Okay, I've started this new thread now I've decided that getting a laptop was a bad idea. (I guess I was seduced by thoughts of being able to sit in a tree or whatever, and write midi!)
A friend can build me a PC but I need to know what to tell him to put in.
Budget wise if you aim for about $700 (I'm in the UK,  so around £500), I don't need a monitor or a mouse or keyboard.
What type of hard drive?
How much RAM?
What kind of soundcard?
Anything else you can think of?

I use Sonar on my laptop at times. It can work. I usually have to disable the battery and stuff like that, but I make it work. I always use a laptop when recording in bars or at friends houses.
 
I do have a desktop. It has computer parts in it ;-)
 
I don't have a sound card. I use an interface that is external to the PC.
 
I have 16 GB of RAM. I don't believe I need that much, but the 4 I have in my laptop is insufficient.
 
My video card is fanless. Fans make noise. If the computer is going to be in the same room as the source you are recording, it helps if the computer makes as little noise as possible.
 
There are some things that can get in the way of smooth recording, but it helps to know what those things are for you. No point ordering a tweaked PC if you are going to promptly untweak it. :-)
 
Personally, I'm interested in one of those slates... maybe something like this...
http://www.dell.com/us/p/dell-venue-11-pro/pd?refid=dell-venue-11-pro&baynote_bnrank=0&baynote_irrank=0&~ck=baynoteSearch&isredir=true
That I could put on a music stand at the show and mix the band from the stage.

I build PC's for folks all the time, here in the USA.
 
You need:
 
Case
Power Supply
Motherboard
CPU
Memory
Hard Drive
Optical Drive
Mouse
Keyboard
OS
Application Software
Video capability
 
There are considerations:
 
1.  Intel or AMD CPU, and specifically, which model from either brand?  The one you choose will affect which motherboards you can look at, due to the socket type the CPU is (different CPUS's have different mechanisms for plugging into the motherboards, so you have to be careful to make sure they are compatible.  In addition, as far as I am still aware, an Intel chip is generally considered a bit faster than an AMD CPU, but they are not that far apart (from last time I checked).  BOTH Intel and AMD routinely have 'sales' where you can save $40-$50 if you buy a 'bundle' where you get a CPU and one of a few selected motherboards to go with it.  Intel is generally a bit faster, but AMD-based machines are quite capable of performing well with running Sonar.
 
An example of this - I was just at a local superstore for computers and computer parts, called Micro Center, and they had an AMD bundle with a 3.9 Ghz Dual-Core CPU that came with a FREE motherboard.  I looked at that bundle, but declined to get it because the motherboard had no USB 3 support, and also only had SATA II support, rather than SATA III.  This meant it had some performance bottlenecks not conducive to the audio streaming requirements that Sonar needs to do.
 
Point above is that while the deals are GREAT, you need to make sure you know what you are getting.  The better bundle choice motherboard for that particular CPU was about $30 more, and had both USB 3 and SATA III support.
 
The combination of that CPU and a much better motherboard STILL cost only $92 together.
 
I will toss out approximate costs for the various components, and you can adjust any one of them upward or downward, to meet your needs and budget:
 
$30-$50 midi-tower case - look for front-panel USB 3 ports and ability to add fans (or already there)
 
$25-$90 500 watt power supply, I generally get one in the $35 range.  Quieter is good
 
(CPU and motherboard will be discussed further below)
 
$70-$330 depending on choice $70 for 2x4GB, $140 for 4x4GB, $160 2x8GB $330 for 4x8GB (I suggest starting with 16 GB of memory, configured as 2x8GB strips, where the motherboard can support 2 more 8GB strips at a later time, if desired, bringing you eventually up to 32 GB of memory, if needed.  You may find that 16 GB is plenty, and never upgrade, but if you DO want to upgrade, having the 16 GB only needing 2 slots means you don't have to get rid of memory to upgrade, just add 2 new strips)
 
$65 - $225 or more for Hard Drive(s).  For a new machine, a 240GB SSD would be great for the primary disk drive - to contain the OS and applications.  These are currently running around $100-$150.  This is what I run.  I have a 2nd drive that is a regular 7,200 RPM SATA III 2 TB drive, and that runs just under $100, and is both reliable and plenty fast enough.  I hold Sample libraries, additional Cakewalk content, and documents and pictures and all of that on this drive.  I happen to have an additional drive, also a regular 7,200 rpm SATA III 2 TB drive, and I keep all of my Sonar projects on this drive.  There is NO NEED to have this many drives - I do it this way because I ended up with an extra 2 TB drive from a computer I bought to part out from a guy, so I went ahead and used it.  Many folks combine Sonar Project data and sample libraries and such onto a single drive, with one other drive for their OS and applications.  I ran like that for a long time, and had no performance bottlenecks.  Having the 3rd drive is gravy to me.
 
I WILL say that using an SSD for the primary drive is a nicety, also not needed, but since a 240 GB costs around the same as a 2 TB non-SSD drive, and both have way more room than is needed for the OS and applications, why not go ahead and get the SSD?
 
$15-$20 Optical Drive  (CD/DVD)
$5-$20 Mouse
$5-$30 Keyboard
$ whatever market price is OS, either Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 - Please note that Microsoft allows transfer from your old computer to your new one, so you may not have to buy a new copy of Windows.
 
$ Sonar X3 and any synths/effects and other Application Software, or transfer existing Sonar version to new computer, so you may not need to buy a new version of Sonar, unless you want to, of course.
 
Video capability - Some CPU/Motherboards have on-board graphics, if not, you can either move an existing video card from your old computer to the new one, or you can lok at picking up a new one, from around $50 on up to as much as you want to spend.
 
PLEASE NOTE - lost of folks freak out on buying the baddest kick butt graphics cards they can squeeze into their computer chassis.  I used to do that as well, until I finally just went back to using LITERALLY the on-board graphics on my most powerful i7-based computer, and I run 1 VGA connection to one monitor, and 1 HDMI connection to a 2nd monitor.  This works just fine for me, so as far as I am concerned, save your money for a better interface, or East West Strings, or pay some bills.  :)
 
There are lots and lots of choices, and I hope I have given some idea of some the things you need to decide and balance.
 
Here is a link to the AMD 'bundles' page for Micro Center, where if you pick up an AMD CPU, you get a nice discount on a bundled motherboard to go with it.  SUPER deals, really:
 
http://www.microcenter.com/site/products/amd_bundles.aspx
 
And the Intel 'Bundles' page also at Micro Center:
 
http://www.microcenter.com/site/brands/intel-processor-bundles.aspx
 
Just make sure to look at ALL the specs for both a given CPU and an associated motherboard.  (USB 3, SATA III, number of cores, processor speed,  etc.
 
I believe AMD would be a MUCH better bang for the buck.  Not quite as fast as an Intel i7, but still PLENTY fast and powerful enough to run Sonar.
 
I hope some of the above is of any assistance.
 
Please also note that I left monitors out of the discussion, assuming you would be using an existing monitor with the new chassis.  For reference purposes, a 32" HDTV makes a wonderful display monitor, and runs somewhere at or less than $200.
 
Bob Bone
 
 
 
 

My PC will be 4 years old in august and part of the  reason I dont put my system spec in a footer is that I'll get depressed when comparing it with everyone elses !, that and the fact I dont think it really matters what you get.
 
I bet that's got a few people bristling ! ..... 
 
I have a quad core Intel I5 with 4MB of ram and can honestly say that I've never maxed out my CPU when I used to use Cubase.... got to about 60% with some projects once all FX inserted, admittedly once all the midi was converted to audio I would 'Freeze' any Soft Synths samplers to free up CPU.
 
Sonar seems to compare well although I expect its not been taxed too much as my biggest project so far is a 30 audio track, 5 Buses, 30 inserted FX, & 2 softsyths piece that has all 4 cores showing under 25% .
 
I'm sure the experts will give you what's technically the best spec, and there will be multiple opinions on what to prioritise the funds on, however at the end of the day your machine will be able to record far more tracks than the beatles had in abbey road !!!
 
On a personal note I allways figure that upgrading every 5 years or so means your new machine has much more CPU power than its predecessor so even If I have a bad choice Im still going to be in a better position the before

My current high-performance computer is 3 1/2 years old - works great.
 
You do not NEED the most insane machine made to run Sonar quite comfortably.
 
You do want to use 7,200 rpm SATA III disks or SSD, but either one is fine, and I would save that while 4 GB will run things, I would recommend starting with 8 GB with an ability to add additional memory as needed, up to either 16 GB or 32 GB.
 
An AMD quad-core, or even a dual-core running near 4 Ghz, or an Intel i3 or better, with at least 4 GB of memory, and 2 hard drives (one for OS and programs, and the other for sample libraries and Sonar projects), and you should be OK for most projects.
 
If you end up running into performance problems, adding memory should clear things up, and of course if disk I/O is the issue, then perhaps adding an additional disk and further splitting samples from projects would help.
 
 
The above should suffice for folks for starting out, and as noted, you can always improve performance as needed.
 
Make sure you have a drive dedicated to backups, and that you DO take periodic backups as appropriate for your needs.
 
Bob Bone
 

I've already got a 1TB external hard disc, can I use that for anything?

if its a USB drive, i would just use it for a backup. 
 
 
use these sites for configurations: 
http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/partlist/
http://www.choosemypc.net/#
 
 
parts info: 
http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/wiki/partsguide

Is it a USB 2, or USB 3, SATA II, or SATA III?
 
Also, what is the spin rate (7,200 rpm?)
 
For sure it could function as a backup drive, but it might instead be able to be used to hold samples or projects, if it can transfer data quickly enough.
 
I use a USB 3.0 external drive (2 TB), for backups, and I also happen to have a hot-bay in the computer's case, that allows me to simply plug a regular SATA III disk straight into the external bay, giving me a super-fast extra data drive, essentially giving me endless storage capacity, as long as I have additional drives to plug in to that bay and swap out when they get full.  It's pretty sweet, and transfers just as fast as my internal SATA III drives.  (I also use this drive bay when I scrub other folks's hard drives for malware and viruses).
 
Bob Bone
 

If your friend isn't familiar with building DAWs and you use an intel chip have them disable C1e in the BIOS.

rsinger
If your friend isn't familiar with building DAWs and you use an intel chip have them disable C1e in the BIOS.

What does that do?