I am looking at this company to build my computer with. I like the options and the price. Their sells person did not impress me as he did not know much about all the options and told me to look things up. But it appears promising. http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/ What do you think? I am not a gamer- it is for music, but the options are good- explained everything well, easy to see what you buy.
 
If you know good computer company that builds quality computers, please, post it here. Thanks.

Id look at Jim Rosberrys StudioCat or ADK to start the research

http://www.studiocat.com/3/index.php/Home


http://adkproaudio.com/

Remember to consider warrenties.

That's what stopped me from building my own PC's in the end , I use a Dell like Mike.
It's perfectly fine, all the hardware comes from one supplier so they can't blame each other when things go wrong..... and I know I am far from paying over the odds for something I don't actually use (custom machines may squeeze 10% more horsepower if you are lucky, but ask yourself will you ever use it).

... and I've never had an issue with lack of horsepower with any modern machine...
 
The idea that you need a custom build PC as it is running "specialist" software nowadays is totally out of date IMHO.

My Dell has been great and anything as far probs running Sonar has baan an issue with just making some usual adjustments or tweaks.

Mine came with the Standard Seagate Barracuda HDD.  I just had the original HDD crap out so I added 2 2 TB Barracudas and an External 500 GB for back up/recovery. I run the OS and other software off of 1 and store all my projects on the other.  

The load that it now puts on the computer running Sonar is NOTHING.  All the indicators for performance barely even flinch now and thats with 8GB of Memory. The latest Dell XPS Studios are coming with 32 I believe.

If I went with Dell again Id have everything done when bought and ran under an extended warranty.

There are some GREAT techs on this forum as well that help alot when needed.

But as far as my specs, it euns X1Expanded without any hitched now and am not in a big hurry to jump to X2 yet (Which I was going to recently) but recent event have me putting it off for a bit.

From what Im gathering from reliable techs, Im running Home Premium 64bit which supports up to 16GB of memory but that is the most I can upgrade this MOBO to anyway so no need to worry about any other OS cause it wouldnt make any benefit to running Sonar.

So until I have a need to jump up in Processor Specs and Memory Im doing as good as I can get out of Sonar.

In short, Im happy and content with the Dell and X1 (d) Expanded  

Sonar X2 System Requirements Minimum system requirements


Windows 7 or Windows 8* (32 and 64-bit).
 XP and Vista are no longer officially supported.
 
Future updates will not be compatible or install on XP and Vista as they are no longer officially supported. 
 
Intel Core 2 Duo E8200 2.67 GHz / AMD Phenom Quad Core 9750 2.4 Ghz or higher 2GB of RAM 1280x800 minimum screen resolution 4.5GB for minimal install, 20GB recommended 

 Broadband internet connection for download Cakewalk Publisher requires available web server space with FTP access 

 *Windows 8 support will be available through a free patch later this year

vladasyn


I am looking at this company to build my computer with. I like the options and the price. Their sells person did not impress me as he did not know much about all the options and told me to look things up. But it appears promising. http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/ What do you think? I am not a gamer- it is for music, but the options are good- explained everything well, easy to see what you buy.
 
If you know good computer company that builds quality computers, please, post it here. Thanks.

Hi - they have a bunch of computers listed there on that site you posted.  Is there one in particular you were looking at?


Bob Bone

digi2ns


My Dell has been great and anything as far probs running Sonar has baan an issue with just making some usual adjustments or tweaks.

Mine came with the Standard Seagate Barracuda HDD.  I just had the original HDD crap out so I added 2 2 TB Barracudas and an External 500 GB for back up/recovery. I run the OS and other software off of 1 and store all my projects on the other.  

The load that it now puts on the computer running Sonar is NOTHING.  All the indicators for performance barely even flinch now and thats with 8GB of Memory. The latest Dell XPS Studios are coming with 32 I believe.

If I went with Dell again Id have everything done when bought and ran under an extended warranty.

There are some GREAT techs on this forum as well that help alot when needed.

But as far as my specs, it euns X1Expanded without any hitched now and am not in a big hurry to jump to X2 yet (Which I was going to recently) but recent event have me putting it off for a bit.

From what Im gathering from reliable techs, Im running Home Premium 64bit which supports up to 16GB of memory but that is the most I can upgrade this MOBO to anyway so no need to worry about any other OS cause it wouldnt make any benefit to running Sonar.

So until I have a need to jump up in Processor Specs and Memory Im doing as good as I can get out of Sonar.

In short, Im happy and content with the Dell and X1 (d) Expanded  

I had a Dell laptop that I used to gig with.  It had a solid-state drive and 4 GB memory, running XP Pro.  I paid something like $400 extra to have next-day ONSITE support, and that was well worth it to me.


I have built the rest of mine, and I get all the parts from a place called Micro Center.  They have something like 20-25 stores around the country, and pretty good prices.  I have had 2 instances of hard drives crashing in the last 5 years, but other than that everything has been great with those.  I just bought better quality components, such as Seagate hard drives and well-reviewed video cards and always run with a minimum of 8 GB of memory.


So - please narrow down which of those computers you are eyeing and I will take a look.


Bob Bone

I went with Dell with my current system. It is Precision 370. Cost me $4000 in 2004. I will never make this mistake again. I thought music computer should serve you at least 8 years. Well- it did, but I had to replace 2 out of 3 hard drives, DVD drive, all memory and motherboard. At the end of all this the OS got outdated and I can not use it any more for Sonar. My internet computer, Dimention 9200 working over 6 years now, will be 7 in May, so far- no problems. I was considering Siberpower because they list and let us choose all part and let us know what exactly in it. Dell would say, "2 tb HHD" but you would not know what make. I did not know my power supply was only 300. Also- waranty with Dell- I had lifetime tech support because of business machine- Precision comes with it. All my others- I have Vostro 220 and 420, expired on tech support after 1 year. Most computers are fine first year- you need waranty after first year. They would not even talk with you.

I used to build my own. I've built and modified many hundreds of PCs since the late 1980's. I've deconflicted IRQS and troubleshot compatibility issues till I can do it in my sleep.... I went with Jim Roseberry for my most recent DAW, and I've been glad ever since. I had a list of things in mind I wanted in it, and he very graciously accommodated all my requests, and answered all my questions, and delivered an optimized and ready-to-go machine. No slight against ADK, I'm sure theirs are good too - but in my experience, everything Jim's explained or did has turned out to be smart. I do believe that a DAW computer can be optimized for its intended use, and therefore the choice of components (and tweaks to the software) matter. As much as I am a supporter of Dell for general office computers, I think buying a Dell without specific knowledge of how the components will perform in a DAW environment isn't a recipe for guaranteed success. You have to ask yourself, "would I rather be busy researching tweaks and specific hardware to accommodate my needs and be willing to troubleshoot when unforeseen issues arise, or would I rather have something known-working, optimized, and ready-to-go for my purpose". My $0.02, John

John, thanks for the input. I do not see many options on StudioCat site. And I have a problem with somebody listing 3770 k processor at 4.5 speed when it is 3.5. If they mean- they going to overclock it, then it should be stated. Also their web site is outdated or Windows 8 not supported. And they charge money to consult- I was not sure if I would have to pay before I buy. Did you have to pay for his answers?