Final Parts for First DAW Build. Comments/Concerns?

  • Thread starter Thread starter gsrouse
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gsrouse

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Hola,

I have finally come up with the parts for my first DAW build. If you see anything potentially wrong with what I have picked, or just have any comments about the build I would love to hear them. I'll be ordering from NewEgg in a couple of days.

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I-STAR 4U Rackmount Server Chassis
W/I-Star 350W Power Supply,
(has 1x60mm and 1x120mm fan)
$175

ASUS P4P800-E Deluxe MB
(865PE)
$109

Intel Pentium 4 / 2.8C
$179

Corsair XMS Extreme Memory Speed Series, (Twin Pack)
DDR PC-3200
Cas Latency: 2-3-3-6 T1
$268.00

High Tech ATI RADEON 7000(VE) Video Card, 64MB, Dual VGA OUT
$37

Seagate 120GB 7200RPM 8MB IDE Hard Drive
$93.00

NU Technology 8X DVD+RW/-RW Drive
$78.50

Lite-On 52X32X52 CD-RW Drive,
$32.99

ZALMAN CNPS7000A-AlCu Aluminum + Copper CPU Cooler
$35.99

Total (with a few other random things): $1,051.00

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The only concerns I have are with the case. I have no experience with a rackmount server case, so I hope it will meet my needs. I know it wont be silent, but I am more concerned with portability. Also, I did make a few changes to my final list in order to save some money. I downgraded the MB from the P4C800-E Deluxe. I also downgraded the CPU from the P4 3.0C. If anybody sees this as a horrible mistake please speak now ;)

Thanks for any responses,
Scott
 
The only thing that sticks out is the video card. Is it an 8XAGP? 64MB is not a lot, and it's surprising how much juice is needed to redraw waveforms.

Is the Barracuda SATA? Not really necessary, but I'd suggest getting two of them, and keep one for audio only.

Any reason you're getting seperate dvd & cd drives instead of a combo?

What about your monitor? Two nice 19" digital LCDs? You can still dream.

Can't comment on the case, as I've no experience with rackmounts.

You won't lose anything going to the P4P800E mobo - the Asus 865 implementation performs just as well as the 875.

Likewise the 2.8 chip - unless your planning on running a lot of plugins.

I use the 2.8c on a P4P800, and it's sweet, rock solid
 
I'd be concerned about the noise levels of the power supply and the included fans. You'd want a Zalman, Nexus, or Fortron Aurora as well as Nexus or Zalman fans.

Also, where's your second hard drive?
 
I second the lack of a second hard drive. You'll want a dedicated drive (or at least a partition of it) for all audio data streaming. Don't put a folder in the way either, give it the whole drive letter.
Rackmount aint no biggie, I use one .... Just picture it like this .... Lay your desktop on it's side, bolt on some rack mounts and a couple of handles ... viola "Rackmount" 4U anyway, 1 and 2U cases wouldn't be recommended.

-Edit- This is the Rackmount case with the Thermaltake Silent Purepower dual fan 420 watt PSU. On sale now $79 base price. Luckily I got the PSU free as a promotion when I purchased. Now it's a $49 add-on.

Rock solid performance ....

I've got $2000 US invested .....

PC ... Homebuilt
P4 3.0Ghz .. Prescott w/Thermalright SP94 Heatsink
Abit IC7-G max 2 (Intel 875p chipset)
1 gig Kingston DDR 400 dual channel
2 Samsung 120 gig ATA 133 drives
1 Sony 52x CD burner
generic floppy
ATI 9600 pro 256 DDR VRAM
Thermaltake Silent Purepower 420 watt PSU
4U rackmount case

MOTU 828mkII
SM Pro Audio PR-8 mkII 8 channel pre amp (with the optional ADAT card)

Windows XP Home
n-Track 24 bit version
 
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OEM ATI video cards are to be avoided at all costs. Not very reliable.

If this is strictly a DAW system, get a Matrox card instead like the G450 or P650.
 
I would ditch that DVD burner and go with this NEC one. It is a little more expensive at $82.99, but has a ton more positive ratings than that NU one you listed, and I personally would trust NEC more than I would NU....has anyone ever even heard of NU? The only downside is my drive didn't come with any software, I kinda expected at the least some cheap stuff I could use to at least burn some CDs, but no didn't get anything. But it was an OEM product, so I guess OEM drives don't always come with software.

Also, are you planning on overclocking? If not you might wanna scrap the Zalman fan and stick with the stock fan that comes with your retail P4 chip, and also go with Corsair Value ram. I'm pretty sure the low latency is only a benefit if you are doing overclocking, otherwise will go un noticed.

I almost bought really expensive ram for my computer because I thought $400 worth of 1 gig ram would be important, but after reading around a lot I found that most people on these forums don't have expensive ram, and I never see any posts talking about ram latency being an important factor in a DAW system. Many reviews also will point out that this is primarily for overclocking.

My Corsair Value ram was a little over $200, but now the same sticks are for $199. Click here to check them out if your interested

One last, but very important warning, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE CABLES! This can be something really easy to forget, especially if your buying OEM parts. Make sure you have enough IDE cables, a cable for your floppy drive, and this would also be a good time to make sure you have enough fans to circulate air. I'd recommend going with rounded cables, even if you don't have a window on your case, they don't restrict airflow like flat cables can. You also might want to pick up some zip ties to tie up your wires, but you can wait on this till after everything is up and running....just helps a little with airflow as well as making the chaos of wires a little more organized.

Here's my computer setup if anyone's interested:
P4 3.0C
Zalman CNPS7000A - copper heatsink/fan
Arctic Silver 5 CPU Thermalpaste
P4C800-E Deluxe
Corsair Value Ram - DDR400 (PC3200) 1 gig matched
Asus 9600XT
80 gig western digital hd w/8mb buffer
XP Home
NEC 8x DVD drive (OEM)
Sony 3.5" floppy drive
Antec floppy drive cable (rounded)
2 Antec IDE cables (rounded)
Iomega 250MB zip drive (OEM)
Hitachi 19" CRT monitor
Logitech MX500 mouse
Logitech elite keyboard
Func Surface 1030 mouse pad
X-trac eels "Mouse skates"
Coolermaster clear LED fan (80mm)
Antec 420w power supply
Antec 1000 plusview tower
 
Thanks you everybody for your input! My mistake, I forgot to mention that I will be using a hard drive from my old computer for the OS, and the Seagate for Audio. I will also eventually get an external FW drive for portability b/w studios, then I'll have the DVD-RW for backups.


Bulls Hit - The card is 4X. I think you are the first person that told me I need a better video card for audio processing (which im not saying to argue with you). I originally had an 8X picked out until 6 or 7 people told me to downgrade. Im so confused ;)
For the optical drives, I actually just wanted two CD drives because i found it helpful on my current computer to be able to have one reading one writing. Anyway, I saw that just a plain CD reading drive is not that much less than that Lite On CDRW drive so I just went with that as a second drive, with the bonus of it burning CD-Rs faster then that DVDRW drive.
I'll be keeping my monitors from my old computer. Not LCD, but Im not getting the fat checks yet.
As for the CPU, what is really considered a lot of plugins? I do work with a lot of midi, and am sometimes heavy on the effects plugins with audio. But would a 3.0 make a noticable difference for the $50 price jump?

NewbMediaGuy - I first had that NEC drive picked. I read about the Nu Tech one at anandtech.com. Between I think 8 drives tested, that one came out with the editors choice award. Plus that drive comes with Nero which is a huge bonus. I still dont thing that NEC comes with any software.
I have no plans to overclock now, but as more intense programs come out I may in the future. I still am confused about what RAM to get for audio processing. Of all the forums i have asked, it seems I get an even split of people telling me to get the CAS2 RAM, and others telling me value RAM will be fine. When using a lot effects and plugins on an audio app, wouldnt the CAS2 help? Thanks for the tip on the cables. I should definitly double check that.

For those who listed specs, Im curious why you all went for the P4 3.0C? The 2.8C is $50 cheaper and Im told the performance difference would hardly be noticable.

Thanks again,
Scott
 
I think they are saying to go for the lower latency ram because they think it is the same kind of latency when talking about pro audio. I'm not certain, but I don't think ram latency affects the kind of latency when dealing with pro audio.

If anyone wants to correct me, please do so, but I haven't seen any people post about problems using regular ram, or that being the source of their problems.

As for having a 3.0ghz as opposed to 2.8, well I think it's just the simple fact that 3.0 sounds better. At least that was my reasoning. I got mine for $212, which I felt was a decent price, even though I probably only need a 2.6ghz chip. 3.0 just sounds better to me, and I'd assume that's a reason others buy them.

If your overclocking, I heard the 2.4 P4 overclocks the best. Something to think about if you want to save money by overclocking your chip, I'm not sure if overclocking affects the stability of some audio programs though, maybe others can answer that.
 
Yeah audio latancy is different from CAS latency, but you want both of them as low as possible. If you can get CAS 2 ram at a reasonable price, go for it. Every little gain makes a difference.

As for the difference between a 2.8 & a 3.0 P4, the 3.0 might let you run one more plugin, and it might not. If it was me I"d get the 2.8 and put the $50 towards an 8X video card with 128MB
 
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