Some guy wants me to build him a computer so he can directly record his guitar playing onto his computer... I know what he wants to do won't be so demanding and maybe needs a good sound card.. Since I'm not particularly knowledgeable in the field of guitar and computers combined, what do you think would be necessary to fulfill his needs? I doubt he'll be playing games or encoding so help me out here..
I wouldn't know where to find this type of stuff online. Maybe music123 or similar sites.
The PC would just have to be anything that can support Windows XP, so 1GHz CPU and 256MB RAM. Since nothing new is anywhere near this slow, any Dual Core CPU with 2GB or 4GB of RAM will do.
Maybe an AMD build will work for this (budget). Integrated graphics will be more than enough, so it will probably cost around $300 for the PC then another $300 for the audio hardware. Sorry, but I don't have time for a part list today.
All in all it's around $1,000
I'm honestly unsure about the sound card.. it's for a guitar player that's gonna use a POD 2.0 to record the music directly to the computer. Also, if you guys can help shorten the price it would be a huge help, as in cheaper but still reliable motherboard and RAM. THANK YOU!!!!!!
I'm afraid pro-audio isn't my area of expertise, but you can save on this.
The NZXT Tempest is an awesome case, but you don't necessarily need one that high grade if you're building to a budget.
The graphics card, power supply and motherboard can also be reduced.
A Gigabyte EP43-DS3L is $80, an Atec Earthwatts 380W $35 and an Antec Three Hundred $50 at newegg. You can also swap the HD3850 for an HD4650, slightly slower, but far more power efficient and compatible, and also only about $60. These are still solid reliable parts.
You can stick to high performance RAM cause it is dirt cheap, but go for a motherboard with integrated graphics and a cheaper CPU. I think AMD is a better option:
Swapping those in your list will cut $210 off your price. Also, there is no need for a CPU cooler. Use the stock cooler and a cheaper case.
Music uses absolutely no resources, so there is no need for dedicated graphics or a fast CPU. If your friend wants to sell the music, mp3 is still most popular and you can encode 3 minutes of mp3 in about 5 seconds with a P4. Recording uncompressed uses no CPU power and will be handled from the audio card.
As for what audio hardware to use, the best bet would be to go to a music shop and ask some questions. That audio card looks more like a DTS card which is not for recording music. It is possible that you can use the line in to record the audio, but I don't think that would be optimal audio quality. I don't have experience recording with a PC, but I am pretty sure you need a different audio card and a preamp.
EDIT: Look at this build suggested by sammorris for a budget gamer:
It is a good base to build the PC from. Maybe swap in the cheaper Dominator RAM. For $20, you can't go wrong. I think the fan alone goes for $20, so it is like the RAM is free :P
Thank you very much guys!! You make peoples lives so much easier!! Now I can put more money into dedicated recording hardware, still need help on the sound card though... I guess i'll have to google this one =/
Well I just found out that I can use the Pod X3 as a sound card and then connecting it via USB, so I guess that's what i'll do... What kind of processor should I use? Stick with the one I have or use a different one?
That's a significant downgrade in components. You could really just stick with the components you had before and use a Core 2 Duo E5200 and get a better system than the AMD for a similar price.
I'd leave the 4GB RAM there personally, as some music editing applications use a surprising amount of memory.
