Alienware for music?

[honkeystyle]

Could get an MSI for cheaper with as good if not better performance than an Alienware machine.

[Daily Crisis]

http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc

post there, give them a budget and what you intend to use the computer for, they'll post you a build

fancy cooling systems are not needed unless you are overclocking and/or running multiple GPUs

you don't need a discrete GPU for an audio computer

Alienware computers are incredibly overpriced

Nice. Didn't know there was a reddit for it.

[honkeystyle]

Look at MSI. Lot of bang for the buck.

[Daniboy]

Building your own system is ridiculously easy. You need the following:

A case
A PSU
A motherboard
a CPU
a GPU
a Hard drive
RAM
Network card for internet(I don;t have a wired modem port, my desktop has a WLAN PCI-E card).

You screw the motherboard into the case (All motherboards are made in certain sizes, micro-ATX, Mini-ATX, ATX, E-ATX. An ATX will probably be what your after. Make sure you have a case that fits it, line up the screw holes, done. Then it's pretty much just plug and play, your CPU goes in the big square that says "CPU", and then the cooler supplied with it clicks on top, your HDD slots into a HDD bay then plugs into a SATA on the MOBO, Your GPU plugs into one of the PCI slots, your RAM plugs into the RAM slots, then you just screw in your PSU and connect power to the CPU, the GPU, the HDD and the motherboard. Also plug your case fans in if your case has any, and that's it. Once you've done it a few times it's so easy you can do it with your eyes closed, everything is designed to be idiot proof.

Anyways, it's a different story for a different time, a quick search on instructables will open you to a wealth of guies and if you ask on a site like Tom's Hardware they can help you find the power your need for the budget you have.

Thanks!

Just being curious... what are the maximum performance stuff to buy? like is it possible to build a PC with better performance than an Alienware?

[makar1]

like is it possible to build a PC with better performance than an Alienware?

Yes, Alienware is not exactly the pinnacle of computer performance. They are just overpriced Dells with a different logo.

What is your budget?

[Daniboy]

Yes, Alienware is not exactly the pinnacle of computer performance. They are just overpriced Dells with a different logo.

What is your budget?

Well, I would buy an Alienware, so maybe 5000 dollars.

How much do I need to buy the pinnacle of computer performance?

[makar1]

Start off with an i7 4930K or 4960X along with a Socket 2011 motherboard. If you want to game, get as many GTX 780Ti's as you want (probably 2 to begin with). You'll need a power supply to match the number of GPUs you get though.

Add in some PCIe SSDs, 16/32GB RAM, and a nice monitor. Maybe a high quality sound card like a Xonar Essence STX for your music too?

[Daniboy]

Start off with an i7 4930K or 4960X along with a Socket 2011 motherboard. If you want to game, get as many GTX 780Ti's as you want (probably 2 to begin with). You'll need a power supply to match the number of GPUs you get though.

Add in some PCIe SSDs, 16/32GB RAM, and a nice monitor. Maybe a high quality sound card like a Xonar Essence STX for your music too?

YEAH! Now you talking my language hahaha

[Sambo]

"pinnacle" of computer performance is a subjective term. The highest benchmarks aren't from the newest CPUs, since overclocking is such a diverse subject. Arguably, the pinnacle of PC Gaming WITHOUT overclocking would be this, but as you can see from the "How much did this cost video" then you better have $10k to spend on something that powerful.

The main achievement of that computer is it can run 3 monitors at 4K, which at the moment is a pipe dream even for enthusiast rigs. This time next christmas 4K TV or "UltraHD" as they're marketing it is going to be the big thing tech-wise, even though there's very few 4K source material (The majority of it is gaming!) and not only that, the Oculus Rift will be out sometime in the next year and that's set to turn the gaming world on it's head if it lives up to its reviews.

All I will suggest is, if you're going for the "Home PC", that does everything, gaming, production, etc, then get yourself a massive case, a massive good quality PSU and a huge mobo, like an XL-ATX one. Water cooling and all that stuff is only for the extreme end of performance and you probably won't need it straight away. The best part about building your own PC is you don't have to blow that 5k on straight off the bat, you can do it in bits.

I'd personally recommend getting an XL-ATX with a 1155 socket and getting an i5-2500k, which is still one of the best gaming processors due to it's insane overclocking capabilities, and the XL-ATX is there so you will have room for expansion with your video cards and what not.

EDIT: ALSO If you're looking to get a serious production rig going, then you'll probably need to look at a RAID set up for your hard drives. Again this is something you can build up and just keep adding to, but make sure your case has enough bays. (Most large high end cases come with "cages" to store all your HDDs)

[frankle]

Start off with an i7 ... Maybe a high quality sound card like a Xonar Essence STX for your music too?

You started off so well with your suggestion for parts ... A great list of some of the best bits ... Then you just reminded me of how little you actually know with the suggestion of the Xonar.

If someone's going to blow thousands on a decent PC for music then they should at least grab an RME that has arguably the most solid driver set available for any platform and especially for Windows.