much commodities now, a couple of 250G SATA 7200rpm drives will do nicely and be very cheap. Hitachi,Samsung, Western Digital, plenty of good brands out there. I would counsel against recycling any existing drives. There are good reasons for this - get some brand-new drives, they will be quieter and they will have more onboard cache, most likely and they are extremely cheap.

(d) Choose a decent power supply (e.g do some googling around the overclocker forums). Rated generously - 500W would be wise.

(e) Put in a dedicated, cheap, low-end PCI Express video card e.g Geforce 6200 or something like that. It will be all you need. It should be passively cooled (no fan).

(f) choose the case and fan carefully. You want one of those huge and slow case fans. Even so, acoustic noise from disk drives and more importantly the CPU fan etc. will to some extent be apparent unless you purchase a special (and expensive) case. There are CPU coolers with special low-noise fans and choosing one of those would be a good move.

(f) I would probably use an external USB2 audio unit by preference with trying to fit an internal card. Roland/Edirol is a wise choice for obvious reasons with Sonar; if your needs are modest, the UA25, if less modest, then the UA101 (I think that's the model). But I understand you want to recycle the Delta card - which should work, but be prepared for the possibility of disappointment.

(g) Much nonsense has been spouted over Firewire vs USB2. Which interface does the V-Studio use?. I rest my case.

7. You may not need a quad core at all. The Core 2 Duo E8400 for instance will give you two really FAST cores and be considerably cheaper. Not all software can split processing across multiple cores well and there's no substitute for raw grunt per core.

8. Any off the shelf system will as others have pointed out be made with the cheapest components money can buy. It may work but it may not. And because the case and motherboard etc. aren't standard parts, changing stuff out to fix an issue will be a nightmare. Fan too loud but has non-standard connector?. CPU cooler too noisy and not enough space to fit an after-market unit?. Not enough slots for all your hard drives & stuff?

Given a case and the bits it takes about 2 hours to put everything together, just to give you an idea. Less if you've done it lots before which is what your local computer store owner will have done (you know the kind of place I mean, they sell mobile phones & stuff, you should be able to find someone you can trust to do this properly). You may as well do the operating system instal yourself, if you can't handle that then you need to learn because, believe me, at some stage you will have to do it!. (disk drives break!)

Since you have to purchase the OS and the hardware, this will look more expensive than your off-the-shelf solution but not necessarily by a great deal. And you will get a decent system.

Do you really know what's inside the off the self computers by Gateway, Dell, HP, etc. How cheap are the components? I've worked on friends computers by Dell and Gateway and they always seem to be built with proprietary parts that often makes fixing a part or upgrading very difficult.

Original: The Kiosk Project

WDI - apologies I stand corrected, I took the wrong turn of making my more limited experience into a generalisation. Yes maybe I have been lucky with my hardware over the years...

Peace Love and Understanding

Garry Kiosk