Daw suggestions.

[vermades]

I'm pretty close to getting all the components for my daw. I decided to go with pentium over amd since I figured pentium would be better...hopefully I was right, too late now, was this a good choice?...it was p4 3.0 c. I'm getting 1 gig of duel memory.3200 ocz since i'm not overclocking..should I look for more than 1 gig or should that be enough.

The other thing i'm wondering is a soundcard. Since I'm only using samples does the soundcard really matter if i'm not recording? I was previously using soundblaster live but i'm giving my old computer setup to my sister so i'll be using the onboard sound for now, which is supposed to be pretty good. I'm wondering what would be a great soundcard for me for mixing using monitors...I don't have a keyboard yet but will most likely get one down the road. I'm willing to spend maybe at the most 500 cnd.

I haven't picked out a new HD yet but i'm looking is WD RAPTOR 74GB SATA 10000RPM 4.5MS 8MB 10K it's a lil pricey for me after my other purchases, would this be overkill or will it really make alot of difference loading samples?

I'll probably be using, gigastudio, nuendo, and maybe FL studio if that makes any difference in choices.

 

[vermades]

Figured I should post a bit more information to get better advice.

What I have already....

psu.
ANTEC TRUEPOWER 480W ATX12V PS/2 SIZE 2 FANS LOW NOISE

mobo
ASUS P4C800-E DELUXE S478 875P DUAL DDR 5PCI SATA RAID 1000LAN 1394 SOUND

case
THERMALTAKE TSUNAMI VA3000 ALUMINUM CASE 4X5.25 2X3.5 5X3.5INT NO PS BLACK MIRRORED W/ WINDOW


The rest that is on my list that will be ordered in a few days is.

memory
OCZ DUAL CHANNEL ENHANCED BANDWIDTH 2X512MB PC3200 PLATINUM HEAT SPREADER

cpu
INTEL PENTIUM 4 P4 3.0GHZ C 512K 800FSB S478 HT

hd
WD RAPTOR 74GB SATA 10000RPM 4.5MS 8MB 10K

video card
SAPPHIRE RADEON X800 PRO AGP8X 256MB GDDR3 VGA DVI-I VIVO TV OUT


I'm also keeping an 80 gig ide HD that will hold my samples and use the raptor for the os.

I could change some things on my list that I havent got if it's crucial....so any suggestions would be great.

 

[dnl88]

It might be better to use the faster drive for the recording as it will be the drive that needs the most transfer rate

 

[manning1]

i'm a comp engr and prefer amd. in fact all the benchmarks right now suggest amd64 and opterons are performance leaders.
but dont let that deter you. you should have a fine daw if its built right.
capable of some very serious work.
instead of spending big money on software check out the demoes of some of the ones i like. ntrack,magix music studio,multitrackstudio.com,traktion,
and my low budget favorite powertracks. if you dont believe me talk to users using these products.
a couple of freebies i would recommend. hotstepper (free sample sequencer)
and audacity is a free multitrack software. also check out SIR reverb and other freeebies at hitsquad.com which has a slew of plug in lists and kvr vst.
i dont like to comment on specific configns as the comp industry changes weekly so fast. but a couple of comments. overspec the power supply so if you add preiphs in the future you have power to spare. and get two smaller drives rather than one big one. 8mb cache is good.
put windows on one drive and your audio tracks on the other.
hope this helps.