2013 will be the year I replace my current DAW. With Vista support being dropped by so many I will probably make this earlier than originally planned.  I have been looking at INTA Audio, a UK based specialist PC builder. Has any one here used them?
 
This is the PC I am considering. http://www.inta-audio.com/pc-builder/index/69
 
Options I am considering over and above the basic specification
60GB accelerator Cache Drive
3 x 2000 GB SATA drives - Main drive set up for dual boot, same system and partitioned 500/1500 - 500 GB partition boots for music applications, 1500 GB partition boots for General/ Office applications (email, MS Office, Photo editing etc.) - all non Music data stored on this partition.
 
Any advice on graphics card options would be appreciated but I am thinking the default will be fine.
 
Audio Interface will be my existing Roland Quad Capture.

That looks similar to my recent build (see my general spec's below):

take a look at Scan UK first

jcschild


take a look at Scan UK first

Thanks, I have looked at them. Their headline prices are quoted ex-VAT so they look cheaper at first but once you configure to a similar spec (you can't make it exactly the same) and add the tax prices are in the same range.
 
I get the impression that INTA audio and Carillon specialised Audio PC builders and SCAN is a more general PC maker that happens to make a DAW configuration. However being a bigger company there may be other advantages.
 
INTA-Audio gets me closest to my ideal configuration

Glyn Barnes

jcschild


take a look at Scan UK first

Thanks, I have looked at them. Their headline prices are quoted ex-VAT so they look cheaper at first but once you configure to a similar spec (you can't make it exactly the same) and add the tax prices are in the same range. This seems the closest http://3xs.scan.co.uk/ShowSystem.asp?SystemID=1381
 
I get the impression that INTA audio and Carillon specialised Audio PC builders and SCAN is a more general PC maker that happens to make a DAW configuration. However being a bigger company there may be other advantages.
 
INTA-Audio gets me closest to my ideal configuration

 

I've got a Carillon (this is my second I've bought through them)

I can tell you this - I will NOT be buying from Carillon again in the future. Their build quality has gone downhill in my opinion.

My latest machine (specs below) suffered with the following faults:

Bad RAM chip
Bad PSU
Wrong Graphics card

They have also stopped mounting their hard drives inside special acoustic sleeves due to "heating problems".

I think it's more down to "Cost problems"

Glyn,

quality, support, compatibility... you get what you pay for..
(well some of my competition you dont)

i didnt recommend Scan due to price

jcschild


Glyn,

quality, support, compatibility... you get what you pay for..
(well some of my competition you dont)

i didnt recommend Scan due to price

I just realised who you are . I will take that as a positive recomendation and put them on my shortlist.
 
It seems Scan are keen on over-clocking. Defuly options are generally overclocked. whats the risk/reward ratio here.

when done right OCing is awesome with NO negatives.

I sell them, Jim Roseberry does it and Scan does it.

highly recommend.

Based on Scott's recomendation I had a good look at Scan and I have added a 3XS SI77 PowerDAW with the configuration below to the shortlist. 

As long as I can find space I will probably drop the dual boot idea and retain my old DAW for "office" use and use something like a Belkin OmniView USB Soho Series 2-Port DVI KVM Switch so I can share keyboard, mouse and screens between the two computers.

I still have a couple of questions.

Is the 750GB Seagate ST750LX003 MomentusXT Hybrid Solid State system drive a good option or would I be better with a conventional Western Digital Cavier Black, possibly with a cache SSD drive?

Is the 520 watt power supply OK or should I go for the 650W be quiet! Dark Power Pro 10 BN201 option?




System overview System Overview

Custom Coloured Cases: *No Custom Colour Required*
Case: Nanoxia Deep Silence One Anthracite Ultimate Low Noise PC Case USB 3.0
CPU: Intel Core i7 3770K
Overclocking - CPU: Intel® Core™ Ivy Bridge CPU professionally overclocked by our 3XS engineers to 4.4Ghz
CPU Coolers: Prolimatech Armageddon Ultra High End CPU Cooler 6 Heat Pipe Intel Socket LGA 775 1366 1156 1155
Memory: 32GB (4x8GB) Corsair DDR3 Vengeance 1600Mhz
Power Supply Unit: 520W Seasonic M12II-520 87% Efficiency
NVIDIA Graphics: 1GB Asus GT 610 Silent PCIe 2.0 (x16) 40nm 1200MHz GDDR3 GPU 810MHz 48 Cores LP Passive
System Drives - SSD or Mechanical: 750GB Seagate ST750LX003 MomentusXT Hybrid Solid State 2.5" SATA 6Gb s 7200rpm 32MB Cache
Storage Hard drives: 2TB Seagate ST2000DM001 Barracuda 7200.14 SATA 3 6GB s 7200rpm 64MB Cache , 2 selected
Solid State Drives - Data: 240GB Corsair Force 3 Read 550MB s Write 520MB s SF-2281
Solid State Drive - SRT SSD Cache Drive.: *Cache SSD Drive Not Required*
Optical Drive 1 - DVD Blu Ray: Samsung SH-224BB - 24X DVD Writer