I know your in the digital audio building business and this doesn't fair so well with sales on your end. but truth is a lot of users are moving towards walmart and  best buy off the shelf laptops and desktops.  your not going to buy something like I have presented here at wallmart or best guy for under 500/600 bucks. 

In all honesty, a $500 build is not going to have any affect on my business.
All our business comes from word-of-mouth... based on reputation/experience.

A general-purpose PC user goes to Walmart for a PC.
A more serious DAW user does not.
Name any high-performance item (sporting goods, cars, etc)... you don't typically find those things at a discount store that sells groceries.  

I could go item-by-item and break down the cost of each component...
But I think I've made my point... and out of respect, I'll stop there.   


We can certainly agree that Sonar X2 is a great DAW application... and we live in a time of fantastic capabilities.

AndyDavis


Apart from laptops, I have built every computer that I have owned since 1988.  I am pretty familiar with the parts shopping process.

I know my machines don't fail because my computers don't crash.
To save my time and sanity, I tend to buy very well recognized brand names.  Buying a solid case that will not buzz or rattle is a lot easier when you are spending $100 vs when you are spending $30.  Same with power supplies.  

My point was that while there may be a $30 power supply out there that is quiet and will not fluctuate when the wind blows, but I don't know what it is.  There are lots of quality choices if your budget is $80 or more, but it's more chaff than wheat down at $30.

Taken together, those choices make it very difficult to construct a machine for $500.  I built an i5 based machine for my son last year that was about $700 (without the gamer class video card).  I think an i7 would have taken that to $800.  Again, this machine is whisper quiet and never crashes.

Using the parts picker app, you can get a decent idea of what a complete rig will run you.  I thought it might be useful to someone contemplating building their first machine (like the OP). 

Edit: Just read your reply to Jim
I stopped using AMD processors with my latest round of machines (my i7 replaced a Phenom x4).  I am personally far happier with the Intel products, but the AMD stuff is undeniably less expensive.  For me, it falls into the money for sanity trade off; obviously you have had different results. 

I realize that the point about $80 vs $30 parts does not apply to your $500 build, but I am going to leave them in because I think they are still useful advice to the system builder.  

im sorry, maybe I just took your post and jims post the wrong way,
I was offering the OP a free copy of my book, im not trying to make any money here.
I have helped more than a few people on this forum in threads and especially private messages with computer builds (maybe too much)
 
I kind of took offense to both of your posts a very little bit, as a dig, when I shouldn't have.
 
im sorry, you too Jim.
Jim was right when he said, its like buying a sports car compared to a car in the budget region.
 
im also sorry to hear if you had problems with your phenom crashing, I cant say I've had the same problems.
I do know more than a few people though who are happy building their own DAW's in the 500-600 region.
http://forum.cakewalk.com/fb.ashx?m=2807523
 
this thread above has quite a few people ive given the book to and who agree.
and more than one opinion about AMD, like this post.
 
im glad your both happy with your builds as I am mine.
im not very big, im only building on my best months about 6 computers for customers.
actually that was my record. but on an average 3-5.
 
I get people from all walks, surfers, producers, small company's.
 
beside the crashes, you do notice a big difference in you I7 compared to your old phenom? 
im only curious because i didn't see as much as a price difference would sway me.
i have a nice intel i7 3.4, i paid almost 300 for it, but i find the price cant compete with the phenom.
its like that age old war between Polaris and ski doo  bud light or coors light, well that last one was a bad example.
I guess that's where I was going with all this. trust me, i am aware of intel and its superior quality.
again, I think Jim put it best.
and let me make something clear, ive never ever had a bad thing to say about studio katz or jim.
to the contrary, ive recommended him many times to folks looking for high end quality.
even got in a tiff with someone else about a month ago when i recommended jim and someone else recommended ADk. 
im just throwing it out there because I want to you to know that.
your a gentleman, a professional and a nice guy Jim.
i just didn't agree you and you didn't agree with me that's all. that happens all the time.
atleast we can be decent about it.
 
 
 
 

i also didn't realize you had built a few of your own andy,
sorry, i was disrespectful.
i talked to you like you nothing about building.
hope you'll forgive me.

Think nothing of it.  I'm sorry that you construed my post as a dig, it certainly wasn't meant that way.  Truth is, I am now so solidly Intel, that I didn't even consider that you could save a few bucks by going AMD.

As far as my experience with Intel vs AMD goes: I didn't have crashes, but the performance never seemed to be as good as I expected.  My machines are not dedicated DAWs: I noodle with music, 3D graphics, photography, games, and lots of software development including heavy use of virtualized machines.

The CPU benchmarks indicated that in the areas of my interest, Intel CPUs were far outperforming their AMD counterparts.  And my experience since building the new box is that the machine is much smoother.  I realize that this statement is infuriatingly like those made by people that get the mac religion, but I really can't be a whole lot more specific.  

Of course, CPU utilization dropped for my projects, but this was also replacing an aging CPU with a new i7, you had better notice something.

BTW - I liked your videos.  

You might consider doing an 'advanced topics' video on case ventilation.  

A big increase in my build happiness came when I learned how to make sure that my cases were always positively pressurized.  Nowadays, I pretty much run a 200cm intake fan through a dust filter on the front and the inside stays pristine.

AndyDavis


BTW - I liked your videos.  

You might consider doing an 'advanced topics' video on case ventilation.  

A big increase in my build happiness came when I learned how to make sure that my cases were always positively pressurized.  Nowadays, I pretty much run a 200cm intake fan through a dust filter on the front and the inside stays pristine.

that's a great idea, there is actually a section that explains that in the book.
I use true quiet:
http://dawfreak.wordpress.com/2012/01/01/antectruequiet-120-and-140-mm-fans/
 
they have the Silicone Grommets which really cuts down on vibration.
really easy to install, now to reinstall ? not sure about that, the way the grommet is stretched and feed in to the hole.
 
thanks again.
 

I agree with Chuck that it's sensible not to waste your budget on unnecessary overspecification.  Computer technology has reached the stage where an average PC is powerful enough to run a large-ish Sonar project.  This was not true a few years ago, but it is certainly true now.  I'm not suggesting that you can pick any off-the-shelf computer at random and it will be suitable.  You still need to choose the parts appropriately according to your particular needs, but most of these part will not need to be top of the range.

On the other hand, it's always tempting to want to build a dream machine.

AndyDavis


BTW - I liked your videos.  

You might consider doing an 'advanced topics' video on case ventilation.  

A big increase in my build happiness came when I learned how to make sure that my cases were always positively pressurized.  Nowadays, I pretty much run a 200cm intake fan through a dust filter on the front and the inside stays pristine.

You've got a 6 and a half foot fan running????????

Bristol_Jonesey

AndyDavis


BTW - I liked your videos.  

You might consider doing an 'advanced topics' video on case ventilation.  

A big increase in my build happiness came when I learned how to make sure that my cases were always positively pressurized.  Nowadays, I pretty much run a 200cm intake fan through a dust filter on the front and the inside stays pristine.

You've got a 6 and a half foot fan running????????

im guessing its mounted in the door frame  :)
 
I knew what you meant andy..bj did too, hes in a good mood tonight, just caught me on another thread making a bo-bo.  :)
 

AndyDavis


Truth is, I am now so solidly Intel, that I didn't even consider that you could save a few bucks by going AMD.

 

Working at Intel, I say Thank You for your support!