Studio computer..

Nutek

Nutek

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Apr 2, 2008
Location
Hampshire
What kind of machine could I custom build for £300? My computer is holding me and my production back, I use fruity loops and even if I have my buffer rate at around 15,000 I still get jerky/stuttering audio. I want to be able to run up to 10 VST's and automate as much shit as I want. I'll probably never need 10 VST's but It would be nice to be able to :twisted:

If anybody could help compile a list of things I need to buy or whatever that would be great, I know a little bit about computer insides and have fitted memory and graphics cards etc so I'm not completely useless..

Muchos gracias amigos!
 
My budget was 500 (not including os) and that was a year ago so it'll probably be pretty out of date, but I did find e-buyer handy as hell to browse and check out prices. Got most of my bits & bobs through them in the end.

My list was: case, rear case fan, power supply, dvd drive, hard drive (2), motherboard, ram, cpu, cpu cooler fan, thermal paste, anti static mat, tool kit.

I spent ages reading up about how to do it all on the net, can't remember half of it now but it went ok.
 
what specs does it have mate? how much was the case? i think i will just use my current case to keep costs down (if thats possible?!)
 
oooh good idea actuallyas i plan to eventually get on logic one day, i'll check out the prices/specs
 
The case was 52 quid, coolermaster elite with power supply. It will depend on what motherboard you want to use and if it fits in the case that you have.

The rest, Asus P5Q EM mb, seagate 500 gb hd and 80 gb hd, OCZ 4 gb ram, intel Q8300 (2.5 ghz quad)

Only on board graphics so no games, but I'm not bothered about that. Handles plenty of tracks and vsts, fx, whatever.
 
300£ aint going to buy you a machine that can drive dozens of vsts. For that money you should check how much you can upgrade your current setup, that can carry you a bit further and still save you some money. What kind of a machine do you have now?
 
I just googled the first uk computers retail and looked up these:

HP 2GB 800MHz DDR2 PC2-6400 Unbuffered ECC SDRAM DIMM (1 * 2GB) (0.5 Kg) x2
Gigabyte GA-G41M-ES2L Socket LGA775 motherboard (0.5 Kg)
Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 Socket LGA775 Processor (0.38 Kg)
=just over 300£

There you would have a machine that could run a lot of vsts (because of quad-core CPU) and handle big files as well (that's where the SDRAM memory comes in).
Quad core would be your minimum standard that could carry you to the future as well because all DAWs are moving towards threaded (multicore) processing.
The Motherboard has a graphics chip built in so you wouldn't have to buy that separately.

That package doesn't include some things you need for a working computer like a hard drive, dvd and obviously the case itself. You'd have to use your old ones and upgrade as you can afford it - also you'd have to be sure that the parts are interchangeable and that your old pars still fit the new parts as well. But if researched thoroughly anyone can pull it off.
 
riisu said:
Two words: bounce to audio.
Click to expand...

its three words. and if you got a shitty pc like mine, that doesnt help you.. if you cant put down a riff with 2 different synth combining each other while drums are playing, you can bounce down how often and however you want, you will not get it perfect.

and to the specs. a quad with 4 gigs of ram is more than youll ever need on FL - was at a mates yesterday and we could render 2 songs while hearing a third, also finished tune..
 
riisu said:
Two words: bounce to audio.
Click to expand...

thats three... and nutek mate, chack out dell outlet... they are returned stock, ex display stuff that is in perfect working order just loads cheaper (if ya dont mind a scuff one the case or the fact it was returned once?)... abslute bargains to be had!
 
Look for ads of people doing studio clearouts aswel, some old G5 macs and stuff of that sort of age go for silly money, you'll get more for your money that way.
 
subprime said:
Probably true, but I'm sure future vsts will be geared towards using multi cores and loads of cpu so it can't hurt.
Click to expand...

yeah, youre right. within a home computer youd defo be on the right track by buying a big quad and loads of ram. i ended up buying a laptop with 2x2ghz and 2 gigs ddr3 for just ~300 pounds to use for production. im at various places a lot atm, so that was the bonus of the laptop, but apart from that it should handle all my tasks with care, dont think ill have to upgrade too soon again.

intended to buy one for years too ^^

and on topic again, dunno how the prices at the uk are, but assuming theyre not very different, i designed a home pc within my research aswell. was an 4x2.3ghz amd, 4 gigs of ram, random hdd, case, dvd burner - ended up costing about 350€. and as you have a case and so on, you should be well done with like 250€.
 
i built mine for £400 roughly... and 10 vsts is no problem whatsoever, obviously some plugs use a hell of alot more juice than others but 10 is nothing

in one of my latest tracks, by the time it was finished i had shit loads of samples loaded (i cant tell you how many but it was alot)... a few VSTi's.... and over 70 VST effects plugs going...... i have to crack the latency buffer up to about 512-1024ms to play it without glitches but it does play fine when i do

i very rarely bounce to audio, i dont like committing to audio until track is ready for final mix

for my 400 i got....

intel q6600 g0 2.4ghz quad processor

a half decent msi p35 motherboard

2 x 1gig ocz ram

500g barracuda HD

dvd burner

antec sonata III case with 500w psu

and a cheapy gfx card with two monitor outputs


it could have been done cheaper... for starters, the case cost about £80... i could have bought a cheap case and seperate psu. the gfx card and dvd burner were not necessary.... and the other components were hardly the cheapest available, but i paid a bit more for better quality
 
riisu said:
Two words: It's called sarcasm idiots.
Click to expand...

i would say it was a play on words... sarcasm wouldn't apply in this context?

sar·casm [sahr-kaz-uhm]
–noun
1.harsh or bitter derision or irony.
2.a sharply ironical taunt; sneering or cutting remark:

i would say it was neither?
 
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