Decent Desktop PC?

[Tom]

I'm after a cheap desktop PC (This one doesn't need to be suited to gaming). Again, I'll only have around £250 but it's merely for recording with my band, it needs to be capable of running REAPER and LePou.

Thanks,

Tom

 

[DQuaN]

I'd suggest going with one of these: http://www.novatech.co.uk/barebonebundles/

Then just buy a DVD drive (can get them for about £15), and whatever hard drive you like.

 

[NissanSkylineN1]

Do you want a sound card? For DAW, all you need is CPU power and RAM. Is there a shop which you would prefer to purcahse from? This one loks good:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/barebones/bb-23204g.html

 

[Tom]

I'd suggest going with one of these: http://www.novatech.co.uk/barebonebundles/

Then just buy a DVD drive (can get them for about £15), and whatever hard drive you like.

That's a great price considering all I'd need is a HDD and DVD Drive. Thanks DQuaN, I appreciate it. 👍

Do you want a sound card? For DAW, all you need is CPU power and RAM. Is there a shop which you would prefer to purcahse from? This one loks good:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/barebones/bb-23204g.html

Again, I like the look of it. I'd prefer to purchase from a store like PC World or Curry's...

 

[nick09]

You have to remember that those barebone kits don't come with windows unless you use Linux.

 

[Tom]

You have to remember that those barebone kits don't come with windows unless you use Linux.

I have a copy of XP available. 👍

 

[Lizard]

I have a copy of XP available. 👍

Do you have a licence? Otherwise it will only work for 30 days.

 

[Dennisch]

Do you have a licence? Otherwise it will only work for 30 days.

I think he knows that.

 

[NissanSkylineN1]

I don't think you can get anything good with 250 pounds other than the one I showed you...

 

[Tom]

Do you have a licence? Otherwise it will only work for 30 days.

Yes, I've got the corporate edition, meaning it can be installed on a number of PC's.

I don't think you can get anything good with 250 pounds other than the one I showed you...

Well, it doesn't need to be mega-fast, just reliable and fairly quick. I can always upgrade it at a later stage.

 

[Liquid]

Yes, I've got the corporate edition, meaning it can be installed on a number of PC's.

I'm so envious. I'm not actively searching, but I want a cheap XP computer too. But this one is for games. Purely for old games that I still love playing but won't run on newer PCs.

 

[Dennisch]

I'm so envious. I'm not actively searching, but I want a cheap XP computer too. But this one is for games. Purely for old games that I still love playing but won't run on newer PCs.

I have a 2.2 P4 lying around, doing nothing?

 

[NissanSkylineN1]

How resource consuming is Reaper? How many effects/instruments are you using? Are you using Waves?

Here's a build, however it totals around 300 pounds excluding taxes and shipping:

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/amd-athlon-ii-x4-645-processor-09933666-pdt.html

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/asus-m...-atx-motherboard-am3-socket-07908172-pdt.html

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/antec-basiq-series-vp350p-continuous-atx-psu-350w-10934186-pdt.html

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/coolermaster-elite-360-atx-pc-tower-case-11342075-pdt.html

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/integr...-dimm-ram-memory-module-2gb-07857720-pdt.html

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/hitachi-internal-3-5-sata-hard-drive-500gb-03211981-pdt.html

 

[Robin]

I'd suggest going with one of these: http://www.novatech.co.uk/barebonebundles/

+1, Novatech is a good company, I've bought from them a few times and they do give great service.

 

[Tom]

I think I've found a decent PC, and the best thing is that I'm getting it for free! In case you're wondering it is my grandmothers old PC, I know you're thinking that it's old but my uncle upgraded most of it a couple of years back, so it should run nice and smoothly. Only one problem though, it's running Vista Windows 7 would be a better option I think. Also, I would like Gaming PC case, recommendations?

 

[tlowr4]

+1 this case. All metal, good cooling, cheap as chips, and looks ballin'.

http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/cases/cases/nov-vulcan.html

It seems Novatech has some good bits and pieces , if only I lived in the UK.

 

[Tom]

+1 this case. All metal, good cooling, cheap as chips, and looks ballin'.

http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/cases/cases/nov-vulcan.html

It seems Novatech has some good bits and pieces , if only I lived in the UK.

That looks awesome and as you said, it's dirt cheap. 👍

 

[Robin]

Cool that you got a free comp, what are the specs?

Maybe you can now use some of the £250 to upgrade it with more ram or maybe a newer graphics card. As for cases it depends on whether you want something understated or more in your face but you can get so many OEM gaming cases like the one tlowr4 highlighted for great prices.

 

[nick09]

If the motherboard is a MicroATX board then for the money I would suggest this. Good build quality from the series and sure it only comes with one intake fan but I'm sure you can easily move a fan from the old case. Comes with a dust filter on the front. But if you have a full sized ATX mobo then I would suggest this. I use it and it's a great case. Comes with 2 140mm fans and 1 120mm fan. Same filtered front with a PSU fan filter if you have the power supply type with a big fan. Very little troubles with dust in the case even after 3 months.

 

[Tom]

Cool that you got a free comp, what are the specs?

Maybe you can now use some of the £250 to upgrade it with more ram or maybe a newer graphics card. As for cases it depends on whether you want something understated or more in your face but you can get so many OEM gaming cases like the one tlowr4 highlighted for great prices.

Very true, it runs very quickly anyway, but I'll find out and let you all know.

 

[Lizard]

I think I've found a decent PC, and the best thing is that I'm getting it for free! In case you're wondering it is my grandmothers old PC, I know you're thinking that it's old but my uncle upgraded most of it a couple of years back, so it should run nice and smoothly. Only one problem though, it's running Vista Windows 7 would be a better option I think. Also, I would like Gaming PC case, recommendations?

Get rid of vista even XP is better.

 

[Tom]

Get rid of vista even XP is better.

I do have a corporate copy of that lying around.

 

[bergauk]

Don't bother getting rid of Vista. If you go DOWN to XP, you had better hope that you have one of the rarer versions of XP that's a 64bit version. If you don't. You just screwed yourself over.

 

[Tom]

Don't bother getting rid of Vista. If you go DOWN to XP, you had better hope that you have one of the rarer versions of XP that's a 64bit version. If you don't. You just screwed yourself over.

Why's that?

 

[tlowr4]

A lot of programs, especially music processing programs, will only run on 64bit OS's. Someone with more knowledge than me would know why, but I ran into this problem last year with my grandmothers PC.

Another limitation you face is that 32bit OS's only support up to 3.5GB's of Memory. A lot of these high end programs can chew up to 5GB on their own, let alone other applications and programs you have, as well as hardware plugged into the system. Now that you've got your PC for free, I suggest picking up a copy of Win 7 Professional 64bit for only 120 quid.👍

 

[NissanSkylineN1]

What do you mean by "Music Processing Program"? If you're talking about DAW (Digital Audio Workstations), most of them actually still use 32 Bit.

 

[Casio]

Don't bother getting rid of Vista. If you go DOWN to XP, you had better hope that you have one of the rarer versions of XP that's a 64bit version. If you don't. You just screwed yourself over.

I wouldn't hope that. 64bit XP doesn't work with anything.

 

[tlowr4]

I'm after a cheap desktop PC (This one doesn't need to be suited to gaming). Again, I'll only have around £250 but it's merely for recording with my band, it needs to be capable of running REAPER and LePou.

Thanks,

Tom

@NissanSkyline Audio production, music production, whatever you want to call it. Either way he'd be better pickup up a 64bit Win 7.

 

[NissanSkylineN1]

DAWs can run on both 32 bit and 64 bit OS. For example, FL Studio still supports 32 bit OS after switching to 64 bit about a year ago. Many other DAWs support 32 bit OS. Also, many VSTs still only have a 32 bit version, meaning that effects and instruments won't be able to use more than 4Gb of RAM. The only one I know that supports 64 bit so far is Synapse Audio DUNE.

 

[Pako]

I ran XP 64-bit for a while and it was a hit and miss proposition. Drivers were very hard to come by. Vista isn't that bad if you have a lot of ram. 7 is better, but Vista is still better than XP and a Millennium better than ME.

Edit: In fact, I have a copy of XP 64 Pro that I could unload really cheap, but with sound cards and their quirky drivers anyways, I would feel bad if you couldn't get things up and running.