Building PC from scratch???

[AnalogousGumdropDecoder]

I've just bought a MOTU 828mkII and come to the dumbfounding realization that my macbook does not have a firewire port. I've also been told (not sure if this is correct) that USB interfaces are going to be about 2 channels (maybe 4?). As this would hamper my ability to record drums, I don't think this is an option. Luckily, it's about tax return time, and I'm thinking of putting that money towards building a dedicated PC for recording.

Does anyone know (or can anyone direct me to a site that will explain to me) what kind of parts I'm going to need, the specs, the best place to buy, and how much money I may be running into?

I'm obviously going to need a motherboard, processor, memory, hard drives, cd burner, sound card, video card (depending on the motherboard), and SOME KIND OF CARD WITH A FIREWIRE PORT.

Do you have recommendations on anything else I'll need, how big and fast this stuff should be, etc?

Thanks a tonnage.

[Snarl 12/8]

Dude,

Go find your local mom and pop computer store that has a decent reputation. I know where I'd send you if you were in portland. They'll put it together and ensure it all works for $50 extra on top of the parts. If I wasn't always kludging together a few new parts with a few old parts to resurrect an old computer every time I "upgraded" I'd totally go that route. If you don't know a firewire port from a display port you're really going to be fucking yourself over trying to build a PC from scratch. It really is almost trivially easy after years and years of doing it, but at first it's almost impossible to figure it out. And there are still headaches getting certain things to interoperate. Like I've recently bought motherboards that seemed like they supported the CPU I had only to find out that the more recent revision of the motherboard supported it, or it supported every single CPU in the line of CPU's except the specific model I had. That's where shopping at the Mom and Pop comes in. They go, "oh shit, sorry. Here, try this motherboard instead."

I know you think I'm a dick for not answering your question and telling you to do something different than what you asked. But I'm just trying to save you from some serious aggravation and wasting a lot of cash. You can learn from my mistakes.

[AnalogousGumdropDecoder]

Dude,

Go find your local mom and pop computer store that has a decent reputation. I know where I'd send you if you were in portland. They'll put it together and ensure it all works for $50 extra on top of the parts. If I wasn't always kludging together a few new parts with a few old parts to resurrect an old computer every time I "upgraded" I'd totally go that route. If you don't know a firewire port from a display port you're really going to be fucking yourself over trying to build a PC from scratch. It really is almost trivially easy after years and years of doing it, but at first it's almost impossible to figure it out. And there are still headaches getting certain things to interoperate. Like I've recently bought motherboards that seemed like they supported the CPU I had only to find out that the more recent revision of the motherboard supported it, or it supported every single CPU in the line of CPU's except the specific model I had. That's where shopping at the Mom and Pop comes in. They go, "oh shit, sorry. Here, try this motherboard instead."

I know you think I'm a dick for not answering your question and telling you to do something different than what you asked. But I'm just trying to save you from some serious aggravation and wasting a lot of cash. You can learn from my mistakes.

I'm totally open to that option if it's cost-effective. I have put together a PC before from known good parts, but it's been YEARS. Firewire was around, but I never needed it for anything. Mini displayport, I've still never needed whatever that is. I assume it's for running video out to another monitor or something. I've been completely out of the computer geek loop for years so I'm not up on recent shit, and I've forgotten a lot of what I did know... I was planning on enlisting some help, but if it's going to be a confusing trial-and-error process figuring out which parts will cooperate with which others, then I may have to pay someone else to do it for me.

[John Jeffers]

There are a few sites that post system guides every few months to reflect the latest hardware. They all publish systems in tiers to reflect different budgets (low end, midrange, high end). Here are the ones I know about:

Ars Technica
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/guides/2 ... dition.ars

The Tech Report
http://techreport.com/articles.x/20479

I'm sure there are others out there, but since I got bored with building my own PCs I quit paying attention so much.

I really don't mean that to sound condescending. I used to love building systems. I started back in the late '80s, when you actually had to set jumpers on expansion cards to configure IRQs. When an Intel 80386 at 33 MHz was hot shit, 640K really was a lot of memory, and a DAW wasn't a thing anyone had heard of. It was fun. But I'm in my late 30s now, and I don't have the interest in it anymore. I'm happy to buy a Mac and not have to worry about all the weird little incompatibilities.

OK, sorry for that tangent. Public reminiscing. Good luck to you. I'm sure others will have more useful recommendations.

[AnalogousGumdropDecoder]

Even if I use these sites for a reference of what's "standard" or go to a professional builder instead of trying to do it myself, I don't really know what specific things I'm going to need to record.

[Snarl 12/8]

Even if I use these sites for a reference of what's "standard" or go to a professional builder instead of trying to do it myself, I don't really know what specific things I'm going to need to record.

That's where a mom and pop store (with a stellar reputation) comes in. You tell them what you want to DO and they tell you what you need. Most will just sell you the parts if you want to save the $50 (or whatever) for assembly.

[jnTracks]

i've built all my recording computers (windows) from scratch, and all my personal and gaming computers, with great success.
another site to add to the list posted above is www.pcper.com
their hardware leader board has 4 levels of investment, updated regularly. and considering you can take the sound card right off the top and the graphics card from the cheapest system will be enough for this rig...
the best thing to look at on these sites is case reviews. if you want a rack mounted case your options are limited but if a tower is ok with you search through their reviews and find one with good "silent" features. that is, rubber mounts for things like hard drives and big fans that can move air while spinning slowly. or you might just get a cheaper case and buy the fans separately, that's what i'd do. you can search fans on newegg with a parameter for noise level. pay a few extra dollars and get a fan that's as quiet as your quiet room!

that said, these sites are aimed at gamers and the like, for a recording computer you want to aim more at server class parts. at least for the motherboard. i'm a big fan of asus right now for that. the parts stamped WS are solid.
another thing is the FW card. spending a few extra bucks here on a chip you know will work to the full extent of what you'll be using it for and be totally compatible is worth it since you might not be quite sure the onboard FW chip will work with every DAW out there.

buuuuuut, it sounds like you're looking for specifics, so: what DAW are you going to use with your MOTU? (i'm really only familiar with pro tools, but it seems to be the most picky out there so if your comp is up to spec with that it should work with anything right?)

[dfuruta]

If you don't know what you're doing, it will definitely save you time and anguish to have someone else put the machine together.

For recording, you want a nice amount of ram (4gb+), a decent processor, a good cd burner, and preferably two hard discs with a good amount of space. The video card doesn't matter very much.

My last two machines have used Gigabyte motherboards, and those seem to work well. The built-in firewire ports have been fine. Make sure to check that the board does have firewire (also known as IEEE-1394)!

[Bro Shark]

Noise is a consideration, unless you have a closet or ventilated cabinet or something. But it's easy to do when you're building a custom machine. Shop/ask for quiet(er) case fans (I use Silenx), a fanless graphics card, and a quiet(er) CPU cooler.

[lapsteel]

If you go the route of building your own PC; triple check everything.

Once you start thinking about what you might want, go to newegg.com and look what they have.

Start by looking at towers. Some will include a power supply, some won't. Same with cooling fans.

Then start looking at motherboards. When you find the one you want, you need to check the specs of what is built in and what it can handle. The specs will help you narrow your search for the other components.

It's not necessarily hard, but you need to make sure to read things carefully.

[exalted wombat]

I've also been told (not sure if this is correct) that USB interfaces are going to be about 2 channels (maybe 4?). .

I'm all for getting away from Mac. But USB interfaces are now better than that. For instance, http://www.rme-audio.de/products_fireface_ufx.php

[fedexnman]

go to a book store and look in the pc magazine , look for one that has build your own pc on the front cover . pick you out a computer to build , out of the magazine . go to newegg or tigerdirect and order the parts . you will also need to order a pci card for your firewire , one that has a t.i. (texas instruments) firewire chipset ( google is your friend ). its really pretty easy to build a pc alot of thing are tooless .