Suggestions for new Windows Desktop

[overdrivenel34s]

Any suggestions for Windows desktop that will give good performance and have compatibility with recording interface and softwares? I have Focusrite 18i8 recording interface. I often use audacity but also have and use reaper, cakewalk home studio, and wavelab LE.

Incase some of this info helps. My current computer is getting very old and just barely met specs to upgrade to windows 10 (32 version). Though its been working ok, i got better general performance on windows 7... The set up has two internal hard drives 1 TB and 250 GB. Limited 4GB ram which it appears 32 bit windows won't use more and i've been unable to upgrade to 64 bit of OS due to specs. Its a gateway desktop with only dual core AMD athalon processors. Has DVDr/CD burner drive (not that i burn many CD's or dev these days but nice to have) lots of card readers (handy for SD card readers but using usb with external adapter works just as well).

[fretless]

It would be nice if that were intel and you could upgrade to 64 bit win 7 . But you can't . So I would not do a thing here but maximize and optimize this machine for recording . You may be able to eek out a little more performance and stability . The question is , has this machine ran out of gas for you ? Are you experiencing any slow performance or recording difficulties ?

[overdrivenel34s]

Yeah this machine just wouldn't be worth upgrading components on. I'm thinking possibly getting a reconditioned desktop with decent specs where i can upgrade components on from there. Or new unit that where good specs on the overall unit and processor set but perhaps comes stock with less ram and HD space, as i can easily add in ram and 2nd hard drive.

Probably makes sense to go with SSD for the main HD for the system and apps to run on to max performance and 2nd internal drive can be conventional and very large for gross storage. I also have external drive too but i prefer to have 2nd internal HD.

On my current computer, I did recently run into issue which hopefully is resolved now where it was overheating and randomly shutting down. I took it apart and fully cleaned the vents (which were covered/blocked in dust(my fault for neglecting for long time), cleaned all fans... Also made some tweaks to power management and system settings to hopefully reduce the load on processors more. Windows 10 in genenal seems more taxing on the processors then win 7 was but perhaps continued tweaking will help get it better for the time being. I had ran some deep scans and disk/system checks from safe mode that all checked out fine. Now its no longer overheating from what i can tell as it hasn't powered off itself anymore. Hopefully no permanent damage was done from when it was overheating...

[overdrivenel34s]

A few i was just looking at which on paper already would be major upgrades from the start and would have room to upgrade some components.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NL4CT8L/?coliid=I3PFWKEKYGO4BS&colid=D602VX0EGAJ1&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0824SX6VD/?coliid=I1T2OIPA3WRE5B&colid=D602VX0EGAJ1

[fretless]

I can't really say about those in the links . Have you tried pricing out a build at new egg or some place . If you can build your own you can do pretty well on savings .It's pretty simple these days . Audio doesn't need a super highend video card . You can spec out with a few years older tech as most folks doing audio don't need the latest CPU's and whatnot . You could spec something out for less than a grand and have a machine that should last the next 10 to 20 years . Go to new egg and or someplace like tiger direct or even Amazon and toss everything in the cart you want and let us know what the cost will be . I'm still on win7 and I doubt I'll ever leave it .

[Diocide]

Honestly, just build something.

It's kinda a bad time since everyones stuck at home and building new PCs, but it's the best ROI hands down.

[neilrocks25]

It’s so easy to build something now, it’s like Lego.
And AMD is killing it, I put a 3700x in mine 8 cores and 16 threads. (Having said that,I got a refurbed Mac mini for music)

[overdrivenel34s]

Thanks everyone for the input. My old desktop ended dying. Damage must have been done when it was overheating even though after cleaned and no longer overheating seemed like it was fixed. All efforts to troubleshoot did no good and i wasn't going to go as far as replace processor or the motherboard.

I decided on a refurbished HP pro book desktop that looked like decent specs. Got it today. It has 4 core i5 6th gen processor, a nvidia dedicated graphics card(Geforce GT 730), came with 1TB SSD hard drive, and 32 GB of ram already installed, Win 10 pro 64 bit operating system, plenty USB inputs including some are USB 3.0 (while rest are 2.0). Spent $500. I have an external USB 4TB HD thaat i have hooked up to it. Also temporarily connected the 1TB main HD from old computer as an external drive via USB to grab stuff off that. I may end up installing that SATA 1TB as 2nd internal HD. For time being i may just keep the low profile external 4TB usb connected and use that for storage.

Its working great so far. Installed the drivers for my focusrite scarlet 18i8 (gen 1) went well and had audio up and running through my KRK speakers quickly. This system is significantly faster then my old machine. Faster then my old machine was on Windows 7. It's also way quieter (the fans are much quieter). Let me know if there are any questions. I'll post an update after i've had this computer a while.