Suggestion for $800 Max Build for use with Focusrite

[Crash1]

My brother in law wants a new PC for his band stuff using Focusrite.

He said the minimum is Quad Core 2.4 - 4.2 (I guess I'm going to have to stick with I5)

16Gb Ram (would like to run this up to 32)

500-1 TB HD

He didn't say what OS but I want to build it with Win 11

I want to build and stretch the money so he does not need to upgrade again soon.

Hoping to find someone that's been here done this to give me suggestions on all parts for just the box.

Thanks for any suggestions.....

 

[don256us]

Why not just get a nice $800 laptop? He could take it to various jam sessions and work on his music or to take into the studio to record and into the office to edit. That kind of thing.

The horse power required can be met with nearly anything modern even at the low end. So look for other variables that he may want like large screen or lighted keyboard or whatever.

Focusrite | Audio Interfaces and Pro Audio Equipment

It's the job of an audio interface to sit between you and your sound being shared with the world, and Focusrite are the best in the world at making that happen.

focusrite.com

 

[Zerileous]

5600G (if he want's more graphics ability), 7600 or 13400 would all be more than enough. Without a GPU you should be able to get 32GB, especially if you choose a DDR4 machine.

But a laptop is also a good suggestion, just depends on what he wants.

 

[Crash1]

Shocked......I talked him out of a laptop due to propriety parts and knowledge on laptop disassembly. He is not computer literate even a little bit and he is 15 hours away (even though it's Florida!)

He will not be taking it anywhere and he wants a large screen.

Why not just get a nice $800 laptop? He could take it to various jam sessions and work on his music or to take into the studio to record and into the office to edit. That kind of thing.

The horse power required can be met with nearly anything modern even at the low end. So look for other variables that he may want like large screen or lighted keyboard or whatever.

Focusrite | Audio Interfaces and Pro Audio Equipment

It's the job of an audio interface to sit between you and your sound being shared with the world, and Focusrite are the best in the world at making that happen.

focusrite.com

As a laptop owner for 40 years.....I hate them. Dissembly can be a pain. Took me hours to dissemble a laptop once to replace the cpu fan! I know that they have made replaceable parts easier to get to but if he has a problem I can talk him through swapping out parts....

I want to squeze the best I can so it will last him a while. Hell, I just built a new PC to replace my old Gigabyte I7 that I buiilt in 2012! It still runs great with exception of some usb ports that have worn out and not upgrade-able to Win 11.

 

[don256us]

What parts do you already have? Case, Power supply,...

Where is our starting point? If we have to factor in a monitor, we're really gonna cut it slim.

 

[Crash1]

I've seen some good deals on refirbished PCs with Win 10....most cannot be upgraded to Win 11.....

Post magically merged: Mar 24, 2023

What parts do you already have? Case, Power supply,...

Where is our starting point?

Just starting.....have nothing so far..... I would love to make it able for 4k video playback but that's just a hope

 

[Crash1]

I'm will consider a prebuilt (I know they use cheap parts but parts can be upgraded later if needed) but can someone give me a suggestion on brand?

 

[don256us]

Personally, you have good and bad from all brands. Before listing brands that I would consider, I point out that some OEMs use proprietary power supplies and as such reduce your ability to cheaply upgrade/repair. Also, small form factor can reduce your ability to upgrade parts like video card and some machines even limit the amount of RAM or use SoDIMMs instead of full sticks. Some of these are not deal breakers but best to know ahead of your purchase.

Dell might top the list of makers.
HP
Acer (Perhaps the largest seller of computers in the world)
ASUS

All good brands for desktops. Tiger Direct is a long way from when they were popular but they seem to have settled into a refurb market. A Lot of them are off-lease from large corporate companies. They may have light use or been abused. Little way to know. If you go this route, really pay attention to the power supply and memory upgrade path.

If you're looking for new, Newegg.com, BHPhoto.com and even Bestbuy.com could have what you want.

Doing this search on tiger's website found that you will bump your head on the $800 mark if you want Win 11 *AND* I wouldn't recommend any of them on the first page. Feel free to give them a browes and see what you think.

I haven't done business with Tiger in many years so I can't say if they are any good. Please keep that in mind before purchase. Look for reviews of the company before purchase.

Best Buy has surprised me in the past with good prices on machines so don't rule them out until you look.

Newegg is perhaps the biggest seller in the US but BHPhoto out of NYC has a great reputation.

 

[freakdiablo]

4k playback is completely do-able, most onboard GPUs are even able to handle it. Zeril's suggestion of a 5600G build would be perfect.

I think a prebuilt would be better if he's that illiterate and far away. I actually recommend them to family - with the single all covering warranty and the ability to just bring it to a local BB or whatever, it means they're not waiting on you if something goes wrong.

As far as brands, we actually got my grandmother a Haswell based HP many moons ago that's still going strong. There are plenty of little boutique brands such as iBuyPower. I'll avoid Dell. I've done enough IT work to think they're pure hellspawn.

 

[stompah]

Buy Mac mini

Get a new Mac mini with M2 chip from only $49.91 per month. Select a model or customise your own. Buy now at apple.com.

www.apple.com

Why not go this route?

Or try looking for a surplused Dell or HP workstation. I locally found a guy who is retired who buys large lots and breaks them up. I got 3 Dell T3500s with no HDD, 1gig RAM and basic video card for $20 each. I bought some RAM on eBay, added cheap SSDs and some cards of varying powers. I've been running them for several years and up until now they have been more than adequate.

A decent example of what he has now:

Dell Precision T7910 workstation, dual Xeon, 32gb DDR4, SSD and 3TB...

The CPUs have the AVX and AVX 2.0 instructions sets to handle VR headsets.e-mail address and I often get no response, which leads me to believe some responses are ending up in spam filters. So if...

seattle.craigslist.org

Add a $200-300 video card and your brother will have a lot of horsepower for several years.

 

[Crash1]

Personally, you have good and bad from all brands. Before listing brands that I would consider, I point out that some OEMs use proprietary power supplies and as such reduce your ability to cheaply upgrade/repair. Also, small form factor can reduce your ability to upgrade parts like video card and some machines even limit the amount of RAM or use SoDIMMs instead of full sticks. Some of these are not deal breakers but best to know ahead of your purchase.

Dell might top the list of makers.
HP
Acer (Perhaps the largest seller of computers in the world)
ASUS

All good brands for desktops. Tiger Direct is a long way from when they were popular but they seem to have settled into a refurb market. A Lot of them are off-lease from large corporate companies. They may have light use or been abused. Little way to know. If you go this route, really pay attention to the power supply and memory upgrade path.

If you're looking for new, Newegg.com, BHPhoto.com and even Bestbuy.com could have what you want.

Doing this search on tiger's website found that you will bump your head on the $800 mark if you want Win 11 *AND* I wouldn't recommend any of them on the first page. Feel free to give them a browes and see what you think.

I haven't done business with Tiger in many years so I can't say if they are any good. Please keep that in mind before purchase. Look for reviews of the company before purchase.

Best Buy has surprised me in the past with good prices on machines so don't rule them out until you look.

Newegg is perhaps the biggest seller in the US but BHPhoto out of NYC has a great reputation.

Good points....several months ago was in my friends store and a PC was dead...would boot with lights and nothing else. I checked it out and it was a Dell (I used to work for) it needed a new PS and you're right....had to find a dell PS but I got one for $50. Bad part is I have PS sitting around but of course it would not fit in their case not to mention the connectors. Years ago I used to hate the built on components like NICs.....now even Asus builds them on their board.

Thanks for the points and I am starting my spread sheet now.

I was thinking after building mine.....I didn't get the case that I would have liked because almost all have fans in the front and buttons/usb on the top or side......yuck....and the case I got was around $200.

I have found some refurbished and some new but I'll have to go through and check them out.

Thanks for the reply!

Post magically merged: Mar 24, 2023

Buy Mac mini

Get a new Mac mini with M2 chip from only $49.91 per month. Select a model or customise your own. Buy now at apple.com.

www.apple.com

Why not go this route?

Or try looking for a surplused Dell or HP workstation. I locally found a guy who is retired who buys large lots and breaks them up. I got 3 Dell T3500s with no HDD, 1gig RAM and basic video card for $20 each. I bought some RAM on eBay, added cheap SSDs and some cards of varying powers. I've been running them for several years and up until now they have been more than adequate.

A decent example of what he has now:

Dell Precision T7910 workstation, dual Xeon, 32gb DDR4, SSD and 3TB...

The CPUs have the AVX and AVX 2.0 instructions sets to handle VR headsets.e-mail address and I often get no response, which leads me to believe some responses are ending up in spam filters. So if...

seattle.craigslist.org

Add a $200-300 video card and your brother will have a lot of horsepower for several years.

Possibility.....but I live at the end of the earth and if you say PC they think it's a new fishing lure.....but I will check some local sales.....may even have to look at Facebook Marketplace.......ARG!

Thanks!

Post magically merged: Mar 24, 2023

4k playback is completely do-able, most onboard GPUs are even able to handle it. Zeril's suggestion of a 5600G build would be perfect.

I think a prebuilt would be better if he's that illiterate and far away. I actually recommend them to family - with the single all covering warranty and the ability to just bring it to a local BB or whatever, it means they're not waiting on you if something goes wrong.

As far as brands, we actually got my grandmother a Haswell based HP many moons ago that's still going strong. There are plenty of little boutique brands such as iBuyPower. I'll avoid Dell. I've done enough IT work to think they're pure hellspawn.

Another good point.....didn't think about warranty since I can fix my own but he's so far away.....

Thanks!

 

[Crash1]

Any suggestions on chipsets to stay away from?

 

[EarthDog]

Any suggestions on chipsets to stay away from?

I think that's playing in the minutia for a build like this. There really isn't a reason to avoid any chipsets, honestly.

 

[freakdiablo]

If you mean chipsets as in actual chipsets, nothing really. If you avoid the true bottom of the barrel from either AMD or Intel, you'll get something solid.

 

[don256us]

I think that's playing in the minutia for a build like this. There really isn't a reason to avoid any chipsets, honestly.

Agreed.

 

[stompah]

Any suggestions on chipsets to stay away from?

I think that's playing in the minutia for a build like this. There really isn't a reason to avoid any chipsets, honestly.

Stay away from expensive ones lol.

BTW, those Dell T3500s had a normal ATX motherboard connector. When I needed some more juice I disconnected the wiring harness from the PSU (yes the harness wasn't hardwired in, but was routed under the motherboard) and then installed a basic PSU.


If you're really worried about long distance tech support, buy a $600 PC and a $200 warranty.



Edit: this is why I miss the OLD Fry's. Not the lame duck that fizzled out. Back in the day you could pay retail for a CPU and get a basic but relevant Motherboard combo'd together. Pair that with a PSU they always had on sale. A low end case that you don't have to pay for shipping on. Some cheap RAM, cheap storage and heavily rebated video card.

I've built many people $300-400 rigs that chugged along for a long time.

 

[freakdiablo]

Stay away from expensive ones lol.

BTW, those Dell T3500s had a normal ATX motherboard connector. When I needed some more juice I disconnected the wiring harness from the PSU (yes the harness wasn't hardwired in, but was routed under the motherboard) and then installed a basic PSU.


If you're really worried about long distance tech support, buy a $600 PC and a $200 warranty.

To add to this, if the OEM doesn't offer an extended warranty, check with Best Buy.

Normally I don't vouch for them but in some cases they'll offer one in house.

It ties into what I said earlier. If your brother has a BB local, it actually helps for short/mid term repair.

 

[stompah]

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-pavilion-desktop-intel-core-i5-12400-8gb-memory-512gb-ssd-snow-white/6504431.p?skuId=6504431

$626 but only 8GB of RAM.

$190 for 3 year warranty.

I'd buy it with my credit card for that extra year of warranty. Save the $190 for upgrades or just buy more PC.

Link this for $800.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/dell-i...y-512gb-ssd-mist-blue/6501298.p?skuId=6501298

 

[freakdiablo]

To add to this, if the OEM doesn't offer an extended warranty, check with Best Buy.

Normally I don't vouch for them but in some cases they'll offer one in house.

It ties into what I said earlier. If your brother has a BB local, it actually helps for short/mid term repair.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-pavilion-desktop-intel-core-i5-12400-8gb-memory-512gb-ssd-snow-white/6504431.p?skuId=6504431

$626 but only 8GB of RAM.

$190 for 3 year warranty.

I'd buy it with my credit card for that extra year of warranty. Save the $190 for upgrades or just buy more PC.

Link this for $800.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/dell-i...y-512gb-ssd-mist-blue/6501298.p?skuId=6501298

"Only 8gb of RAM".

Honestly 8gb can still carry itself. This may be a little off topic as I don't know the program @op is talking about, but it doesn't sound like a monster of a program.

If dropping in a 16gb down the line is necessary, then it's necessary.

 

[Crash1]

I think that's playing in the minutia for a build like this. There really isn't a reason to avoid any chipsets, honestly.

Didn't see the name earlier....Hey EarthDog!

Post magically merged: Mar 25, 2023

"Only 8gb of RAM".

Honestly 8gb can still carry itself. This may be a little off topic as I don't know the program @op is talking about, but it doesn't sound like a monster of a program.

If dropping in a 16gb down the line is necessary, then it's necessary.

I just can't see these days without 16gb....looks like most of the cheaper ones can't upgrade to 32 if needed and some only have 1 slot!

Thanks

Post magically merged: Mar 25, 2023

Just searched....his area has 30 computer stores! I'm lucky to have a BB and it's small!