Should I buy a PC?

[twain_x26]

Just looking for some input. Currently I use a Mac, but am considering buying a PC in addition. I'm not interested in the "PC vs. Mac" debate, it's a ridiculous thing to get worked up over.
Anyways, I run quite intensive plugins and software (by this I mean a run alot of stuff simultaniously) and I'm looking for stability and the power to keep up. Currently I'm running Cubase, ableton live, reason, and various other vst's and plugins.
So what's everyones oppinnion, what should I buy, and will I be happy with it? I would rather not have to worry about figuring out a work around if I accidently use to many plugins.

I've been looking at AMD mainly, but I'm interested in all suggestions. By the way does anyone know the difference between AMD's opteron chip and their Athalon one?

Please don't turn this into buy a PC because Macs suck thread (or the other way around). I'm not interested in comparing the two, just finding out a PC's merits.

[howie15]

This is a hard one to answer without ripping on one or the other...but, whoever answers will get a little beat up, so I'll step in the ring first.
I am a former PC user. I bought my first Mac last October. I will keep my PC around just to keep up with windows developments, but I will never do audio on one ever again if it's up to me. I noticed in the Mac OS forum that you were asking about the G5. If you are thinking about one and have the $$$ go for it. There are people who run PC's and you will hear that "PC's are cheaper, you get more for less...etc, etc.", but I still believe that you sacrifice stability with a PC and audio because of the mixing of 3rd party hardware...and lots of it. Or at least there is a greater possibility of problems.
You said that you run intense plugs, reason (which I'm assuming you Rewire), and other pgms, and I think a Mac, especially a G5, can handle that extremely well. I helped a friend of mine with her G5 and it's only a single 1.8 Ghz. That thing is insanely fast and powerful. Things that take my G4 1Ghz powerbook a couple minutes to do, it does in seconds. I can't even imagine the dual 2.5's. The level of processing is so powerful it blows you away. (enter AMD 64 arguments here...)
So, I guess if you were a previous mac user I would stay there and just move up to the G5. Just my opinion though, whatever that's worth.

Howie J

[twain_x26]

You probably should have given your reply to my mac question in the mac forum, since I'm not particularly interested in comparing which computer is better. My question was directed mainly towards PC users. What are PC's capable of performance wise etc. etc.
At any rate thanks for your input on the G5. That's pretty much what my friend said about his 1.6ghz G5. That he's never regretted getting it as it's completely capable of handling anything he throws at it.
I have no intention of giving up Mac, I'm just thinking of purchasing a PC and since I've never ran any audio programs on the windows platform (apart from a dell once which was an awful experiance) I just wanted to find out what I could hope for if I did buy a good quality one.

[Afrotronic]

In terms of latency for virtual synths, e.g., Reason, Project 5, etc., I am getting 2ms with no problem using a 3.0 Pentium 4, XP, and MOTU 896 HD

[dawboxpro]

The PC is every bit as powerfull and capable of producing anything a Mac can using soft synths, plug in's multitrack software.

Get yourself an AMD64 setup with a Gig of ram and a couple of S-ATA hard drives and watch how much you can do for less money...

One is not better than the other, but one is certainly cheaper as powerful and has a better upgrade potential. Plus you can be way more dangerous as a producer, engineer and artist knowing bolth sides of the fence.

[Joe Hannigan]

If your'e going to run Audio apps on a PC, consider Samlitude by MAGIX. It's not cheap, and it's not real easy to grasp at first, but IMHO it's the best software out there for professional audio on the PC, period. Version 8 is due out sometime in September, according to the latest news on their forum.

[armchairmartian]

The problem people encounter when buying a computer, is that they tend to pick out wrong matching components, which may lead to terrible consequences. If you're planning on getting a pc for dedicated audio, do not settle for second best equipment, and also be sure to have someone who knows what works best together to set it up for you. This is in my opinion, the number one mistake people make. It's very depressing to have a great cpu and expensive ram, when you're hdd, or video-card is slowing everything down, right;)

[Michael Quayle]

Hi Twain,

Hope this answer is relevant to your question (I will stay as far away from the Mac vs PC debate as I can). I am in almost the opposite situation to yourself, being a PC user who has half an eye on the Mac camp (the reasons for which I'll go into in a moment). Looking at the software you are using, I can safely assure you that from a performance perspective, any semi-modern PC will not break a sweat running those apps (especially Reason which is very economically coded). To tell you the truth, from what I can gather from over on the Cubase and Nuendo forums, you should see quite a performance improvement using either of those apps on a PC over a Mac (this may have changed in recent times, but knowing Steinberg I doubt it - around six months ago users experiences of the software on both platforms showed the PC experience to be an altogether more fluid one).

Let me state for the record that I am very much of the opinion that you should decide which software is best for you, and then decide upon a computer platform informed by that decision. Most of the software you are looking to run happily runs on both platforms, so I must admit to being slightly at a loss to why you would consider going for a PC when you clearly are already comfortable with the Mac environment. Something you should be aware of though is the great PC only apps out there. Samplitude has already been mentioned, and those that use it tend to swear by it. Myself, I could never quite get on with the interface, but then again I never really gave it enough time. The only real problem I see with Samplitude is compatability issues - if you plan on doing lots of collaborative work or shifting projects around different studios then this software may not be ideal for you, as in my experience (once again, this may have changed in recent months) the import/export options of this software left an awful lot to be desired. Probably the best argument for buying a PC to run apps that aren't available on a Mac is Wavelab. IMO the best and most comprehensive wave editor out there. If you weren't happy using something like Peak on a Mac, Wavelab on a PC is definatley a very good option.

Another thing you may find useful about running apps on a PC is the two button mouse operation (I know this kind of thing can be configured on a Mac, but not all software supports it and it's a bit of a kludge, plus you then lose the coolness of being able to use that sexy apple mouse!!). This can come in REALLY handy when using Cubase or Nuendo, as the menu available under the right mouse button is comprehensive and only involves the use of one hand.

I try not to sweat performance TOO much. If you *need* to be at the bleeding edge, then maybe you need to question what it is exactly that interests you more, the technology or the music (at this point, might I refer you to DawBoxPro's excellent recent thread - "keep it simple"). I needed a quiet solid machine, which is why I chose a P4 and the case and PSU and hard drives and AGP card etc that I now have. If I'd gone with my initial intention of buying the best performing gear I'd now be sat next to a twin AMD behemoth that would have probably sounded like a space shutle launch. As it is, I have a very capable machine that is WHISPER quiet. My point to all this? Only make the change of system if the change is going to benefit your music making experience and your productivity. If you are looking to come over to the PC purely for a 10-15% performance hit over a dual G5 mac, then I would strongly advise against it. If you are happy with your Mac set up and just want some more speed, why not just buy a faster Mac, or one of the DSP addons like a UAD-1 or a Powercore?

I'm looking at Macs because I like Logic, and I REALLY like the look of Logic 7. When that little fellow hits the stores, I'm going to have to give a serious rethink to which platform I use. For the time being though, the only reasons I have to justify the purchase of a Mac are aesthetic ones - the boxes look great and the OS looks lovely too. That's not enough for me to base a purchase on unfortunately (at least, not on my current wage).

Anyway, hope you have found some of this rant relevant. I'm sure with either choice you make you'll find great plusses and inevitable annoyances (that's just computers for you).

Keep us posted.

Bon chance!

(Edited to tidy up my appalling typing)

[Tekker]

Originally posted by Joe Hannigan
If your'e going to run Audio apps on a PC, consider Samlitude by MAGIX. It's not cheap, and it's not real easy to grasp at first, but IMHO it's the best software out there for professional audio on the PC, period. Version 8 is due out sometime in September, according to the latest news on their forum.
Ditto!

Samplitude and Voxengo have made me VERY glad to be a PC user! You would be doing yourself a great service to make the switch just for these two things alone!! :cool:

-tkr