New Dell Computer for DAW Control and USB-B Recording

[jakethepeg]

I need a new computer and I’m looking at purchasing a Dell XPS 15 – anyone got any experience with – or comments on – this machine, or a similar one?

[Andreas]

Would probably be good to verify that the chipset is ok for USB Audio Streaming.
You may want to check this thread for further information: Qu-24 electrical noises during streaming
HP notebooks seem to be critical in this respect (and load many internal USB devices on the same port, which is exposed to the external socket), not sure about Dell. If you have a chance to get hands on a unit before buy, check (using device manager) that the external USB ports have a private USB controller which is not shared through an internal hub with other (internal) USB devices. Thats not a guarantee for streaming to work ok but some kind of prerequisite.

[Anonymous]

Ive been using a Dell XPS15 for about 4 years
i7 8 gig Ram and its been fantastic!
I used this in the early days of QU with Reaper when there was no bi directional control.
I do use MACs with QUs however my Dell XPS15 is the PC when I want to do certain editing tasks that my MACs will not do.
However if my Dell laptop XPS15 is 4 years old, it surely wouldn’t be the same as if you’re buying a new model now?

[I am]

I was also looking for a new computer as my HP with intel and one USB controller is a bust. Is 5400 rpm satisfactory for hard drive speed? It is AMD across the board no intel and it has USB 2.0 with 12GB RAM. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

So long as the disk isn’t fragmented, or there is sufficient ram to act as a buffer then 5400 should be fine.

The data rates are low (compared with modern hardware) but the sensitivity to jitter is high.

Given a machine with a 5400 disk you could easily swap in an SSD, or just plug in a USB drive…

[I am]

How many megabytes per second should the ssd be?

[Anonymous]

Channels available * bit depth * sample rate / 8 (bits in a byte) / 1024^2

QU bit depth = 24
QU sample rate = 48,000

[I am]

So if I replace the 5400 rpm hard drive with an SSD. What is the preferable megabytes per second for the disk?

[Anonymous]

If you have an SSD it will be fast enough. Heck, a 5400rpm disk is fast enough.

[I am]

Can anyone tell me if I should disable PowerNow in my AMD CPU Bios?

[Author]

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