OK talked to the parents a bit more, they say they're gonna give me a budget of £500.

Which is fair enough, since they wouldn't want to spend anything more since producing is just a hobby of mine, and they're more worried about me being able to do uni work and so on.

I'd basically need all the hardware (including monitor keyboard mouse etc) within that budget. My dad reckons he'll be able to borrow discs for Windows (and also software like Office, etc.) from his work so that's not a problem.

I know it's enough to get a decent (non-specialised) PC, but what's the best I could get for audio? I'm guessing it's in terms of processing power and memory more than anything else, hard discs these days seem to be fairly cheap.

Is a decent audio soundcard essential? And a good graphics card?

My bro recommended www.aria.co.uk for components.


And by the way, the budget is kinda provisional. Say I find a job during the summer and save up some money, I'd be able to afford something better. But just go with the £500 for now.

Thanks, Simon

hay simon!!

i recommed you to save a littlebit more money and buy a deasent pc...
i did like you and i bought cheap pc witch was ok then.. but when new games and apps came to stores ...my pc couldnt run them..

___________________
-keep it hard-

That should be just enough money to get a good PC.

The only thing not included in this is the cost of a monitor. I would recommened a 17" CRT as apposed to a TFT. Apart from graphic applications, the core of the system could handle any auidio applications currently on the market quiet easily.

Hey thanks for that, that looks like a pretty nice setup for the price

If I still need to save money I could take down the price of the CD drive a bit, don't know how much I'd need dual layer DVD writing and all that...

Still undecided about the monitor, CRT would be cheaper for a bigger one (bigger resolution etc), but TFT would be good seeing as I'll be in a student bedroom and space will probably be at a premium (especially if I wanna fit my decks/mixer/hi-fi somewhere too!)

But overall, thanks a lot for the help guys. The way things will go, it'll probably be at least a couple of months before I actually get the computer, maybe prices will change but I've got a much better idea of what kind of setup I'll be looking at now. Also gives me time to possibly save up a bit more money towards it.

Last thing for now- mentioned it a couple of posts ago I think but no reply so far. Is it necessary for me to get a good soundcard, too? I really have no idea how it works, if there's gonna be any built-in audio at all (I mean core audio or whatever, not speakers ) with such a setup as the one below. And if i have to get a soundcard, I might as well make it a proper audio one.

that looks like a decent gaming system but its not something i would use for production, but then i wouldnt be looking at pcs for production anyway :P a decent sound card would be a good start

No decent gaming system would use a Radeon 9550, so it's far from a gaming system. I'm running the exact same system with only 512mb of RAM, and it runs anything I throw at it. Also to point out that it's new, and alot better then the top of the line systems people were using to make GREAT tracks on here a year or so ago (ie. P4 2.8's). So it's more then capable of doing any job, or running any music app easily.

The only time you would need a good soundcard is if you were recording from external sources: synths, mics, samplers. That mother board has onboard AC97 audio which does the job fine in terms of playback. The soundquality is equal to that of a pro soundcard, EXCEPT in recording, which is the only reason you would need a pro soundcard anyway.

I'll try and find a post by Derivative. Apart from saving me typing time, he always seems to make great points about not needing a pro ($400+) soundcard.

i guess i play different games to you then :P, but i do see where you are coming from.

In terms of sound card it kind of seams stupid to use decent speakers on a crappy sound card, i wouldnt want to be plugging in my hd-25s to onboard sound but then i wouldnt be spending $400 on an audio card either, i guess it comes down to buying what sounds good enough for you.

In terms of cpu both AMD and intels have their advantages and disadvantages, for gaming i would go AMD without a doubt but for production i would consider intel, sure they are more expensive but intels are really better at running production stuff like multiple vsts (actually i would choose a powerpc cpu but obviously that isnt an option here)

Regarding crt vs lcd, i would pick crt for gaming and lcd for pretty much everything else, the only restraint of lcd is that you are stuck with a certain resolution, besides that they take up less space, less power and i find them much easier to stare at for large periods of time than crts (i havent stared at a crt monitor for several years so perhaps they are easier to use for hours now)

anyway that was what i ment about being a gaming pc rather than a production pc

The fact is you don't a good sound card unless you're recording from external sources. Even with top of the line Mackie monitors, you don't need a $500 sound card, as the output of all cards these days are exactly the same. With an expensive sound card, all you're paying for are good inputs.

http://www.tranceaddict.com/forums/...2sound+cards%22

Good thread to read about whether you need a good soundcard. Also to note is Armana signed Sean Walsh's reply on the $40 sound card he uses.

The Radeon 9550 is a cheap card I chose for a production PC that may occasionly get used to play games from 3-4 years ago faily well (50fps +). Just don't expect it to be able to run DOOM 3 or the latest games comfortably

As for the CPU war, AMD well and truly are on top right now. Take any Intel CPU and there will be a cheaper AMD cpu that can beat it everywhere. For his current price range, taking everything he said into account, the AMD 64 3000+ is the best buy. If there was more money to throw away, I'd advise on an 3500+. Even tho spending that much on a CPU right now seems an absurd waste of money for what I would label as minor gains in production performance ie. you may be able to run an extra 3 vsti's ontop of the 15 you arleady have running.

Totally agree with the stuff in that thread, i never said you needed a $500 sound card just what is good enough for you to work with, and personally i cant stand any onboard audio i have come across so far, especially for anything to do with production

i just saw that intel have started to incorporate trusted computing technologies into their cpus and chipsets thats enough to make me boycot them but then its probably not long till amd will start doing it too :S

who is sean walsh?

quote:

Originally posted by Rob That should be just enough money to get a good PC. The only thing not included in this is the cost of a monitor. I would recommened a 17" CRT as apposed to a TFT. Apart from graphic applications, the core of the system could handle any auidio applications currently on the market quiet easily.

if you gonna produce .... probably up the ram to 1 gig

quote:

Originally posted by Nic Totally agree with the stuff in that thread, i never said you needed a $500 sound card just what is good enough for you to work with, and personally i cant stand any onboard audio i have come across so far, especially for anything to do with production

If you're not going to be recording, what on earth is wrong with using an onboard soundcard? What are the pitfalls that make you so against them, because I must be missing something