Building your own computer?

K

Kuhlio

New member
I am looking for information from anyone who has built their own computer for recording. What did you use? What didn't you use? What did you use that you wish you hadn't? Am I just plain out of my friggin' mind for even considering this?



The only real decisions I've made are to go with a Pentium II 350, Cubase 3.5, Event Layla...



Also, where have you found the best deals?



I know that there are a lot of questions here, but after reviewing some of the other topics and a million other websites, this is definately the place to ask them.



Thanks!
 
Celeron 300a overclocked to 450
Abit BX6 r2 motherboard
128MB PC100 SDRAM
IBM 22GXP 13.5GB ATA/66 7200rpm 9ms 2MB IDE hard drive
Ricoh 4x4x20 IDE CDRW
Windows 98
Wave824 sound card
Cool Edit Pro SE

No regrets so far.

Out of your mind? Well, it's not exactly a breeze for the beginner, but it's not rocket science either. If you feel comfortable with it after doing plenty of research on it, take the plunge (and take control of what's going into your computer).

Go to www.resellerratings.com and check out what people have to say about online vendors you're considering buying from. I bought from several companies and had prompt delivery and good support. 1st Look has very good support, good prices, but a small selection. BTI (Bunta) is the least expensive, has a nice selection, but watch the shipping costs. They get the money on that end, but sometimes with some items the shipping's not too bad. There are thousands of computer dealers online, take your time and read through some sites for suggestions. Other good PC sites are; www.tomshardware.com and www.sharkyextreme.com . Good luck.

[This message has been edited by Howlin (edited 07-24-1999).]
 
friends ,

that sounds like a good set up... but make sure you buy the slot 1 version of the celeron , not the PPGA... the abit bx6 r2 ( or 2.0 )is a slot 1 board..... i would also consider the celeron 400 CPU , you can squeeze 498 mhz out of it while running it at 83 mhz rather than 100 mhz and getting 450 with the 300 A so you would generate less heat.. ( which is bad )..and the celeron 400 is only about 20 bucks more ... also invest 10 bucks into a celeron fan , its worth the piece of mind knowing you wont fry anything... it should run about 240 for the bored and the chip with the fan.... but its worth it...the pentium III 450 mhz chip is 260 bucks alone... check out www.sharkyextreme.com , and use the search with the term " overclock " for more info..... have fuunnn..

i almost forgot.. if you get the retail celeron rather than oem ..i believe it comes with a fan ... its about 20 bucks more... but buying oem doesnt sit right with somepeople... they *muuuust* have retail...

- eddie -

[This message has been edited by Eddie N (edited 07-27-1999).]

[This message has been edited by Eddie N (edited 07-27-1999).]
 
Thanks for the responses! Very helpful info, although I heard just today that Intel has discontinued the slot 1 celerons. Anybody else heard anything about that?
 
Slot-1 is out, ppga is in. The slot-1 is still being sold, but Intel won't be making any more. The processors perform the same. The disadvantage of getting a socket 370 (for ppga) board is that you won't be able to use a Pentium II/III in it, if you decide to later on. Slot-1 to ppga adapters are available for slot-1 boards for about $15. I would suggest getting a slot-1 board and adapter (if necessary) to keep yourself covered in case you want to use a Pentium in the future.

Also, in the case of Abit boards, there's a nagging inconsitency between ppga and slot-1 boards' bus speeds. The BM6 75MHz FSB divides by 3 for 25MHz PCI bus, while the BX6 divides by 2 for 37MHz PCI, which is closer to the normal 33MHz PCI bus speed. I don't know if this carries over to the new BP6 and BE6 boards.

Buying retail is a good idea if you're not going to overclock. You may want to get a dual fan for overclocking, in which case OEM will be cheaper and easier (you won't have to pry the heatsink off of the retail version). Make sure you get some thermal grease to get better heat transfer to the heatsink. Abit boards come with a heat sensor wire and software to check on CPU temp.
 
I would just get a celeron 400 slot one. Don't bother overclocking it. With the odd bus frequencies, 83, 75 etc.. you are risking instability and possible damage to the other components in your system. If your insistent on overclocking, find a celeron 300A that will overclock at 100MHz bus speed. I use the standard 300A at 450MHz, and it's rock solid. But, the difference in performance between 450 and 400 is not signicant, 66MHz or 100MHz. Get lots of memory. 128MB miniumum. Buy now, it's going up.

Emeric
 
hey dude before ya go out n buy the p-2,
consider stepping up to the p3...the newest version of cubase (3.7) which is a free update from steinberg is optomized for the streaming data instructions built into the p3
its supposed to give you MUCH improved audio performance, and the p3 450 can be clocked up to over 550 pretty easily too. and make sure to use an AGP video card too, as that will free the PCI bus for easier audio throughput
hope that helps
 
I agree with avoiding the overclocking scheme. It's kind of like hot-rodding a car... it can (and does) work, (The last shipping of Celeron 400's is absolutely *rock-solid* at 450Mhz), but it's really more for PC enthusiasts who are just itching to get more juice out of a processor just because they know they can. (guilty confession: I have a 486 DX2-66 overclocked to 100Mhz that can barely boot most days, but it's fun to try)

For home recording purposes, the CPU is not your most important piece of hardware. We've been able to do digital audio reasonable well since 486 CPU's, and most Pentium 133+ can handle any tasks the home user might put themselves to. The lowest CPU you can buy from Intel right now is the Celeron 400, if I'm not mistaken (though of course, the older ones will still be available).

Stick with the Celeron or a Pentium II, don't wait for the Pentium III, because the cost will not outweigh the performance. Sink the extra money into some nice sound equipment... it doesn't matter how great your computer is if you have noisy cables. :-) As far as money spent on the computer itself, a faster hard drive will do you better than a faster processor.
 
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