PC Recommendations

Recommendations for PC hardware to buy.

First, a great website to examine: Silent PCs. This website examines lots of different ways to make your computer as quiet as possible. Everything from what to buy to what to modify. Some of the modifications may get a little difficult.

Case

• Antec

  Sonata II

  Sonata III

  SLK3000b

Power Supply

• Antec

  Truepower Trio

  Earthwatts

Fans

Really huge fans are quieter for the same amount of air-flow (cooling).

CPU

New CPUs are consume much less power and therefore deliver more processing power with less overheating which means you need less cooling.

Choose the processor you want first. It is the most expensive item and it sets which kind of support chipset and therefore which kind of motherboard you need.

Intel®

These seem the best price point:

• Core™2 Duo Processor

  E6300 buy me $167.00

  E6320 buy me $168.00

Motherboard

• Motherboards that support the Intel® 975X Express Chipset (for E6300 or E6320)

  buy one

I like these two from ABIT:

• ABIT AB9 buy me $119
• ABIT AB9 Pro buy me $139

Memory

Be careful. Buy memory that is compatible with your motherboard. The motherboards' websites should have a compatibility list. For example, from ABIT.

Graphics Card

This is the easiest part. You don't need much graphics for audio editing. A reasonably cheap card should do well. Look for one that is not meant for gaming. It will be cooler and have less fan noise.

Audio

Many of the motherboards have built-in 2-channel digital audio with [1]SP/DIF ins and outs. This will be OK -- but you probably really want an external conversion box.