Prebuilt DAW PCs

[cptgone]

My 1yo Dell is giving me audio trouble.
No support either, except a paid phone line.
Haven't had much luck with my last 3 Dells and I don't fancy building a PC myself again.
Much as I dread migrating, and despite the fact I paid ridiculously much for a PC that lets me down, I may have no alternative than get a new one...

I googled "DAW PC" and found a brand I hadn't heard of: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/pro-audio-computers/.

Long ago I got a rack mount DAW PC from a Dutch shop, https://www.i4-muzique.nl/ - but due to work and my adopting cats I hardly ever used it.

Any experiences, thoughts, recommendations?

[whyterabbyt]

UK? Scan.

https://www.scan.co.uk/3xs/custom/daw-d ... tation-pcs

[acYm]

how come Scan's machines come with Win10 Home? I thought you really needed the Pro version to avoid being treated like some journalist by your computer.

[Passing Bye]

Scan definitely

[whyterabbyt]

how come Scan's machines come with Win10 Home?

They dont, if you select a different OS option during the build customisation. No OS, Pro and Pro High End options are all available.

[paveloso]

https://www.adkproaudio.com/

Great builds, designed and built by people who actually understand audio/music needs. Based in Kentucky, US.
Scott Chichelli and his team provide top-notch post-sales service, too.

[chk071]

how come Scan's machines come with Win10 Home? I thought you really needed the Pro version to avoid being treated like some journalist by your computer.

Not really.

[acYm]

ahh I see, that makes sense then. just seemed odd.

in north america there's also BOXX which I think is a bit similar.

[cleverr1]

+1 for Scan.
I bought their TZ390 earlier this year. They don’t release their builds until they complete extensive memory and soak testing. My build initially failed on both of these so way better than self building unless you’ve got the time, expertise and patience.
It was shipped in a box within a box and packed out with anti static bubble wrap.
My self build days are over.

[andrewbrewer]

I recently bought a pre-build from purrrfect audio. I’m loving it! https://studiocat.com

[Kaine]

how come Scan's machines come with Win10 Home? I thought you really needed the Pro version to avoid being treated like some journalist by your computer.

Yeah, we always have the option to step up if the client wishes too, although even on Home It's fairly trivial to block updates.

[Reefius]

I'm not a gamer, but I bought a gaming PC with an Intel i7 8700 in it at about the same price as a prebuilt DAW PC with an Intel i5 CPU. Most of these prebuilt DAW PC's are quite overpriced because they are aimed at professionals, but the hardware inside is exactly the same as in a consumer PC.

[AdvancedFollower]

There's usually one peripheral or hardware component that single handedly destroys the DPC latency and causes all sorts of problems. Power saving features can also cause problems.

Throwing out an entire 1-year old PC when it might be as simple as changing a few BIOS settings or unplugging some USB device seems a bit excessive, but it's also understandable that one just wants to produce and not mess with this stuff.

Dunno if there are any PC "tuning" services available where they go through the computer to find what's causing the issue, but that might be worth looking into. Of course if you buy a specialized DAW PC, it will already come with all the tweaks and tuning for low audio latency out of the box.

[cleverr1]

I googled "DAW PC" and found a brand I hadn't heard of: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/pro-audio-computers/.

I contacted them when looking for a DAW laptop. I asked about DPC latency performance. They replied saying it’s something they don’t normally test.

[Googly Smythe]

Five years ago I bought a Scan machine (i7 4790) with an RME AIO interface. Only problem I've had with it is that one of the five hdd slots no longer works.
My next machine will be from them.