I posted a couple days ago about building a PC (which seems a little more complicated than I had planned) after reading through the forum I seen where some guys are getting away with much less now my question is I wanted an i7 processor but right now I have an i3 maybe 2 years old it use to run like a champ but I guess from installing and loads vsts and kontakt libraries (on an external) it is beyond slow would it be better just to get an extra internal hard drive and maybe some ram and do a clean instal?I have 6 gigs ram now but use a lot of kontakt libraries in total I think I have about 1.5 tb of kontakt libraries I at the point were I know what I use and this is my studio comp so there is no internet connected at all plus I have a laptop if I want to try something out
I´ve build quite a few computers myself during the years but stopped when it got too complicated (too many different RAM specifications etc.) .... So now I either ask a good friend who still want to waist time on issiues like this to help me out, or I just buy a computer with the specifications I need! Main problem is: You need insight if you want to build you own computer! You need to know about what you expect from you motherboard, what you expect from RAM, CPU etc. etc. wich is (imo) pretty much a nightmare! After this you need to know if all these parts actually works well together, so this is for people who has specific insight in hardware issiues! I´ve just setup a i7 (8 cores) for audio (laptop). Its only a 32 bit system (Win7) with 4 Gb RAM, but ....... its a great computer - prolly because all parts works perfect together! Hope I answared at least some of your questions
(which seems a little more complicated than I had planned) *yes* The days of building a PC that saves you a significant amount of money has long passed contrary to popular belief, when you factor in the down time trouble shooting compatibility issues etc. Unless of course that's your thing, you should just get a gaming PC or laptop for top specs and graphics solution, or the best speced out computer you can afford, and get on with making music.
There are a Lot of Guy's on YouTube showing you how to do it and they give you all the Part List and specifications and even part Links were to Buy them
No offend mate, but I wouldnt risk my money one a youtube tut! I could surely be wrong *yes* and very right *yes*
Very true indeed, try calling a youtube rep and have them walk you through a problem 1 to 11 months into your warranty oh I forgot you'll have none cause you did it yourself and have the youtube guy fix your software issues via remote control, intrusive yes, helpful priceless.
Building a PC based on a YouTube Tutorial seems indeed a bit risky. Its not like you rebuild a synth patch... Dont you have any friends/family members who are interested in that kind of stuff? Like phloopy saif before, ask somebody who wants to waste his/her time with stuff like that. Really? I dont know, I got a self-build PC and I kinda believe it was very cheap for what I got know. Plus there arent many AudioPC developers out there, as far as I know.
First of all most pc:s today even the budget ones will do very good in a studio what specs do you think they have 10 years ago on their studio pc:s? (hmm mac:s?) Anyway did they make good music back then? Ofd course they did!! But if you really must have the latest take a look in a studio magazine like SOS their you will find ads from special computers made for audio only http://www.carillonac1.com/ http://www.music-pc.com/ http://www.scan.co.uk/shop/pro-audio They all have specs for what they have in their machines buy the components and build your own PC And if your budget is low dl an old studio mag from internet and look at the ads from those manufactors of what they used back then and look for those components on internet they are much cheaper then the new ones.
That's what I'm asking I'm not really set on having the best just want it to run smooth I have a fire wire port on my i3 the new pc s I have seen don't seem to have them that's why I asked if getting more ram and new slaved hard drive is there a way to just change the processer in my old comp?what are the best hard drives beside ssd because honestly I don't understand thoughs Edit. OK researching ssd vs hd vs hybrid should I get a ssd for daw and run hrbrid behind that for storage or hybrid then HD or hybrid hybrid? Says the ssd are a lot faster but a tb is 500$ which is way to much for me
Just a word of advice, it doesn't matter what you get if you're using a 32bit OS. Because there is a memory cap of 3.75gigs of memory, unless you do a rather risky kernel mod, which for most is rather difficult to do without damage. So even if your DAW is 32bit you can bridge to use as much memory as you have, and with bridging you can even use virtual memory [even though if used too much can cause issues] Other than that yes an I3 can run most things just fine, but even between an I5 and and I7 there is a HUGE difference, and you'll see the effect on your cpu when running a DAW with a lot of different virtual instruments and effects channels running. In all honesty people way over think this process like their building a gaming computer to run games that wont be out for 4 more years... Building a studio pc is easy and requires very simple things. Decent CPU, a decent watt power supply, at least 8 gigs of memory and a high speed harddrive, 24/32bit Universal Audio Device either internal or firewire[or usb3 if you can find one] running an x64 OS. Everything else imo is just some fanboy bs.
I would go for an SSD disc for OS it will improve the performance on your PC very much and more Ram is always better no need to look for the best brand if you have 4 gb and upgrade to 8 gb it will be much better than before eve3n with noname memory sticks.. And if you can afford a Hybrid for storage take that one otherwise you be fine with a 7200 rpm sata disc.. As said before it has been working before and it will work nowadays also.. And it is not hard to build a pc it took me about 3 hours from start to finish with the last i built and that included installing windows and all drivers.. The internet is full of tutorials (even though i didn´t need thoose if you built one before it´s pretty simple in fact it is way easyer today then it was 15 years ago) on how to do it!! I say go for it it is fun and you feel good about yourself when you finished. I agree @ those who change their PC every other year or so it isn´t gonna make you a better musician. And if you must have 10000 plugins on every track and if you need 1000 tracks on every song something is wrong and you certainly must reconsider what you doing wrong when people before have used much less plugins and less tracks and still made great music.. I rarely have more than 30 tracks in a song and almost never more than 8 plugins on a track usually i only have 3-5 plugins..
@ xoso I know that I have been running x64 bit since I bought the computer and @ guitar maniac tbh I use kontakt the most mulitiout in presonus x64 its not like I use a million plugs maybe an eq here comp there reverb on a send but the computer running slow just on start up normal operation so I was going to clean install with new hard drives and ram @sine wave I'm at work but I can post the mobo when I get home
first of all: 64 bit os is a must, couse a real DAW needs at least 16 Gb ram (1600 type non ecc, kingston is a good choice, not so expensive), not less (buy two slots 8gb each, preparing to expand to 32) If you add: I7 processor (4770) Asu* mobo, any, but with z87 chipset: no need for special features or optionals, the basic one is sufficient a 250 gb SSD (*amsung is the best choice) a 2 TB 7200 rpm standard HD a basic video card te ensure a 1920 x 1600 res. (the mobo graphic one uses part of the ram, not good) a good and silent power unit: 550 W, if real, are more than sufficient Et voilà, you will have a PC able to work for the next 5 years with no problems, max reliability, and you will really see the difference. Available commercial products (if not fully customized), can't offer such configuration. If you buy on *mazon, also price will be good enough Mounting is really stupid proof, you can have some more difficulties in configuring uefi and os.
I guess I'd find out about motherboard specs and then go to a computer shop. A respectable store (at least in my country) will have service personnel that will assemble the rig for you for free not to void guarantee. Once you know which motherboard you want, the sales rep will match the right processor type, RAM, video card, bus adapters, and power supply/case for you. Once that is sorted out, you go for accessories that are risk free for sure, like peripherals. If you buy a motherboard, get the once that takes up the most RAM at the highest clocking speed you can afford. I'd use YouTube advice as a starting point and to cross reference specs, but not as real guidance. Like it was said before, I'd start off with my existing PC. Ask a rep if your motherboard is up to the task of upgrading the processor and so on. Just my 2 cents. I don't do PCs anymore (no Mac vs PC rants). Happy upgrading.
The x64 rant was to the person who was saying W7 32bit would work. Not to the original topic. As for a million things it doesn't even take that. My last studio comp was a quadcore with only 6 gigs of ram, and after using just Superior Drummer 2/NI amped bass/v-metal/ and a cheapo synth vst Most of that 6 gigs was 80% taken and my cpu usually sat in the high 80's if not 90's with a master on the main effects channel [writing template] So it really doesn't take much. Plus some libraries and effects vst are horrible cpu hogs and at memory. As for kontakt while writing I always have full settings on so I can hear the best quality i can while writing. Which means I tell kontakt not to drop any notes or anything like that. Anyway, in my area I have a "side job" of helping musicians build the best studios they can for dirt cheap prices because "real studios" around here charge rape prices for relatively crappy end products. So I'd rather get them the best and cheapest solution then charge a little bit for the basic training how to do it themselves. I guess the whole "give a man a fish he'll eat for a day, teach a man to fish..." kinda thing. Basically to the point where the only outside money they have to spend is on someone to properly mix/master their tracks. I started doing this after an old band that I had left got charged like 16k to record an album that sounded horrible. Their next album with my help Cost less than 1k [max needs] and their next album came out sounding pro. I was raised in an old school studio with rack mounts to the ceiling, mixers the size of conference tables etc. Point is my father spend $100,000's on his studio and being able to show him it could all be replaced for so little with so little blew his mind. With the digital recording revolution there are still alot of people trying to act like massive amounts of money still need to be spent on worthless things, So I try to educate people on the simplicity of things and to stay away from nonsense hype that it all still costs and arm and a leg. Anyway, as for the Solid State drives. They work well, but are very expensive at this moment and for most DAW users not worth it. Getting a regular sata drive with a good rpm and proper storage seems to be smarter for most. But I wont lie I have a 1tb SSD who's only purpose is to keep my massive amount of kontakt/SDX libraries on for writing, but there isn't much difference in the performance between that and my 1.5tb sata hd that used to house them.
http://reviews.cnet.com/desktops/hp-pavilion-p6330f-core/4507-3118_7-33955886.html heres a link with the specs i could find this is the comp i have would a ssd even work? could i upgrade the proc? do i even need to? should i get more ram it says its able to go up to 16gb i only have six right now (whats some good ram?) i was thinking about a 240 gb ssd with a hybrid behind it or just a regular but it comes with a tb hard drive already could i use all three ssd/hybrid/tb factory?i want to have my kontakt librarys on the internal because they seem to load faster there on a 2tb seagate 3.0 but to be honest we just moved and it might not be in a 3.0 usb i havnt checked if i done the 240 gb ssd could i load plug ins on the hybrid or would i only be able to load the libraries from there?i know presonus x64(which i maily use) lets u choose multiple folders to search for vst http://h20565.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/kb/docDisplay/?sp4ts.oid=4079858&spf_p.tpst=kbDocDisplay&spf_p.prp_kbDocDisplay=wsrp-navigationalState%3DdocId%253Demr_na-c01969881-30%257CdocLocale%253D%257CcalledBy%253D&javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken heres a link for the mobo thats in it with better specs http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core-i7-930-2-80-GHz-Quad-Core-Processor-8-MB-Cache-Socket-LGA1366-CPU-/221375236510?pt=CPUs&hash=item338afe099e found this but says it needs heat grease? or something like that and a heat sink fan? so i need a new fan or upgrade my old one?
