Please recommend a new Windows PC (desktop)

[ZenMusic]

I am going to buy a new PC solely for Ableton Live and music production.

I'll get at least 16M RAM would really appreciate some specific model recommendations that have been working for you.

I would like a 3 monitor video card if you have a recommendation there also.

My current system crashes too often to be productive and is a few years old. I can repurposed it.

thanks

[ZenMusic]

This is of infinite importance to me, please advise if you have experience here. This will be the last major purchase and last composing effort of my life. I have a lot of music to create floating around in my head / heart. I need to be putting it down into recordings so it's not lost.

budget is a maximum of $2500 . prefer a desktop for the expansion possibilities

[synkrotron]

Hi

I'm not sure I can help really.

It would be good if you could at least give an idea of budget.

My latest Window PC was spec'd up as my last ever computer. I'm sixty now and as a glass half empty kind of guy I reckon this will see me out.

I therefore went for an i9 and 32mb of RAM. As well as modular I also have some memory hungry sample libraries. I also play the occasional first person shooter so I spec'd up a graphics card that would be reasonable for that purpose, but also very quite. In fact my desktop computer is even quieter than my last i7 laptop.

I can't recommend any particular brand as I generally stay away from the likes of Dell, HP, Lenovo et al. My current desktop and previous laptop were built to my specification. I could have put the desktop together myself but I priced up the individual parts and I saved under £50. I felt is was was best to get it built and then tested for that extra dosh.

So, yeah, budget first please.

cheers

andy

[synth.void]

I am going to buy a new PC solely for Ableton Live and music production.

I'll get at least 16M RAM would really appreciate some specific model recommendations that have been working for you.

I would like a 3 monitor video card if you have a recommendation there also.

My current system crashes too often to be productive and is a few years old. I can repurposed it.

thanks

Is your current system a laptop or a desktop PC? Do you know what components are inside? I’d start with getting new parts for an existing system.

[ZenMusic]

I'm running out of time to make progress on these compositions, so I can't spend any time swapping parts trying to fix my current computer , it's 6 years old and not worth the attention.

[synth.void]

Are you in the US or EU? US, I suppose.

There's a great article from Ableton that would help you to make sense of the specs. If I were you, I would just buy an off the shelf desktop from bestbuy/b&h. Any RTX GPU would be able to drive 3 monitors. RTX 2060/2070 is enough if you're not a hardcore gamer. I would go for a CPU with more cores, and a 1TB+ SSD.

[mojopin]

I have a 3 year old, top of the line Dell (XPS 8930) that I'm totally satisfied with. I use protools and cubase with no problems. Get SSDs and 16gb of ram like you want and put the rest of the money into a quality converter.

[synth.void]

I have a 3 year old, top of the line Dell (XPS 8930) that I'm totally satisfied with. I use protools and cubase with no problems. Get SSDs and 16gb of ram like you want and put the rest of the money into a quality converter.

That's a great machine indeed.

[kinkujin]

Hi Zenbeats,
I was reading this and thought of your earlier question. For perspective, I'm not looking to add confusion. All the best.

https://forum.audiob.us/discussion/3925 ... sic#latest

[synth.void]

Hi Zenbeats,
I was reading this and thought of your earlier question. For perspective, I'm not looking to add confusion. All the best.

https://forum.audiob.us/discussion/3925 ... sic#latest

Honestly, I’m thinking of a Mac Mini for music stuff.

[kinkujin]

Hi Zenbeats,
I was reading this and thought of your earlier question. For perspective, I'm not looking to add confusion. All the best.

https://forum.audiob.us/discussion/3925 ... sic#latest

Honestly, I’m thinking of a Mac Mini for music stuff.

I'm using a mini (2012) as well as a Macbook Pro (also 2012) and they are both marvelous. My only wish is that the macbook had a larger screen.

[scozbor]

I'm starting to spec out a Ryzen (probably 7) build. This will be my first PC build in about 10yrs.
Crazy performance for moderate cost these days!!

I know there's millions of threads, but any tips/comments welcome

[ZenMusic]

thanks for the replies ...

[gearhead61]

Maybe give Sweetwater a call ~
I’ve been a happy customer for many years, and they’ve always treated me right.

They manufacture custom PC’s for music production, and would likely be willing to work with you for a system that meets your budget.

[ranix]

I'm using Ryzen in my living room for video games but am still with a 10 year old 6-core xeon in the music room. I feel no need to upgrade it. It's a beast

[dreamdead]

Imo you're going to get the most for your money by building your own computer. With all of the resources available today, it's pretty easy to figure out the assembly yourself with a bit of YouTube. I understand it seems daunting at first, but it's actually a fairly easy process.

Last year I upgraded my computer, I think I spent about $2000-2500 once it was all said and done. My advice:

- buy the best processor you can reasonably afford. I went with the i9 9900k.

- don't skimp on ram. It's pretty cheap these days. I put 64gb in because I can. Definitely not necessary, 32gb should be more than enough.

- you don't need a high end graphics card, I can't think of any musical application that would really benefit from this. Get something good with dedicated ram, just because that will take any graphics load off of your processor. I went with the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660.

- get a bigger power supply than you think you need

- always go for solid state drives. I also keep a dedicated drive for all of my samples and libraries.

I can ramble all day, if there's anything else your have questions on or really want me to get into details, feel free to reach out!

[evileye0702]

Look at some of the systems put together by XOTICPC. You don't need a really powerful graphics card though. You can build yourself something cheaper but the number of options and compatibility can get overwhelming. I typically buy one notch down from the best processor. You pay a premium for the latest and greatest.