As you can see my poor old trusty notebook (specs below) is struggling to run many tracks especially when I add effects
I'm gonna keep it for gigs (BIAB backtrax) and invest in a new desktop for my studio
Any advice on a powerful desktop that will grow with me?
I am very quality conscious

Assuming a name brand vendor (such as HP or Dell, etc) I would buy the fastest processor I could afford, but with the least amount of memory and smallest hard drive they have. I would then order the memory hard drive space I wanted from somewhere like newegg.com.

I remember when I bought my HP, it came standard with 2GB RAM. I wanted 4GB RAM. HP wanted something like $200 to increase from 2GB to 4GB. Instead, I took the 2GB box, went to NewEgg and purchased 4GB for about $80 and it's worked great ever since. I took the $120 savings and purchased the sound card I wanted. I think for hard drives, I ended up expanding my disk space for about half of what HP wanted to charge.

But that's just me and I have no problem rooting around inside the computer case.

plotzie.
see my tips in the tips n triks section.
lotsa info. save me retyping lots plus i'm not well. . flu.

I always build my own. If you buy all the parts at the same place and not some off beat stuff it is really easy. The last one has ran like a champ for 7 years.

Try Newegg for this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/NewProduct.aspx?Item=N82E16883107984

That is a quad core AMD processor, with tons of RAM and a 750GB hard drive. You can add a 500GB hard drive for about $70.

The power supply is 300 watt no name, and I would recommend upgrading that to something a little more powerful, say a 500 watt or something in that range.

No PCI slots, so if you have a PCI sound card, don't buy this. It has only PCI-e, on x16 for graphics and 2 or three x1 for everything else. Asus makes the Xonar D2X sound card which has PCI-e. There are really only three manufacturers of computer sound cards that support PCI-e, and that's Creative, Asus and AuzenTech, and AuzenTech still uses Creative chips. I like my Asus card, it offers 7.1, coaxial and optical digital ins and outs. It is expensive, however. If you're going to go Firewire <shudders> or USB <semi-shudder> then you should be pretty well off, as far as your audio interface goes.

If you're planning on gaming on this system, it'll support lower end games, WoW, Second Life, Sims, but if you want to run COD4, Crysis, etc., you're going to need to do a major upgrade to the video system.

Or, if you don't mind building your own, you can start here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.311917


...and work your way down.

If you're handy with a screwdriver, and know your way around the inside of a computer, you might try something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.319352

You'll still need some extras, like a CPU cooling fan:
I like Zalman. http://www.newegg.com/Product/NewProduct.aspx?Item=N82E16835118056

You'll need a video card, but for audio only, and not gaming, that's not a huge issue:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/NewProduct.aspx?Item=N82E16814102843

Something like that would be a good, general video card, if you want to go blow up some people when you're not making music.

Finally, you'll need an OS.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/NewProduct.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754

Your choice on 32 bit or 64 bit, but 64 bit takes advantage of everything in that package.

Gary

There are so many choices out there...

If you want to shop for systems that are pre-packaged for music apps, check out musiciansfriend.com

http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/computers-peripherals

If you are going with components, another good place to shop is tigerdirect.com. They also have everything from bare bones systems to top of the line gaming machines. Usually they are pretty competitive.

Good luck.

Of course, the other issue is that our OP lives in Johannasburg, South Africa. Somehow I don't think either Newegg or Musician's Friend is delivering there.

However, the stuff that we've posted can at least be an example of what we might suggest.

Gary

Thanks guys for your valued advice. I have purchased an HP with 3 year 24hr response onsite warranty
Processor type Intel® Core™2 Quad Q8400 Processor
• 2.66 GHz, 4 MB L2 cache, 1333 MHz front side bus (with Win 7 64bit) I'll soon upgrade to 8 mb
I got this at a Ridiculous price. Also a 20"LCD monitor
I'm gonna run my Compaq notebook at gigs with BIAB 2010
Thanx again

plotzie
as soon as you get your new system run dpc latency checker on it n
strip stuff out that might cause red spikes.

http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml

also spend an extra 70 buks and install a second drive 7200 rpm
with 32 mb cache as a dedicated recording drive.
thats what i would do.

Txs a mill. I have just downloaded the latency checker and I already have a Seagate USB 500gb HDD. What do you mean by "dedicated recording drive"?
My new PC will only be used for BB/RB/Reaper etc. No games or mail etc

Sometimes it is a good idea to have a second drive on the system so you can store all the audio and midi data there. This leave the primary drive to run the programs, and allows it to stream the music files from the second drive. If the mother board has two drive busses, and most do this helps out the process.

Thax all for valued advice. As you can see I have my new gear up and running. Not one error (BB,RB M-Audio Fast track pro) All on Win 7 64 bit
Regards
Plotzie