New high spec desktop..AMD or intel?

theaaao

Going to buy a powerful desktop instead of a new laptop. Primary use for me will be for music production so need a powerful one. But im not sure where to buy or whats good really. Looking for some advice from you experts!

From reading online, ive chosen the following 'musts', but a bit iffy on some.

First, want at least 8GB ram and room to ugrade.
I believe quadcore is a must for process intensive music software but Im not sure on AMD or intel? The i5 or i7 or the phenom II?other?
Hard disk drive of @ least 7,200RPM. Or if I go with solid state drive, RPM isnt a factor anymore?Are these common/expensive?
DVD drive of 16x read speeds.

Other things I'd like is multiple usb 2.0 as well as usb 3.0, and the ability to output display to 2 or 3 screens.

I really dont want to build one beacuse I dont have the time with college to research it etc. But if any people know of one with similar specs and where I could get one, instore or online.
Already have 23 inch dell led screen so dont need one atm.
Thanks!:D

mordeith

What kind of music is it? Unless you're processing 20 channels of audio at some crazy bitrate you don't need 8gb of RAM. What software are you going to be using? Presumably it's 64-bit version of Ableton, FLStudio or something. If not then you won't be able to take advantage of anything over 4gb anyway.

Torqay

theaaao wrote: »

I believe quadcore is a must for process intensive music software but Im not sure on AMD or intel? The i5 or i7 or the phenom II?other?

When it comes to raw processing power, AMD has nothing that can hold a candle to an Intel Core i7.

ED E

Budget for a good interface, far more important than the other components. In reality unless you're recording a 10 piece band all at once you dont need super high spec. Ableton runs just fine on 2Ghz Dual core w/ 2GB and FL would run on my phone.

theaaao

Thanks for the quick responses!
Well im using ableton atm but not limited to it in that I would like to try out other DAWs.
My current laptop is 4gb, granted its limited to that, but im not going to buy a desktop with 4 gb. I might as well buy a new laptop.
I want to invest in a desktop that will do me for 4 years plus, and therefore would like one with good current specs and the ability to upgrade these. But then again I dont want to spend unnecessary money either so I will take yere advice on board!

mordeith

theaaao wrote: »

Thanks for the quick responses!
Well im using ableton atm but not limited to it in that I would like to try out other DAWs.
My current laptop is 4gb, granted its limited to that, but im not going to buy a desktop with 4 gb. I might as well buy a new laptop.
I want to invest in a desktop that will do me for 4 years plus, and therefore would like one with good current specs and the ability to upgrade these. But then again I dont want to spend unnecessary money either so I will take yere advice on board!

If I was you I would buy the desktop with just the compents you need at the moement. Adding RAM at a later date is easy and will probably have dropped in price too. The same goes for adding hard drives or upgrading your grpahics card (presuming you're not just relying on onboard graphics). The only issue would upgrading aprocessor is if new socket forms come out which would be incompatible with whatever socket is in the PC you buy (I'm not up to date on future CPU designs)

ScumLord

theaaao wrote: »

I really dont want to build one beacuse I dont have the time with college to research it etc. B

You shouldn't be put off by building, it's really no complicated than putting lego together, it's obviously more nerve racking because of the expense but you'll know more about your PC which is always helpful if it's going to be something your going to rely on for work/serious hobby.

I think it's worth getting something powerful now from the outset, 8gb isn't a lot of ram these days.

I think you should ask over in building and upgrading, they can source out exactly what you need and if you really don't want to build yourself you can use a shop that will put it together for you.

You won't be able to use an SSD as storage by the way, you can put your OS and programs on it for speed but you'll need a standard spiny drive for storage.

yoyo

If you want to build let me know and I'll pop this over to building & upgrading for you

Nick

Khannie

Torqay wrote: »

When it comes to raw processing power, AMD has nothing that can hold a candle to an Intel Core i7.

Even their 16 core monsters?

Torqay

Khannie wrote: »

Even their 16 core monsters?

Server CPUs, really?

And I wouldn't call 'em "monsters". Intel's 8 core Xeons are running circles around AMD's flagship, the Opteron 6282 SE.

I would give their A-10 Triton mobile chip some credit when lined up and competitively priced against a Core i5 & GT 630M combo but other than that, AMD is currently not worth any consideration.

Khannie

Torqay wrote: »

Server CPUs, really?

I have a different motivation for asking.

Torqay wrote: »

And I wouldn't call 'em "monsters". Intel's 8 core Xeons are running circles around AMD's flagship, the Opteron 6282 SE.

I would give their A-10 Triton mobile chip some credit when lined up and competitively priced against a Core i5 & GT 630M combo but other than that, AMD is currently not worth any consideration.

In terms of bang for buck, their 6 core offerings are the best around according to this page (I ignore the first 4 as legacy CPU's) but I wouldn't put one into a high spec desktop (per the OP).

Torqay

Khannie wrote: »

In terms of bang for buck, their 6 core offerings are the best around according to this page (I ignore the first 4 as legacy CPU's) but I wouldn't put one into a high spec desktop (per the OP).

Not quite, the Core i7 3960X is a lot faster than the Opteron 6282 SE (both cost pretty much the same), so Intel also wins on "bang for buck", but then, the Core i7 is no server CPU, thus we'd be comparing apples and oranges again.

Jarren

theaaao wrote: »

Going to buy a powerful desktop instead of a new laptop. Primary use for me will be for music production so need a powerful one. But im not sure where to buy or whats good really. Looking for some advice from you experts!

From reading online, ive chosen the following 'musts', but a bit iffy on some.

First, want at least 8GB ram and room to ugrade.
I believe quadcore is a must for process intensive music software but Im not sure on AMD or intel? The i5 or i7 or the phenom II?other?
Hard disk drive of @ least 7,200RPM. Or if I go with solid state drive, RPM isnt a factor anymore?Are these common/expensive?
DVD drive of 16x read speeds.

Other things I'd like is multiple usb 2.0 as well as usb 3.0, and the ability to output display to 2 or 3 screens.

I really dont want to build one beacuse I dont have the time with college to research it etc. But if any people know of one with similar specs and where I could get one, instore or online.
Already have 23 inch dell led screen so dont need one atm.
Thanks!:D

I believe that this is what you looking for,not sure how my USB ports are on that PC,you will have to contact them for those details.

Intel Core i7-3770, 4x 3.40GHz, boxed (BX80637I73770) - CASE 120mm "Blue Light" 1x front and 1x rear Super Quiet
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 650 OC, 2GB GDDR5, 2x DVI, HDMI (GV-N650OC-2GI) - Power Supply Cooler Master GX-Lite Series 600W ATX 2.3 (RS-600-ASAB/RS-600-ACAB-l3)
2x4 GB RAM Kingston PC1333 DDR-3 (2 modules)
1TB Seagate 7200RPM SATA-3 6GBs + 24xDVD Writer SATA Internal incl Software Suite
Motherboard ASUS P8B75-M, B75 (90-MIBIB0-G0EAY0DZ) USB 3.0, Sound, GigabitLAN, Intel ® B75 Express Chipset TurboV - Card Reader UCR 75in1 + USB Port 3.5 "internal black metal

http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B007JZ6BVG/ref=noref?ie=UTF8&psc=1&s=computers

Obviously if you are more power hungry


CPU : Intel ® Core i7-3930K, 6 × 3200 MHz, Intel ® Hyper-Threading and Turbo Boost Technology (TBT 2.0) 2.0 with up to 3800 MHz
CPU Coolers : BeQuiet! Shadow Rock Pro SR1 cooler
Memory : 16384MB (16GB) DDR3 RAM, 1600 MHz, Samsung ® / Elixir ®
Graphics : AMD Radeon HD 6450, 2048 MB of HyperMemory, VGA, DVI, HDMI
Motherboard : ASUS P9X79, Socket 2011, Intel ® X79 Express Chipset, 4x SATA II 2 x SATA III (6Gb / s), 2 x eSATA III , 4 x USB 3.0 x16, 6 x USB 2.0, 3 x PCIe, SLI, CrossFireX, 8x DIMM, 1 x PS / 2 (Combo Port), 7.1 sound
Sound : integrated controller ALC892 onboard 7.1, HD Audio
Network : 10/100/1000 Ethernet LAN, DSL capable
Case : Cooler Master Elite 333, black / silver, front panel in mesh design
Power Supply : 550 Watt Xilence Eco Series certified power supply, less than 1 watt standby power consumption, 80 PLUS ®

http://www.amazon.de/Aufruest-PC-790-i7-3930K-SixCore-16384MB/dp/B006UL5X8M/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1348242409&sr=8-2

Mind you that cpu ^ is sec gen ,the first one I linked is the current third gen.

theaaao

yoyo wrote: »

If you want to build let me know and I'll pop this over to building & upgrading for you

Nick

Thanks for all the input guys, but on second thoughts, I shall attempt a build. My first one so going to need a lot of advice/help!

yoyo do your stuff and move me

areyawell

Most people who want a specific pc buy all there parts from Hardware Versand and they will but the PC together for you. There is a section on boards pc building that people will be glad to make the PC for you and then you can place the order on there yourself

yoyo

Moved to PC Building & Upgrading.

theaaao

1. What is your budget? under 500 (to start)

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Music Production (Ableton) and college use (microsoft office and internet)

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? Yes

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? no

5. Do you need a monitor? no

5a. If yes, what size do you need.

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? 1920x1080

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? Yes [Keyboard/Mouse/Wireless Card/Card Reader/]

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? Not for a first build me thinks!

8. How can you pay? Credit Card/Laser

9. When are you purchasing? Coming weeks

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? east cork, 25 mins from cork city

the_syco

theaaao wrote: »

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Music Production (Ableton) and college use (microsoft office and internet)

Do you use Cubase? I ask as Cubase would also require another hard-drives, as it needs two to "bounce" the tracks when recording them.

Also, does any of your gear use firewire to connect to the computer? Although pretty much everything uses USB these days, firewire used to be used a lot in linking some gear up to the computer.

theaaao

the_syco wrote: »

Do you use Cubase? I ask as Cubase would also require another hard-drives, as it needs two to "bounce" the tracks when recording them.

I have a trial version of cubase but I dont see myself upgrading to the full version anytime soon. Im happy enough with ableton at the minute.
Also I dont need firewire.