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All text and image links lead to Amazon unless stated otherwise. All product scores are based on ProRec’s in-house scoring model
| Thumbnail | Desktops for FL Studio | ProRec Score | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
 | 8.8 | Check Price on Amazon | |
 | 8.3 | Check Price on Amazon | |
 | 8.1 | Check Price on Amazon |
Introduction
When you’re working with a DAW such as FL Studio, Pro Tools, or Ableton, you want a machine that delivers high performance and upgradability. Desktops are really powerful machines, the only caveat is that they aren’t as portable as laptops. Synths, Effects, MIDI and other plugins all use quite a bit of processing power. If you really want a more serious studio setup then a desktop is the way to go. Desktops offer a larger canvas of ports (perfect for audio interfaces) and slots on the motherboard that can be fine-tuned to suit your exact use case. On the other hand, if your usage isn’t as intense, you may also consider Mini PCs as an alternative.
Recommended Read: Best CHEAP Budget Laptop for FL Studio
When choosing the best desktop for FL Studio, there are a few key aspects to consider, the chief among them being the processor. The processor is the backbone of a production project. It determines what performance you’ll get in terms of render times, workloads, and timelines. Your minimum requirement for starting out with FL Studio is a 4 core processor – this will work just fine if all you do is light work such as mixing or making beats. However, if your usage spans multiple plugins and timelines, you might want to consider a 6 or even an 8 core processor for additional computing power. If you’re a gamer, then your existing setup should do just fine since gaming machines have a lot of overlapping aspects.
The other important consideration is RAM. It determines how many programs you can run at a given time. The lowest we recommend is 12GB, that is if your workload is lighter (e.g. Podcasting or Voice Overs) . For anything more, at least 16GB of memory is recommended. With desktops, even if you get a budget machine upfront, you always have room to upgrade down the line, and if you need more memory, you can always add another stick to get more performance out of your device.
If you are more of a hobbyist and your projects aren’t as large then you can probably get away with 512GB of storage. However, we generally recommend 1TB as a good starting point. Capacity isn’t the only consideration. You should always go with an SSD over an HDD to cut down on load times. Large RAW files can be a pain to work with. Transferring and saving files always takes longer than you want. Nowadays, SSD prices have dropped to a point where there’s no reason to go for an HDD as your main drive.
Finally, we recommend investing in a device with a good power supply. A cheap power supply from Craigslist might feel like a bargain, but it’s like playing Russian roulette with your expensive hardware. You want something that’s rated 80+ Gold with at least 600w on offer. Higher wattage PSU fans don’t kick in as quick and allow you to add more hardware to your device. As for the brand, while you can go for any reputable product on the market, we’ve found Silverstone’s power supplies to be reliable. A good power supply provides peace of mind, since you know you’re not working with a potential fire hazard.
Minimum System Requirements for FL Studio
| Windows | mac OS | |
| Version | 20.9.2.2907 (FL 20) 21.0.2.3399 (FL 21) | 20.9.2.2424 (FL 20) 21.0.2.2931 (FL 21) |
| Size | 1.05 GB (FL 20) 919.02 MB (FL 21) | 1.08 GB (FL 20) 1.10 GB (FL 21) |
| Checksum | SHA-256 | SHA-256 |
| OS Version | Windows 8.1, 10, 11 or later | macOS: 10.13.6 (High Sierra) or later |
| Diskspace | 4GB free disk space | 4GB free disk space |
| RAM | 4GB of RAM | 4GB of RAM |
| CPU Details | The more powerful your CPU, the more instruments and effects you can run. Intel and AMD CPUs. ARM not supported | The more powerful your CPU, the more instruments and effects you can run. Intel or Apple Silicon CPUs. |
Source: Imagine Line official FL Studio download page
Best Desktop for FL Studio Reviews
All text and image links lead to Amazon unless stated otherwise. All product scores are based on ProRec’s in-house scoring model
The 7th generation iteration of Lenovo’s IdeaCentre series comes equipped with a Ryzen 7 5700G that clocks at base and turbo frequencies of 3.5GHz and 4.5GHz respectively. It offers 8 cores and 16 threads that perform similarly to its predecessor, even with the 2 extra cores. This was reflected in both their performances on FL Studio projects. We didn’t encounter any stutters even with background processes, and rendering times were roughly the same on both. The bundled NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 adds some flexibility to the build.
Like most powerful machines in this range, the IdeaCentre is not the quietest, the fans produced considerable noise under medium and heavy usage. This isn’t ideal if you plan on recording, we recommend changing the stock fans with quieter solutions. For our testing, we isolated the vocal booth and recording area, but that may not be a possibility for everyone. Despite our initial reservations considering the smaller CPU heat sink, the IdeaCentre kept temperatures cool under heavy use, maxing out at about 167°F. We didn’t encounter any thermal throttling.
The unit comes with 64GB of DD4 memory at 3200MHz in a dual-channel configuration. While that was excessive for our use case, it might suit your needs if you work on more demanding projects. We did test the IdeaCentre with multiple plugins and multi-track rendering, it was snappy and responsive throughout. While this is the maximum amount of memory the two available slots can hold, the 64GB RAM on board is more than enough for any production, even the most demanding projects.
The mix of the 1TB SSD and the 1TB HDD provide more than enough space for your RAW files and different projects, however, if you find that running out, there are additional SATA slots for expansion, and assorted USB ports to connect external storage devices.
The ports on the Lenovo IdeaCentre 5 include one USB 3.2 Gen 1, USB 3.2 Gen 2, and USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 port each, along with a headphone port on the front. On the rear, it houses 4 USB 2.0 ports, 1 VGA port, 1 HDMI 1.4 port, 1 Ethernet port, one audio-out, and the power connector. There are plenty of connectivity options for audio interfaces, DAC/ADCs, synthesizers, and MIDI inputs, but you may have trouble if you have newer hardware that uses Type-C connectors. However, if you choose the right hardware, and use dongles where necessary, this shouldn’t be too big of an issue.
The chassis itself is a 17L tower, with dimensions 14.08 x 6.69 x 11.34 inches and a weight of 16.64 lbs. In our experience, the air intake mesh on the side helped keep thermals in check, and the chassis size provided a good canvas to add upgrades on. When we inspected the internals, we did notice some cost-cutting measures. The mounting cage for the HDD felt noticeably cheap, and the single PCI-E slot does restrict additional peripherals like sound cards for better audio quality, however since you’ll most likely be using an audio interface, this should not be a problem
The unit is equipped with a 500w PSU that does well to power the build. You won’t have issues connecting hardware such as MIDI inputs, audio interfaces, and synthesizers without an external power supply. During our stress tests, we found no signs of power limit throttling even at high CPU usage and with additional hardware connected and powered directly through the bus.
Overall, the Lenovo IdeaCentre 5 is a heavy performance machine equipped to deal with even the most demanding workloads. It has ample room for upgradability, even without the inclusion of secondary USB-C and PCI-E ports. However, the noise on the fans will need fixing if you plan on recording audio.
Lenovo IdeaCentre 5 Benefits
The Ryzen 7 5700G performs well paired with the 64GB RAM (more than enough for any production use case), and does well under heavy use.
The APU is overclockable, which is a feature absent in most Intel CPUs.
The IdeaCentre 5 provides a good skeleton that has room upgradability down the line.
Lenovo IdeaCentre 5 Drawbacks
The absence of a secondary USB-C and PCI-E port each will require aftermarket solutions like dongles to work around.
The noise may be intrusive so you might have to isolate the recording area, or replace the fans with silent aftermarket solutions.
All text and image links lead to Amazon unless stated otherwise. All product scores are based on ProRec’s in-house scoring model
Dell’s Inspiron 3910 is another welcome addition to their high-spec Inspiron series. It comes with a Core i5-12400 that delivers 6 cores and 12 threads at a base frequency of 2.5Ghz that climbs up to 4.40Ghz on turbo. In our tests against the IdeaCentre’s Ryzen processor, the Inspiron’s i5 performed 8% faster across the board, despite having two fewer cores. We found that the Intel 12th generation processor did well to cut rendering and processing times on our workflow.
Compared to its predecessor specced with a 10th generation i5-10400, it performs 16% better because of the two generation gap, and the more efficient manufacturing process (10nm vs 14nm). The extra power was put to good use adding more plugins and timelines with FL Studio.
The Inspiron runs cool overall, only warming up slightly under sustained load with additional hardware connected. The fan is much quieter than on the IdeaCentre, barely producing any noise throughout our testing. While recording, we didn’t feel the need to use our isolated vocal booth, which is a plus since not every user has a dedicated audio setup.
The Inspiron 3910 offers 16GB 3200MHz DDR4 RAM in a dual-channel configuration. You can upgrade this if your use case involves heavy-multitasking, however, we found it sufficient for most rendering applications, even with some productivity apps in the background.
The 256GB M.2 NVMe SSD is low in terms of storage, but this is enough capacity for your ongoing project files, and you also have the additional 1TB HDD. You won’t find yourself running out of space since the SSD will suffice for any ongoing projects and the HDD can be used for storing additional project files. However, if you end up working on a large project, and find yourself running out of space, we recommend fitting the PCI-E slot with an additional SSD, or connecting external drives to store your RAW/archive files instead, since the SATA slots lack proper mounting points.
The Inspiron 3910 does slightly better than the Lenovo, offering one extra USB port, and a better secondary display port. It comes with 1 USB 3.2 Gen 1 port, 1 USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C port, 2 USB 2.0 ports, 1 DVD+RW drive, and a global headset jack in the front. The rear port selection includes 2 USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports, 2 USB 2.0 ports, 1 Audio line-out port, 1 HDMI 1.4 port with a maximum resolution of 1920×1200, 1 DisplayPort 1.4 port, and an RJ-45 Ethernet port.
While the machine is a step up from the IdeaCentre, a second USB-C port would have provided the option to add newer hardware. The USB Type-A ports provided plenty of connectivity for our complete production setup.
The chassis has a more compact footprint compared to the Lenovo IdeaCentre 5, with dimensions 12.77 x 6.06 x 11.54 inches, and 14.7L of space to work with, weighing in at 14.57 lb depending on your hardware. The interior felt somewhat cramped for space, and might be a tight fit if you plan on adding additional hardware. Despite the size, the ventilation grills kept thermals under control.
While setting up the Inspiron, we ran into some issues very early on. During our initial boot, we had trouble getting the display to work. We found that the culprit was out-of-date firmware, which we updated, and the display worked flawlessly after that.
In terms of the power supply, the Inspiron offers a 300w brick that does well to power the provided specs, we didn’t encounter any power limit throttling. However, if you plan on adding more hardware, or running some of your production hardware directly through the bus, the wattage may be restrictive. This is usually easily fixed by upgrading the PSU, however, like most Dell units, the Inspiron 3910 uses a proprietary connector instead of the conventional ATX 24-pin connector, making replacements difficult to find.
All things considered, the Inspiron 3910 is a powerful machine that hits its mark on crucial audio production specs such as powerful CPU and varied port selection. The silent fans and potential for upgradability help make this an excellent choice for your production needs.
Dell Inspiron 3910 Benefits
The Core i5-12400 delivered more than enough performance for our music production applications.
There is a wider port selection on offer over the Lenovo IdeaCentre 5.
The fan is barely noticeable, almost to a point where we forgot it’s there.
Dell Inspiron 3910 Drawbacks
The proprietary connector on the power supply limits any PSU upgrades, but it might not be an issue if you don’t add too much hardware.
The display issue required a fair bit of troubleshooting to set up, however, it worked flawlessly once the firmware was updated.
The storage capacity is fairly low, but can be remedied through aftermarket solutions.
All text and image links lead to Amazon unless stated otherwise. All product scores are based on ProRec’s in-house scoring model
For value-seeking consumers, Acer’s Aspire lineup has consistently delivered performance on a budget and the TC-1760-UA92 is no different. Like the Inspiron, the Acer comes with Intel’s 12th gen Core i5-12400, sporting 6 physical cores and 12 threads. During our tests, the unit performed well, even under heavy multitrack processing with assorted plugins.
TC-1660-UA92, the 1760’s predecessor, came with a 10th generation i5-10400 that performs 8% better than the IdeaCentre’s Ryzen 7 5700G APU. This is the same processor as the one on the Inspiron’s predecessor. This difference was noticeable in both general productivity, and music production applications, where we found we were able to squeeze in more plugins and work on more timelines. This can be attributed to more efficient lithography, increased cache, and faster bus speeds.
The system ran cool on low to medium loads, however, under heavy usage we did notice it warming up, which got slightly worse with sustained load. The single fan on the heatsink did well, but thermals did ramp up with usage. While this isn’t a huge amount of heat, it’s still something you might want to patch with an extra fan if you expect heavy usage with multitrack rendering, multiple demanding plugins or timelines.
In our experience, the single fan was quieter than the ones on the IdeaCentre, but produced more noise than the Inspiron. This is somewhat negligible since even the sound of the AC in the background tunes it out, however, if you plan on recording, we do recommend either installing a quieter fan, or using a recording booth to isolate the audio.
The Aspire comes with 12GB of DDR4 RAM at 3200MHz. For the less demanding production projects, the memory performed without any issues, however, as we started multitasking we did have some stutters that we didn’t encounter on both the Lenovo and the Dell machines. However, we were really pushing it, for most use cases 12 GB of RAM is more than enough. If you have a heavier workload, we recommend upgrading the RAM to give the powerful processor enough resources to work with.
The unit comes slotted with a 512GB M.2 NVMe SSD. This is a decent capacity to start audio production, however, if your use case requires more space, you can add an additional SSD through the PCI-E slot or one of the SATA ports, a cheaper HDD solution, or get an external drive.
The port selection on the TC-1760-UA92 is fairly decent, offering the same connectivity as the IdeaCentre, but one less port than the Inspiron. Between the front and the rear, it houses 2 HDMI ports, 4 USB 2.0 ports, 2 USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports, 1 USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C port, and the usual audio in, audio out, and ethernet ports. That being said, it is a downgrade from its predecessor on two fronts, where it has one less USB slot, and a shift from USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, to slower Gen 1 ports.
Once again, the absence of a second Type-C/Thunderbolt port is missed, especially since even modern consumer laptops often house two or more of these. However, the port selection on the whole is more extensive than the Lenovo IdeaCentre 5, and the Inspiron 3910.
The chassis itself is somewhat pressed for space, but not as much as the Inspiron 3910, with 16L of space, and dimensions 13.78 x 6.42 x 13.39 inches, weighing in at 14.22 lbs. It has considerable headroom for upgradability, especially since it lacks intake and exhaust fans.
The power supply is fairly basic, with 300w on offer, and like the Dell Inspiron, this model also comes with a proprietary TFX PSU. This severely limits the available replacement options, since TFX power supplies are difficult to find, especially at high wattages, compared to their ATX counterparts. The chassis itself is also a limiting factor, since it will have to be modified to accommodate a larger power supply.
This is a somewhat compromising situation, since your external hardware such as audio interfaces, and synthesizers will get powered by the bus instead of an external power supply, and you might not have enough wattage to properly run it all. The IdeaCentre 5 does better in this regard with its 500w PSU, but both the Aspire and the Inspiron fall behind.
Acer’s Aspire TC-1760-UA92 has come far from its 10th gen predecessor. It provides ample CPU power for your production needs, and the generous port selection provides the option to connect a considerable amount of external hardware. And while the proprietary power supply, the low system memory, and the thermal management are where it falls short, the Aspire is still a strong option to fulfill your production demands for the price.
Acer Aspire TC-1760-UA92 Benefits
It provides a decent amount of ports, and more SSD storage than the Inspiron.
The CPU is powerful and 6 hyper-threaded cores provide more than enough power to run a variety of plugins across different workflows without a problem.
The 300w power supply somewhat limits upgradability, however, if you don’t intend to add too much hardware, it should work perfectly.
The PSU uses a proprietary connector that doesn’t leave much room for upgrades, however, if you use hardware with external power supplies, it shouldn’t be a problem.
Acer Aspire TC-1760-UA92 Drawbacks
The 12GB RAM caused stutters under heavy workloads, but it can be easily fixed by adding another pair of memory sticks.
The lack of intake and exhaust fan can cause problems in higher temperatures, but it can be resolved by adding in some aftermarket fans.
Verdict
Based on our scoring model, you can see the highest variance in the RAM and Storage categories. The Lenovo IdeaCentre 5 with its 64GB of memory easily outscores the other two devices by a margin of 2 and 2.5 points, with the other two housing 16GB and 12GB of memory respectively. The IdeaCentre also pulls ahead on storage capacity by the same margin, with its 1TB each of SDD and HDD storage competing against the 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD on the Inspiron, and the 512GB SSD on the Aspire.
While there is some variability on the IdeaCentre’s scores across different categories, it manages a minimum of 8 points throughout. It offers a good deal for the price, with a powerful processor with its 8 cores and 16 threads, an excellent amount of RAM and Storage, and decent connectivity options with its 7 varied USB ports. With additional features like a 500w power supply, a larger chassis size with more fans, a dedicated GPU, and ample headroom for upgradability, the IdeaCentre is a complete package that can deliver outstanding performance and flexibility across the board.
The Dell Inspiron 3910 scores only 0.5 points less than the IdeaCentre, and 0.2 more than the Aspire on average. Priced lower than the IdeaCentre, it offers a great mix of practical features that will benefit most production projects. Its powerful 12th gen i5-12400 performs better than the Ryzen 7 on the Lenovo machine, and its extra connectivity along with its silent cooling provide a great price-to-performance ratio. It’s clear that Dell has prioritized the most important features to put together a competitive budget device.
However, based on our testing experience and scoring model, the best desktop for FL Studio is the Lenovo IdeaCentre 5 with its average total score of 8.8. It offers the most complete set of features that do better than its counterparts on almost every metric. The dedicated GPU and the high wattage PSU ensure more than enough upgradability, and the overall design keeps the machine running cool. The only minor caveat is that the processor performs slightly worse than the Intel i5 on the Inspiron and Aspire machines. However, it still remains the best option from our lineup and has everything you need from a dependable companion for your production avenues.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are the minimum requirements for FL Studio lower than the buying options presented?
While you can use FL Studio on a computer with minimum requirements, adding plugins, timelines, and introducing heavy usage with multitrack rendering requires a lot of headroom to give you good rendering times without any stutters. The more high-end the desktop is, the more effects and instruments you can use in FL Studio. The extra performance is also useful to futureproof the device as requirements increase with every new release of the software.
What Computers work best with FL Studio?
While there is no best computer for working with FL Studio, any modern desktop with good hardware can provide a responsive experience on your production projects. The choice in platform generally doesn’t matter either, both macOS and Windows devices handle FL Studio well.
Any computer with Windows 8.1, 10, or 11 works well with FL Studio. Additionally, FL Studio also requires 4GB of free space, and at least 4GB of RAM to run and supports both Intel and AMD platforms, however, it doesn’t support ARM. As for the CPU requirements, the better the CPU, the more effects and instruments you can run.
Does my Computer come with FL Studio already installed?
Computers don’t come with any DAWs preinstalled, including FL Studio. All computers require you to install them on your device through either their website, or through a CD/DVD, or even a USB pen drive.
Will I be able to run future versions of FL Studio on my Desktop?
If your desktop has powerful hardware with enough legroom, running any future versions of FL Studio won’t be a problem. The devices on our list offer more than enough performance to be future-proof in this regard. However, if needed, additional upgrades can be made to the RAM and storage.
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