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Author Topic: PC for audio editing - advice sought  (Read 3051 times)

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Offline Humbug

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PC for audio editing - advice sought
« on: October 08, 2016, 11:08:47 AM »
Hi - I know there are some very knowledeable people on here, so I hope that I can ask for advice? I'm pretty clueless when it comes to computers, though I use them every day.

My Dell Dimension 2005 model, with 1GB of RAM, has come to the effective end of its life. Here's my requirements for a new one:

-decent sounding - I will use it for 24/48 audio editing, and a little surfing, youtube watching, etc, on mid range headphones (Grado SR80/ATH-M20)

-low power usage - it will be on 100% of the time, as it will torrent / upload a lot of shows

-quiet, as it lives in the bedroom

-long lasting - I'd like it to last for 8-10 years if poss.

-small as possible, though I've ruled out a laptop. 

-CD/DVD burner - I do still occasionally get asked for CD's by bands that I tape. This can be external.

-8GB RAM

-250GB SSD memory

Budget is £600 (around $750)

I'ts been suggested that a mini pc would fit the above criteria, though I believe this is based on laptop technology. Or should I go for another tower pc?

Here's a typical mini-pc spec of what I can afford:

Asus Vivo VC62B DualBay Intel Core i3-4030U Barebone PC

Asus VC62B-B006M, Intel Core i3-4030U, 2 x SO-DIMM (Up to 16GB RAM)
SATA 6Gb/s 3.5" or 2.5"/2 x 2.5 via Vivo DualBay, Intel HD Graphics 4400, No OS
4-in-1 card reader, 802.11 B/G/N/AC, Bluetooth BT4.0, VESA Mount, 1YR Collect & Return Warranty


Once I've added in a cheap monitor, wireless mouse and keyboard, OS and memory, I'm up to my budget.

Cheers,

Humbug
UK based taper: MK4>Nbox Platinum>PCM-M10
AT853C>CA9200 / PIPsqueak>Tascam DR-2D

http://www.archive.org/bookmarks/Humbug66

Offline Humbug

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Re: PC for audio editing - advice sought
« Reply #1 on: October 09, 2016, 11:38:50 AM »
Oh...did I ask too specific a question, or too general a question...!  ;D
UK based taper: MK4>Nbox Platinum>PCM-M10
AT853C>CA9200 / PIPsqueak>Tascam DR-2D

http://www.archive.org/bookmarks/Humbug66

Offline if_then_else

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Re: PC for audio editing - advice sought
« Reply #2 on: October 10, 2016, 03:16:03 AM »
I actually built a new PC last month based on some of the suggestions in this thread.
http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=178642.0;all
However, it's a **big** tower and definitely too powerful for your fairly modest requirements. (I'm also doing software development and video editing.)

If you're going to use your future mini pc as a torrent box, I'd consider a separate device with low power consumption such as a Raspberry PI 3 (+ SSD) or a Cubietruck.
On the higher end there's the Mint Box Pro (http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=3095) which might also be up to your original requirements. [Depends if you're familiar with Linux or UNIXoid OS'es.]

Offline dnsacks

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Re: PC for audio editing - advice sought
« Reply #3 on: October 10, 2016, 10:47:57 AM »
look into the intel NUC series -- have been running one for over 3 years now with a 256gb ssd internal hard drive and usb 3 perhipherals -- it's very small (around 5"x5"x2"), nearly silent and, since it's built around notebook-based components, consumes VERY littlepower.


Offline if_then_else

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Re: PC for audio editing - advice sought
« Reply #4 on: October 10, 2016, 11:06:09 AM »
look into the intel NUC series -- have been running one for over 3 years now with a 256gb ssd internal hard drive and usb 3 perhipherals -- it's very small (around 5"x5"x2"), nearly silent and, since it's built around notebook-based components, consumes VERY littlepower.

There's some benchmark from around 2014 about the NUC as a DAW. Probably worth reading, too:

http://blog.ultimateoutsider.com/2014/08/review-intel-nuc-d54250wykh-worlds.html

Offline Humbug

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Re: PC for audio editing - advice sought
« Reply #5 on: October 10, 2016, 12:18:27 PM »
That's great, thank you very much.

Any idea whether longevity would be affected, by using notebook components?
UK based taper: MK4>Nbox Platinum>PCM-M10
AT853C>CA9200 / PIPsqueak>Tascam DR-2D

http://www.archive.org/bookmarks/Humbug66

Offline dnsacks

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Re: PC for audio editing - advice sought
« Reply #6 on: October 10, 2016, 12:22:33 PM »
That's great, thank you very much.

Any idea whether longevity would be affected, by using notebook components?

Shouldn't be, as it's designed from the ground up to perform this desktop/24x7 function and has good cooling/etc.

As indicated above, mine's been rock solid stable 24x7 as a media center pc for several years now

 

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