I have a recording studio (Cakewalk Sonar and Studio One 3).
I would suspect one of the new XPS models could be made to be a DAW desktop, at a lower cost than an Alienware. Or even one of the commercial line OptiPlex or Precision's, I've seen posts on recording forums of some using OptiPlex and Precision's (I haven't looked lately but at one time a Dell Precision was on Avid/ProTools list of approved PC's).
One issue, get an Intel based and not the AMD Ryzen based as the Intel's have better (lower latency).
Whatever you decide on it will take some work to make it acceptable for recording. I bought a Dell gaming laptop last year to use on remote site recording. I did a lot of work trying to get it acceptable for DAW use and could not get some glitches out. Resplendence Latency Mon always showed problems. It came with an M.2 SSD and space for a laptop hard drive or SSD. I returned the M.2 SSD to the original Dell image and I had a spare SSD so I installed that and installed Windows 10 as a dual boot with the original Dell Win 10 installation. The second Win 10 only has the OS, required drivers and my recording studio software and devices. Latency Mon shows it to be perfect and it has worked properly as a DAW computer.
My DAW desktop, listed in my signature is only using the Intel CPU video as it is more than adequate for DAW uses. No need for an add on Video card (and the possibility of more noise). I'm using a Captain 120EX liquid CPU cooler and it is quiet. I'm using a BeQuiet case that also has quiet fans. I can record within 2 ft of the tower with a condenser mic and no interference.
For me it is important that the computer produces as little noise as possible.
1. I currently have an Aurora-R4 (with Asetek Liquid-Cooling)
2. Alienware Aurora R7 - Intel® Core™ i7 8700 (with Asetek Liquid-Cooling) - Dual NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1080 hver med 8 GB GDDR5X (NVIDIA SLI® kompatibel) - 850 W Power-Supply
3. So no cpu and video card cooling possible.
4. Is the cooling so sufficient that I hear little noise.
1. I still have my old Aurora-R1 (but now with SSD and GTX-1070). Yes, like your Aurora-R4 it is pretty quiet, but can get a little loud if you get all CPU cores up to 100% (like with encoding video). It is NOT loud during Fallout-4 gaming (which is fairly graphic extensive).
2. My newer Aurora-R6 is quieter than old Aurora-R1 during idle and even gaming. I suggest 850w PS (will run cooler than smaller one) but just ONE GTX-1080. If you want TWO, you should get the Area-51.
3. ???? Both must be cooled. CPU with Asetek Liquid-Cooler and GPU (normally with a fan).
4. Yes, it's quiet even under heavy loads.
If your main use of this machine is for Digital Audio Work, and you are not really going to be gaming on it, I think you would be happier with a Dell Precision Workstation.
Get a full Tower with large Power-Supply, nice CPU with Liquid-Cooler, lots of RAM, 512gb M.2-PCIe/NVMe-SSD (Windows boot, all programs, DAW scratch-disks), Adequate video card, 2.5inch SSDs for Data-Files (no loud spinning HDDs at all). You can add more SATA-SSDs later.
"If your main use of this machine is for Digital Audio Work, and you are not really going to be gaming on it, I think you would be happier with a Dell Precision Workstation."
What I mentioned in my response. From what I see on recording forums, "gaming" computers are not often mentioned as being used for DAW use.
fireberd
9 Legend
•
33.4K Posts
0
August 9th, 2018 06:00
I have a recording studio (Cakewalk Sonar and Studio One 3).
I would suspect one of the new XPS models could be made to be a DAW desktop, at a lower cost than an Alienware. Or even one of the commercial line OptiPlex or Precision's, I've seen posts on recording forums of some using OptiPlex and Precision's (I haven't looked lately but at one time a Dell Precision was on Avid/ProTools list of approved PC's).
One issue, get an Intel based and not the AMD Ryzen based as the Intel's have better (lower latency).
Whatever you decide on it will take some work to make it acceptable for recording. I bought a Dell gaming laptop last year to use on remote site recording. I did a lot of work trying to get it acceptable for DAW use and could not get some glitches out. Resplendence Latency Mon always showed problems. It came with an M.2 SSD and space for a laptop hard drive or SSD. I returned the M.2 SSD to the original Dell image and I had a spare SSD so I installed that and installed Windows 10 as a dual boot with the original Dell Win 10 installation. The second Win 10 only has the OS, required drivers and my recording studio software and devices. Latency Mon shows it to be perfect and it has worked properly as a DAW computer.
My DAW desktop, listed in my signature is only using the Intel CPU video as it is more than adequate for DAW uses. No need for an add on Video card (and the possibility of more noise). I'm using a Captain 120EX liquid CPU cooler and it is quiet. I'm using a BeQuiet case that also has quiet fans. I can record within 2 ft of the tower with a condenser mic and no interference.
Kerels
1 Rookie
•
5 Posts
0
August 9th, 2018 08:00
Txt, my question is:
Tesla1856
8 Wizard
•
17.4K Posts
0
August 9th, 2018 19:00
1. I still have my old Aurora-R1 (but now with SSD and GTX-1070). Yes, like your Aurora-R4 it is pretty quiet, but can get a little loud if you get all CPU cores up to 100% (like with encoding video). It is NOT loud during Fallout-4 gaming (which is fairly graphic extensive).
2. My newer Aurora-R6 is quieter than old Aurora-R1 during idle and even gaming. I suggest 850w PS (will run cooler than smaller one) but just ONE GTX-1080. If you want TWO, you should get the Area-51.
3. ???? Both must be cooled. CPU with Asetek Liquid-Cooler and GPU (normally with a fan).
4. Yes, it's quiet even under heavy loads.
If your main use of this machine is for Digital Audio Work, and you are not really going to be gaming on it, I think you would be happier with a Dell Precision Workstation.
Get a full Tower with large Power-Supply, nice CPU with Liquid-Cooler, lots of RAM, 512gb M.2-PCIe/NVMe-SSD (Windows boot, all programs, DAW scratch-disks), Adequate video card, 2.5inch SSDs for Data-Files (no loud spinning HDDs at all). You can add more SATA-SSDs later.
fireberd
9 Legend
•
33.4K Posts
0
August 10th, 2018 03:00
"If your main use of this machine is for Digital Audio Work, and you are not really going to be gaming on it, I think you would be happier with a Dell Precision Workstation."
What I mentioned in my response. From what I see on recording forums, "gaming" computers are not often mentioned as being used for DAW use.