Need a Windows PC for recording

Dave Merrill

Dave Merrill

Axe-Master
The ancient laptop I use for AxeEdit and as my not-a-lot-of-use-because-it's-ancient-and-slow-and-I'd-rather-play-guitar DAW is running Win 7, and it can't run anything newer. Win 7 is officially out of support shortly, won't get security updates, so it's a hazard.

Can anyone recommend a Windows machine, probably not a laptop, for not too much money, but ideally it'd be a reasonable DAW?
 
Fair question, but no absolute answer.
Powerful enough for some DAW and VSTI use, cheap enough that I won't hate myself.
I kind of doubt that $500 HP would do it, but may that's my preconceptions.
Or not...
 
My guess is that I'd get more bang for my buck and probably better updateability in a desktop or tower, not in a laptop.
 
We really cannot answer this without knowing your requirements. Maybe obvious, but for your pc being a reasonable DAW, take your DAW + plugin requirements as a starting point and go from there (i.e. What are the minimum requirements for using Cakewalk by BandLab, Avid Pro Tools). Then add some extra 'space' on top of the minimum requirements to be futureproof and stay a happy user for the coming five years (take the updated requirements for both your DAW and your OS into account).
I prefer a desktop/tower, and only if you want to be mobile get a laptop. Do you have or want an (external) audio interface (besides from the Axe)? That would add some extra bucks.
 
I would strongly second the desktop option. Laptops are always a compromise and, unless you truly require the portability won by this compromise, you will get better performance and longer life out of a desktop/tower.

As for what to buy, this will sound a tad geeky, <opinion> building a PC has gotten so easy these days that I would just spec out the processor and amount of RAM you want and work backwards from there. What you learn in doing the build will also serve you well in troubleshooting down the road.</opinion>
 
Thanks for chiming in folks.

This is all pretty seat of the pants at this point.
I've wanted to upgrade that computer for years, but money's tight, and in general I'd rather buy a guitar than a PC :)
I'm just coming to terms with the impending danger to Win7, not that it's a surprise, but I think I'm at the point where I actually need to act.

Re my needs, as much as I've spitballed them...

You'll note that I said desktop or tower myself, no convincing needed :)

I use Studio One primarily, though I've dabbled a bit with MixBus, and might want to check out Cakewalk.
I have a lot of plugins and VSTIs, though some of those need paid updates that I haven't bought because I couldn't use them on Win7, but they're probably required for Win 10 or 11.
I'm thinking 32G RAM to start, with room to expand if needed.

Relatively small system drive I'd think, maybe 500G.
Big drive(s) for samples, mostly Superior Drummer and a little BFD if it's still alive, I'm not much for samplers otherwise.
Haven't calculated that out yet, but I have a number of their libraries.
(Looking forward to reinstalling all that, not. Except that some of those installs were kind of a mess, so I actually am psyched to have that done.)
Big drive for audio too, maybe 2G to start.
Case needs to support at least that minimum of 3 drives, ideally with room for more.

I'm going to need at least one monitor too, since I'm coming from a laptop, probably one to start.
I might have a couple of ancient CRTs from my old PARIS rig somewhere, if they still work, but they heat up my not-huge room, and yuck.

For an interface, besides the Axe, I have two old Focusrites, a 2i2 and and 18i20, think I'm all set to start.
I'm direct w the Axe anyway, and my typical use case is just that, vocals (really?), maybe a tad of acoustic guitar and hand percussion.
No real drum kit, horn section, orchestra, etc.

Re building my own...
I theory I'm totally down with that, but I'm super short on time always, and can't afford to buy components, f them up and have to rebuy.
If I had an experienced local partner (Boston area), then maybe, but really, my time is limited.

Thanks again for any thoughts.
 
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Okay, based on everything I've read, I'll limit myself to a few observations that may make shopping easier. Studio One (and most modern DAWs) will benefit from:
1. CPU with higher clock speed and onboard cache rather than larger number of cores. (An i3 at a high clock speed may be comparable to a slower i7 with 24 cores.)
2. SSDs are cheap so I suggest one drive for system and applications, a drive for sample libraries and one for audio. (doh, I see you already said as much.)
3. USB-c is crazy fast. I keep my sample libraries and audio on external drives so I can quickly move a project between computers.
4. More RAM is always better*. I look for motherboards with more RAM slots. (*not necessarily valid for Apple silicone machines)
5. Monitors (like flat panel TVs) have plummeted in price recently and, in a pinch, you can always use an existing TV as a monitor.

Now, <opinion> I currently use two, purpose-built hackintoshes along with a new M1 Macbook and older Mac mini that acts as a backup file server in the studio. The new M1 Mac minis are cheap and stupid powerful. If you don't require any specialized PCI cards, don't have any Windows-only software, and are dead-set against building your own PC, I think you will be hard pressed to find a faster, more reliable and cheaper solution.</opinion>
 
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Rock Chalk said:
The reason I keep asking about the budget is, that is the only way anybody can know what to suggest for you. I mean, a guy could spend
four or five grand on this if he wanted to, or a lot less, depending on the budget. And, as already noted, you would get much more bang for your buck by building one yourself…..therefore being future proof for longer. It’s not rocket science…..(building one) it’s actually pretty simple to do.
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Understood, both about needing to know the budget, which I don't, and that DIY is most efficient monetarily.

For off the shelf, the question is, what do I need to spend do it doesn't suck to use. I'm aware that that's not a spec, but it's what I've got.

markwayne said:
Okay, based on everything I've read, I'll limit myself to a few observations that may make shopping easier. Studio One (and most modern DAWs) will benefit from:
1. CPU with higher clock speed and onboard cache rather than larger number of cores. (An i3 at a high clock speed may be comparable to a slower i7 with 24 cores.)
2. SSDs are cheap so I suggest one drive for system and applications, a drive for sample libraries and one for audio. (doh, I see you already said as much.)
3. USB-c is crazy fast. I keep my sample libraries and audio on external drives so I can quickly move a project between computers.
4. More RAM is always better*. I look for motherboards with more RAM slots. (*not necessarily valid for Apple silicone machines)
5. Monitors (like flat panel TVs) have plummeted in price recently and, in a pinch, you can always use an existing TV as a monitor.

Now, <opinion> I currently use two, purpose-built hackintoshes along with a new M1 Macbook and older Mac mini that acts as a backup file server in the studio. The new M1 Mac minis are cheap and stupid powerful. If you don't require any specialized PCI cards, don't have any Windows-only software, and are dead-set against building your own PC, I think you will be hard pressed to find a faster, more reliable and cheaper solution.</opinion>
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I actually have a really ancient hackintosh 68k in my basement. Never was great, and I'd eat my hat if it still boots.

A mini has crossed my mind. Thing is, no offense intended, but I cannot stand Apple's walled garden and ubiquitous magic. Plus, I do have a fair amount of Windows only stuff, including freeware that's never going to make it to Mac, and there's much more of that for Windows. Plus also I'd have so much to relearn, or excavate from my increasingly opaque cranium. Not worth it IMO. Probably. Might be way cheaper than anything else though.
 
Go i7 or faster, 64GB RAM. You'll outgrow a 500GB drive in no time.
Go 1TB SSD (preferably larger). Once you start loading up Programs,
especially Plug-ins with content, it can fill up fast.
 
Dave Merrill said:
Re building my own...
I theory I'm totally down with that, but I'm super short on time always, and can't afford to buy components, f them up and have to rebuy.
If I had an experienced local partner (Boston area), then maybe, but really, my time is limited.

Thanks again for any thoughts.
Click to expand...

Head to your local Micro Center and find a really knowledgeable guy in the PC parts dept. Tell them what you are looking to do and they will physically walk you through buying all the parts needed and you can have the tower built and tested by Micro Center. You can get a killer machine built for under $1,500.
 
Oh, I understand your reaction to Apple's, shall we say, hyper-controlling nature. That's part of the reason I started building my own Macs as soon as they transitioned to Intel processors. I also have Windows machines and a slew of Chrome devices in the house.

The Apple silicone-based mini suggestion is purely based on price versus performance for off-the-shelf computers. They are truly amazing little beasts.
 
I'll also reiterate that DAW architecture does not tend to make the best use of multiple threads/cores. Go for raw clock speed over number of cores unless you are a gamer and/or doing a lot of video editing. (You can always swap the CPU later if your needs change.)

<opinion>If you can edit an Axe and wire a pedal board, you can build a computer.</opinion>
 
As much RAM as you can get and an SSD hard drive would be the two things I would consider must haves. Today's processor speeds will run most DAWs without any problem. I really like the AMD Ryzen 7 2700x computer a friend of mine built for me. I don't do a ton of recording or mastering but I use Ableton Live 10 and 11 mastering up to 16 tracks at a time and have had no issues.
 
This is a great thread. I was recently working with some mastering plug-ins, and the resulting rendered recording had a big glitch in it; so I've been considering a new machine as well. The posts in this thread are very helpful, and the suggestions close to what I had already spec'd. I had not, however, considered building my own; so I need to look into that. It's been at least a decade and a half since I last did that.
 
I recently bought a Dell XPS 17 i9, 32 GB ram, 2 x 1TB SSD. It was $2700, and is ripping fast. I only buy a laptop every 7-8 years, so it was worth it for me. It’s primarily my business laptop, but has plenty of power for AV uses, and plenty of screen space. I was planning on replacing my “music” iMac 27 with a Mac Studio next year, but this Dell might do for both.

Just throwing it out for your pricing comparisons.
 
I'll just throw out my last hackintosh build as a low-end price point comparison. It's built around a 3.7 GHz i5 with 6 cores and 32 gig of RAM which screams with Logic Pro, Pro Tools or Cubase. I have never come close to maxing it out on some very large projects (100 plus tracks with dozens of VIs).

It cost me just under $700 in parts and, by far, the hardest part of the build was sourcing and editing kernel extensions to get everything working with the latest Mac OS.

It is more than fast enough for my needs but gets left in the dust by my new M1-based Apple Macbook.
 
I had Newegg build my computer.

They did a great job. It’s been running like butter and handling everything I can throw at it for a year and a half now. No crashes.

windows 10
AMD processor…Ryzen 5?
32 Gb RAM
500gb ssd system drive (I wish I had gotten 1 tb)
2tb Samples drive (one of the fast NVMe drives…Samsung?)

Anyway, it can handle a ton of virtual instrument tracks and mix plugins without a hiccup.
 
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