What's The Specs On Your Recording Computer?

[D.Z.]

used to be

BioStar MOBO
AMD Dual Core Processor - 3.14
4GB Ram (DDR2 800)
2 5600 RPM 160GB HDD
and an external HDD (150GB)
then a DVD Burner...

buuut, processor died and sold it...

working on building a new one with similar specs (more hdd space and Intel cuz i hate AMD ahha)

[Danny Danzi]

Creation Station Rack

Dual Core 3.4, 4 gig RAM XP seeing 3.1

3-7200 RPM Glyph Hard drives. One for my OS, one for recording appz, plugs and samples, one for Sonar streaming projects and wave exports.

3-Layla 24/96 soundcardson one system, Tascam DM-4800 Console with RME Fireface 800 on another.

MOTU Midi Express XT

2-UAD DSP cards

2- DVD/CDR drives...one Lightscribe

[refreshener]

Hey everyone I found this page on the net that needs to be checked out if you want to see how your computer stacks up. These are benchmark tests charts.

My question is if the I7 Intel cpu is supposed to be top why is it not
winning on all bench mark tests.

I would like some convincing on which CPU to get for my new DAW
so I wont have to worry anymore about to limited tracks at one time and many VST and VSTI running at the same time.

PassMark Software - CPU Benchmark Charts

These benchmark test charts cover which is best for :
1) Best General performance:
2) Best over clocked cpu
3)High end performance cpu to low end
4) By CPU popularity

Help, which chart or test would apply best when decision making like me?

Thanks a million

[Joe-Martinez]

Intel 2 Core Duo E6750 @ 2.66 GHZ
4 Gigs DDR 2 Ram @ 800 mhz
Windows 7 Ultimate
Twin 1.0 Gig HD @ 7500 RPM



Adobe Audition 3.0
Behringer USB 2002 Interface.

Runs up to 70 tracks with VST's and no issues at all.
Will be upgraded soon to a much faster CPU and Memory.
Also adding a RME Fireface soon.

[refreshener]

Originally Posted by Danny Danzi

Creation Station Rack

Dual Core 3.4, 4 gig RAM XP seeing 3.1

3-7200 RPM Glyph Hard drives. One for my OS, one for recording appz, plugs and samples, one for Sonar streaming projects and wave exports.

3-Layla 24/96 soundcardson one system, Tascam DM-4800 Console with RME Fireface 800 on another.

MOTU Midi Express XT

2-UAD DSP cards

2- DVD/CDR drives...one Lightscribe

Hi Danny allow me to intorduce myself. I live in Brooklyn really appreciate your music became an instant fan and a fellow guitarist with same taste in music creativity. I was looking at your specs Im trying to develope an exceptional DAW. Had to many frustration with the old one pushing it to get what you are alreaddy accomplishing, great recordings. thanks very inspiring.

[Danny Danzi]

Hi refreshener,

That's very kind of you, thanks a lot!! Well, I can't promise my set-up will work for you, but it sure has been excellent for me. I highly recommend the Sweetwater Creation Stations. You can build your own for way less money....and I'm a pc geek, but to be honest, there comes a time when in my business, time is money and I can't be messing with building my own pc, driver issues, installing crap...trouble-shooting. It's just worth the extra money to me to have someone do it. The guys at SW built the box for me, installed all the software I would be using, installed the soundcard, the midi stuff, my controller drivers etc. Then of course they shut it down and pulled them all out, but they told me what slots they installed stuff in so when I got the box, all I did was put in my stuff, booted the system and I literally was recording in under 10 minutes. To me, you can't put a price on that, ya know? Sure, if you can't afford it, it's one thing...but if you can, it's totally worth it.

One of my reasons for this decision was, at the time, I was still running Win 98 SE. I could no longer run some software unless I had XP, so it was time for me to make the switch. The last thing I wanted to do was learn a totally new OS as well as possible driver issues and other things that could have come into play. I had a record deal by then and needed to keep on working without trouble shooting and fixing issues. That stuff just gets old after a while no matter how much you know about pc's, ya know? I just didin't feel like dealing with it.

I think one of the key things about my system is how the drives are split. A few guys have told me that I'm living in the old times dedicating one drive to just Windows, one for recordin appz, plugins and samples, and another for streamed audio and wave file saves. But to me, this has worked flawlessly in the passed on slow systems, I felt it would work well on a newer one...and it has been perfect since I got it. Seriously...not a single issue other than running a bit hot due to a fan that needed to be replaced....which SW sent to me for nothing 2 years ago.

Any time the system has crashed (which honest has been rare) it's been my fault trying to do things I shouldn't be doing at times. I definitely recommend at least a dual core or quad core processor or higher with at least 4 gig of ram to run the stuff of today without a hitch. A few 7200 RPM drives or faster, and the UAD cards are really incredible as they take the strain off your pc for running great effects through their own DSP. Not a necessity for a hobbiest, but for a SERIOUS hobbiest or semi-pro, definitely something to consider.

If price is not an issue and you don't feel like dealing with the BS of system building and tweaking at this moment...definitely look into having a pro system built. If you're in no hurry and feel like taking on a little project where you work on it in your spare time, you'll probably save about $1000 doing it yourself, but of course this can sometimes come with quite a few headaches. Good luck in whatever you decide man and thanks for the kind words!

[refreshener]

Originally Posted by Danny Danzi

Hi refreshener,

That's very kind of you, thanks a lot!! Well, I can't promise my set-up will work for you, but it sure has been excellent for me. I highly recommend the Sweetwater Creation Stations. You can build your own for way less money....and I'm a pc geek, but to be honest, there comes a time when in my business, time is money and I can't be messing with building my own pc, driver issues, installing crap...trouble-shooting. It's just worth the extra money to me to have someone do it. The guys at SW built the box for me, installed all the software I would be using, installed the soundcard, the midi stuff, my controller drivers etc. Then of course they shut it down and pulled them all out, but they told me what slots they installed stuff in so when I got the box, all I did was put in my stuff, booted the system and I literally was recording in under 10 minutes. To me, you can't put a price on that, ya know? Sure, if you can't afford it, it's one thing...but if you can, it's totally worth it.

One of my reasons for this decision was, at the time, I was still running Win 98 SE. I could no longer run some software unless I had XP, so it was time for me to make the switch. The last thing I wanted to do was learn a totally new OS as well as possible driver issues and other things that could have come into play. I had a record deal by then and needed to keep on working without trouble shooting and fixing issues. That stuff just gets old after a while no matter how much you know about pc's, ya know? I just didin't feel like dealing with it.

I think one of the key things about my system is how the drives are split. A few guys have told me that I'm living in the old times dedicating one drive to just Windows, one for recordin appz, plugins and samples, and another for streamed audio and wave file saves. But to me, this has worked flawlessly in the passed on slow systems, I felt it would work well on a newer one...and it has been perfect since I got it. Seriously...not a single issue other than running a bit hot due to a fan that needed to be replaced....which SW sent to me for nothing 2 years ago.

Any time the system has crashed (which honest has been rare) it's been my fault trying to do things I shouldn't be doing at times. I definitely recommend at least a dual core or quad core processor or higher with at least 4 gig of ram to run the stuff of today without a hitch. A few 7200 RPM drives or faster, and the UAD cards are really incredible as they take the strain off your pc for running great effects through their own DSP. Not a necessity for a hobbiest, but for a SERIOUS hobbiest or semi-pro, definitely something to consider.

If price is not an issue and you don't feel like dealing with the BS of system building and tweaking at this moment...definitely look into having a pro system built. If you're in no hurry and feel like taking on a little project where you work on it in your spare time, you'll probably save about $1000 doing it yourself, but of course this can sometimes come with quite a few headaches. Good luck in whatever you decide man and thanks for the kind words!

Hi Danny, thanks for the reply and all the information. The creation station sounds like you made a wise decision and have a great tool to help capture your music and your obvious talent and creativity. I am impressed with what you told me and went to there website to check it out.
I am still in the deciding stages about what will replace my old pc workhorse.
Im leaning towards a different setup than the creation station. Using a main power DAW that im going to build with external computers running processes
so the main one can concentrate on complex automix and processor hungry tasks and in experience hicups and obsticals like I have endured. But I love your music and find it very moving and Im very much your audience.

I'm sure i will post here when im finally settled and able to do what your doing so well right now. Again I became an instant fan.


JC

[chrisclick]

My specs arn't anything special to be honest:

AMD Phenom X4 9550 2.20GHz
4GB RAM
3 HDD's (1x640GB, 2x40GB)
Windows 7 64Bit Ultimate

Something on the side, everything I save into my documents, is not saved locally

[mtnman]

CPU: Intel Core2 Duo Q9400 @ 2.66 GHz
MOBO: Asus P5Q SE2
RAM: OCZ 4GB RAM @ 1066 GHz
HD Win7: Western Digital WD800JD 80GB 7200RPM
HD Vista: Western Digital WD1600AAJS 160GB 7200RPM
HD Audio: Western Digital WD6401AALS 640GB 7200RPM
Interface: MBox 2 Pro (firewire)