[richiebee]

Unless you're on a tight budget or really know what you're doing, I'd advise against it. Making sure parts are compatible and have no known issues with certain software is harder than buying a good computer off the shelf.

Making a computer (or fixing one) is not really particularly difficult, and it will certainly save you a lot of money, but making it run like a dream is not so easy and may well cause you a lot more grief.

Getting good reliable advice isn't always easy. Might be where you live, but I certainly wouldn't trust any computer stores in my city to provide me with advice on good compatible hardware. People on forums are always quick to help, but they won't be there for you when you start having problems.

I've always bought good quality, off the shelf PC's then done some trimming of the bundled software so that its optimized for audio. I haven't had any issues with compatibilies or failures. All of my computers have been replaced because they were several years old and their specification had outlived usefulness.

Do you want to tinker, or do you want to make music?

R.