New system...enough power? What graphics card?

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Julia

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Hi, Friends. Happy New Year.

I am about to order the components to build my first PC, which I hope to ultimately use for audio recording (for the first time...until now I've used the BR-1180CD.) I'll be getting Logic Audio, latest version.

After much research on this board and elsewhere, I've chosen the following, as a starter system on my low budget:

AMD 2500+ Barton
Abit NF7-S motherboard
A single stick of Kingston 512MB DDR400 (PC3200) memory

I currently have a Soundblaster Live! 5.1 card, but will continue to research what I need before buying another...so far this has worked for soundfonts, which is what I use for orchestration.

Lite-On CD-RW drive, 52x32x52
Maxtor 80GB 133mhz 8m hard drive...and I will eventually add a second of the same when they go on sale again.

Questions, please:

I am looking at an Antec case with a 350W power supply. Is that sufficient power? I have read that Antec makes quality cases with quality power supplies. I was looking at an Aspire case, but I became fearful that the power supply might not be a quality one, so I think I will opt for paying more for the Antec. I need to know if 350W should be sufficient.

Second question...I play no games whatsoever, and do not want to spend a lot of unnecessary money on a graphics card with overkill. Could someone please suggest a decent one for an audio recording station? I am looking at this one currently:
GAINWARD GeForce4 MX440-8X Video Card, 64MB DDR.

Thank you all very much for any guidance you might have for me.

Julia
 
Logic Audio is a Mac only program. u may wanna look into Cubase or one of the the Cakewalk programs.
 
Hi. Thanks for your suggestions. With due respect, Logic Audio is not only for Macs, but I will look further into your other suggestions as well. I have two friends, one with a recording studio, who use Logic Audio on PCs. But thank you very much again. I appreciate your thoughts.

Julia
 
Question one: Don't worry about the power supply. With your setup 350W will be plenty.

Question two: Matrox. Especially the dual heads are sweet. Look for a G400/G450/G550, preferably with 32MB, not 16. All of them have a similar performance with the older two considerably cheaper nowadays. Check ebay for steals, like $20-35.
 
Thank you, Christiaan. I appreicate your response very much.

1. Is 350W overkill then? Would 300W be sufficient?

2. I was looking at those Matrox cards, but found them to be very, very expensive. I'm afraid to buy one from Ebay without recourse if something is wrong with it, but for those prices, perhaps I should reconsider?

thank you again.

Julia
 
P.S. I really wanted a case with line in and line out in the front, but I cannot find one with a quality reliable power supply at Newegg that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. And a toe.

Maybe a face plate/panel of some kind is out there for this purpose?

thanks.

Julia
 
1. Well, it can't hurt to have some safety margin but even 300W from a decent quality power supply would not worry me. Whether or not to go for 350 would in my book depend on what the premium cost is. It's nice to have some extra margin. A power supply that doesn't need to work so hard, tends to run cooler which is a nice bonus.
300 or 350, either choice is ok.

2. The Matrox G400 is a card that was released in 1999 and compared to nowaday's standards (together with the newer G450 and G550) sucks at 3D. I wouldn't recommend it at all for gaming but like you said, you won't be playing games anyway.
But it excels at 2D which is the only thing that counts for DAWs.

Don't let the price tag fool you. It's an old design, has its limitations (3D) but is an excellent choice for DAWs. Very good, stable and highly configurable drivers. I personally have a G400 dualhead that I bought cheap last year and I'm more than happy with it.
 
Julia said:
Hi. Thanks for your suggestions. With due respect, Logic Audio is not only for Macs, but I will look further into your other suggestions as well. I have two friends, one with a recording studio, who use Logic Audio on PCs. But thank you very much again. I appreciate your thoughts.

Julia
Click to expand...

Actually, it is a Mac only program, if you actually want updates for the app you're using.

As of Logic 6, it's Mac only, since Apple now owns eMagic.

But if you want to run 5 forever, then yes, it'll work just fine on WinXP.
 
graphics card

I just looked at reviews of the Matrox G400, and it looks great. I do have a couple of questions for anyone who has the time to respond.

1.) I read that the Windows 98 drivers were lacking for this card, and since I'll be running Windows XP Pro in this system, I wondered if I might have issues with this particular card?

2.) I wish to buy the card on Ebay, but don't know enough about graphics cards to know whether or not it is wise to buy a used piece like that. In other words, is it possible that the card could not function properly or could be "going bad" so that down the road a couple of months it will no longer work?

Thanks.

Julia
 
I'm running mine on Windows XP Pro as well. Recognized instantly. Works fine. But I always download the latest drivers to be sure.

IMO videocards are a quite a safe buy. It's not something that's subject to wear and tear like a hard drive.
The only videocard that I bought new was the one in the computer that I bought in '95. After that, always used and/or from sites like ebay (now on my fourth Matrox). Never had one fail on me. That doesn't say everything but unless a seller tries to deliberately rip you off, I'd say you can buy used videocards with confidence.

Hope that helps.
 
thanks...got it

Thank you, Christiaan.

I bought one just now.

Thank you for the help today. I appreciate you taking the time to guide me along.

Julia
 
One More Question, please?

I have one last question before I press the "send" button for my first Newegg order.

Could you please tell me if it is most sensible to buy a single stick of 512 MB DDR400 (PC3200) ram or would it be best to buy 512 DDR333.

I ask because the Abit NF7-S allows for a max of 3GB of DDR333 or a max of 2GB DDR400. I don't know enough about the situation to know what is the wisest solution if I wish to use the computer for audio orchestration ultimately.

I will get another 512mb when I can afford it, but for now I can only buy the first 512. The reason I chose the DDR400 in a single stick is that I read that it would be the very most stable and fastest way to go.

I would so appreciate this one last bit of guidance before I make my first Newegg purchase for my first computer build. :)

Thanks for putting up with me today.

Julia
 
Good to hear that you went for a Matrox card. I'm sure you'll like it.

If I'm informed correctly a Barton 2500+ runs with a front side bus (FSB) of 333MHz. DDR333 and DDR400 memory will then both work.
DDR400 does not mean that it can only run at 400MHz but up to 400 MHz so it will work at 333 as well.
Buying DDR400 instead of DDR333 has one advantage and that is that you may want to upgrade later to a faster processor with a FSB of 400MHz (like a 3200+).
Not that I expect you to want to upgrade any time soon. A barton 2500+ is already a very powerful cpu.

When you use a cpu with an FSB of 400MHz, you can only use 2 memory slots (common motherboard restriction. stability issue). 333 -> you can use the third as well. In your case you can use all three.

Anyway, DDR400 costs roughly the same or is even cheaper than DDR333 nowadays so just because of that I would personally go for DDR400.
 
Thanks Christiaan.

If the Barton 2500+ limits me to a front side bus of 333mhz, though, and if I don't plan to upgrade processors anytime soon, then isn't the DDR400 sort of overkill? I'm paying $91 a stick for the 512, whereas I saw Kingston 512mb DDR333 (PC2700) out there for $75.

What do you think? I believe I read that the true bottleneck is the FSB, so would the less expensive memory be sufficient in a DAW?

Thanks a million.

Julia
 
OKay, honest...I promise...last question...

With the system I described above, do I need more case fans? The Antec case I'm buying comes with a 120mm fan as its cooling system.

I read that it should be sufficient, but I trust the wisdom on this board above all others. :)

Thanks.

I'll be quiet now.

;)

Julia
 
When DDR333 is cheaper you're probably best of to buy that.
From my own experience I've bought more than once hardware that would leave me a path to upgrade but by the time I really felt like spicing my computer up it was more worthwhile to replace the whole motherboard/cpu/memory package. But that's just me.

There is something to say for both choices but in the end they both will work. Buying DDR333 now will not slow your computer down because the FSB speed is already determined by the cpu you've chosen. To answer your question: Yes, DDR400 would be sort of overkill.

And don't worry about cooling. You have a common hardware setup. Your case should be able to handle the heat buildup fine. Just make sure you ventilate enough around the case (don't place it in an airtight closet or something like that) so it can get rid of the heat.
 
Ooooooh...thanks, Christiaan. I appreciate your help very much.

Unfortunately, I got this post a bit too late. I placed my Newegg order last night, and went ahead with the DDR400 ram. I guess I should have followed my instincts, and what I'd read about the FSB being the true bottleneck. I think I just shelled out extra money for DDR400 which will bring me no benefit at all. And like you, I tend to hold on to a system until the whole system needs upgrading.

Sigh. Oh, well. I'll just hope the DDR400 doesn't cause any problems.

Thank you again for all of your kind guidance. Now let's hope I can successfully build my first system and use it!

Julia
 
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