I have a local computer guy who is going to build a windows 10 machine for recording. He wants to know what specs I want. Does anyone have a recommendation on parts, components?
Thanks,
James
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I use pcpartpicker.com
You can pick what you need and also compare your builds with the time tested builds others have shared. Or simply use a build and order the parts. They have links to the parts on amazon and other places. Real handy.
I generally use it to restore PCs
Specs you want for music is pretty much in line with any gaming pc today. With an upside that you can downscale the graphics card to the minimum (since you wont be gaming on it) to fit a low budget.
If you still want to game on the same pc, the minimum graphics card I would recommend is geforce gt 710+ or the likes and up with 2G.
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Thank you so much. I am not a gamer, I didn’t even play packman when it came out at our pizza place. 
I built a Windows 10 desktop a few months ago. I asked around this forum too, so if you follow the thread you’ll know what I ended up with in the end and why. By far the most important issue for me was that I also bought a Presonus Quantum 2626, which is a Thunderbolt 3 interface. To use the full potential of this interface I needed a motherboard with an on board Thunderbolt 3 connection and there is very limited choice. In fact no more than one… Now I hear so much good news about the Mac Mini M1 I’m wondering if going the Apple route wouldn’t have been a better choice. Even if I’m no fan of Apple products.
Here’s the thread: New desktop for my studio - Recording, Mixing and Producing / Recording Toys and Tricks - indie recording depot
Now if you’ve got a USB interface you have a lot more choice, but I’m not much qualified to help you.
Good luck, and let us know how you progress 
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Dude, you are the BEST. Thank you.
Aef, I am going to copy the same thing you did, what do you recommend for the second drive? I see you used your old one.
I guess it depends on what you use it for. If you just use it to save your recordings then you don’t need a fast drive. If you need it for sample libraries a fast drive ( SSD) is preferable. And because they are becoming so inexpensive, it might as well be an SSD. Unless you need to store 10 Gig or whatever’s which case SSD is still a bit expensive.
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But just checking: you do have a thunderbolt interface? Otherwise I would not recommend my set up!
I have an UA Apollo 8 with a firewire.
So I guess you already have a fire wire card. You don’t need the motherboard I chose, you have a lot more options. Probably quite a bit cheaper ones too. My motherboard has only the one extra pci-e slot. That’s ok for me but if you need FireWire you can’t use it for anything else. Check @Chordwainer his setup advice. That might be a good starting point for you. In particular his advice to just fill in your choices on one of those computer build sites ( he names a US site, can’t remember which).
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Amazon sells a card for the firewire https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002S53IG8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 for about $40 that you can use on a windows 7 machine. I am going to try in on the windows 10, I am hoping it works there as well.
Sounds good. It’s a TI card which is usually important for firewire interfaces so it should work fine.
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