Budget PC for music production

[OverkillMaster]

Hello everyone,

I am looking to upgrade my music production pc from a crappy 5 year old laptop to something a bit more powerful. I have been looking at the Sweetwater Creation Station computers and I like the idea of rack mounting a PC. Since I live in Australia shipping would be priced high so I have decided to copy one of the builds with slight changes. Here it is:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4350 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($159.00 @ CPL Online)
Motherboard: Asus H97M-E Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($135.00 @ PLE Computers)
Memory: Kingston 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($36.00 @ Umart)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($68.00 @ Umart)
Power Supply: Enermax 450W ATX Power Supply
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer ($17.00 @ IJK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM (64-bit) ($129.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-R8 redux-1200 21.1 CFM 80mm Fan ($14.00 @ Umart)
Monitor: AOC E2260SWDN 60Hz 21.5" Monitor
Keyboard: Logitech MK200 Wired Slim Keyboard w/Optical Mouse
Other: iStarUSA D-213-MATX ($98.00)
Other: Logitech MK200 Keyboard & Mouse ($15.00)
Other: AOc E2260SWDN Monitor ($149.00)
Other: Enermax 450W Power Supply ($57.00)
Total: $877.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-20 21:37 AEST+1000

I am planning to build this with parts from Australia apart from the case and power supply which I have to get shipped from Newegg. If there is a better pc I can build for the price then please let me know. I just want a pc I can rack mount and I want it to be as fast as possible within a reasonable budget. Thanks

 

[Rookie_MIB]

Just a thought. You can pick up used 2u servers on eBay which are significantly more powerful for a fraction of the price. Since it's for sound production, you could outfit it with a nice Xonar audio card (most servers don't utilize audio, obviously) which again would be better than the stock on-board audio.

2x Quad Core E5620 Xeons, 32GB RAM, Case, PSU, hot-swap bays for expanding storage (VERY useful I would think when working with big audio compilations and lots of audio data). $289.00 Add a HDD ($60.00), Windows ($100), and the Xonar card ($100) and you're at about $550.00 out the door. Oh, and for crunching audio data? That would be dual Quad Cores, with hyperthreading and would chew through audio faster than kid can chew through M&M's.

Don't underestimate what you can get in the used server market. Those guys are always upgrading their hardware and I've gotten some insanely good rack-mount units at insanely good prices.

** edit **

Here's a Dell R210, Quad Xeon, RAM, just add HDD, Audio, Windows. $140 + shipping.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-PowerEdge-R210-Quad-Core-Xeon-X3470-2-93GHz-8GB-1U-Server-/291567827708?hash=item43e2cbfafc

 

[OverkillMaster]

Just a thought. You can pick up used 2u servers on eBay which are significantly more powerful for a fraction of the price. Since it's for sound production, you could outfit it with a nice Xonar audio card (most servers don't utilize audio, obviously) which again would be better than the stock on-board audio.

2x Quad Core E5620 Xeons, 32GB RAM, Case, PSU, hot-swap bays for expanding storage (VERY useful I would think when working with big audio compilations and lots of audio data). $289.00 Add a HDD ($60.00), Windows ($100), and the Xonar card ($100) and you're at about $550.00 out the door. Oh, and for crunching audio data? That would be dual Quad Cores, with hyperthreading and would chew through audio faster than kid can chew through M&M's.

Don't underestimate what you can get in the used server market. Those guys are always upgrading their hardware and I've gotten some insanely good rack-mount units at insanely good prices.

** edit **

Here's a Dell R210, Quad Xeon, RAM, just add HDD, Audio, Windows. $140 + shipping.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-PowerEdge-R210-Quad-Core-Xeon-X3470-2-93GHz-8GB-1U-Server-/291567827708?hash=item43e2cbfafc

That server you mentioned, would you actually recommend it to someone like me who needs a powerful pc at a good price? If you wouldn't exactly recommend that one then could you please give me some other options. By the way live in Australia and the item you linked me to doesn't ship here. Thanks

 

[Rookie_MIB]

Well, perhaps not exactly THAT one due to the shipping limitation, but that was after searching for 60 seconds. My points are simply:

1) This is full blown commercial grade equipment. Very different from consumer grade. Its made to go full tilt 24/7/365.
2) Its vastly more powerful than what you picked out.
3) Its pretty much complete with no assembly required.
4) Its cheaper (although it is used).

Search around more on eBay for someone who is selling a Dell R210, and will ship to you and see what kind of price you can get.

Heres another, includes 1tb drive, ships worldwide...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DEFCON-Dell-Poweredge-R210-Rack-Server-Intel-Xeon-X3450-QC-8GB-RAM-1TB-Rails-/151821671122?hash=item235946dad2

 

[OverkillMaster]

Well, perhaps not exactly THAT one due to the shipping limitation, but that was after searching for 60 seconds. My points are simply:

1) This is full blown commercial grade equipment. Very different from consumer grade. Its made to go full tilt 24/7/365.
2) Its vastly more powerful than what you picked out.
3) Its pretty much complete with no assembly required.
4) Its cheaper (although it is used).

Search around more on eBay for someone who is selling a Dell R210, and will ship to you and see what kind of price you can get.

Heres another, includes 1tb drive, ships worldwide...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DEFCON-Dell-Poweredge-R210-Rack-Server-Intel-Xeon-X3450-QC-8GB-RAM-1TB-Rails-/151821671122?hash=item235946dad2

I will definitely consider this but I would like to keep it open for a bit to let more people answer. If anyone else reads this, please tell me if you recommend me to get a server and install windows on it or something else. Thanks