best prebuilt amd 64? dual cores?

  • Thread starter Thread starter willow
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willow

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yea, circumstances have it so i have to by a prebuilt.

the presario i tried had the click problem, so i don't trust those?

should i try gateway?

i'm thinking about going for a dual core, but not sure if i really need it? and since they are a new thing, i'm sure if they have problems?

any suggestions?

thanks
 
jonnyc said:
I'm just curious, why do you have to buy a prebuilt one?
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Yeah, I have to ask this as well, because you can build for les than you can buy, and still get a little better components than you'd get in a prebuilt.

And I'd stay completely away from a Gateway. I've only known two people that owned them, and they both had problems from the start. Those things might be fine for somebody who is just surfing the net - that doesn't really require it to do a lot.

Start processing Audio and Video and it's a totally different ballgame.



Tim
 
monarchcomputer.com ...check out the hornet... that's what i use
 
I used this company[/EMAIL] ]this company and had them build me a DAW that works perfectly.

I know a lot of people say build your own,and I may one day,but if your time is valuable and you want to hit the ground running a prebuilt is just the ticket.

Make sure you know what you want to run on the computer,what kind and how many inputs you will need,plus do youi want MIDI?

Make sure you have a dedicated audio hard drive and a decent soundcard.

Definitely stay away from the big name bargain computers,they are not audio friendly.
 
acidrock said:
I used this company[/EMAIL] ]this company and had them build me a DAW that works perfectly.

I know a lot of people say build your own,and I may one day,but if your time is valuable and you want to hit the ground running a prebuilt is just the ticket.

Make sure you know what you want to run on the computer,what kind and how many inputs you will need,plus do youi want MIDI?

Make sure you have a dedicated audio hard drive and a decent soundcard.

Definitely stay away from the big name bargain computers,they are not audio friendly.
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The thing is, you should be able to put a PC together in about 90 minutes.

So, is your time worth $200 for less then 120 minutes? If so, I need to be in whatever business you are in! :p LOL
Normally you're going to be paying about $200 for the build cost, and I would rather either save that money, or be able to budget it for better parts.

I put my last one together in about 45 minutes.
Installed the software, and let it burn in for 48 hours before I used.
I really haven't had any major problems with it, other than the fact that I initally bought a hard drive that died - but I was trying to save on the HD, and made the mistake of buying a Maxtor.

Never again!

From now on, I'll only use WD's or Seagates.

One piece of advice though, is look for a Server case - they are bigger, and it makes installation a whole lot easier. I picked up my server case for $65, and I love it - it came with 3 fans in it, and man I love this thing!

When I open the door on the front panel (it's got a RAID rack for having a stack of removable HD's in it) the air blowing through it is ice cold.

I know of Advanced Design, and they do have a good reputation. They did a Rack Case design for ...I think it was Electronic Musician or EQ magazine, I can't remember which.

You'd think they would have had an automatic renewal on their website though. :D

Tim
 
If your computer works,it is a good idea to build it yourself.
It's when it doesn't that having someone else do it is better.
If you've built it,you can't take it in if it doesn't work right,it's called "buying peace of mind".

A lot of people can do the same job that I do,yet I routinely get called in to "fix"things do it your selfers have started and couldn't finish or get to work right.Sometimes a little knowledge is worse than none.

In my case,I decided to do a side job to pay for the computer build,rather than build it myself.

I'm thinking about building my next one though.... ;) :cool:
 
I would go with the most powerful computer you can afford,especially if you are running multiple plug-ins and soft synths or even recording lots of waves. lenovo under I believe intel makes their own motherboards. I have owned AMD but if you want a better guarantee of less hassle I would go for the pentium D class dual core because you are getting a native chip and a native motherboard designed by the same maker.Some of the AMD motherboards have had problems in certain applications and this is partly because they are designed by different companies. You could still check out AMD XP64 dual core if you want ,just be aware of the chance of an incompatibility.Many have been very happy with asus motherboards designed for AMD.( before you shoot me I'm not saying AMD isnt an option,I am saying it could be more problematic)
Another issue is your recording interface. If you are using a pci card or plan to purchase one you might be in trouble,because PCI express is on the way in and PCI is on the way out. Some new motherboards may not support your PCI hardware. PCI express is presently used in high end graphics cards. If you are not a gamer chances are you don't need a PCI express video card for your audio work. It is mostly overkill for music software.Some motherboards now will give you slots for both.Most of the recording hardware giants have only now begun to design for PCI express and some not at all.
In my opinion Macs are overpriced. I am waiting to see what will happen mid 2006 since Mac has used intel chips for the first time in their laptops early this year and on the iMac. I am waiting to see what they do to replace the G5 and how much it will cost.In mid 2006 Mac is probably going to be releasing the new high end dual core intel based G5 replacement.
The market now is full of basic low priced web surfer computers. If you are serious about your recording,look a little harder and spend more money for dual core and a minimum of 1gb memory preferably 2gb,7200 rpm glyph or seagate drive(s) and for an interface if you can't afford a good tube channel strip for audio get at least good converters. I am eyeing EMU because it has VERY good converters and onboard DSP taking additional load off your hard worked cpu. Most interfaces dont offer onboard DSP(they might bundle plug-ins) but they don't offer onboard HARDWARE dsp.
 
by the way, i will be using a firewire mixer. this will make the crappy soundcard, not an issue, right?

so, for what price range are we looking at for a custom built equilvalent to the amd 64? how long will it take? where do i find? shipping?

i live in mexico now, and will be going back in a week. that's why i almost have to get a prebuilt.

that link did not work

thanks
 
acidrock said:
If your computer works,it is a good idea to build it yourself.
It's when it doesn't that having someone else do it is better.
If you've built it,you can't take it in if it doesn't work right,it's called "buying peace of mind".

A lot of people can do the same job that I do,yet I routinely get called in to "fix"things do it your selfers have started and couldn't finish or get to work right.Sometimes a little knowledge is worse than none.

In my case,I decided to do a side job to pay for the computer build,rather than build it myself.

I'm thinking about building my next one though.... ;) :cool:
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That is true - I guess from my perspective, the problem is - he's living in Mexico. If he has one built here in the States, how hard is it going to be to send it back across the border whenever he has problems with it?
Can any of his local repair personal fix it? I'm sure they can, but at what kind of price?

That's one of the reasons I promote D.I.Y. for this stuff. You're going to have to be your own tech in most instances. I learned how to build PC's in the 90's, prior to "plug N play", and it was a big hassle to have to physically set jumpers, but I thank God I went through that, because it taught me a ton about PC's.

I've built quite a few of them, and they are relatively easy to put together.
Especially since all he really has to do is:
Load the case with the Main/Motherboard & wire it to the case switches/lights
Install the CPU
Install the Memory
Install the Hard drives,
Install the CDR/DVDR,
Install the videocard (I prefer PCI to AGP because you can get a lot more memory on the videocards - heck, they've almost made the AGP versions disappear to some extent. Aside from people using AGP for regular Internet surfing, virtually everone I know locally has gone to PCI videocards, especially the gamers.)

Then fire it up and load the software. Since he's going Firewire, he doesn't really "need" a soundcard, because he should be monitoring through the Firewire unit.
Unless he's going to buy the most expensive soundcard out there, and that would really be a waste of money from my perspective... because to me they just aren't designed for this purpose.

If you're going to record on a PC, you need to be able to troubleshoot it as well. Just like somebody who intends to record on a 2" 24-track needs to be able to do some of the techwork that is required to maintain those machines - after all, unless you live in any of the major cities (New York, LA, Nashville< etc.) known for recording, the odds are there aren't any techs around who can fix them or set them up.



But that's just my opinion.
:D


Tim
 
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I have priced out buying the os and all good hardware and buying prebuilt and the prices are close if you shop around,dell and HP offer some pretty good deals monitors and all.Plus the ability to return the unit if say my motherboard goes down. For a lot more money you can get a lot more support in buying say a sweetwater pc,unlimited lifetime tech support might save you some serious trouble down the road,their tech support extends to the recording app as well.
 
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