PC specs, what you guys think?

It'll do just fine. Better than fine.

I would suggest:
 
_ dedicated Graphic card
- 500 GB + SSD for System and programs
- Audio interface
 
Cheers

rodreb
I'm curious.... I have always used a dedicated graphics card but, I have friends that swear by the Intel integrated graphics. Supposedly, a DAW doesn't require a lot of graphics horsepower?

I always use the integrated card on my main DAW PC and it's absolutely fine. If anything, it makes things simpler; my laptop has both the internal Intel graphics and a NVidia card, and I ended up having to disable the NVidia card for Sonar/CbB due to issues with some plugins.
 
Unless you've got something that specifically takes advantage of the graphics card's capabilities (or you're doing video/movie work too), I don't see any real advantage in a dedicated graphics card, and you always run the risk of introducing possible driver incompatibilities.

rodreb
I'm curious.... I have always used a dedicated graphics card but, I have friends that swear by the Intel integrated graphics. Supposedly, a DAW doesn't require a lot of graphics horsepower?

I did not mean the horse power. It's about the potential conflict & bottle neck in hardware design. Onboard graphics (not all, but many of them) tend give you more potential conflict & data workflow problem in chipset level than dedicated graphic cards. Your milleage may vary, some people did not have any problem with onboard graphics, that's good for them. However, I've seen many people had problem with their powerfull DAW (crackle noises, high latency, etc) when they use integrated graphic (all in one moptherboard). That's why it's advisable to use dedicated graphic card if possible to avoid those potential problem that will cause bottle neck in your powerfull system. By advisable, I did not mean mandatory obligation, just an opinion to keep in mind.

stm113cw
Not sure if this is the right place to ask this question but here goes. I currently have a Dell PC that’s maybe 2.5 years old, it’s an i5 Quad Core with 8gb ram. I found a great deal on this PC how do any of the experts here think it would

Nice specs. Mind sharing where you got the great deal?

Thanks for the input guys. I agree about the interface, I’ll be using my Scarlet 18i8 mostly. I’ll most likely look to upgrade to at least 16 gb memory. I’m going to try to stick it out with the integrated graphics for now.

Question about the SDD, if I go that route what am I gaining? Would I need to run my OS on it? If so how would I get it there since it’s pre-installed?

I wish I could share the link where I’m getting the deal, it’s a employee discount HP is offering through the company I work for. Unfortunately it’s not available to the public.

stm113cw

Question about the SDD, if I go that route what am I gaining? Would I need to run my OS on it? If so how would I get it there since it’s pre-installed?

Velocity, much better response time, quick starting and loading and rendering . . . .  And yes. OS and Progs should stay on that ssd. I have a Samsung EVO wich comes with a migration software to copy your installation and finally let you run the system from the ssd. Don't know the Details of other products, but there are different ways with partition managers, too.
 
Cheers ;) 

No, the OP's current i5 system is 2.5 years old, not the new i7 one.
 
I'm another one who is happily Cakewalking using the onboard integrated Intel HD4000 graphics to drive 2 monitors and it doesn't seem to have any negative impact. I even bought an nVidia Quadro for this system and it was buggier with that than with the integrated graphics so I took it out.
 
The only reason I would go with a separate video card these days would be that there are some uses that use the GPU for signal processing, like some video NLE's use it during rendering, and sometimes the graphics look crisper to me with different cards and their drivers. I prefer nVidia.
 
I was always taught that for any serious use of a computer beyond word processing and spreadsheets, get a REAL graphics card in there, so I still feel kinda weird about it, but I gave it a shot after the Quadro washed out and was pleasantly surprised.

One thing I forgot for my last build was noise.  Think about silent fans and a noise suppressing case!!!

stm113cw
1- since I do use Dimension, Rapture, Addictive Keys for instruments and I’ve recently started using the Blue Tubes Pultec EQ models as I don’t have another Pultec style plugin. Should I just install the last SPLAT?

Of the plug-ins identified only Blue Tubes plug-ins may require Platinum. For alternatives to the bundled BT Pultec, try the pure setting on the Quad Curve EQ or Ignite Amps PTEq-X. That said, the conventional wisdom is install Platinum (if only to open old projects containing bundled plug-ins) before installing CbB.

eikelbijter

stm113cw
... I will certainly upgrade the RAM...

More RAM but not an SSD is a HUGE mistake in my opinion! I just went from 8GB to 16GB because it cost me $50 for 2 8GB sticks (DDR3 for the win!) and it made literally ZERO difference.

 
It's not about the increase in RAM. A matched pair of 8GB sticks will work at a faster speed than an 8GB and a 4GB together.

kzmaier
One thing I forgot for my last build was noise.  Think about silent fans and a noise suppressing case!!!

Good point. The acoustics of the machine can be more important than the performance when used for recording. Here SSD are particularly valuable as they are totally silent.  

A small (256GB) SSD (whatever variety) is fairly cheap these days and makes an excellent OS/Program drive. Although you could get below 128GB on that drive, you would run out of wiggle room quickly, even when junctioning sample folders to another drive. The data reads from SSDs are phenomenal in comparison to a HDD.
 
Matching RAM sticks is optimal as mentioned above.
 
As far as dedicated GPU, DAWs are not 3D intensive, and only a few plugin makers make use of optimizing audio vs graphics anyway. A dedicated GPU won't buy as much throughput as the SSD "upgrade" mentioned above. If you ever get into 3D/video/graphics, then a dedicated GPU will help a lot.
 
As far as optimization, the standard disabling of core parking and not allowing USB connections (or the machine itself) to ever sleep are big. Also monitoring things that get loaded on boot (and disabling the garbage) is advised. LatencyMon and using msconfig and/or services are all useful in that. For some things it is easier to one-off those in these forums as you load the machine up (otherwise it will overwhelm you). Win 10 seems to require less tweaking than its predecessors.