Best Desktop for Music Production?

come on mate don’t be like that

when studying to be an audio engineer, its knowledgable to have a laptop as well since you can’t really lug a desktop into campus. At my school, we have a ton of projects that we go into our tech center to do and it’s just nice to have a laptop for note taking and assisting in projects. It is definitely not neccesary though.

I see where you’re getting at there, and I have taken that into consideration but my school provides laptops in-class, so I’m looking for desktops for home production. thanks though

oh shit, thats sick! I wish my school did the same. I would recommend the iMac for a desktop in music production, but I’m pretty confident that it would cost an arm and a leg. I woud definitely build my own PC for home production though.

It’s funny how everyone is saying to build a PC but soon as I say it, I get treated like I’m a ■■■■ lmao

i think it has something to do with with the statement you tacked onto your advice…

hashtag truhedPCbuildersclub

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I said that after he got a bit salty with me tbf

haha, i agree with your comment tbf. Building a pc is the best way to go without spending 2 grand

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yeah I think i’m going to do that

Just make sure you research all of the components and get a clear understanding of each piece of hardware you may want in it. Learning about all of the hardware components to a good computer for engineering and production was actually the first thing I learned in school for my Audio Engineering classes.

oh yeah, im not leaving anything to chance

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Yo, I work at a computer repair store. I’ve been doing this a long time

You need an Intel Core processor. That is absolutely certain. At LEAST an i5, but preferably an i7

You can build it yourself, but custom builds can be tricky. Some parts fail. Personally, I hate the company ASUS because of their terrible warranty support. They make good boards though. MSI does as well. Getting one should be based off reviews from newegg or amazon or other reputable sales outlets. Get one that will LAST if you go this route. 8 slots for ram is cool too. Check the expansion slots, make sure you get an ATX mid sized one with appropriate expansion bays for your cards.

RAM - get 2400mhz ddr3 16-32gb. corsair makes nice ones. make sure you get a mobo to support this, a speed down isnt a bad idea either

Get a video card. Get one that won’t cause you hassle. Nvidia 960, or Radeon R9 290. Doesn’t have to be great, those are actually pretty high end.

Get a cheap case. Get a MID tower. ATX MID. A full tower is HUGE. Terrible to move around.

For the power supply, get one that is gold certified. More warranty, lasts longer. 750w is perfect.

GET A SOLID STATE. Some motherboards have the option for an msata solid state. DO IT. THOSE ARE FASTER.

GET 2 500gb or 1tb HDDS. Double back up ALL your stuff. Put these bad boys in RAID 1.

sound cards are tricky. not really a market for PCIe ones, USB ones are pretty prevalent. Firewire ones are still around too. you gotta research that…

wifi - if your motherboard doesnt have it (it will say) then get a pcie card. TPlink makes a really good dual band one for like $35

Alternatively, you can get a workstation. Dell Precision series is affordable and badass. I’d stay away from HP, and while Lenovo makes good business class laptops their desktops leave something to be desired.

If you get either of these purchase a water cooler for your CPU. Corsair makes nice ones.

Macbook pros are beasts. they are expensive. be very weary of the new macbooks and mac towers (minis?)\

lemme know if you have questions or anything man
:slight_smile:

EDIT: this is a workstation that is absolutely BEAST. RAM upgrades are relatively cheap too. the lack of a solid state is sad but those are getting cheaper as well.

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I have an ASUS laptop and you are so right about the warranty support!

Bruh. Thank you so much, that was exactly the type of feedback i was looking for

Parts list

Built you a sexy PC for the price of that workstation.

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come on m9 you don’t need a GTX960 in a music PC…

you also don’t need 16GB RAM…that’s ridiculous

get a sensible amount of RAM, drop the graphics card, spend the spare money on drugs or SSDs

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Yes, you do need 16gb of ram. And the graphics card is for multiple monitor set ups at high resolutions with no lag. A real production workhorse uses at least 3 monitors and fills all those up with VSTs and DAWs. I use Ableton, serrato, maschine and multiple vsts all at once. i have 12gb of ram and I hover around 10 used when everything is in use.

I have been building PCs for producers, gamers, video editors and architects for 2.5 years. 8gb of ram is fine to start but he is eventually going to want 16gb so might as well drop an extra 30 bucks on 2x8gb sticks at 2400mhz (not overclocked). As I stated before, he does not need a 960, but that list i posted is supposed to be better then the dell workstation PC at around the same price and it is.

That money you say you can save now will be spent in the future on new parts to accommodate new programs and upgrades. might as well build a computer that wont need any work done for at LEAST 2 years, except for the fans being blown out.

Just to muddy the waters on ASUS a bit…I bought a manufacturer referb ASUS laptop from tigerdirect and ASUS was very fast and helpful about replacing the DOA motherboard. I didnt pay for shipping either way to boot. Maybe I got lucky. I have owned several ASUS computers and have never needed the warranty other than this most recent laptop.

But building your own desktop is pretty damn easy…also the nice thing is you can upgrade as you save your hundreds. I built mine, added a video card later, added more RAM later etc etc.

I probably spent about 900 on mine like six or seven years ago and I still rarely max out my system.

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no m8
ditch the 960, cop a $50 card if you must
spend the rest on drugs

= better music guaranteed

Yes, because lets let the CPU run graphics as well as everything else.

No that’s fucking pointless. Don’t buy a $50 card that will bottleneck the shit out of your $300 i7. If you want to cheap the fuck out on GPU and replace it in a year or two might as well buy a used 7850.

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