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Rain Nimbus Audio PC Released

May 02, 2007

As the recent Rain Recording newsletter so eloquently put it, "...put down that Sunday ad from the local big box retailer. A mail-in rebate and a free printer will not give you a pro-quality digital audio computer, but the new Nimbus will."

Starting at about $1,300, Rain's new Nimbus machine touches all the bases in their quest to provide audio-optimized PC hardware without expectations of crashes, pops or distortion. A quick peek at the spec list certainly made me stop thinking about free printers - or mail-in rebates or Vista for that matter (Nimbus ships, mercifully, with XP):

CPU: Intel Pentium D Dual-Core Processor 925 2MBx2 L2 3.0 GHz 800 MHz
MainBoard: Intel DG965RYCK
RAM: 1GB DDR-2 RAM (667MHz Single Chip)
Operating System Drive: 80 GB 7200 RPM Ultra 300 SATA II with 8MB buffer
Audio Streaming Drive: 80 GB 7200 RPM Ultra 300 SATA II with 8MB buffer
Other Drives: Dual Layer DVD+/-RW/CD-RW Combo Optical Drive
USB Ports: 6 USB 2.0
Video: Intel Integrated Graphics - Analog DB15
Expansion: 1 PCI Express x16 and 1 x4 bus add-in card connectors, two PCI Conventional bus connectors
LAN: (10/100/1000 Mbits/sec) Intel 82566DC Gigabit Ethernet Controller
Legacy I/O: 1-serial, 1-parallel and 2-PS/2 ports
Other: FDD, 7 in 1 Card Reader Compac Flash, Micro Drive, Smart Media, Memory Stick, Secure Digital Card, Multi Media Card
Audio: 8-channel (7.1) audio subsystem using the SigmaTel STAC9227 audio codec
PSU: Silent 360 watt silent power supply
Quiet Cool: Intel Precision Cooling Technology
Input: Keyboard, Microsoft Optical Mouse
Dimensions: 8 x 17.75 x 21 inches (W x H x D), Weight: 32 lbs.

Throw in the sexy scissor doors and the all-aluminum construction (32 pounds of it) and its clear that Rain has again contributed something special to Gear Mountain.

Get more information about the Rain Nimbus at the official Rain website.

Rob Warmowski is an Editor for Gearwire

WTF? You can do a LOT better

By: Ben (not verified)

WTF? You can do a LOT better by building it yourself! That way you not only have a better PC for the price, you can also opt NOT to choose a pentium D. And 2 X 80 GB storage? 360 Watts power supply? 1 GB RAM... You don't have to be a computer genious to figure this one out...

Wed, 2007-05-02 14:27

Fair enough, but

By: warmowski

Fair enough, but don't forget that building isn't the best solution for everybody. Time, patience, purchasing headaches all have their values as well. But sure, for the price it's got constraints you might expect, especially in power budget. I get the feeling this box is meant as an upgrade from a generalist/big box PC that of course will run whatever IOs it has ports for. There are plenty of people just getting into recording that way for whom this may be a great next box.

Wed, 2007-05-02 15:44

You certainly have a point.

By: Ben (not verified)

You certainly have a point. But still, a lot of ready-to-boot computers are more fit for modern DAWs for the same price than this one, be it that they are not always (read: hardly ever) listed as "Audio PC". But I don't mean to be an ass, I think it's a good thing you guys are listing a lot of different types of equipment and DAW-related stuff. Thanks for that!

Wed, 2007-05-02 16:27

Building Yourself

By: jwallace

I build a box once myself and it was nothing but headaches. I felt like drinking a bottle of sulfuric acid at the end of the whole ordeal. NEVER AGAIN. The problem for me wasn't building the box using the correct puzzle pieces, but rather fumbling around in the scariest parts of the box--the REGISTRY. Fear the reaper.

Wed, 2007-05-02 16:11

I build evey box I use at

By: dagosto (not verified)

I build evey box I use at home. It works for me because I was raised up on PC's. One of my earliest memories of computers is helping my dad switch out the 486SX CPU for a 486DX and being amazed at the difference in performance. Us PC spelunkers need to understand that some people will pay for a pre-built system that will do the job out of the box.

Thu, 2007-05-03 01:11

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