Building new system. Whaddaya think?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jagular
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Jagular

Jagular

Active member
OK, after all my recent computer woes, I have decided to build a new system from scratch. Here is the backbone:

http://secure.newegg.com/app/WishHistoryReview.asp?position=HISTORY&submit=VIEW&ID=290792

Then I will be taking the good stuff out of my old machine and putting it in there (Gainward GeForce 4 TI4200 128mb & the 1010lt are the stars there) and 512mb of Crucial PC2700.

This is coming in at $328 + $15 for shipping. Seems like a pretty good deal to me. Just curious what you guys thought and if you could do any better in the same price range (better case & psu or better mobo). The one concern I do have is that the AGP slot is 4x rather than 8x. My current TI4200 is 4x, but an 8x would be nice for later upgrade. Is there a big differnence in performance between the 4x & 8x?

Thanks for any suggestions or comments.
 
Jagular said:

This is coming in at $328 + $15 for shipping. Seems like a pretty good deal to me. Just curious what you guys thought and if you could do any better in the same price range (better case & psu or better mobo). The one concern I do have is that the AGP slot is 4x rather than 8x. My current TI4200 is 4x, but an 8x would be nice for later upgrade. Is there a big differnence in performance between the 4x & 8x?
Click to expand...

First of all, I'd say a GeForce 4 is overkill for a DAW. For running a DAW you need decent 2D performance and that's what you'll get from any videocard that has been put on the market over the last several years. You can save a lot of bucks there. But when you're thinking of playing games on that PC as well, it makes more sense.
Secondly: AGP 8x is still something of the future in the sense that the increased available memory bandwith, compared to AGP 4x is something the cards that are on the market today are not able to really benefit from.
AGP 8x has other novelties like the option to run more than one videocard on the AGP bus but that is something that's not actually supported yet either. At least not by any motherboard that I know of.
My guess is that you'll want to upgrade motherboard + cpu sooner (we're always hungry for more power, right?) than that you'll be able to benefit from having AGP 8x on your motherboard right now. So leave the decision to go for AGP 8x for your next motherboard.
 
Christiaan - Thanks. That make some sense about the 8x AGP. Just so you know, I already have the TI4200 and yes I do game occasionally (Unreal Tournament & Unreal Tournament 2003). I'm actually fairly excited about putting that card in this new machine :D:D.

If I find this experience pleasant enough, I will build my next computer too. Then I will have one specifically for a DAW. For now, I need it to be an all in one machine.

Thanks for the advice & comments. It is much appreciated :)
 
DAWs machines

my friend, this is a very valuable advice I got many time ago:
If your working sound in computer, that computer have to be only to sound.
I mean, no big video cards, no play games, no internet conexions, no modem attached, nothing.
all power particle that you can get, is to processing.
Big Processor, fast hard disk and a lot of memory.
but ( and this most important) keep your machine unplugged away from internet and games.
 
Re: DAWs machines

nostromo said:
my friend, this is a very valuable advice I got many time ago:
If your working sound in computer, that computer have to be only to sound.
I mean, no big video cards, no play games, no internet conexions, no modem attached, nothing.
all power particle that you can get, is to processing.
Big Processor, fast hard disk and a lot of memory.
but ( and this most important) keep your machine unplugged away from internet and games.
Click to expand...

So I guess I should stop playing Jedi Outcast online and surfin' the web?

How do you update the drivers for your soundcard?

The "no games" thing I guess is reasonable, but I don't see any harm in the Internet connection.

Unless you use AOL, which gums everything up regardless.
 
Re: DAWs machines

nostromo said:
( and this most important) keep your machine unplugged away from internet and games.
Click to expand...

I agree with Polaris20.
A network connection on a computer is practically a must nowadays. If you had so much trouble with it, I tend to think you did something wrong. I do close down the emailclient, icq, msn when I work on music and mostly to make sure I don't get disturbed but I put those online again as soon as I'm done.
 
Jagular said:
Christiaan - Thanks. That make some sense about the 8x AGP. Just so you know, I already have the TI4200 and yes I do game occasionally (Unreal Tournament & Unreal Tournament 2003). I'm actually fairly excited about putting that card in this new machine :D:D.
Click to expand...
Ah, ok. I guess I misunderstood that. Enjoy it then :)
 
I want someone to explain to me what harm it does installing a game on a DAW other than using disk space.
 
looks pretty good jagular. i ordered that 2.4B processor and the stock fan that comes with it is QUIET! Mine came with adhesive tape on the heatsink so i didn't even have to put any goo on it and it runs very cool. I don't know anything about the board you picked but it looks like it meets all the newest specs so you're probably fine. I went with an intel board to be conservative but I also have no interest in blazing video or overclocking. I doubt you'll need to use SATA anytime soon. Also nice having onboard lan if you have broadband. Good luck.

BTW, I totally disagree with not having your daw connected to a network. Makes updating drivers real easy and also aids in backups. I usually save my projects locally and remotely and that would be a pain without a network connection.
 
I would put money on it that any big studio that uses DAW's will also have a network with all them connected to it.
 
I currently have my sound machine hooked up to a router hooked up to the net. I also have other computer drives mapped on the sound computer as network drives. It's just as stable and fast as it was before it was hooked up to the net.

My philosophy is: if it works, it works. If it doesn't work, that's when you should start pruning the system to the bare essentials. If it happens to work with extras like networking or a second gaming-only sound card, all the better.
 
I still want someone to give me a good reason why I shouldn't install a game on my audio pc. I hear this crap all the time but no one can give me a reason other than it degrades performance. Which it doesn't.
 
HangDawg said:
I still want someone to give me a good reason why I shouldn't install a game on my audio pc. I hear this crap all the time but no one can give me a reason other than it degrades performance. Which it doesn't.
Click to expand...
That shouldn't pose a problem at all. As long as other programs are not running in the background, and as long as the drivers for the game are not conflicting with anything, everythings cool.
 
HangDawg said:
I still want someone to give me a good reason why I shouldn't install a game on my audio pc. I hear this crap all the time but no one can give me a reason other than it degrades performance. Which it doesn't.
Click to expand...

i guess there reasoning for that would be gaming requires a good video card which would take power away from other things as well as MAYBE make ur system a lil less stable :confused:

i dunno i play games run aol on my DAW comp works beautifully..i'll even track at 24/96 while running aol...
 
Anyone heard of the Albatron PX845PE PRO IIS mobo? Same chipset as the Abit BH7, but more features (especially for adding HD's in the future). It's just a little more money. Albatron any good?
 
I just built a buddy an audio pc. I bought a Soyo Dragon. Damn nice mobo. Built in IDE raid, 6 usb ports, fire wire, lan.
 
HangDawg said:
I still want someone to give me a good reason why I shouldn't install a game on my audio pc. I hear this crap all the time but no one can give me a reason other than it degrades performance. Which it doesn't.
Click to expand...
I don't know about software, but installing unnecessary hardware can make your machine less stable. I installed a MIDI interface, and now my machine sponteneously reboots every week or so. I've heard plausible sounding explanations about why unnecessary software can be a problem, but I don't remember what they are.
 
I agree about the hardware thing because a reboot or BSOD (blue screen of death) usually means a driver problem. But I should be able to install most any piece of software be it a game or word processor without having problems. Actually, I do and have no problems.
 
if you got a 2.4g processor, i wouldn't worry about any of those worries mentioned...

I got a 2.4g, 516ddr and T4600 vid card, and I do everything on this system.
Anything from graphics program to 2d animation to 3d games and audio, and the only problem I have is lacking ram when i try to run too many programs at once.

So, I wouldn't worry about games and whatnot until you run into a problem.


Al
 
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