Protools PC Computer build from scratch

my advice is to buy a mac, because they are not that much.

you get what you pay for. and you can NOT build an equivalent mac pro, as sold in the apple store, out of pc parts for cheaper. It CAN NOT BE DONE! at least like 3 months ago.. if there are new this or that or the other thing, i eat my words. but i was ready to 'build a mac' so to speak, and realized it was totally idiotic.

but, bottom line is, if you don't have the cash, you don't have the cash.

so, in that case, my advice is, if you're posting on *this* forum about pc building advice, you don't have the experience needed to build a pc that will be reliable in a professional, studio, situation.

remember reliability, and also remember that if you go with a pc built with anthing but an intel motherboard, you are possibly sacrificing your PT compatibility, if running mix or hd.

also, careful with 50 foot monitor runs.... i've had big issues with large monitors and long runs with ghosting on the screen, causing totally awful quality, especially for audio apps, which have grids and lines and precise rules of that nature.... the ghosting fucks it all up pretty bad... so just make sure they are shielded and run far away from both audio and power lines.

sorry, didn't want to make that comment about your expertise building a pc and posting here about it, etc etc, although on second thought i can see the benefit of asking this particular group, since it pertains to pt and what not.

BUT aside from PT compatibility, one of the best resources i've found is to check out the overclockers forum ocforums.net

don't actually overclock... unless you're feeling risky. the point here, for me, is that these people generally seem to weed out the most robust equipment that takes large amounts of abuse, and often for a lower price as well. they find some sleepers now and again.

anyway, i often base my pc mobo/cpu/ram purchases around that. what can also be a good idea, even if you don't overclock, is getting the ram speed just a notch or two faster than what your chip will actually use, provided it's the same pinout and type. this can really help a lot with something that ends up similar to 'headroom'

[quote author="kazper"]Mac is the only way to go if you want a stable music box BTW.[/quote]

This is simply not true. Wanna come over to my house sometime and see how stable (and quiet) my PC is?

Especially now that Macs are using Intels, the line between PC and Mac is even more blurred. The Core2 Duos are extremely powerful chips.

My machine is based around the "ancient technology" of an AM2-socket Athlon X2 with 4gb of RAM. I've recorded 18 tracks at a time (I have two Presonus Firepods, so that's about the limit of physical inputs I have at this moment) with absolutely no problems. I've mixed those tracks with plug-ins and EQ and have not even breached 20% CPU usage in Cubase 4. Everything is rock solid stable. Latency is extremely low (I record and mix using the Firepods lowest latency setting). Just the other night I did a session with my guitarist in my r&b band that spanned 12 hours. The machine never even blinked.

Again, if you can afford a Mac, buy one. They are great machines. But if you can't, you can build a comparable machine for a lot less money. And building your own PC is very DIY.

[quote author="b3groover"]Again, if you can afford a Mac, buy one. They are great machines. But if you can't, you can build a comparable machine for a lot less money. And building your own PC is very DIY. [/quote]

And, of course, it's very PC.

Peace,
Paul

[quote author="b3groover"]I did a session with my guitarist in my r&b band that spanned 12 hours. The machine never even blinked.[/quote]

Is this something special? Is running smoothly for 12 hours something to boast about for a Windoze box? I've run my Mac for 6 months and it's never blinked. I never even restarted it. Just put it to sleep at night. 12 hours? Man, if that's considered a good stretch for your machine, then... :wink:

I'm sure your box is working great, no doubt. :grin: Just saying, FWIW:

Here's a very good, cheap DIY Mac solution:
Used G4 tower: $150
Add RAM, HD, processor upgrade: $500 (dual processors are available too)
Total: $650

You now have a fast, current Mac which can record 20 some tracks at once, run the latest Logic and all latest audio software and all kinds of plug-ins without a hiccup. And no viruses, no malware, no security problems. No M$. Life can be good.

Or if you can afford a top end workstation, the MacPros (new ones coming soon too) and used G5s are tops.

I'm sure DIY PC boxes are great, fast, powerful, almighty and economical. It's the way to go if you must run Windows. It's good hardware. As mentioned Macs run on the same processors now, so no performance advantages. My point is only you can DIY a Mac too. And avoid the M$ nightmare.

[quote author="tommypiper"][quote author="b3groover"]I did a session with my guitarist in my r&b band that spanned 12 hours. The machine never even blinked.[/quote]

Is this something special? Is running smoothly for 12 hours something to boast about for a Windoze box? I've run my Mac for 6 months and it's never blinked. I never even restarted it. Just put it to sleep at night. 12 hours? Man, if that's considered a good stretch for your machine, then... :wink:[/quote]

No, I'm responding to the jive in this thread (and every where else it seems) that if you want a stable machine for music you have to have a Mac. It is simply not true and it's annoying that people who don't know any better keep perpetuating the same myths. I was using a real-world example that happened just last Saturday where we were working for 12 hours straight, doing all sorts of fun stuff in Cubase, and my machine never broke a sweat, crashed, or in any other way fucked up. Does this sound like a stable machine? By my God, it's not a Mac! How can that be?!?

I used to have a lot of problems with my old music machine (PC), but that was because of the MOTU hardware and their absolutely horrible drivers. As soon as I dumped that shit and bought the two Firepods, it has been smooth sailing. I recently upgraded my computer (ie, built an entirely new one) because I sold some un-used gear and figured I might as well enter 64bit computing land. Like I said, I built it from scratch for about $600, $200 of that was for the case and quiet power supply. So that means the components were only $400.

Every time these threads pop up on message boards... someone asking for help to build a good music PC... almost instantly somebody says, "Don't bother... buy a Mac... PCs suck... they never work..." It simply isn't true.

All those slick Mac ads with the two guys ("Hi, I'm a PC") must be working like gangbusters.

I've had several crashes on Macs when running Adobe After Effects, Final Cut, or video editing programs (Media 100 and the like). Believe it or not, Macs do crash. And they can crash REAL hard.

yeah definitely don't *need* a mac for stability... there are also some REALLY cool programs running in linux if you're into that kind of thing. run vst and dx plugs and the whole nine.

outside the audio world, with comps in general, i still have become somewhat of a mac convert though... i've realized that for my 1400 with warranty i couldn't have gotten a better laptop than this macbook, and when i realized that the price of a mac pro is the same as the cost of it's two core2duo xeons, motherboard, graphics, and 1 HDD and 1 dual layer burner, i was really taken aback. for the money, you get a keyboard, mouse, cool case, OS, the list goes on.

this thing crashes, i've got it covered. thats the one main thing for me at this point... i dont care what computer it is, it will break ;] if i build my own, i AM the warranty, and if i dont have 100 bucks for a new mobo in my pocket when my chipset goes fucked, i'm *out*

i was a stolid anti mac, not worth the money, you can build it cheaper, type of guy for my whole life.... only computer i ever bought, already built, before this macbook i didnt actually even buy... my parents bought it in '93 when i was 12, it was a packard bell sx50 WITH coprocessor.

i guess i used a pc xt up until then, that kind of counts.

my folks STILL have that sx50 and STILL use it daily, FWIW. makes me wonder about all the parts i've cycled through over the years

wow thats a silly rant fueled by too little sleep and not enough coffee, but too much work

You just have to buy quality parts. I learned the hard way that a reliable manufacturer of motherboards is a must. I am currently typing on a machine I built in January of 2000 around an Asus A7V board and this computer is just a rock. 7 years old and everything still runs like new, except for the system drive that I had to replace (but harddrives suck, no matter what).

I've tried cheaper boards and you're taking a big risk. My music machine is built around an Epox board, which is a very reputable manufacturer. Good quality mobo's, good quality RAM, and you're set.

...well and as for security - don't hang a recording pc to internet. thats all...
built a lightning speed core2duo E6600 daw pc for 650€ december - rock solid.

You know what PC stands fror right?

Piece of crap. :green: Actually I belive the PC is fine until you load Windows on it. Then it turns into a PC

Anyway, I put together a system and hardly spent any doe. my Attorney gave me a INtel mother bd with 2 gig RAM and a 4gig cpu. I installed a couple of new 500gig SATA Maxtor drives, upgraded to Ptools 7.3.x

I've never been happier. I have some huge mixs that would bring the old computer to a crawl. Now it does not even phase it. Even during play bac k I can eq and compress and jump from screen to screen and it does not bat an eye.

Just to be a smart ass I even got on the internet and it still was fine.

The old problems vanished. I've been mixing for days now just having a blast and not being limited by lack of power or tools. I also love using my LA2'a as inserts ....works great.

Still would love a MAC though.

Next week I plan to replace my displays with two viewsonic 22" LCD'S

My eyes should love that.

:thumb:

I

am still running PT on an old AMD 2700+ on ASUS A7V600 with no problems and it is fast enough for my needs and absolutely stable.

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I'm sure it does until you use a bunch of hi quailty plug ins such as waves plug ins. My old system was very close to yours.

but the original poster said he wanted to build it from SCRATCH. first you're gonna need to grow some silicon crystals, slice them into wafers and grind them smooth..

Click to expand...

Every time the crystals start to grow somebody thinks its meth and they put it in a pipe and smoke it.

ps If you're gonna burn CDs, get a Plextor and nothing else :!: They are not quiet, but their burn quality is as good as it gets!!! Really worth the money if you ever burn CDs.

Good luck
Maarten

Click to expand...

Hmmm....never had burn problems yet. Ill check it out. Why do you like it so much? Heck they only cost $49 bucks when I checked pricewatch. Looks good

I always thought plextor was only used for their tools, ya know...their ability to report C2 error information for example...
I was fairly surprised that lots of modern burners have the ability now, for example sony, LG ... at least some of them...
For a quick check of this ability Exact Audio Copy comes free...
Nowadays burn quality is very good on many burners - but the error checking is what makes it safe to send out a mix for glassmastering ...

Kind regards,

Martin

Don't wanna interrupt in this thread but i got a question: is a G4 mac still good enough to run protools 7.1 and up with the 002R???
i can get one for 300.00 $

We're running LE on a dual 1.25 ghz G4, works pretty well-- but not ideal for folks running tons of plugins. I try not to lean on plugins, so the older computer isn't that big of a deal.

At 96K I can get two Altiverb instances running with a healthy number of EQ's and comps, but add a third Altiverb (not that I need it) and things will bog down.

It seems quite a few people are using the Asus P5B E for DAW applications and its reported they are very stable, any one been down this road with this board?
Vikki(uk) :wink: