i have a hp desktop with i3 proces its a little over 2 years old running a 32 inch flat screen tv (which i love) and another 20 inch flat screen right now with a digi interface mpk 49 maschine mk2 and a novation remote sl i use all 64 bit except some that are bridged into 64 bit using studio one and protools 8 and 10 a seagate 2 tb external and a seagate 500 gb external it has windows 7 on it but im used to windows 8 as its on my newest laptop and im about to upgrade to this http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Desktops/HP-ENVY/E3W49AV?HP-ENVY-Phoenix-810-170st-Desktop-PC are the i7 that much better? my i3 runs pretty good. the i7 is liquid cooled how does that work?theres an option to get a standard cache or a 16 gb cache is this worth it?whats the difference between 3rd gen and 4th gen?theres options for quad core or hexa core which i have yet to hear about .memory comes with 16 gb ram bu i can upgrade up to 32 would 16 be enough? and im not trying to start a mac pc war ive used pc all my life i have tried mac dont like it so thats not an option im pretty good with computers i have fixed a few upgraded ect so building is an option but i wouldnt know where to start and whats good whats not which im sure is debatable with many users here also all i use is hp every computer ive ever had has been hp laptops everything
Due to the fact the that I just finished a build, I feel I could be of rather help to you. My first opinion is GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HP. I've worked on far too many hp computers (and printers for that matter) that simply fail due to cheap internal parts. My first HP laptop (I can still remember the pn by heart zv6131us) was utter rubbish. I had the HD start to fail within the first six months. Luckily that was under warranty and I was able to get repaired. But it then started acting up again just after my warranty voided. Turned out the motherboard was faulty and drained the cmos every 2 months. I lost track of how many cmos batteries i had to go through. Keep in mind all this was trouble with a $1200 computer. I've also had 4 separate instances of friends coming to me for help because their on-board graphics blew, and all with very similar dv6000 model laptops. In all but one case, the computers were out of warranty and HP would do nothing about it. There should of been a class action lawsuit over it. Did I mention their tech support is crap? I could go on, but enough HP bashing. I'll attempt to address your questions now. -Yes i7 truly are that much better. I built my computer with an i5-3570k and she runs like a champ. I think a far more practical argument is between the i5 and i7, because i3 vs i7 is a no brainer for any music production environment. Personally I think a high end i5 is more than sufficient and that i7s are more for the high end gamers. I mean, I've had my build over a year, been running ableton live (32 bit) and still haven't peaked the cpu any higher than about 60. -Liquid cooling is used mostly in the realm of overclocking processors. Unless you have OCD over your processor temp, there's no reason to otherwise worry about it. -I'm not %100 sure what you're referring to about the 16gb of cache... maybe you just got confused with the ram. -Now on to the the 3 gen vs 4 gen issue. The major difference is the change in socket type from 1155 to 1150. 1155s are sandy bridge and ivy bridge, 1150s are the new haswells and whatever is next. Beyond that, there's a little bit of speed difference and different internal video card types, which won't matter if you're getting a seperate gpu anyways. When it comes down to it, I would choose the 4th gen for the potential to upgrade on the same socket. -I'm honestly not familiar with the new hex core processors. So I can't really help there. Though I'm not sure if you're asking the basics of how multi-core processing works. If you are, think of it this way... which highway is capable of handling a higher capacity of traffic, a 4 lane or a 6 lane? Yet they both have the same speed limit. -16gb is fine my friend. And remember, if you're running a 32 bit program, you're still always capped at 4gb. Also, your version of windows will dictate the maximum amount of memory that can be recognized (at least for 7, I'm not sure on 8). And of course there's your motherboard max capacity too... just things to keep in mind. Now for my closing remarks, in your case it is my humble opinion that you should build. The learning experience that it has put me through is truly a phenomenal thing. It also you to focus on the around the key things that matter to your professional environment... in your case cpu, hd, and ram. Honestly that price is outrageous on that Hp you gave the link of. In last few weeks i built a computer for my work, and my boss is overjoyed (i can neither confirm nor deny the presence of hackintosh on it ;>). We got a Gigabyte GA-H87-D3H Motherboard, a CX600 600w psu, 120gb Samsung EVO 840 SSD, 3TB Seagate ST3000DM001 HD, 8gb of corsair ram, an I5 4670 Haswell processor, a rosewill RX-C200P RT case, and wireless card... all for around 800 bucks. I just want to say this, if you feel the tenacity to build, do it. If money is no option and you're more comfortable with a name brand, keep searching around. Black Friday is around the corner and the market is ripe with deals for you to work with either way. If you need any advice building, shoot me a private message. Otherwise, happy computer hunting.
Disk Caching Traditional hard drive paired with small SSD Cache module to increase responsiveness without sacrificing performance or capacity None or 16GB SSD Disk Cache this is what is on the site i dont understand to be honest thanks for answer i will pm u in a second
Before you decide to invest on a new PC, be aware that serious changes are coming next year and in 2015, and as I know that someone will say "yes but there are always changes , but you have to buy one day", some of these changes are not the ones that happens every 2 years, so see the changes and judge by yourself: DDR4 is here Which obviously, wont be compatible with actual mother boards DDR4 RAM Double the speed, run at 2133MHz, triple the density and 20 per cent less power use than DDR3. PCI express 4 75GB/sec (More than double the speed of PCIe 3) this is important for PCIe Soundcards. (release 2015) USB 3 goes 3.1 at 10 Gbps (Double the speed of 3.1). Thunderbolt 2 with transfer speeds of up to 20 Gbps (Thunderbolt is slowly appearing as a connection for sound cards of top level). Intel Haswell Processors are 22nm which mean a lot more power and lot less electric consumption. (They will still be called i3, i5, i7) Even though this last is not so important, as Intel has a Tic Toc system that means that every 2 year they deliver a new architecture and every 2 year there is an improvement of the prior release. Obviously all this will mean new motherboard, so you could only keep your hard drives. So my advice would be, if you cant stand you slow computer anymore, buy a second hand, because the new connections system are very important for sound cards / Audio interfaces. And the new memory is important if you use big Kontakt libraries and things like that. BTW this goes for those who are willing to buy a new Sound card / Audio interface. Be aware that next generations will have a much faster data transfer rate, double speed, so you shouldn't buy an expansive sound card now, unless it comes with some slot for future adaptation (like Prism Sound Titan). I hope this helps
there may be faster computer technology by 2015 but i doubt music production programs will require anything close to what 2015 will bring for computers. running an i7 with 16gbs of cache or an amd 8 core, 16gbs ram 2000mhz. an ssd big enough to run your music programs from. run your samples and producing shit from an ssd or 7200 rpm hdd. youll be future proof for at least 5ish years with what kind of programs the average producer uses. and itll be extremely fast. more efficient computers goes hand in hand with more efficient music production tools.
I don't wish to be alarmist but figures show that at least 89%! of users who stayed with i3 and DIDN'T upgrade to i7 had committed suicide within 2 years of their purchase. whilst i would love to see you dead, it is not really satisfactory to be on the receiving end of such a trend in terms of market forces. if that makes sense? and the next part of my reply will be in code..i trust that the import of what i'm saying will be maintained.. ▓▒│¢░└©»╣║Ø╚╔═╬¢│▒¡Ê╬ðð░╦╚ã▓│ I would just like to say that as you may know, i'm probably one of the more important members on this forum. my protege, Gregory Isaacs, whom i worked with with numerous times at top ..pro level 3 studios throughout the years and who is currently on vacation in New Orleans, would agree were i to call him.
Lot of good information and advices, although I agree with wayne, you don't need to wait the next gen CPUs to have a kickass DAW computer. I'm going to mention a few things: - Don't worry if your Sequencer is 32bit, jBridging you can use all the memory. - An SSD for the system partition today is a must. But if you don't want to buy a second one you can always buy two 7200 hard drives and run them in RAID0. IT doubles the speed. I've doing this for years, is not as dangerous as many people says. @olymoon, Even with pro sound cars, ¿isn't a Thunderbolt connection too much? I mean, USB3 is really fast for audio (and full duplex, an atrocious lack of USB 1 & 2). Cheers guys :D
Xupito Yes, Depending on what you do, USB 3 should be enough, it has similar theoretical speed than Firewire 800, but less stable, and in practice firewire 800 is faster. This may explain why it is not being used actually. But the explanation I wrote about next evolution, is because I suppose that if you buy or build a new computer, you don't want it to be obsolete next year. Going to i7 today is not cheap enough to take that risk. At least it would be wise to get a DDR4 capable mother board.
