Lenovo Thinkserver Desktop Strong Enough?

derekp

derekp

Member
I've been looking into this desktop
Amazon.com: Lenovo ThinkServer TS140 i3-4130 3.4GHz 8GB 1TB 7200rpm HDD Server Desktop Computer: Computers & Accessories

I currently run AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+ 3006 Mhz, 2 Cores, 2 Logical Processors
Total physical memory 6 GB
Available 4.46 GB
Total Virtual 12 GB
Available Virtual 9.63 GB

System model GA-MA69GM-S2H

I use Reason 4 (with a paid upgrade to 7, but I couldn't run it on this machine without it crashing). I use Adobe Audition 3 to record, but have been trying other programs. I'm a hip hop artist that uses an audio interface (lately, but for years I've used an Echo MIA Midi soundcard), behringer mixer, and a M-Audio 2nd Generation 49 key midi controller.

Please let me know if this is a good enough upgrade or if I should keep looking.
 
No. Now I only know what others has said but they were CLEVER others!

That Lenovo only has an i3 processor. The laptop I am typing on is an i3 HP (8G ram) and handles 20 or so tracks of Cubase ok but will then be running over 50% of CPU load, were I to load in a very few effects I am sure it would crash. Had you already GOT the PC I would be saying it would serve but used with care and a good bit of housekeeping. You are looking for a replacement and the experts say, "go for a fast processor". i5 or i7. From what I read, an i5 would probably be easily fast enough especially if the PC was "stripped and clean".

But, A.A? I have AA 1.5 and I and especially Son find it useful but for MIDI work?

Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
No. Now I only know what others has said but they were CLEVER others!

That Lenovo only has an i3 processor. The laptop I am typing on is an i3 HP (8G ram) and handles 20 or so tracks of Cubase ok but will then be running over 50% of CPU load, were I to load in a very few effects I am sure it would crash. Had you already GOT the PC I would be saying it would serve but used with care and a good bit of housekeeping. You are looking for a replacement and the experts say, "go for a fast processor". i5 or i7. From what I read, an i5 would probably be easily fast enough especially if the PC was "stripped and clean".

But, A.A? I have AA 1.5 and I and especially Son find it useful but for MIDI work?

Dave.
Click to expand...

That's what I was worried about. I'll see if I can find a similar unit with an i5, because an i7 will be out my budget. Thanks, Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
No. Now I only know what others has said but they were CLEVER others!

That Lenovo only has an i3 processor. The laptop I am typing on is an i3 HP (8G ram) and handles 20 or so tracks of Cubase ok but will then be running over 50% of CPU load, were I to load in a very few effects I am sure it would crash. Had you already GOT the PC I would be saying it would serve but used with care and a good bit of housekeeping. You are looking for a replacement and the experts say, "go for a fast processor". i5 or i7. From what I read, an i5 would probably be easily fast enough especially if the PC was "stripped and clean".

But, A.A? I have AA 1.5 and I and especially Son find it useful but for MIDI work?

Dave.
Click to expand...

Here's an i5. I can swing this, however, only 8 GB and (2) 3.0 USB ports (I'm pretty sure that's a simple fix with a PCI slot though...correction, there are 2 3.0 and 4 2.0, so that'll work). Amazon.com: Lenovo H50 Desktop (Core i5, 8 GB RAM, 1 TB HDD, Windows 10) 90B700EAUS: Computers & Accessories
 
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Yeah, there's a substantial enough difference between that i3 and i5.
The first review I saw made mention of upgradability. No additional internal sata ports, which could very well be a problem.
As you say, adding USB ports is a simple matter of adding a pci or pcie card if there are available slots.

Strokes for folks, but I'd want 4 sata ports on any machine.
 
Steenamaroo said:
Yeah, there's a substantial enough difference between that i3 and i5.
The first review I saw made mention of upgradability. No additional internal sata ports, which could very well be a problem.
As you say, adding USB ports is a simple matter of adding a pci or pcie card if there are available slots.

Strokes for folks, but I'd want 4 sata ports on any machine.
Click to expand...

Leaning towards a Lenovo H50 Desktop, but there are two versions with about $100 diff. One has an AMD A8-7600 and another with i5-4460. Thoughts?
 
Sorry, not really. I don't know much about AMD's lines.

I have a beast machine for beast sample libraries but, if it wasn't for that, I'd be happy with any midrange i5, 8gb ram and 2 SSDs.

If you can get a midrange i5, 8gb ram, some sata ports and all your own connectivity covered, you should be good. :)

For a rough idea of which CPUs compare to which others, check this out.
Ok, it's a 'meaningless' benchmark, but it'll show you which chips are the watered down ones fair'n quick.
There are always watered down chips which don't compete with midrange chips of previous generations. Manufacturers just love slapping the i3 or i5 sticker on there safe in the knowledge that you'll never know any better. ;)
 
8G of ram should be plenty, at least to start with (unless you want to do some heavy video work?) and I dare say you will be able to upgrade that? Mind you, try as I might, I cannot find an in depth specc' for that machine. The Lenovo site does not recognise the 90B7.....model number.

Yes, more USB 3 ports can be added via PCIe (as can eSATA) but I am more concerned that the tower ships with W10? This is an OK OS as such by all accounts but you might have insuperable issues with legacy hard and software.

I assume you are running W7 atmo? Do you have a W7 DVD? If not you MIGHT be able to download W7 from Microsoft on the strength of your existing license code. Yiu can of course BUY W7 but it all adds to the build cost!

BTW, I have an Asus MOBO home build with an AMD Black 6300 6 core processor and that seems very nifty but had been able to afford it at the time I would have gone for Intel i5.
Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
8G of ram should be plenty, at least to start with (unless you want to do some heavy video work?) and I dare say you will be able to upgrade that? Mind you, try as I might, I cannot find an in depth specc' for that machine. The Lenovo site does not recognise the 90B7.....model number.

Yes, more USB 3 ports can be added via PCIe (as can eSATA) but I am more concerned that the tower ships with W10? This is an OK OS as such by all accounts but you might have insuperable issues with legacy hard and software.

I assume you are running W7 atmo? Do you have a W7 DVD? If not you MIGHT be able to download W7 from Microsoft on the strength of your existing license code. Yiu can of course BUY W7 but it all adds to the build cost!

BTW, I have an Asus MOBO home build with an AMD Black 6300 6 core processor and that seems very nifty but had been able to afford it at the time I would have gone for Intel i5.
Dave.
Click to expand...

I'm leaning toward this one - Amazon.com: Lenovo H50 Desktop (Core i5, 8 GB RAM, 1 TB HDD, Windows 10) 90B700EAUS: Computers & Accessories - i5, 8 GB (expandable, for now if I can only add to one slot I can make it 10 gigs). One disappointment is it is stocked with Windows 10. I do have Win 7 on a flash drive (bought it about 2 years ago). Not sure how easy it is to downgrade or if I should, but I haven't heard much good about Win 10.
 
derekp said:
I'm leaning toward this one - Amazon.com: Lenovo H50 Desktop (Core i5, 8 GB RAM, 1 TB HDD, Windows 10) 90B700EAUS: Computers & Accessories - i5, 8 GB (expandable, for now if I can only add to one slot I can make it 10 gigs). One disappointment is it is stocked with Windows 10. I do have Win 7 on a flash drive (bought it about 2 years ago). Not sure how easy it is to downgrade or if I should, but I haven't heard much good about Win 10.
Click to expand...

Bit of a faff I know but (and gurus, please tell me off if this won't work!) I would buy an SSD and put W7 on that. The 1TB drive you could remove and store in hope that Msoft will let you run W10 in 5 years time, or format it and use it for song and sample storage.

(by all accounts you really want an SSD as system drive anyway!)

Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
Bit of a faff I know but (and gurus, please tell me off if this won't work!) I would buy an SSD and put W7 on that. The 1TB drive you could remove and store in hope that Msoft will let you run W10 in 5 years time, or format it and use it for song and sample storage.

(by all accounts you really want an SSD as system drive anyway!)

Dave.
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Is it just the speed of the SSD that is the advantage? Is it possible to downgrade with my Windows 7 on to my HDD?
 
derekp said:
Is it just the speed of the SSD that is the advantage? Is it possible to downgrade with my Windows 7 on to my HDD?
Click to expand...

Yes, AFAIK, have yet to try one! THE PEEOPLE however say their main advantage is that they load up much faster and "fetch stuff" in a flash. Never need de fragging (something called "Trim" is employed) and are very reliable.

If you are speaking about the hard drive on the new machine? I would not touch it. Even if you don't go for an SSD a 500G 7200 Seagate will cost less than £40 here ($10 in States???) and that is plenty big enough for a "C" system drive (this laptop has at least 6 DAWs on it plus W7/64 and loads of other ***t and that still only accounts for 67G!).

Installing 7 should simply be a matter of setting the boot order to boot from the USB stick and let it go!

In any case you really do need another HDD in a music PC to dump your work to.

Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
Yes, AFAIK, have yet to try one! THE PEEOPLE however say their main advantage is that they load up much faster and "fetch stuff" in a flash. Never need de fragging (something called "Trim" is employed) and are very reliable.

If you are speaking about the hard drive on the new machine? I would not touch it. Even if you don't go for an SSD a 500G 7200 Seagate will cost less than £40 here ($10 in States???) and that is plenty big enough for a "C" system drive (this laptop has at least 6 DAWs on it plus W7/64 and loads of other ***t and that still only accounts for 67G!).

Installing 7 should simply be a matter of setting the boot order to boot from the USB stick and let it go!

In any case you really do need another HDD in a music PC to dump your work to.

Dave.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I actually have an external hard drive that I've been using for nearly 10 years. All my music, samples etc are kept there. I keep the program (Reason) on the main drive. I've yet to run into an issue like space. And with this 1 TB from the new machine, I should be fine then, aside from the difference in speed between it and an SSD. That said, the external is 10 years old and sometimes I wonder if I need to back some of it up in case it dies...knock on wood.
 
You have been living on borrowed time for quite some years!

I know it is rude to tell people how to spend their money but hard drives really are very cheap, fish n chips twice and a couple of bottles of something just fairly drinkable buys you about a 1TB spinner.

Dave.
 
Steenamaroo said:
Oh yeah, sorry. Didn't mean to sound rude.
Plenty of 1st hand stories of massive data loss around here though. :(
Click to expand...

No! No! NO! I did not mean YOU Steen! I was the one who started clacking on about SSDs and the like!

Whilst I am in NO way rich, 50 or 100 quid would not be a great strain for me at the moment. BUT! There were times when I would have been very pissed off if someone ASSUMED I had that sort of disposable income. I am therefore rather careful in what and how I suggest people spend their hard earned on!

Again...ALL me.

Dave.
 
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