Anyone using an older rack PC for basic use for music?

Matt300ZXT

Matt300ZXT

Well-known member
I fancy getting an older rackmount PC to run Windows 11 on play with basic music stuff, not because I need it, but because it'd be cool as shit to have a PC in my rack lol I have this big ass rack I'm putting my Helix Rack into and I can easily fit in an older PC to just play my Guitar Pro files off of, play backing tracks to jam over, bring up YouTube to jam over songs, even just record basic riffs. And, if I were to ever get out live (like I'm hoping to), the Helix could handle all of the effects/preamps while the power amp powers the cabinets, and I'd have a computer to run click tracks or secondary guitar parts for harmonies, rhythm tracks so I'd have something to help me keep time and solo over without having to totally drop out the rhythm guitar parts and expect bass or keyboards to fill in that gap.

If anyone has done this, or just uses older PCs to run basic music production, what do you recommend? I'm never going to construct multi track recordings with drum machines, 7 guitar tracks, bass tracks, vocals, etc. I don't think Cakewalk, to just record riffs for fun, maybe even having a drum machine track on it, is going to take up much processing power.
 
I buy refurb towers off of newegg.com. Usually get a Dell or something and just upgrade the hard drive and maybe the memory.
Usually spend around $300 total for everything.
 
Define "older". Windows 11 requires a version 2 trusted platform module. What's your budget?
 
The one I put an offer on is a 6th gen Intel, but the board will handle a 7th gen with a BIOS update. Then I could get a cheap used 7th gen cpu and put Windows 11 on it. Oooooor, I could just take the guts out of my current gaming PC and put in that case instead. This one has a 5th gen Ryzen and is obviously substantially more powerful than an 8-10 year old set of guts. Or, I could just wait till what's in it dies and then build a newer modern computer since it's really just an atx case on its side.
 
Matt300ZXT said:
The one I put an offer on is a 6th gen Intel, but the board will handle a 7th gen with a BIOS update. Then I could get a cheap used 7th gen cpu and put Windows 11 on it. Oooooor, I could just take the guts out of my current gaming PC and put in that case instead. This one has a 5th gen Ryzen and is obviously substantially more powerful than an 8-10 year old set of guts. Or, I could just wait till what's in it dies and then build a newer modern computer since it's really just an atx case on its side.
Click to expand...

You can build an all new parts 7th gen for $300 or less
 
Here's a quick build 13th gen i3 with 4cores/8 threads, an ssd for the OS and 3TB for your music for about $300. The 13th gen i3 is substantially more powerful than a 7th gen i7.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i3-13100F 3.4 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($82.92 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H610M/ac Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial CT8G4DFRA32A 8 GB (1 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL22 Memory ($14.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Patriot Burst Elite 240 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($16.29 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Blue 3 TB 3.5" 5400 RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ Western Digital)
Power Supply: Thermaltake Smart 600 W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($41.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $306.17
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-06-21 17:40 EDT-0400
 
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Damn Lisa, how'd you do that so fast? I'm still trying to find good options for used cpus for building a music production pc for 2022 or so, so that parts are older and cheaper than modern stuff, and here you are blasting out a full build in 10 seconds lol
 
Matt300ZXT said:
Damn Lisa, how'd you do that so fast? I'm still trying to find good options for used cpus for building a music production pc for 2022 or so, so that parts are older and cheaper than modern stuff, and here you are blasting out a full build in 10 seconds lol
Click to expand...

I'm a nerd. :ROFLMAO: You could build this setup a little cheaper, maybe closer to $200 if you already have a PSU, are willing to go to a 2TB HDD and no SSD.$350-400 would net you a few upgraded tweaks.
 
It has a Seasonic Bronze 430 watt currently in it, and I have a spare nvme ssd in my current computer I'm not using, and a handful of standard 1tb hdds in this computer that's just storing a buttload of video game roms (even though I don't really need them) and in an old computer my dad gave me a while back as well as a 2008 Power Mac, so I have plenty of drive storage. If he accepts the offer, I'll just toss one of the 3.5" hdds in it and install my Win 10 I've got laying around just to get it up and running and check everything out.

I wonder if I can somehow sneak my Windows 11 from this pc over to that one and run both with the same license :unsure: Then I wouldn't have to buy an OS.
 
For my computer software guitar rig, I'm using a refurbished Dell Latitude Rugged Extreme Tablet with touchscreen; windows 11 Professional, 8 GB RAM and 128GB SSD. $200

715ac3zHDTL._AC_SL1170_.jpg



No issues
 
Matt300ZXT said:
It has a Seasonic Bronze 430 watt currently in it, and I have a spare nvme ssd in my current computer I'm not using, and a handful of standard 1tb hdds in this computer that's just storing a buttload of video game roms (even though I don't really need them) and in an old computer my dad gave me a while back as well as a 2008 Power Mac, so I have plenty of drive storage. If he accepts the offer, I'll just toss one of the 3.5" hdds in it and install my Win 10 I've got laying around just to get it up and running and check everything out.

I wonder if I can somehow sneak my Windows 11 from this pc over to that one and run both with the same license :unsure: Then I wouldn't have to buy an OS.
Click to expand...

Would have to check if it's still offered, but Windows 11 should be a free upgrade from 10.
Edit: still free, no extra license needed.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...s-11-faq-fb6206a2-1a0f-448a-80f1-8668ee5b2bf9
 
Well, he accepted my offer. Eventually this behemoth of a pc will make its way to me and I can swap out a lower priced board, cpu, and ram and be off to the races. I'll get to install my Windows 10 and upgrade for free and have a computer that's ready to rock, but inside of a rack :cool:
 
rsm said:
some older computers can't be upgraded to Windows 11
Click to expand...

That is how I was. I was using an old i3 8GM RAM laptop I have had for years for my music stuff. It was stuck in the cycle of saying I need to upgrade to Win 11, and then saying it did not meet the minimum specs to upgrade to Win 11.

I finally just got a new PC, but it is way higher spec. i7, 32GB RAM, RTX 5070 Graphics.
 
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