Build A Computer

B

blinddogblues

New member
I would like to have a computer built for basic home recording. I would appreciate some recommendations on mother boards and processors. I would like to spend $800-$900 if possible. I will not be doing anything elaborate, probably 8-10 tracks with a few effects. I will probably use an Aardvark or Delta card and not sure yet which software. Any recommendations on specing a machine for me would be appreciated.
 
Does that $800-900 include the sound card and/or any software you may need, or is that just for the computer?
 
That $800-$900 range does not include the sound card or the software, just the computer(it does include monitor, etc.). Basically I am trying to avoid doing alot of time consuming research. Hopefully someone who has already done that will share what they learned with me. Even some suggestions on what to avoid would be helpful.
PS...I am not building this computer myself, if it matters, I will have a local computer store build it for me.
 
I would suggest going to www.pricewatch.com and looking for components there. I just built a system and saved myself almost $300 before taxes buying it from the lowest sellers instead of buying all my parts at one place.

As far as specific hardware, Intel processors are solid, but pricey. Personally I built an Athlon XP box. I was able to get a processor and board for a little more than just the price of a P4 processor.

Personally I'd stay away from RDRAM (not because it is bad...it's extremely fast) as that was Intel's product they tried to force on the market...but it looks like DDR is going to be the defacto module (for now anyway). The new spec 333 DDR has a throughput of 2.7 GB/s and RDRAM has a 3.2. You just have to decide if the amount of money you are spending on RDRAM is worth the added throughput.

Hard drives...hmmm...at least a 7200 RPM, ATA100. They have the 133 out now...so if you aren't going to be reusing anything from a different system I would probably go with the 133.

That's my $0.02 worth...hope it helps.
 
If you do use Pricewatch (and you should), you should also use ResellerRatings to check the quality of the vendors. Also, sometimes it doesn't pay to get parts from different vendors as shipping costs can add up. Probably the best one-stop place for computer parts is Newegg - they have good prices and great support.
Personally I'd stay away from RDRAM ... as that was Intel's product they tried to force on the market
Click to expand...
That doesn't seem like a very good reason. What vendor would not like to be able to force their product on you. I'm also not really sure how they "forced" Rambus on us. Also, I believe the latest throughput numbers are 4.2GB/s with the new 533Mhz memory bus speed.

Anyway, it's easier to build a stable P4 system than an Athlon system. If you want easier, pick a motherboard with an Intel 845 chipset and you basically can't go wrong. If you want to get more bang for your buck (Athlon), do the requisite research, however long it takes, and save yourself from headaches down the road. I would recommend the Gigabyte GA7DX+ for an Athlon motherboard, but you should figure out what sound card you want to use and email the manufacturer and ask what they have to say about motherboards and chipsets.
 
be wary of cheap noisy components. There are quiet compontnets out there that really help for audion recording. Check out http://www.sharkacomputers.com/ I have not done business with them but they sell different low noise components and sell quite computers that you can spec out. A Athlon 1600 xp processor with 256meg of ram and a Seagate 40 gig hd runs in the mid $900's. That has a quiet power supply and cpu cooler.

Also check out www.quietpc.com for components. and http://home.swipnet.se/tr/silence.html.

They say with a quiet power supply, quiet cpu cooler, and quiet 7200 rpm hd you can get the noise level below the ambient level of like 30db.

Keep in mind a standard mid tower case and 300 watt power supply runs about $60. A low noise power supply alone runs about $65-$75. I believe it's worth the effort to go quiet. I am slowly rebuilding my new barebones upgrade (done 3 weeks ago) because it's too loud.

good luck
jack
 
blinddogblues said:
Basically I am trying to avoid doing alot of time consuming research. Hopefully someone who has already done that will share what they learned with me.
Click to expand...

I just did that, did you not check the link?

You ask help, I give you a link to Prorec, where Rip Rowan is famous for his Roll-Your-Own computer articles, and instead of acknowledging it, you stupidly ask the question I just answered.

What a guy.
 
these days, the OS you are running is going to figure as largely as your hardware configuration...don't waste your time reading that 'roll your own ' article.....decide what you want your pc to do , and then start shopping for the right MB...after that, everything falls into place.
 
OK blinddogblues, my last post was a little harsh. It was the end of a long, hard day, and I was irritable. I apologize. Best of luck with your computer.
 
Here is another approach. Do a bare bones upgrade. I deal with a local computer reseller that is fairly big for being in rural Illinois. I tell the owner what I'm going to do with the computer and what processor I want to use (Athlon in my case) and he sells me what works for him with the hunderds of computers he assembles each month. In other words what's stable.

Just recently he spec'd out a athlon xp1600, a Epox motherboard, 256 DDR ram and a standard midtower case (Enlight) with 300watt power supply. It cost me $460.00 for those components. He attached the processor and heat sink/fan to the motherboard and "burned it in" (ran it for like 6 hours). I put the motherboard/cpu into the case plugged in the ram dragged over my other current components (hard drives, cd burners, video card, sound cards etc) and booted up. No problem at all. Now I have to switch out the noisey components (hard drive, power supply, cpu fan/heat sink, case fan) but I can do that over time. You can also rebuild your old computer with extra or used parts to make a nice home network email station, storage center, or internet gateway.

The benefit in going this way is that you are using your computer reseller's hands on experience while you do the assembly. And since you bought the components from him (or her) you can go to them for some tech support if there is a glitch.

good luck
jack
 
RDRAM

My previous post came out wrong...I didn't mean you shouldn't buy a system RDRAM because Intel tried to push it into the market. My reasoning, though it was stated poorly was that even Intel is moving away from the RDRAM platform and adopting the DDR standard.
 
I was told that sdram was the best memory for recording music. True or not?
Click to expand...
The best memory is the fastest memory, aside from quality issues - which have more to do with the manufacturer than memory type. Currently, the fastest memory is RDRAM, then DDRAM, and then SDRAM. I believe Intel just released the chipset for 533Mhz RDRAM, whereas DDRAM is at 266Mhz. You can buy faster DDRAM, but I'm pretty sure you can only use it at higher speeds if you overclock your processor.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top