tired of my laptop crashing ableton, and im looking at starting fresh with a nice desktop.
willing to spend up to 1500 dollars on a new desktop PC ,
i need this to be an absolute powerhouse, able to handle anything, projects with up to 100 tracks without crashing if that were the case, big kontakt libraries, you name it. im tired of lags and crashes because of my laptop not being able to handle my projects and plugins.

i saw this link and was just looking at the Asus M70AD-US003S and the CyberPower Zeus Mini because of their great specs. both with 3.4 Gh, 16g RAM, and 1000Gb+ HD....

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2372609,00.asp

anyone have any suggestions or other computers i should consider before making my decision? would be great to hear some input!

 

I wont tell you what to choose or what to do, but i really recommend you to build your own PC,

Get the last Intel CPU 5960X with 8Cores, 16 Threads, it will handle anything you throw at it, can handle 2 3 even more Projects at the same time, with some OC, it can handle even more at the same time...

Get your self the Last Asus Rampage V, you were talking about big Kontakt Libraries, No problem, get your self at least 32Gigs of ram and you won't have anymore Problems,

get a low profile GPU, such as 610GT from EVGA, it can handle some games, or if you're using Waves ( i'm not sure about this, but Waves plugins uses some 3D/2D acceleration wich required a graphic card )... just use one cause the Motherboard i mentioned don't have an integrated one, or whatever,

about Ableton, Dude just change your fucking daw, (sry) i've been seeing a lot of this lately, so change it, i recommend Cubase...

what i'm talkin' about is a beast of machine, you wont have a problem for at least 5 years. hope so anyway,

i've been having same problems as you, lag and stuff like that, and this is my dream computer, wish you can get it bro.

i will be happy to help you more , just MP in case you need anything !

 

I agree with you on the first sentence, but the rest where you mention the latest Intel and one of the most expensive Mobos on the market, that's not going to fit his budget.

He can build an awesome workstation with just the new i7 4790K 4.0ghz, the new ASRock X99M Extreme4, the new Corsair Vengeance LPX Black 16GB DDR4 2666MHz CL16 Quad Channel Kit, a Samsung 850 PRO SSD 128GB for his OS partition and a 2TB Seagate SSHD for his libraries and stuff, a Nexus RX-6500 650W silent Power Supply and a entry-level Nvidia GT-730 graphic card which can supports two monitors easly. This config should last like 5 years too and performance-wise, you have nothing to complain about.

Cheers.

 

+1 for build your own, you can get SOOOOOO much more for the money and not waste it on a bunch of gaming crap, which unfortunately almost all higher end computers are built for, or 3D rendering or something like that. For audio, pay particular attention to the L2 and L3 cache size on the processor, make sure you get a separate SSD for your operating system, and at least 7500 rpm drives for all your audio stuff. 16gb of RAM is plenty for audio stuff, you can load up all the big libraries you want and as long as your library drives are fast and internal you'll have no problem. Then get yourself a 1000 watt power supply, a decent new graphics card without a big ol fan on it (and supports multiple monitors, if that's your thing), and a nice quiet case.

But don't forget the other crucial part of your audio workstation, the interface. I don't know what you're running your audio on now, but upgrading to a high quality audio interface can make an enormous difference. A lot of problems that I thought were computer related turned out to be a problem with my cheapo Presonus interface...

And hell yes, Ableton can be very buggy especially with certain plugins. Before you do anything else, try changing your DAW and see if you can run the same size projects without crashing.

 

I'll sound like an old fart, but I can't use a motherboard other than gigabyte. Just love the damn things...

Ok, attack me!!! :p

 

you should build your own, even get someone to do it for you, I did and havent had a single problm and have massive amounts of software ...omnisphere ableton etc

get a good i7 processor, 16 gb ram is really all you need, a reasonable video card and get at least 400-500 sdd as your main drive and what ever you think as your second... I reckon u could build a very nice desktop for that money, use asus motherboard but make sure you have plenty usb 2! and usb 3 available.....I use a dekluxe 87 and it purs like a pussycat!

 

^^ yep. And make sure you get a x64 system!!!

 

As others said: build your own! (It's not that complicated - anymore)
Buy a good, big enough case (have an eye on the width! coz of the CPU fan. if u go for a fan). You can stick then to this case also when you upgrade the CPU, Mainboard years later.

 

If you ask me, now is really the worst time to buy a new computer for whatever reasons(maybe good time to buy a graphic card, for those that want extend life of own rig). But the first thing if you must have new rig is, as already other mentioned, never buy complete rig. You will be ripp off immediately 20-25%(in a lot cases even more) without a question. Those things(builded computers) are for companys not for home users. If you don't know how, find someone close to you that know and ask him for help. You build computer for audio, so any additional cost for like graphic card, additional crosffire, sli and other for audio not needed support will be waste of money. And this things add a lot of cost to motherboards. What you need if you are serious and build computer primary for audio, is capable CPU, a lot of memory, at least 16GB(i recomended 32GB if you work a lot with Kontakt) and capable working storage in SSD form. But here is the thing about SSD. Don't buy the best in performance, rather buy average in performance and models which are known for its reliability(that is most important thing for you as audio producer, as almost every ssd this days are capable enough). And for price of one latest high performance SSD maybe you can get two average and reliable ssd's, which can in the end squeeze even more performance in raid mode as one single super fast ssd. From those thre things you will gain the most for audio production. Please dont waste the money for 400$+ motherboards and buy the cheapest graphic card, because even that way you are already with tight budget even with previous generation of hardware.

P.s.: But remember, in the end all come to software and even if you have the most capable and stable computer on earth, software will still crash if there is something in the code that don't fit together with other programs code or hardware and that will happen sooner or later But at least if Ableton will not crash anymore, that is a good start

 

pretty well much agree with kimikazi
if it helps i run i7 32gb ram.....32 is big but then its only a small amount more to go there from 16 gb, i also run windows 7 64 bit only because I know it to be reliable, any graphic up to 760 with do the job, I use samsung sdd
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=210_902_1370&products_id=24743
pretty cheap and very reliable, I also have a crucial which is cheaper and still good, get 2 one for the system and 1 for kontakt
i use kontakt with big programes like morphestra, eDNA and the like and have never had an issue and load is supoerfast, and since i built this one I have not had one iussue with ableton etc

it is worth it to do this and then you can upgrade etc, cheap case as long as it has extra bays incase you want to intsall more drives
the new i7 is fantastic
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=187_1490&products_id=27940

and by building also eliminates you having to pay for stuff you dont use.......

 

just stay away from gaming motherboards ...use professional ones ...my spec to give you an idea: motherboard Asus P9x79 E-WS, i7 4930k with samsung evo 500ssd + 2tb WD Blue, GSkill 32Gb ram, case CM Silencio 650, Asus GTX 780Ti, power supply Corsair RM1000... for videocard and power supply choose some that eats less if you dont happen to game from time to time like me ...

 

I'm going to slightly disagree with some folk.
Older CPUs like i7-3770K and/or i7-4770K with do the job well and might save you a bit, since they are not 'recent'.
16GB of DDR3 (avoid DDR4) - two 8GB modules
For GFX, fanless HD7750 will do great.
PSU: 350W is more than enough, also get at least 80Plus Bronze, Seasonic prefered
Fans - Noctua and no fan wherever possible, even CPU can be fanless: http://www.nofancomputer.com/eng/products/CR-95C02.php

HDD: 120GB SSD as system drive preferred, but any single-platter HDD with 320GB or more will do just fine performace-wise.
For Kontakt libs, definitely synchronous SSD, 256GB or 512GB should be enough.

You can fit all that into miniITX tower, just like me.

Also learn to freeze tracks/bounce - no matter how powerful is your PC, you might hit its power limitations eventually. There's nothing wrong with freezing, only to my surprise, not many people are eager to do it.

 

In my opinion your decision depends on how many money you have got... It was, it is and it will be always this way. Hardware is evolving... software capabilities are growing every time a new release comes out... but what about money? Think about it.

 

Creation Station

 

Dude thats not very strong....im not settling for anything less than an i7, i need 16G RAM atleast. and a sizable internal HD on the computer

Really appreciate the replies guys. still have lots of options to take in before i make my decision.
Seems like building the computer from parts is the most cost effective, but i have no clue how to build, where to start, or really want to go down that road in general ... itll take me ages and alot of frsutration , it would probably be more worth it for me to buy a ready made beast for a few extra bucks...

any more suggestions or direction here is appreciated!

 

Out of curiosity, how much ram is being used in your current large projects?

 

with that money you can build a powerful hackintosh computer

 

torontoleech,

would you elaborate a bit about how your typical projects look like?

> ...i need this to be an absolute powerhouse, able to handle anything...
Impossible for $1500.

> ...projects with up to 100 tracks...
100 tracks of what?
100 tracks of 1-bar Audio loops?
100 tracks with many instances of resource-hungry VA synths?
What kind of processing on each track?

Virtual instruments and FX require CPU cores, while audio tracks require disk access.

The hardware configuration to aim for really depends on what your typical projects look like.

Before taking any decision, try to find out the exact reasons for your current problems, or you may end up investing $1500 for a (spec-wise) great machine just to end up disappointed.

> Andrew:
> Also learn to freeze tracks/bounce - no matter how powerful is your PC, you might hit its power limitations eventually.
Good point! And a good reason for one or two fast SSD drives.

What spec is your current laptop?

 

And why would you ever want to do a thing like that?