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  #1  
Old 05-07-2019, 04:30 AM
Suddenly Clear Suddenly Clear is offline
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Default New PC recommendation?

I've been putting off buying a new PC for ages. It's giving up the ghost now. I'm in the UK and willing to pay £1000 or up to £1500 ($1,963) if it's worth it. Does anybody know any good deals or stores to check out?

Thanks

System Details:
ACPI x64-based PC
Processor: Intel Core i5 CPU 750 @ 2.67 GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 5700 Series
Audio Interface: 1. Presonus 1824 (primary) 2. Eleven Rack (via 1824 S/PDIF) 3. Fast Track C400 (connected to the PC for USB powered use).
IO: Windows 10 Home
DAW: Pro Tools 2018.10 / FL Studio 20
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  #2  
Old 05-07-2019, 05:27 PM
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albee1952 albee1952 is offline
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Default Re: New PC recommendation?

pro-tools-pc.com would be my first recommendation. An off-lease HP Z820 12 core is a good alternative if you don't need thunderbolt but not sure if those can be had easily on your side of the pond
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Old 05-07-2019, 06:18 PM
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Bob Olhsson Bob Olhsson is offline
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Default Re: New PC recommendation?

A lot of software developers replace their extremely powerful workstations every year or so. I went that route with a Dell Precision and my most recent computer was a Pro Tools PC tuned for being very quiet.
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Old 05-08-2019, 04:10 AM
Suddenly Clear Suddenly Clear is offline
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Default Re: New PC recommendation?

Thanks, guys. I contacted ProTools PC a while ago and they don't serve the UK anymore.
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  #5  
Old 05-11-2019, 08:36 AM
sbs sbs is offline
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Default Re: New PC recommendation?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Suddenly Clear View Post
Thanks, guys. I contacted ProTools PC a while ago and they don't serve the UK anymore.
I'm in the process of buying a new PC from www.scan.co.uk

I'll post details of the machine when it's here and working but so far, they've been great to work with - I'm making the transition back to PCs after 12 years on a Mac, my component/tweak knowledge is rusty and I don't have huge amounts of time to research and learn to enable me to confidently self build (which I did in the past).
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Last edited by sbs; 05-11-2019 at 08:50 AM. Reason: bit brief!
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Old 05-17-2019, 05:17 AM
Suddenly Clear Suddenly Clear is offline
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Default Re: New PC recommendation?

Quote:
Originally Posted by sbs View Post
I'm in the process of buying a new PC from www.scan.co.uk

I'll post details of the machine when it's here and working but so far, they've been great to work with - I'm making the transition back to PCs after 12 years on a Mac, my component/tweak knowledge is rusty and I don't have huge amounts of time to research and learn to enable me to confidently self build (which I did in the past).
Hi Sbs, thanks for the recommendation. This one looks promising:

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/3xs-...ssd-1tb-win-10
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  #7  
Old 05-17-2019, 07:10 AM
sbs sbs is offline
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Default Re: New PC recommendation?

This is the spec that's now agreed and paid for, hopefully it'll ship to me next week:

Fractal Design Define R6 gun metal USB Type C
be quiet! Silent Wings 3 140mm, case fan upgrade
650W be quiet Straight Power 11 - 80+ Gold
ASUS PRIME Z390-A
Intel Core i9 9900K, 4.9GHz All Cores
be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4
32GB Corsair LPX 2666MHz
250GB Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe (system)
1TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe
1TB Samsung 860 EVO SSD
Lycom PE-107 PCI-E, Fire Wire card
Asus EX 3 Thunderbolt Card
Microsoft Windows 10 Home Advanced 64-bit

On my 2012 Macbook Pro I'm running PT 12.4, I'll upgrade that to the current when the new PC arrives. I'm using an MBox Pro 3 hence the firewire card. The Thunderbolt card is to keep my options open when I need to replace the Mbox Pro 3. (it hits end of life sometime next year, I'm fully expecting it to work for a while longer but, things can change).

I had them quote me on two systems, the other was based on a Fractal Designs Node case with a mini ITX board. Pete at Scan was excellent and set up the 9900k on an Asrock Mini ITX board to see if the new Noctua NH-U12A could keep it cool enough in the confined space. Where I live can get pretty hot and between that and the borderline results Pete found, the second spec was "downgraded" to the 8th gen 8700K on the Asrock ITX. I was expecting a larger price difference than it turned out to be (about £112) so I plumbed for the 9900k. To be really honest, I am sure the 8700k would meet my needs without issue, I just got gear lust and went for the latest and slightly better 9900k. I'm not convinced that the 9700k gives better results than the 8700k, if you're looking at the 9700k, compare prices and benchmarks with the 8700k before you take the plunge. Have a read of this re the 9th gen CPUs

Gonna have to rework things a little to find a place to put it but that's OK.

I don't know how this works, I'm unsure if forum rules here prohibit cross posting to another forum but I found Pete at Gearslutz his forum name is Pete Kaine.

I'm stoked! Really looking forward to the new machine and couldn't be happier with Pete and Scan.
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Last edited by sbs; 05-17-2019 at 07:17 AM. Reason: poor sentence construction, need more coffee
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  #8  
Old 05-17-2019, 01:03 PM
Suddenly Clear Suddenly Clear is offline
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Default Re: New PC recommendation?

Sbs, thanks for all this info. Please let me know how you get on once the machine arrives and you've had time to test it.
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  #9  
Old 07-03-2019, 01:59 PM
sbs sbs is offline
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Default Re: New PC recommendation?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Suddenly Clear View Post
Sbs, thanks for all this info. Please let me know how you get on once the machine arrives and you've had time to test it.
Suddenly Clear, apologies for the delay responding.

I've had the PC for about 3 weeks now. It survived the transatlantic crossing just fine and has been working like a peach. It runs quiet even in my not air conditioned flat with an outside temperature in the 30s.

I've installed PT 2019.5, plugins and sample libraries and have been getting used to working on Windows after a 12 year spell with macOS.

To date, I've had no PT errors and while I've had the odd hiccup - a session stalled loading on Absynth, nothing that's repeated or been cause for concern. I'm using sessions at 44.1k and 64 samples, the lowest my MBox Pro 3 can run and have had no need to up the buffer.

I've not run DAWBench on the machine nor the RTL test I can't remember the name of. I may do so if I find the time but it's not high on my list of things to do.

I think it will take me a while to find the limit of what it's capable of and I'm happy with that, the machine is quick, as is to be expected and has been solid.
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