PC Soundcards?

[nbarts]

How much are you willing to spend on your sound card?

I'd like to see your parts list, pricing and vendor for putting a complete DAW together for $200.

+1.

 

[Bob Savage]

This is nothing out of the ordinary. Anyone could do it. My friend did the same just recently and used this type of setup to make an extremely high end complete PC for games, and with a monitor, I don't think it was even $1,000.

Perhaps you missed that I've been building PC's for *years*! I understand the simplicity of it. I understand the ability to hand pick components. I also did comparative pricing and buying the dell cost me less money than building a comparable system would have. Trust me, I did my homework on this and I've built many a DAW for myself and friends.

 

[redrol]

My DAW consists of:

ASUS P5B deluxe Intel 965 mobo ~100
Intel Core 2 Duo 6750 2.66ghz 4MB cache ~180
4GB Corsair XMS DDR2 RAM ~100
150GB WD Raptor 10k RPM HD ~160
M-Audio Delta Audiophile 192 (2ins/2outs/midi/spdif) ~170
M-Audio USB Mic Pre in stand alone mode ~100
KRK RP8 and RP5 (front and rear) ~375 and ~300
Enermax 420 silent PSU ~85
Coolermaster Centurion Case ~50

I get 1ms latency No glitches, pops, or whatever.

oh and I use XP because its best for DAWs now

this computer kicks fucking ass

 

[OneArmedScissor]

The hard drive I am using is some old, cheap 120GB Hitachi, and I have an M-Audio Delta 1010LT and Geforce 6600GT, all of which I bought years ago and never felt the need to upgrade, despite none of it being anything special by today's standards.

Here's what I got for my friend, whose is slightly better than mine, but almost identical, and what I would have done if I hadn't been in dire need of a computer. Mine has the lower model of the processor, which is nearly identical, but gets stuck at about 3 gHz, the ASUS equivalent of his motherboard, and the same RAM, but not rated at as good of timings stock. My stuff that I actually use now I had to buy at stores around here, so I didn't get to pick and choose as much, but this all came from Newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819116052

That one will overclock beyond 3 gHz with the appropriate motherboard, just using the included POS heatsink, without even trying. You can probably get them to 4 gHz if you're retarded enough, as it's actually identical to the upper end Core 2 Duos, just with less L2 cache and the clock set low stock.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820145034

Cheap as hell, but still good for using with an overclocked system.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813128050

It was actually the model one step lower, which was maybe $30 cheaper, but it mysteriously vanished. I'd probably get that one now, anyways, because it barely costs any more, and technically supports a 1600 mHz front side bus, which should work with new processors for years to come.

He also got a Geforce 8800GT, a 22" monitor, 250GB HD, and of course a case, power supply, DVD writer, and whatever else I may be leaving out, and like I said, I think it was under $1,000. While this may not be recording related at all, he can play that ridiculous Crysis game with the graphics maxed, which is one of the most demanding things I could think of.

And this wasn't hard to set up, either, even though its performance is pretty much a product of significant overclocking. I just turned the front side bus speed up, and left the rest on automatic to adjust for it, and it was fine.

With my setup, I can run something like 80-90 Waves plug-ins, most of them being CPU hogging compressors, reverbs, vocoders, and whatnot, before it becomes overloaded. I may have reused some stuff, but the computer essentially only cost $200. To make the entire thing, sans a recording interface, probably could have been done for $350.

 

[Bob Savage]

My DAW consists of:

ASUS P5B deluxe Intel 965 mobo ~100
Intel Core 2 Duo 6750 2.66ghz 4MB cache ~180
4GB Corsair XMS DDR2 RAM ~100
150GB WD Raptor 10k RPM HD ~160
Enermax 420 silent PSU ~85
Coolermaster Centurion Case ~50

Does your mobo have onboard video? Your list equals what I paid for the Dell except I got an OS with it and you got more RAM.

 

[Bob Savage]

I don't think anybody is going to be convinced either way. In the end, I'm totally satisfied with my $675 Dell.

 

[OneArmedScissor]

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with yours, as it's probably already more than 99% of people may ever need, but I can guarantee you that you can still make one yourself that's both cheaper and better.

 

[redrol]

My DAW consists of:

ASUS P5B deluxe Intel 965 mobo ~100
Intel Core 2 Duo 6750 2.66ghz 4MB cache ~180
4GB Corsair XMS DDR2 RAM ~100
150GB WD Raptor 10k RPM HD ~160
Enermax 420 silent PSU ~85
Coolermaster Centurion Case ~50

Does your mobo have onboard video? Your list equals what I paid for the Dell except I got an OS with it and you got more RAM.

Er no, forgot that, I used a cheapo ATI for about ~65. I would expect my computer to last 2x longer than a similar priced dell because the parts are top quality. Also it should be faster due to the 10k hard drive. I got the motherboard on a open box deal but it was ~200 retail. Also the WD hard drive was on holiday sale.

 

[Bob Savage]

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with yours, as it's probably already more than 99% of people may ever need, but I can guarantee you that you can still make one yourself that's both cheaper and better.

I disagree with "cheaper and better" otherwise I'd still be building. We're going to have to agree to disagree.

 

[redrol]

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with yours, as it's probably already more than 99% of people may ever need, but I can guarantee you that you can still make one yourself that's both cheaper and better.

I disagree with "cheaper and better" otherwise I'd still be building. We're going to have to agree to disagree.

I'm not going to try and make up your mind but dells are hardly good quality. While they may run they use whatever parts they have on hand (much like the old marshalls) and they can be good quality or poor. I run a computer business and I can say this with complete certainty. These days I am more likely to spend money on something that will last a long time than something that can overclock whatever. I also don't buy stuff because it is cheap,I buy it because it is good.

I did not rebuy XP because you can simply call ms and reactivate it on new hardware... just say your mobo blew out... protip

 

[Bob Savage]

Does your mobo have onboard video? Your list equals what I paid for the Dell except I got an OS with it and you got more RAM.

Er no, forgot that, I used a cheapo ATI for about ~65. I would expect my computer to last 2x longer than a similar priced dell because the parts are top quality. Also it should be faster due to the 10k hard drive.[/quote]

With the performance of 7200 RMP drives these days, unless you're writing some ridiculous amount of tracks to disk at once, there speed difference will not be perceivable because you can either write to disk fast enough, or not.

Perhaps this is where I'm different. I don't particularly care about an overspec'd system. I can run 40+ track projects on my PC loaded up with channel inserts, sub-mix inserts and even master inserts all on a Vista PC that has antivirus, networking and other "normal" services running, without issue. I'm writing a max of 16 tracks to disk at a time so disk speed isn't an issue either.

 

[Bob Savage]

I'm not going to try and make up your mind but dells are hardly good quality. While they may run they use whatever parts they have on hand (much like the old marshalls) and they can be good quality or poor. I run a computer business and I can say this with complete certainty. These days I am more likely to spend money on something that will last a long time than something that can overclock whatever. I also don't buy stuff because it is cheap,I buy it because it is good.

I did not rebuy XP because you can simply call ms and reactivate it on new hardware... just say your mobo blew out... protip

I oversee an infrastructure with somewhere between 8,000-10,000 Dell PC's, so I'm well aware of their performance and quality.

 

[redrol]

Does your mobo have onboard video? Your list equals what I paid for the Dell except I got an OS with it and you got more RAM.

Er no, forgot that, I used a cheapo ATI for about ~65. I would expect my computer to last 2x longer than a similar priced dell because the parts are top quality. Also it should be faster due to the 10k hard drive.

With the performance of 7200 RMP drives these days, unless you're writing some ridiculous amount of tracks to disk at once, there speed difference will not be perceivable because you can either write to disk fast enough, or not.

Perhaps this is where I'm different. I don't particularly care about an overspec'd system. I can run 40+ track projects on my PC loaded up with channel inserts, sub-mix inserts and even master inserts all on a Vista PC that has antivirus, networking and other "normal" services running, without issue. I'm writing a max of 16 tracks to disk at a time so disk speed isn't an issue either.[/quote]

You are completely ignoring the fact that the WD Raptor is rated for continuous use ala Enterprise style. They have a 5 year waranty and in my experience they last a lot longer. No really. Long after a bog standard consumer 7200rpm drive dies, the raptor will still be going. I have to replace HD's all day long and in my opinion the hard drive is the most important part of a system.

You call the system overspec'd but I call it good quality.

As far as speed issues, if you don't notice it, then you probably shouldn't care but I do. It isn't about maximum tracks for me, its about concurrent usage, doing something with 4 programs at once and not having lags or skips.

 

[Bob Savage]

I feel as if I'm being evangelized.

I've been doing IT for a living many years now. I've built many DAWs. I understand what's up. I like my current approach.

 

[tweed]

I feel as if I'm being evangelized.

I've been doing IT for a living many years now. I've built many DAWs. I understand what's up. I like my current approach.

I hear ya Bob. The idea of not having to deal with putting it together is very attractive. I used to really enjoy putting together my own systems. Its hard to go wrong with a prebuilt these days. Just the OS will run 2 or 3 hundred bucks. That alone is worth the price of addmission. Plus a warranty, etc...

 

[Stratboy151]

i dont know exactly what you want or what you wanna spend, but when i had a PC DAW i was using the m-audio omnistudio, im not even sure its made anymore? i actually still have it sitting in my closet if you'd be interested in it. when i ditched that setup and started using a laptop i bought a lexicon alpha, which is a USB audio interface, i really liked that unit and its sound quality was really good for the small price i paid for it.

 

[Shiny_Surface]

Good thread overall alot of useful(?) info came out of it, the makings of a classic

 

[Digital Jams]

I believe everyone remembers my 3-4 month hunt for a PC, I have built machines since 1996 and I could not match what I got from Cyberpower.....not even close. The only machines that you can save by building your own are the uber high end dork gamer machines, I am talking the insane Intel chips and SLI graphics machiines.

Agree with Bob, if you go Dell get the OS disc with no Dell recovery crap. You will also have to spend about 2-3 hours diving around to get the ram ulitization down under 400 gig at boot if you go Vista.

I will never build another machine from the looks of it in today's market.

 

[OneArmedScissor]

I did not rebuy XP because you can simply call ms and reactivate it on new hardware... just say your mobo blew out... protip

Hehe I've done that a few times. It's a hassle if you rely on that and you intend to be changing stuff around/formatting for whatever reason, though. I don't particularly enjoy trying to tell some Indian person 50 characters and then getting 50 of them back over and over and over. I guess that's pretty good built-in piracy protection hehe.

But if you actually use a pirated version, the really funny thing is that you can just not install the "Windows Genuine Advantage Notification tool," and it won't ever even hassle you when you do automatic updates.

 

[Bob Savage]

I don't particularly enjoy trying to tell some Indian person 50 characters and then getting 50 of them back over and over and over. I guess that's pretty good built-in piracy protection hehe.

LOL