Hey you computer dudes....would this be a good DAW PC?

  • Thread starter Thread starter thajeremy
  • Start date Start date
not a big fan of the case, psu, or the hard drive.

You most definately should have bought a better PSU.
I have been hearing alot of people say seagate drives are not manufactured like they use to be so just hope yours aint one of the many that fail, also there was a 500 gig western digital black with 32mb cache for ten dollars more and lots of people say they are quieter.

But as long as nothing shows up DOA and doesnt die after a short while then id say for the price you have something that will do you well. (Id still feel better if you got a better power supply)

Here is my most recent order from newegg

GIGABYTE iSOLO GZ-AA1CB-SNG Metallic gray Aluminum Front Panel/ 0.7mm SECC Housing ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4 AM2+/AM2 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard

ASUS EAH3450/DI/256M Radeon HD 3450 256MB 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Low Profile Video Card

PC Power & Cooling S61EPS 610W Continuous @ 40°C EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition Processor Model HDZ940XCGIBOX

mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 996599

Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

I dont care what kind of crap i get for going with the amd chip because i will always stand behind them. Well only since they came out with this chip LOL.
It actually runs a good DAW.

OH and the gigabyte case is actually super quiet
 
Last edited:
Klutch said:
PC Power & Cooling S61EPS 610W Continuous @ 40°C EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition Processor Model HDZ940XCGIBOX

mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 996599
Click to expand...

... why an AMD? Intel tend to rule the home CPU market these days.
 
Klutch said:
not a big fan of the case, psu, or the hard drive.

You most definately should have bought a better PSU.
I have been hearing alot of people say seagate drives are not manufactured like they use to be so just hope yours aint one of the many that fail, also there was a 500 gig western digital black with 32mb cache for ten dollars more and lots of people say they are quieter.
Click to expand...

well....the case is not a big deal to me.....I like what I saw and it had good reviews....

what would you say is the problem with the PSU???

also, the HD that I chose is the only one what did not have any bad reviews....
 
Waffleness said:
... why an AMD? Intel tend to rule the home CPU market these days.
Click to expand...


Here is a better question "why not" :)

it a 3ghz quad core and it is resonably priced.

Intels rule why? Because gamers use them and there are way more gamers than music recorders so it makes intel seem like they are the best, and people like intels because of their overclock abilitys. so that is why intels rule but we do music so maybe we should jump in and help amd stay afloat till they start kickin that intel arse again:)

Im not a gamer and i dont care to overclock :)

I record music and my guess is if my athlon xp 2000+ that i used previous to my new build could handle all my needs except for the newer high end extremely large programs i have, well then the phenom2 should hold me down for a few years.

I guess i just got their back because they have always had mine
 
thajeremy said:
well....the case is not a big deal to me.....I like what I saw and it had good reviews....

what would you say is the problem with the PSU???

also, the HD that I chose is the only one what did not have any bad reviews....
Click to expand...

Well i cant say the PSU is a problem but usually you get what ya pay for. the other thing is I have heard of power supplys going bad and damaging other hardware. Plus it may not be as quiet as higher end PSU's

Nothing is wrong with the HD i just been hearing of alot of seagates pooping out and the western digital i mentioned was only ten bucks mor for 32 mb cache. I dont even know that that would actually make that much of a difference but it seems like a higher cache would be a little better.
 
thajeremy said:
just placed my order....I upgraded my case just a little from the one I posted....

here is what I got....


case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147033

Processor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115207

mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128359

PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182031

HD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148395

RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231122

for a total of $553.83 with shipping....

not bad considering I called a local computer shop who quoted me $100 more for less computer....
Click to expand...


Looks good Jer. The only thing I'd say to get would be a smaller HD for your OS. No real need to have more then a 80 GB for the HD. That 500GB will do good for your music but you should get a small OS HD. I usually run a 80GB for it.
 
I tend to disagree with the 80 gig hard drive for the os. I think a 250 gig drive would be more sufficient. Actually 2 250 gig sata drives would be best. My reason is you want a little more than you need cause some progams can actually get pretty large with all the add ons you can get. Use the 500 gig for a place to save mix downs and backups. You don't want an 80 gig drive and run out of space cause it sux to have to reinstall everything just cause you get a new program and just need 5 more gigs.
 
True enough. Then again there's always a chance you may change your mind. Not to mention all the good programs just get bigger and bigger over the years for every new upgrade.
 
True enough. Then again there's always a chance you may change your mind. Not to mention all the good programs just get bigger and bigger over the years for every new upgrade.like bfd2 with all the upgrade kits takes like 40 gigs on my HD maybe even more
 
Klutch said:
True enough. Then again there's always a chance you may change your mind. Not to mention all the good programs just get bigger and bigger over the years for every new upgrade.like bfd2 with all the upgrade kits takes like 40 gigs on my HD maybe even more
Click to expand...

Yeah, true also. :D
 
Personally, I went with two 10,000rpm Velociraptor drives - 150GB for the OS, etc. and 300 GB for "working" storage. I use eSata for external HDs for archiving (7200 rpm, 500 GB).

The 10,000 rpm drives are considerably faster than the 7,200, not that 7,200 isn't good enough. Still, to me it is worth it....I *think*, after doing some reading on the matter, I would get more of a performance boost from the drives than from having RAM at 1066 than 800 (which is what I have) and possibly some overclocking with none of the possible drawbacks.

The other thing about keeping eSata drives is that they don't draw off of the internal power supply and I only need to run them when I want. Combined with the small power draw of the Velociraptor drives, I didn't feel I needed a more than 500 watt PS.....more below.

I wanted QUIET, so I went with the Antec Sonata III with the Antec Earthworks 500 watt PS and am quite happy. I did put in a 750 watt Silencer PS in for comparison and it was significantly louder......the Antec is very quiet, especially since my PC is running cool and I only need one fan running at its slowest speed to keep things cool.

FWIW, I went with the Intel Q6600 and 4GB Ram (800).

I played with various things, including overclocking, running more drives inside, and of course, the larger PS (which is why I tried it), but when all was said and done, I came back to the leaner, quieter machine.

There's just no need for me to overclock....I'm not a gamer....and the Q6600 is affordable AND more than powerful enough for me.

Maybe I'll go full-tilt once good SSDs become affordable. But for now, I have a system that is more than powerful and fast enough for my needs and is very quiet.

Of course, everyone's mileage may vary........
 
Klutch said:
Here is a better question "why not" :)

it a 3ghz quad core and it is resonably priced.

Intels rule why? Because gamers use them and there are way more gamers than music recorders so it makes intel seem like they are the best, and people like intels because of their overclock abilitys. so that is why intels rule but we do music so maybe we should jump in and help amd stay afloat till they start kickin that intel arse again:)

Im not a gamer and i dont care to overclock :)

I record music and my guess is if my athlon xp 2000+ that i used previous to my new build could handle all my needs except for the newer high end extremely large programs i have, well then the phenom2 should hold me down for a few years.

I guess i just got their back because they have always had mine
Click to expand...

I am currently running an AMD 64 X2 4600+ 2.4Ghz, so I am no stranger their CPU's.

You say gamers love them, well they love them for a reason - the price to power ratio (including the associated chipset to drive it) is better than the equivalent AMD spec.

Overclocking doesn't really come into it, because of the variables involved (cooling, etc), so I agree you can't really argue on that front.

Another thing - it may take them a while to start kicking intel arse, as Intel have already started the hype for the second generation i7 CPU's, and AMD havn't got anything that can compete with the 1st generation yet ;)

I do hope AMD come back sometime soon though, a bit of competition in the market is healthy
 
buckkillr8 said:
Looks good Jer. The only thing I'd say to get would be a smaller HD for your OS. No real need to have more then a 80 GB for the HD. That 500GB will do good for your music but you should get a small OS HD. I usually run a 80GB for it.
Click to expand...


Im good on drives guys....in addition to the one I just purchased with this kit...I have 2 - 160's, 1 - 250, and 1 - 320 that will be used in this machine. Im sure Ill at least put in a total of 3...probably the one I just bought, plus the 2 - 160's and I also have a 120 gig external....I think im covered on storage...

also...everything came in today....I have started putting everything together...Im at the point where I have to remove a graphics card and delta 1010 card from another machine, so Ill wait till morning to tackle that...since I have never done this before, I am constantly refering back to the manual and instructions while Im doing this...but does anyone have any tips of what order I should be doing this or should I just follow the order in the manual and call it a day?

thanks again guys for all your help....I feel good about what I purchased and if everything goes well tomorrow, I feel that Ill never buy a name brand PC again....
 
thajeremy said:
Im good on drives guys....in addition to the one I just purchased with this kit...I have 2 - 160's, 1 - 250, and 1 - 320 that will be used in this machine. Im sure Ill at least put in a total of 3...probably the one I just bought, plus the 2 - 160's and I also have a 120 gig external....I think im covered on storage...

also...everything came in today....I have started putting everything together...Im at the point where I have to remove a graphics card and delta 1010 card from another machine, so Ill wait till morning to tackle that...since I have never done this before, I am constantly refering back to the manual and instructions while Im doing this...but does anyone have any tips of what order I should be doing this or should I just follow the order in the manual and call it a day?

thanks again guys for all your help....I feel good about what I purchased and if everything goes well tomorrow, I feel that Ill never buy a name brand PC again....
Click to expand...

is your video card agp or pci?
 
thajeremy said:
Im good on drives guys....in addition to the one I just purchased with this kit...I have 2 - 160's, 1 - 250, and 1 - 320 that will be used in this machine. Im sure Ill at least put in a total of 3...probably the one I just bought, plus the 2 - 160's and I also have a 120 gig external....I think im covered on storage...
Click to expand...

It might be safe to make sure that 550 watt PS is enough if you are going to run a bunch of drives and cards:
http://www.antec.outervision.com/

also...everything came in today....I have started putting everything together...Im at the point where I have to remove a graphics card and delta 1010 card from another machine, so Ill wait till morning to tackle that...since I have never done this before, I am constantly refering back to the manual and instructions while Im doing this...but does anyone have any tips of what order I should be doing this or should I just follow the order in the manual and call it a day?
Click to expand...

Sounds like you've gotten pretty far already.

Generally (but I've never read the manual :eek):
Mother board
Processor
RAM
PS
DVD/CD whatever else on the front (card readers, etc.)
Hard Drives
Cards

Wire them all up. Keep it neat. Turn it on.

It looks like you got a nice machine! Good luck and enjoy :)
 
thajeremy said:
does anyone have any tips of what order I should be doing this or should I just follow the order in the manual and call it a day?
Click to expand...

Following the manual is always a good start :)

Do it on an electrically insulated surface (wooden table) and not something that will create static (carpet, etc).

Make sure you keep the hardware not plugged in inside the anti-static bags, and if it doesn't fit in smoothly don't force anything into place!
 
welp....all is good for now....its up and running...I have installed XP, and Im currently installing drivers from the disk that came with the Mobo.... One thing that came with it that I was kinda suprised to see...cuz I didnt know they existed....there is an expansion card that supplies 2 ATA connections and power for 2 devices. So I can just connect an ATA drive right to the back of the PC without going into the box.... I love that....

It only recognizes 3.5 gigs of the ram, but thats about what I expected....its quieter than I expected....but again, this is my first build so I really didnt know what to expect...

cant wait to see how many plugins I can run....once I get PT installed, Ill probably pull up a project and max out my plugs on each track and see how much
it takes to get it to studder....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top