PC System

M

MBusby

New member
OK....I am purchasing a new PC system for home recording. This is the quote I got -

Pentium III 550MHz W/512K
128 MB RAM - 100 MHz
ATX Case
Maxtor 20GB Hard Drive - 7200
Maxtor 15 GB IDE Hard Drive 7200
HP CD-Writer Plus 91001
S3 32MB SVGA w/no tv out
16 bit PNP Stereo Sound Card
Windows 98

$1500 (plus tax)


Here's my question.....DO I need the 16 bit PNP Sound Card? I will be purchasing some type of card - i.e.
 
It all depends on how serious you want to get how fast.

The short answer is no - if you're buying a dedicated DAW, then you really want to get a decent sound card like one of the echo or aark units. This negates the need to get the sound card mentioned. Mind you, it's only going to save you $20 or so, cos a basic computer soundcard isn't exactly a bank breaking expense.

Of course, I am assuming here that the soundcard that was specified is a crappy one (sound blaster or something similar)
 
go with the PIII 600 over the 550..theres a negligible price difference..

get pc133 ram not pc100 .. theres about a 6 dollar price difference and it will make upgrading down the road easier..

avoid hewlett packard cd-rw's ..ive only been hearing bad things in recent times.. ie they die quickly , i beleive that they even have a class action suit filed against them..

im assuming by saying your buying some type of card , that you mean a good quality card , so i would say go for a cheapy soundcard just for your usual basic sounds , this way you dont have to use your prosumer level card for this.. it also makes it easier becuase you wont have to fire up the prosumer card if you arent recording just for windows sounds..


- eddie -

[This message has been edited by Eddie N (edited 03-06-2000).]
 
Just thought I'd comment on the hard drives - personally I would change them to IBM drives if you can - they're usually a bit more expensive than other types, but are a hell of a lot better. I've been through over 40 hard drives (WD, seagate, Fujitsu, Maxtor, IBM, Quantum) in recent years, and the only brand I have never had any probs with is IBM. (I only use Intel network cards for the same reason, although in this case 3COm aren't bad)

Of course, people here are free to disagree vehemently :)

cheers

gaffa
 
I'll agree that IBM drives are pretty nice, but every drive made by anyone will fail sooner or later. Some sooner than others.
My Deskstar failed within days of getting it.
The identical replacement hasn't dropped a byte yet.
 
I don't think it has so much to do with drives failing doc...though I've posted before about the relatively high number of Western Digital drives I've seen die prematurely. Most drives are good for 300,000 hours which is why they carry lifetime warranties. There is little excuse for any drive failing.

Anyway, the point is that some drives don't like to do things...such as run in ATA/66 or UDMA/33 modes.

Mbusby: do not buy Maxtor hard drives until you read the thread posted by sonusman in this forum. I will not recommend Maxtor anymore after Ed's experience...especially when the tech support guy told him "there are too many operating systems to keep track of"...yeah, right.

Quantum has been good to me. IBM drives are also very reliable. You might consider going for drives with larger caches (I believe that the IBM 7200RPM drives have a 2MB cache).

As far as the soundcard goes....don't get a "16 bit PnP Soundcard". There's a good chance you'll get a real peach with a CS or ESS chipset. Maybe even an Opal...yeehaw. If you want a basic soundcard that is good enough for recording, go with an SB PCI128, an Ensoniq AudioPCI, or an SB Live! Value.

Also have a talk with the builder about your processor. Is it Slot 1 or is it FCPGA? And how will this effect your upgrade options? I also had a very hard time finding a 550 Slot1 PIII...only FCPGA were available.

Slackmaster 2000
 
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