Hello Mark!<br><br>Coincidently a similar question was asked on a list many of us are members on the very same day you submitted your questions!&nbsp; It might serve you well to follow that thread too:<br><br>http://lists.agnula.org/pipermail/users/2006-December/011707.html<br><br>Basically I build pretty much the same machine I would build for serious "gaming", perhaps dropped back a few notches on the video card.&nbsp; The motherboard and PSU being the true heart of the system, it's certainly no place to skimp!&nbsp; Asus has long been my favorite brand of motherboard... out of the last dozen or so machines I've built around their boards I've only had one with problems and their 3 year warranty is genuine.&nbsp; <br><br>Power Supply needs to be rated at least 500w, higher if you are going to run a RAID or something in the case.&nbsp; Enermax is my pick for best value, PC Power &amp; Cooling if you have a bunch of extra money to spend, Antec and Thermaltake seem to also be
 popular brands.&nbsp; Don't try to save money on a bargain brand power supply!&nbsp; It will come back to haunt you, for sure!<br><br>&nbsp;As much RAM as you can afford to put in the system is good...&nbsp; my current machine has 2x1024 DDR and I'll probably double that to 4 gigs in the future.&nbsp; Processor should be fast but doesn't need to be bleeding edge either and multiple cores are not well supported (yet) so while you can buy&nbsp; top end CPU(s) for future-proofing just don't expect to get the full worth out of them immediately.&nbsp; Same can be said with running a 64bit.&nbsp; There are 64bit distros out there that are "usable" but at the moment are probably better recommended for developers and bug-hunters than for serious audio production.&nbsp; I currently run a 32bit debian based linux on a 64bit AMD single core but Intel should serve you well also... more of a matter of personal preference here as far as brand goes.<br><br>I mentioned video
 cards...&nbsp; I really prefer nvidia under linux, due to the quality of the proprietary drivers and ease of installation, and dual monitor (dvi) is something I couldn't live without in my studio.&nbsp; Currently I run 2 x 21" Dell CRT for a combined desktop of 3200x1200 which makes tending to several music apps at the same time much easier than crowding everything together on a single screen.&nbsp; Any mid-range gaming card should do this well.&nbsp; Plan on spending at least US$100 here (monitors extra!)<br><br>I run a pair of Western Digital IDE drives but if I could afford the upgrade I really want it would be at least four (maybe with a few spares for backup) 200 GB or larger SATA drives set up in a software RAID 0+1 or maybe RAID5.&nbsp; Firewire or SCSI would be nice as well as would an outboard rack if you are going with many more drives than that.<br><br>I run a Delta44 which works great under linux but do most of my actual mixing and line-in in a seperate
 mixer.&nbsp; A Delta1010 should be fantastic!<br><br>Best,<br><br>Jon Hoskins<br><br><br><br><b><i>mark@ehle.homelinux.org</i></b> wrote:<blockquote class="replbq" style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"> Hello, all -<br><br>I am a brand-new member to this list. I want to thank you all right off <br>the bat for providing this list.<br><br>I am in the process of putting together a personal music production <br>studio. I am a former professional musician who changed careers to <br>computers a number of years back and I would like to get back into <br>music and digital recording as a sideline/hobby.<br><br>I need some recommendations as to which components to use in a <br>Linux-based DAW.<br><br>I have a Delta 1010 on the way, and would like recommendations on parts <br>(motherboard / CPU / memory / drives / distro) that would make a <br>machine that I would not have to wish later on that I had bought <br>something else. My main
 use for the system would be recording my Brass <br>Quintet and my piano/keyboard musings (the hobby part) and possibly <br>live recoding work (the sideline part). Seems to me that there would be <br>some money to be made by recording events and providing Cd's for sale <br>immediately after, as well as MP3's online.<br><br>Forgive me if this information is in the archives somewhere. I looked, <br>and could not find something that recommended all components of a <br>complete system. If this info is already on the net somewhere, please <br>point me the way.<br><br>Also - where I work, we are heavy into iSCSI storage area networks. Has <br>anybody ever used one of these (like maybe, openfiler) for the storage <br>of music data?<br><br>Thanks again so much,<br><br>Mark in Michigan<br><br><br></blockquote><br><BR><BR>-----------------------------------------------------------------------<br>In a world without walls who needs gates or windows?<br><br>                             
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