Building my own computer for my own little home studio?

[brandondrury]

Yes, a computer interface and a souncard as essentially the same thing.

Brandon

[davexo]

right
thats the soundcard i want then
so now im gonna research what mother boards work well together with that!

thanks

[stuv]

yes, but it operated off firewire... Thiis is fine, but it just means that you will need a firewire port at the back of your computer to plug it into... Some motherboards have a firewire port (also called 1394) but otherwise you will need to buy a PCI firewire card (not much probably about $20)...

Also @ richiebee: there are not too many dificulties with building a computer, and i agree with brandon that if someone can't work that out there gonna have a hard time setting up the rest of a studio... an ATX PSU plugs into an ATX motherboard... it's not that hard... all you have to check is that u have enoutgh wattage (or just buy a big one to be safe)... All modern parts have form factors and sockett sizes that make it reasonable easy to pick parts that match... As long as you just check up especially on the sound card for a recording interface that it doesn't have any special requirements or you have covered them then you should be fine...

And my 2 cents: ALL PREBUILDS ARE CRAP AND NOT STABLE! doing houscall tech support (parttime as i am still a Yr 12) i have to deal with more problems due to crappy prebuilds than any custom or home built computer... This is probably due to the people who make their own computer being able to fix it too, but i have still seen lots of problems with PreBuilds just being used for notrmal applications... Let alone trying to use them for audio...

Anyway, i dont see myself persuding your view, but i think your siding with a prebuild is wrong. If anything i would recomend that if you wern't going to build your computer that you atleast find a store where under their recomendations you can choose components and they will build a custom computer for you..

[brandondrury]

I don't think you really need to convince Richiebee. Richiebee is not a spring chicken. He knows what is going on. He's posted some impressive music. If he has a stable and reliable system, than why would he switch?

Building computers is not a religion that you have to impose on somebody. It's just a means to an end. I do personally believe that it's a good thing for a studio guy to understand the inside of a computer for a million reasons. I also believe that a young recording guy will do better by spending the money extra money on studio gear of some type. I mean, a Brandon Drury special with a MXL V69 condenser is going to romp a Dell with one of those computer mics.

To each his own.

One other argument. If you know enough to argue about whether you should build your own computer or not, you are knowledgable to make the right decision for yourself.

Brandon

[davexo]

i really want to build my own
it seems the better option and it cant be that hard
plus if i get stuck, or need advice then ive always got you guys here

so im gonna start building one

i need a list of everything i need to build one

thanks

[stuv]

Components you (normally) will need:

>Soundcard
>Motherboard
>CPU
>Hard Drive(s)
>RAM (one or more dimms that suit the motherboard)
>Optical drive(s) IRE: CD/DVD burner
>Floppy drive if desired
>PC case and PSU
>Video card if desired / if not included on motherboard

Have a look for some parts and post the models and/or links up and we can make some comments... If you can only find some parts post them up and we can make some suggestions about others...

[guitar junkie]

Ya know I used to deal with all the stress of a machine like that too....

Then I dumped Windows based recordings and headed over to Macs....

Never had any of the problems Brandon brings up in his posts.

[richiebee]

Originally Posted by stuv

ALL PREBUILDS ARE CRAP AND NOT STABLE!

This is an interesting statement. You claim that its incredibly easy to build a stable computer, and yet apparently no major manufacturer can do it. Hmmm.

I have my opinion which has not changed, and you have yours. Everything's cool. I know how stable, how quiet and how fast my computer is - those to me are the necessary factors in running an audio computer. I can't prove it to you, so you can either believe me, or not. It's not going to change my life either way.

R.

[richiebee]

Originally Posted by guitar junkie

Ya know I used to deal with all the stress of a machine like that too....

Then I dumped Windows based recordings and headed over to Macs....

Never had any of the problems Brandon brings up in his posts.

Never had kernel panics? Lucky you. My G5 loves to barf in the middle of a session on the odd occasion. More regularly it barfs with offline editing which is not so annoying, but it's way less stable than my HP PC. My Powerbook is defiant of its own identity - power is one thing this baby don't got!

As for the new Intels... we're still waiting to be able to use all of our software, and frankly, I don't think this is completely the fault of the software manufacturers. I don't think its any co-incidence that Apple was the only major audio software manufacturer to be timely in the release of Intel compatible software. Microsoft may be no saint, but Apple surely is the devil.

[Retronut]

I am new to the forum and like what I see here. Anyway perhaps some one can assist.

Ok, so I am getting prepared to build my first dedicated studio Pc. No more sharing the DAW with email, IE, you get the idea. I have been researching, gathering components, doing all the homework. There is this major point that is always mentioned on every forum I have searched regarding a windows studio. One should never connect this computer to the internet!!!!!

So here is an obvious question that I am fumbling with in my fried brain. How do you update windows xp? How do update board drivers? How do you update DAW? Oh, it is these types of questions that kept me from being a Rhodes Scholar.