Ableton Forum

Finally looking at getting a desktop pc to replace my aging laptop, but not trying to blow a lot of cash or buy some fancy "music-pc" or crazy expensive alienware stuff--just a workhorse bang-for-buck pc. Any suggestions for what make/model to get, or what websites to look on???

I've been out of the desktop pc game for ages...I know I could just go to best buy or dell.com or something, but wanted to see if ppl here might have some suggestions for even more bang-for-buck options.

Is it safe to assume Live 8 works fine on a Windows 7 machine?

Sorry if these are stupid questions, I don't have tons of time to research and figured I'd get the straight dope here, thanks!

I got a Dell, i7-860, 8GB DDR3, 1TB 7200rpm, Win7 64-bit last December for about a thousand bucks, and it's been serving me very well for Live work.

of you don't want to build one your self
i'd say find a friend that can build commputers
or find a local shop that will build to spec..

here are some online stores for parts and packages
http://www.tigerdirect.com/
http://www.newegg.com/

just got a Dell Studio XPS 7100. $820 shipped with a discount (sorry, you didn't say what you were looking to spend, $820 isn't pocket change.) scored an 18% on the Performance Test. at 48kHz I can monitor guitar through it, no problem.

check the performance test thread for more details.

thanks all! I think $800 is right at my target price range, thanks Tone! Dude, maybe I should just get a Dell?!? Will check the newegg business as well, some good deals on that site!

to Dell or not to Dell? on this forum I get the impression that just as many people vote for Dell as against, same with any mfg. same with mac vs pc. I guess I'd say get what you think works best, that way if it doesn't work out you aren't left with the feeling of "why did I listen to that guy?"

it's pretty cool how 4, 6 and 8 core machines are the norm. the horsepower is smooth.

btw my price was w/o a monitor.

nice to see you surface again, hope all's funky.

thanks, Tone. Dell is solid--I do pc IT at work and we've had 10 Dell's rocking for three years no problems (surely just jinxed myself)....Word, the horsepower of my wife's new window's 7 $500 Asus from Best Buy has me hankering for more power, can't wait! Figured w.out monitor, thx, got that big Hanns-G 29" from newegg for $300 already--amazing!!! Yeah, all is way funky, good to jump back in the fray here once and awhile, been too busy with all sorts of stuff be around as much as I used to--good to hear from you, hope you're enjoying our SF summer now!!!

Horsepower is so cheap these days, you don't really need to do much research. Go to Best Buy and grap an i5 or i7 machine in your price range and hit the ground running. Unless you enjoy building your own machine, I wouldn't bother spec'ing it out piece by piece. You can save money that way, but not much, and unless you're looking to set up a RAID array or something you really don't need anything special to make music on your PC.

I've also had 8 Dells (5 desktops, 3 laptops) and 7 of them have been stellar. The 8th had a couple of issues but they were decent enough customer service wise to get it repaired without hassle.

skipkent wrote:Horsepower is so cheap these days, you don't really need to do much research. Go to Best Buy and grap an i5 or i7 machine in your price range and hit the ground running. Unless you enjoy building your own machine, I wouldn't bother spec'ing it out piece by piece. You can save money that way, but not much, and unless you're looking to set up a RAID array or something you really don't need anything special to make music on your PC.

it is really cool.

but I've always felt that the more horsepower the hardware guys create the more bloat the software guys will create.




funny thing about multi-core is that most apps run about as fast as before, you can run more of them at once.

Here is the PC i'm about to build: https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySa ... D=14259092

I think it will be rock solid and be on par with $3000 specially built "DAW PCs"

carpekd wrote:Here is the PC i'm about to build: https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySa ... D=14259092

I think it will be rock solid and be on par with $3000 specially built "DAW PCs"

Can't see it, you have to log in.

I'm too lazy to create an account. :p