CPU &HD

S

sylvain

New member
Hi there,

I'm trying to work out the best system I can get for my money (unfortunately not that much !)

I hope you can help me answer these quick questions:

-at the same speed (500 MHz), will I see a big difference between a Celeron and a PIII ?

-same again, is 5400rpm enough for a hard disk or is 7200 really the minimum ?

For information, I'd like to be able to run Cubase VST with about 8 audio tracks, and real-time reverb.

Thanks for your help,

Sylvain
 
The article Layth points to is a good one, but my 2 cents anyway.

- Celeron 500 vS PIII 500: I don't think you will notice a BIG difference. I just upgraded from an overclocked 300A at 450MHz to a 650MHz PIII. I did notice a big difference in the general smoothness of Cubase and the ability to run directX plugin's without bog down.

With your requirements, 8 tracks and reverb, the Celeron 500 will work great. I was getting 16 reasonably stable tracks with the 450 - Reverb, compression, delay, and some EQ's.

- 5400 vs 7200: Not a big price difference, but for the money, the performance increase is well worth it. Go 7200 Quantum LM. If 2 hard drives are in your budget, an 8GB to 10.2GB 5400 for your recording app's and a 20GB 7200RPM strickly for Audio Data. May want to consider a dual boot setup as well, one for internet, games etc.. and one just for recording software.

Also, consider memory - 64MB is a bare minumum. 128MB is better.

Good luck
 
The difference between 7200RPM and 5400RPM is considerable. A 7200RPM drive is the minimum you'll want to work with. We can go into detail (again), or you can just trust me on this one :)

Beside, the price difference is negligable and most manufacturers are moving well away from 5400RPM drives nowadays.

Go with a Celeron for now if you're only thinking about 8 tracks. Like Emeric said, you should be able to get twice that many. If you get a nice Slot 1 motherboard, you can upgrade to a PIII at a later time (when they are cheap!). Note that sticking a Celeron 500 into a Slot 1 motherboard will require a PPGA to Slot 1 adapter which can be had for $12. I recommend Asus for the adapter and the motherboard.

Slackmaster 2000

[This message has been edited by Slackmaster2K (edited 06-07-2000).]
 
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