The Challenge (build a Giga Sampler computer at or under $700)

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The Greater God

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The Challenge (build a Giga Sampler computer at or under $700)

I have a challenge for you all. Put together a Windows 98/BeOS box together
to function as a sampler/softsynth for at or under $700 (w/out monitor). List your hardware setup, and reasons why. Here is what I have so far. Remeber, these systems are without monitors, keyboards, or mouse. Look at them as if they were music insturments, or samplers.
Abit BE6-II: $116 Comes UMDA/ATA 66 ready, and is for the P2/P3 processor
Intel Celeron II @ 566mhz: $115 Overclockable to about a gigahert
Quantum Fireball ATA drive :$108
PC150 RAM CAS 2 256mb: $69
Antec Black mini ATX case: $84.99
50x CD Rom drive: $18
Floppy Drive : $6 bucks

Total So Far
----------
$516.99 w/out video card, or soundcard

Now it gets interesting

M-Audio 2496 Audiophile (i hate that word, sounds so much like pedophile): $179

Dual Monitor Voodoo 3 3000: $52 ! (damn thats insane !)


Total: $748.98

Ok I know broke the price bracket, but this is a really slammin system. Hell you could use it also as your main recording peice, but for this discussion, it will only be used as a sampler/softsynth. Here are some other options I thought of as well

NEC 12x10x32 burner: $82
Yamaha 20x10x40x burner: $159
Optical Mouse: $39 dollars

Tell me what you think about this setup. Prices found on Pricewatch.com, and Musiciansfriend.com
 
I picked up my e-machines 566 with 32 megs of ram from bestbuy for $425 after mail-in rebate.

Added a cd burner and 256 megs of ram for $206(that included 100 empty cd-rs)

Since every thing was meant to run together, everything runs together.

AND, gigasampler runs like magic on the thing.

I got my monitor from radioshack for $10. It was advertised at $20 but the guy gave me a discount. SO I picked up an extra power cable. Basically, My whole computer cost $641(add about 30 for all the extension cables I bought so that I could move the CPU as far away from my monitoring position as possible

AND gigasampler runs like magic on it
 
Celeron 566 for $115?!?!?!?!?!?!

Man I hope that comes with a complementary blowjob or something.

http://www.pricewatch.com

C566 II $44
BE6 II $95

Even the memory can be had for less than you're listing.

I prefer to build all my computers, just so I know what I'm working with, but every once in a while Dell has some very good deals. Like a Celeron 700 or so with the basics for around $400. Add a monitor for $100 and you're all set. As far as a sound card, for sampling/softsynth type stuff the SB Live value with the low latency drivers is hard to beat for the $$$. I don't think I would bother putting an Audiophile in it unless you were planning to record with this box as well.
 
Man an e-machine ? Thats a f-ckin mortal sin dude ! I know sooooooooo many people who have had everything from incompatibility issues, to the thing just wouldn't turn on. I mean, Id consider it, then quickly go back to building my own system. I have no clue as to how you pulled that off with no problems. Mind listing some model numbers and whatnot ?
 
Hey you Guyyyyyyys..........
Check out ubid.com
I just finished putting together a

Re-furbished Gateway P3-866
512MB PC133 Ram Came w/128, added the rest for $90
came with a keyboard and mouse
Loaded with Windows ME
Norton anti-virus, and several other utilities
20 Gig Hard drive, 48X CDROM,
added 17" NEC Monitor for $105 (also re-furbished)
Everything comes with a 90 day warranty,
Delivered to my front door for..........



are you ready







you better be sitting down.....








are you sure your ready????????..............









for a mere??????????

:o :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:




$720 US good ole merican bucks...... :D
be careful, you can't cancel your bids, if you bid on sumpthin, you bought it if yours is the winning bid....
also a hint, look for Micron memory, and look for a while before you even bid, choose larger lots, rather than 1,or 2 item lots, and check back often for best deals......!!!!!!:D :D :D :D :D :cool:
By the way, also came equiped w a soundblaster Live value card......... is a minitower, and has lots of room for xpanding...
Ask and ye shall recieve...:)
 
Dude, that system is ok, but the one I built is brand new. $720's good and all, but I'd rather just build it all myself and know exactly what boards are going in. I mean, if we are going to resort to buying consumer ready computers for this, we might as well make an e-machine cluster. Remember, the P3's are harder to over clock than a celeron. You might get a 100mhz more on that P3, if you can do that with yoursetup. On the celeron I list, you can do upto a gigahert, but thats pushin it. 833mhz is more realistic for our purposes.
 
Response to P3 or Celeron

A P3 is essentially a P2 + 70 new instructions. It is in no way a process class upgrade ex: 486 to 586. Think of it like this P2+70 new instructions (which audio programs don't use) = P3 ! But a P3 is in no way a 786, its still in the 686 processor class. Now, celerons are better for Audio because they have faster access to level 2 cache, and can run the processor cache @ the processor speed. In other words, faster access times, and operations. In order to make a P3 really shine, you need to buy RDRAM and
that usually is very very expensive, even the cheap generic kind. Don't look down on processors just cause they cost lest. Read the articles, do the background searches, and know your facts. The Celeron I list comes with the new SIMD instructions which many audio programs are now optimized for. I would recommend getting an AMD, but there are compatiblity issues. Also, P3's are not as overclockable as P2's and celerons. Some even lock up !

PS: Intel makes celeron
 
Overclocking is not a good idea, that's like saying that a 4-cyl engine from a tercel will be powerful enuf to run in the Indy.... comeon.... an overclocked celeron, is still a celeron..... they have limited motherboards, limited memory compatibility, and on and on...
All you will end up doing is shortening the overall life expectancy of the chip. the more it is overclocked, the hotter it runs....
Why do you think the manufacturers will void the warranty on these chips if this is done...????
They understand the mentality of the average consumer, and are just interested in selling more chips... So I'm sure they made them so you could overclock them hoping lots of people do just that, ending up burning up chips, and having to buy more, burning , buy more, etc, etc, etc,
Do whatever floats yer boat dude, just realize that a large corp. like Intel knows exactly what they're doing......:eek:
by the by, did you notice that the machine I described above has 512
I'll repeat that for clarity
512 MB of PC133 RAM :eek:
 
L2 Cache running @ Processor clocked speed = Celeron
L2 Cache running @ system clock speed (usually 100-200mhz) = Pentium

And yes a 4 cynlindar trecel would be powerful enough to run in indy, the engine would just have to be modded a bit.

All processors, be they Intel/Celeron,RISC, PPC, Motorola, AMD, Cyrix, WinChip, Velocity, IRIX, or Crays are all overclockable to an extent. No processor runs at exactly whatever mhz they are advertised as. They usually run either 1/-1 mhz over or under. Now with overclocking, you are adding more heat to the internal core of the computers engine, so you must counteract that and we can make that very doable with some simple heatsinks, sprays, and effective turbine fans. No Cryon refrige systems needed here (this company that would put refrigerators in CPU's, and make them go as fast as todays systems)

Oh yea, if you want that 512 RAM on the system I constructed, just ad on another $69 bucks. CAS 2 P150
 
Hey Mr. UpstateNY,

We're all glad that you're proud of your new system but I'd say you're on the receiving end of some rough backdoor action on that one. I could build a much better computer for $720. Best of all it wouldn't say "Gateway" on it.

Overclocking is goooooood. I like it. :)

If you don't like it don't overclock. Simple as that. But don't whine about your slow-ass system.

I've had a Celeron 266 @ 448, a 366 @ 550, and now I'm running a 566 @ 850. All perfectly stable. You don't even need especially fancy cooling. I used the retail heatsink on the 266 @ 448 and a tiny little generic heatsink on the 366 @ 550. I still have the 550 system, btw, and right now its been running for a couple days straight. Running win2k, these things just don't ever crash.

The best part is getting to stick it to "The Man" by buying a cheap CPU and running it faster than something 5 times the price.
 
Like I said, whatever floats yer boat, I just feel a little more security knowing that I can call Gateway for any Tech support I need, just in case sumpthin comes up unexpectadly..... as is often the case with incompatibilities etc. freeze ups, un-explainable glitches in software, and all the other tech stuff that I am not sure about... I am fair when it comes to hardware, and software, and can usually find my own answers, but having a real pro, is just added protection for some of us.. and when it comes to this kind of stuff, unless yer doin it full-time almost, the technology is changing faster than I personally can keep up with.
Besides, I'd rather be putting more of my 'Free' time into makin the music, not worryin about if my machine is up to date....:D
 
Man I AM tech support, forget callin them. The last time I called Dell techsupport was to find out why my cdrom was showing up as a floppy drive in windows. If any of you are doing ANYTHING with music and computers, you gotta be able to hold your own. This means build your systems, upgrade them yourself, and know at all times exactly how they are working. I think this is true for just about anything, but esp something as intricate as audio recording. Gateway is ok, but I'd take a Dell referb system anyday over what gateway has. Also, Overclocking/Underclocking does NOT cause software technical problems, that comes from software incompatibility issues.



Use the source (code) luke !
 
I saw an emachines computer yesterday in the newspaper.

for $275 after mail-in rebate, you get a brand new

celeron 700
with 64 megs of ram
like 20 gigs of hd
and all the usual stuff

MAn thanks killer
 
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