Friend in need of a Music Production rig w/ some gaming. Budget: $600

[snggpo]

Hey guys. A friend of mine has a $600 dollar budget to build a PC that he will mostly be using for Music Production, and to some degree "Light Gaming", with definitely less emphasis on gaming.

Essentially, he would enjoy being able to play games, but it is definitely not a priority at this point. So I am aiming to leave him room for future upgrades if he wishes to do so.


At this point I am open to both AMD and Intel based rigs. I know AMD tends to be the best bang for buck.

I am only looking for hardware component recommendations for now, so no OS (we will get it later).

I am currently out of the loop when it comes to the newest hardware, so I would appreciate expert recommendations!

Thanks!

 

[Geekwad]

Do you know if there any specialized connection requirements for any existing equipment they may have? FireWire, S/PDIF, optical etc?

 

[snggpo]

Do you know if there any specialized connection requirements for any existing equipment they may have? FireWire, S/PDIF, optical etc?

The only must have is Line-In / Microphone input jacks, which all modern PC's have. S/PDIF isn't necessary I dont think.


Basically he will be running his electric guitar signal, from the quarter inch cable through the computer Line-In, via female quarter inch to male stereo 3.5mm/mini jack. As well as using a MIDI interface on the PC, with either Cubase/FL Studio/Pro Tools, etc etc. I honestly don't know how much of an improvement a dedicated sound card would have over the standard sound chip integrated into the motherboard.

 

[Geekwad]

Ok, this is a system using a combination of the MicroCenter and NewEgg black friday/cyber monday ads:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($159.99)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($44.99)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($38.99)
Storage: OCZ Trion 100 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($36.99)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($39.99)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 960 4GB Video Card ($179.99)
Case: Thermaltake Commander MS/I Snow Edition (White/Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($24.99)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($44.99)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($14.99)
Total: $585.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

A separate sound card isn't necessary, but something like this would ad some system flexibility for an affordable price:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audio/behringer-xenyx-302usb-mixer

 

[snggpo]

@ Geekwad. I'm actually blown away at the deals you were able to find. Thanks a lot man. I think this rig is going to exceed his expectations greatly.

 

[snggpo]

After closer inspection, it looks like the Micro Center deal on that i5 is store pickup only. I have no idea what Micro Center is. I guess, we will have to keep looking for a better deal.