PC for Multichannel Music Playback - What's your Setup?

[Spock]

Yeah - I have several reasons why I might want a PC tower....I could get a good Cd/DVD drive (right now I only have an external one...) likely better performance all around. Plus, I guess I like new stuff.

Better get a Blu Ray drive - so you can rip those goodies too. I got one just a month ago for about $100, very fast, Asus I think, also reads cd/dvd of course.

And yes - new tech stuff makes me too very happy

I helpet my daughter bulding a monster gaming pc a couple of years back (3 video displays, water cooling etc - with a lot of crazy lights too) - I loved that.

 

[JanBakker]

Would you consider a bluray drive instead of a dvd/cd? Then you're also sorted for ripping and playing blurays and it also plays/rips cd's and dvd's (depending on what drive you choose I guess). Just a thought.

Edit, Mr Spock beat me .

 

[GOS]

Would you consider a bluray drive instead of a dvd/cd? Then you're also sorted for ripping and playing blurays and it also plays/rips cd's and dvd's (depending on what drive you choose I guess). Just a thought.

Edit, Mr Spock beat me .

Oh yeah - I'm just being lazy with my typing. I would search out a blu-ray drive for sure.

 

[ssully]

Says me. I have been using and building computers since 1980 and I have been using Windows since 2.1 in 1987. If you don't think Windows is the main bottleneck then what is?

If Windows 'slows everything to a crawl' in your system, there is something wrong. Obviously if Windows 'slowed everything to a crawl' routinely for users, it wouldn't be of much use.

Btw, I use Windows platforms , running foobar2k for audio, have done for years now -- no 'slow to a crawl' ever experienced. But I bypass the Windows mixer as I said, using a WASAPI (or in the older days ASIO) plugin.

 

[seilerbird]

If Windows 'slows everything to a crawl' in your system, there is something wrong. Obviously if Windows 'slowed everything to a crawl' routinely for users, it wouldn't be of much use.

The only reason it is usable is due to the fact that processors are so incredibly fast and memory is so cheap. Try out a Chromebook if you want to see just how slow Windows really is. There is nothing wrong with my system.

 

[ssully]

So, your evidence is that Windows doesn't play nice with a *Google Chromebook*?

Whatever, dude. I've run foobar on a Windows 7, then 8, on an Asus Transformer tablet. I've set up Media Monkey to run on a friend 's little Atom-processor, Windows platform 'notebook' laptop , he's been using it flawlessly with an external HDD for a few years now.

I seriously doubt Windows itself is the culprit in GOS's problems.

 

[LuvMyQuad]

So, your evidence is that Windows doesn't play nice with a *Google Chromebook*?

I seriously doubt Windows itself is the culprit in GOS's problems.

I also doubt Windows is the culprit in GOS's issues. But also, Seilerbird is kinda right. The Windows OS has gotten more and more bloated since its inception, much of which was necessary as it became more and more feature laden. So using a modern Windows OS with a low performance device like a Chromebook can take a toll on performance because CPU resources that would be available for applications are being consumed by the OS instead. Hence, it becomes a bottleneck. Run a less needy OS like the Chrome OS or a low level version of Linux and the bottleneck goes away as more system resources are available for the application. Of course when using a system which is built to deliver a significantly greater performance standard, there are more than enough system resources to go around, and you don't notice the hit being taken by the OS. That dosent mean its still not a bloated OS compared to other, less feature laded OS's. At any rate, I don't think anyone really runs into a Windows bottleneck issue anymore with nearly any PC or laptop built in the last 5 years or so unless they are running some very intensive applications, although DSP can be pretty intense. Tablets and notebooks are a different story entirely, as some of those are more performance capable than others.

Again, I do not think this is GOS's issue however.

 

[LuvMyQuad]

So, your evidence is that Windows doesn't play nice with a *Google Chromebook*?

Whatever, dude. I've run foobar on a Windows 7, then 8, on an Asus Transformer tablet. I've set up Media Monkey to run on a friend 's little Atom-processor, Windows platform 'notebook' laptop , he's been using it flawlessly with an external HDD for a few years now.

I seriously doubt Windows itself is the culprit in GOS's problems.

I would also say all of the above accomplishments are very possible... with stereo files. I think something like an Atom would start to run into performance issues trying to run a full blown version of Windows and a full featured media player to pass high res multichannel music files.

 

[milt]

AFAIK, GOS has never said exactly what PC he has or any of the pertinent specs.
This matters and it matters a lot.
What does "not that old" mean? Nothing essentially.
He also said his HD is "almost full". Free space on a HD also greatly affect performance.
Sorry GOS I don't mean to be snippy but you're going to have to get a lot more specific in order to get any real solutions.

Remember, a tower is only a PC case. It has nothing to do with performance. It only allows for more internal HDs to be installed.
What matters is the motherboard, CPU and the bus speed. Unless you're looking at a micro-pc just about any PC with sufficient memory can be a music server.
It doesn't take much but it requires certain specific things to perform optimally.
Rather than a tower, you might be better served by getting a NAS set up.
Get the files off of your PC.

As far as the Windows OS, 8.1 Pro is way faster than 7 and 10 is faster than 8.1 Pro.
The "bloat" analogy hasn't really applied since the switch from Win2k to XP.
Yes the footprint of the OS has gotten larger but that is really beside the point and doesn't have anything to do with OS speed.

 

[GOS]

AFAIK, GOS has never said exactly what PC he has or any of the pertinent specs.
This matters and it matters a lot.
What does "not that old" mean? Nothing essentially.
He also said his HD is "almost full". Free space on a HD also greatly affect performance.
Sorry GOS I don't mean to be snippy but you're going to have to get a lot more specific in order to get any real solutions.

Remember, a tower is only a PC case. It has nothing to do with performance. It only allows for more internal HDs to be installed.
What matters is the motherboard, CPU and the bus speed. Unless you're looking at a micro-pc just about any PC with sufficient memory can be a music server.
It doesn't take much but it requires certain specific things to perform optimally.
Rather than a tower, you might be better served by getting a NAS set up.
Get the files off of your PC.

As far as the Windows OS, 8.1 Pro is way faster than 7 and 10 is faster than 8.1 Pro.
The "bloat" analogy hasn't really applied since the switch from Win2k to XP.
Yes the footprint of the OS has gotten larger but that is really beside the point and doesn't have anything to do with OS speed.

No, GOS didn't say what he had. I will post the info when I get home as I'm curious what some have to say. Not that old means ballpark 3-4 years old. Either way, I'll post the info in a couple hours and you can all throw darts.

Seriously, I don't need to spend a bunch of money if it isn't going to help. That would thoroughly piss me off. But, something tells me the performance I currently have can be easily bettered...

 

[LuvMyQuad]

He also said his HD is "almost full". Free space on a HD also greatly affect performance.
Rather than a tower, you might be better served by getting a NAS set up.
Get the files off of your PC.

Milt makes a lot of sense.

I agree with this 110%. I would spring for a NAS for file storage way before upgrading the PC. You get the added benefit of being able to back things up too. GOS, when you report back also tell us what kind of networking is available in your house. Do you have a router that can accept an Ethernet cable? A NAS will plug right into that port and provide as much storage as you could want. Then even if you still feel the need to upgrade the PC, you wont need anything as large or cumbersome as a tower (unless you really need desktop style optical drives). A decent NUC with only a SSD to run the OS and the media player should work nicely.

Lastly, just because your current performance can be easily bettered doesn't mean you actually need more performance to get the job done.

 

[GOS]

4-1115dx (HP Envy)

Posting this now, cause that's a damn hard model number to remember...Geez. Maybe I can find the specs shortly....

 

[GOS]

Milt makes a lot of sense.

I agree with this 110%. I would spring for a NAS for file storage way before upgrading the PC. You get the added benefit of being able to back things up too. GOS, when you report back also tell us what kind of networking is available in your house. Do you have a router that can accept an Ethernet cable? A NAS will plug right into that port and provide as much storage as you could want. Then even if you still feel the need to upgrade the PC, you wont need anything as large or cumbersome as a tower (unless you really need desktop style optical drives). A decent NUC with only a SSD to run the OS and the media player should work nicely.

Lastly, just because your current performance can be easily bettered doesn't mean you actually need more performance to get the job done.

Man, but I absolutely LOVE Foobar2000.....with a NAS, I would lose that, right?

 

[GOS]

4-1115dx (HP Envy)

Posting this now, cause that's a damn hard model number to remember...Geez. Maybe I can find the specs shortly....

Here are the claimed specs on my current laptop...

 

[JanBakker]

Yours has better specs than mine.

 

[JanBakker]

Man, but I absolutely LOVE Foobar2000.....with a NAS, I would lose that, right?

No, it's just another or different library location.

 

[boxhead]

That should be plenty powerful enough for what you want to do, and it already has an SSD!

Sent from my Elephone_P3000S using Tapatalk

 

[GOS]

Yours has better specs than mine.

Good lord! Well, why does my PC seem amazingly slow? Yeah, yeah, I've checked all the programs running....blah, blah. Is it because I've used up most of the memory with files and have way too many things connected to it? ugh....

 

[milt]

GOS, the only thing you really need is more RAM.
Selling any PC with 4GB of RAM is just wrong.
Not knowing the brand of your PC and the MB, you can either buy another 4GB stick for 8GB or an 8GB stick for 12GB which would be the way I would go.

Right now, you don't have the RAM overhead to load many of apps into memory.
Win 8 takes about 3GB at idle.

Another way to boost performance would be to add another 500GB SSD drive and run both in RAID 0 config if your PC has a second SSD bay and interface.
This will essentially double the SDD throughput. Ideally you want to use the same brand of SSD and if possible the same model although that may not be possible.

If you're not running Win 8.1 Pro, I highly recommend that you do and if you don't already have it, there's a freeware called Classic Shell that allows you to modify
the Windows desktop to anything from XP to 8.1 to custom mix. Highly recommended as well.

 

[GOS]

Milt makes a lot of sense.

I agree with this 110%. I would spring for a NAS for file storage way before upgrading the PC. You get the added benefit of being able to back things up too. GOS, when you report back also tell us what kind of networking is available in your house. Do you have a router that can accept an Ethernet cable? A NAS will plug right into that port and provide as much storage as you could want. Then even if you still feel the need to upgrade the PC, you wont need anything as large or cumbersome as a tower (unless you really need desktop style optical drives). A decent NUC with only a SSD to run the OS and the media player should work nicely.

Lastly, just because your current performance can be easily bettered doesn't mean you actually need more performance to get the job done.

Yes, my router is in same room as all my equipment - and currently my laptop and Denon are hard wired to it.