Audio PC Recommendations?

johnnylakes

Hi guys,
Looking to upgrade my PC, have been looking at some of the Rain stuff.
http://www.raincomputers.co.uk/

Wondering what yall here are using, or where you purchased.I would be looking for a fairly powerful machine, running Izotope/East West/Altiverb etc.
Is there anywhere in Ireland that could sort me out?

Thanks

Dead Man Walking

Also check out scan in the uk. I got a laptop from them and would recommend them

http://3xs.scan.co.uk/Category.asp?SystemMasterCategoryID=2

shayleon

Had wonderful experience with Carillon.
My current one is NOT and the difference is huge.

pinksoir

Would you not build your own? The prices on Rain are insane.

Or if you don't want to assemble it yourself, hardwareversand.de will do it for you for €20. They'll also test it and install Windows for you.

http://www1.hardwareversand.de/pcconfigurator.jsp?pcConfigurator.vga.vga.0=46205:3007

shayleon

i would NEVER build my own. The one I currently own was build on specs and recommendations from a very good article. It was given to a computer specialist and ... still - the amount of troubles we had were insane. Maybe bad luck, but i will not go that root again.
2 days after i got my computer,Carillon slashed their prices by HALF! making it same price as my self-built.

If it's expensive, look around and wait.

pinksoir

What sort of troubles did you have?

As I said, hardwareversand.de will build and test you computer for you so it should be problem free. You can use the exact same hardware as is in those pre built ones and it'll be half the price, if not less. Even looking at Carillon, this is a pretty low spec machine, but it's over a grand (lower end, last gen i5, 4gb ram, 500gb hdd). The components are worth way less than half that. I dunno what the extra money is getting you really.

That said, it does require a little bit of research on your part to find out what components you need to get. I recently had to buy a new computer (it's on the way now), and it was definitely a bit of a pain to have to get up to date on hardware. My last computer was self built and gave up the ghost after 5 years of pretty heavy use. It had been pretty much problem free for that whole time. It seems every five years I have to become an "expert" on computer hardware again

So from that point of view I can see why buying pre built is a good way to go. Though, I'm sure the extra money you're spending could be better used on either better components or other gear.

If you can get a good deal that results in a negligible price difference, then that changes things obviously.

Denalihighway

I'm in the market for a new laptop for recording - I came across this guy who's got some pretty decent articles on buying/setting up PCs and PC laptops etc

I'm not great on this stuff and trying to improve - u guys are streets ahead of me so it might be a bit basic but you might find something useful..

http://www.pc-music.com/

shayleon

I don't remember the exact problems unfortunately, but it took a good while to get the system running again.
With Carillon the prices are mental - they can be expensive or a bargain within a very short time interval..
In theory building your own computer seems like a good idea, but my experience was different.

johnnylakes

Hi guys,
Thanks for the replies, I will look into things! Basically want a solid, reliable and fast machine, so I don't even have to think about hardware or RAM etc. I too have been down the build your own route, not for me. Plus a warranty is always good. I haven't found Rain to be very expensive I must say. But I'm still on the lookout.

Thanks again

Neurojazz

johnnylakes wrote: »

Hi guys,
Thanks for the replies, I will look into things! Basically want a solid, reliable and fast machine, so I don't even have to think about hardware or RAM etc. I too have been down the build your own route, not for me. Plus a warranty is always good. I haven't found Rain to be very expensive I must say. But I'm still on the lookout.

Thanks again

Heya,

I've just built my own from Scan parts - about 1300 in parts.

6 core (12 threads) Intel 3960x, SSDs, 32gig ram, Asus P9X79 motherboard.

*Flying / Stable* - and very quiet with the Archon fans.

Can run many instances of Ozone 5 advanced.

Chat the 'Jit' in sales if you need a custom spec and he'll make you up a quote.

johnnylakes

Thanks Neurojazz!!
I'll check it out.