new computer

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cpc

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im currently running a intel celeron 1.2 ghz 256 mb ram computer and it's surpisingly held up quite well for my recording purposes. i've been able to use reason by itself and adobe audition by itself almost flawlessly for my recording needs.. but lately more and more i've been wishing i had a faster computer, that could handle rewire , and having reason and adobe audition open at the same time with a bunch of synths and vsts being used...

so.. the other day my friend offers me a computer... amd athlon 64 2.2 ghz , 1gb ram for 300 bucks. pretty good deal , except it comes with vista (which i hear requires 1gb of ram itself!). would this be a good computer to build off of and a significant upgrade and allow me to run all of my recording applications quicker and more smooth than currently?
 
i was also just offered a laptop for the same price. pentium m processor 1.5 ghz, 1gb ram . which one would be better ? and once again... will a 1gb ram computer running on vista be a much noticable improvement over a 256 ram on xp ??? any opinions would be appreciated
 
Go with the Athlon desktop. Ditch Vista, unless you plan on running Sonar on it. In any case, I'd recommend adding more RAM, at least upgreade it to 2GB. It'll cost you prolly less than $50 if you shop for bargains.
 
i hear everyone saying to get the dual core processor when it comes to audio recording. would you recommend a dual core processor that's only 1.8-2 ghz ... or a single core that's 3+ ghz. ???
 
riznich said:
i hear everyone saying to get the dual core processor when it comes to audio recording. would you recommend a dual core processor that's only 1.8-2 ghz ... or a single core that's 3+ ghz. ???
Click to expand...

Assuming they're from the same processor family, go with the dual. If you're comparing a fast Core Solo against an older dual core Pentium D or something, then it might be a harder call.

CPUs often get bottlenecked waiting for data from RAM, etc. A dual core CPU will still get the same bottlenecks, but the other core still has some reasonable possibility of doing something out of its cache while the first core is waiting for the RAM to provide data. There are probably some other modest advantages, but I'm too tired to try to think through them all. :D

If you have the opportunity to go with a Core Duo (or better, a Core 2 Duo), go with that. It will generally wipe the floor with a P4 at twice the speed.
 
would something like this

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5982771

be a significant (and noticeable) upgrade from my 1.2 ghz 256 mb ram intel celeron i'm currently running?



the only reason i'm asking is because, i can currently run JUST about everything i want to do fine on my current computer...so i'm only willing to spend 300-400 on a computer. i'd LIKE to be able to run multiple effects/synths smoother etc.. but it's not worth more than 300-400 dollars to me to accomplish that. will something like the computer i just posted accomplish what i want? or will i not find anything worth doing in the 300-400 dollar range. thanks
 
that Compaq would be quite an upgrade over what you have now. you still have the issue of Vista not working well with pro-audio software.....
 
Wipe the hard drive and install a fresh copy of Windows XP. I don't even know how cheap XP is now, or how many stores still sell it. Shouldn't be a problem finding it online.

Get a DualCore processor if possible. $300 for that computer is not a bad deal...
 
Have a long had look at that computer. If you're going to need PCI slots or planning to put any expansion modules/hardware into it or even RAM. Make sue it can accomodate. I've heard that some of these killer priced computers can have ultra-low end motherboards in them which can really tie your hands if you're planning to build them out a bit.

I too lean towards the workstation instead of the laptop and ditto to some of the things said before. Dual core if possible but don't forget the ram. Until it gets somewhere up around a gig it's likely to be the lagging point.

Good luck!
 
I just had a quick look at the specs of that PC. I'm always a bit sceptical when I see Walmart but, in this case, the PC looks like a pretty good deal. Should make a decent DAW. It's no firebreather but massaged and kept clean it should do nicely. I too not a fan of Vista yet. It really wants a lot of resources. If I had my choice, I'd be looking at XP but I've heard others having success using it.
 
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