I am studying Music Composition and Computer Science. I wanted to buy a custom PC for composing (electroacoustic, algorithmic music), live concerts, programming and robotics. I need it to be portable (SFF), silent (very important, in every component), cool, and powerful.
I thought the following specs would go well for my PC:
- Processor should be fast. I was thinking about an i7 quadcore with at least 3Ghz, but maybe i5 or even AMD work fine for audio/programming.
- Regarding motherboard, I need around 4 USB ports (better if they are USB 3.0, better if more than 4), wifi/wired connection to internet, bluetooth if possible, and foremost one Firewire port (for an external sound card).
- RAM should be DDR3, 8GB.
- Disk should be 600GB-1T, preferably with good read/write speeds and acceptable RPM. Maybe SSD or HSDD (cheaper) would be fine, but I don't know the actual differences between them regarding speed/noise.
- Graphic card doesn't need to be powerful (nothing about gaming/graphic design), but I need to connect two monitors and play HD videos, and eventually designing audiogames. My laptop has an Nvidia Gforce GT 320M CUDA and it works fine for me, even when playing videogames, although it may be too hot in reduced space.
- Case should be as small as possible as I would need this PC for auditions and concerts. Considering the PC as a musical instrument, it's reasonable to think that it doesn't need to be constantly moved, just like a cello player doesn't need to be running with the cello while performing a musical piece
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
- OS would be Linux (suppose that Arch Linux, Gentoo Pro-Audio Overlay or Lubuntu), so no need to buy Windows.
- No need of installing lights or things like that
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
- My maximum budget is 1400$.
Once I have said this, I would really appreciate if anyone could give me an advice about what components to buy.
Thanks indeed, Álvaro