Please comment on the PC I'm planning to build.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bergen
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Sangram,

I guess a LOT of people have had problems with SATA drives when using the onboard controllers. At the sonar forum, it finally pissed this guy off, and he fixed it his own damn self :) .

Here's the link: http://www.cakewalk.com/forum/tm.asp?m=45491

A very well researched post regarding SATA RAID and recording music. He REALLY must have studied. Check it out. Then you'll be able to use those shiny new 120 IDE's for backup storage. LOL!

Just FYI.
 
lotta good advice.

if you get a SLK, then the overclock to 3000 shouldn't be a problem at all. go to www.overclockers.com and there's a TON of good info.

yeah and i'd stay away from SATA until the quirks get completely ironed out. just to be safe.
 
Ibrow said:
Sangram,

I guess a LOT of people have had problems with SATA drives when using the onboard controllers. At the sonar forum, it finally pissed this guy off, and he fixed it his own damn self :) .

Here's the link: http://www.cakewalk.com/forum/tm.asp?m=45491

A very well researched post regarding SATA RAID and recording music. He REALLY must have studied. Check it out. Then you'll be able to use those shiny new 120 IDE's for backup storage. LOL!

Just FYI.
Click to expand...

Thanks a ton for the link!

I've been seeing the usage of Powerstrip to fix latency values for a while, and have tried it myself. I couldn't get to even see the PCI latency setting area in the program, so I uninstalled it. So that was a NG for me, but I'll give it another shot. I found slot 4 experientally, and it does indeed share only with 1 USB controller which is idle most times, so it is the best slot for audio cards.

Now I have two installs, one for games running off the SATA drives and one purely for audio running off the IDE drives. Plus 120 GB of backup in external enclosures. I won't need more space for at least a few years now, plus I'm done messing around and just want to record.

One inaccuracy I have noted is that the thread seems to point out the lack of an Athlon XP chipset with integrated SATA. Not true. Both the Via KT600 and the Via KT880 (brand new) have integrated SATA interfaces which do not share the PCI bus. The new KT880, for which retal boards should hit by April/May, is a spanking DC chipset by Via that gives the nForce2 a spanking across the board, dethrones it as the performance leader, etc. I'm not sure if it runs a locked PCI - and therefore as good an overclocker - but at stock speeds it is as good as or better than the nF2. Maybe the king of the hill as far as Athlon chipsets are concerned.
 
Sangram said:
I'm not sure if it runs a locked PCI - and therefore as good an overclocker - but at stock speeds it is as good as or better than the nF2. Maybe the king of the hill as far as Athlon chipsets are concerned.
Click to expand...

If it runs a locked AGP/PCI, I am all over it. That would kick ass.
 
Sangram said:
... and the Via KT880 (brand new) have integrated SATA interfaces which do not share the PCI bus. The new KT880, for which retal boards should hit by April/May, is a spanking DC chipset by Via that gives the nForce2 a spanking across the board, dethrones it as the performance leader, etc. I'm not sure if it runs a locked PCI - and therefore as good an overclocker - but at stock speeds it is as good as or better than the nF2. Maybe the king of the hill as far as Athlon chipsets are concerned.
Click to expand...

It looks like an interesting chipset, but talk about VIA coming to the party late. If it can adjust voltage and FSB (and maybe multiplier) I'd buy while I'm still buying Athlon XP stuff simply for the better sata.. If overclocking features are missing I'd just get a KT600.
 
Here are some competing deals I'm considering for some of the components:

SOHO G Combo Case with 300W P4 Power Supply, keyboard, mouse, spkrs(doorstops :) ) $39
(http://www.pcclub.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=A1358062)

Soyo - K7VMP2 - VIA Socket A ATX Motherboard Bundle with AMD Athlon XP 2800+ Processor, Speeze CPU Cooling Fan and 512MB of RAM(Ultra brand) $199
(http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=713502&Sku=S450-2035 B)

Apparently this mobo will work with my soundcard, and gets pretty good reviews. It uses KM400 chipset. Biggest downside is no connector for front port usbs. The fan does 22.10 CFM at 5,000 RPM at 31.8 dBA (faster and quieter than cooler master by specs).

Any thoughts?
 
well, i don't currently record in the same room as my PC, but I might when I move in a couple years. So for now, I just don't want my PC interfering with listening to my mix on my Yorkville (saving up for the second speaker :) )
 
Well, if I were in your situation, then, I'd still try to be somewhat quiet conscious. I would not go for a case that includes its own power supply.

After a lot of research I've found that Fortron makes a great power supply, rated 400W, that is very quiet when you turn the fan down (adjustable on the back).
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=17-104-962&depa=0

They also make a model with a blue-led, which a friend of mine owns.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-104-963&depa=0

If you decide to go with Fortron, make sure you buy one of these 400W models and not the other model rated for 400W, which is loud!

The cooling fan of choice is probably the Panaflo L1A. Combined with a nice Thermalright heatsink, you can lower the fan voltage to 7V for whisper quiet operation.
 
bluesboy,

thanks for the advice. I think I'm going to get the Evercase E4252 that recieved the highest rating at silentpc.com
(http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-127-007&depa=0). $60 shipped with powersupply.

This model comes without case fans, which I'll add later if I decide to overclock, or if my processor runs hot.

I am leaning towards the soyo mobo package deal. I'm looking for the best performance/cost ratio for this system right now, and will probably upgrade to a 64-bit mobo/cpu with blazing RAM in a couple years. I've heard good and bad things about Soyo, so feel free to put your two cents in.
 
I would suggest that you you Sonar 3.0

and I would suggest you get a GIG of RAM.

spin
 
yeah, I heard sonar 3.0 rocks, but 2.0 is satisfying my needs currently.

I'll plan on starting off with 512MB of RAM, and ordering an add'l stick if I have any performance issues.
 
Just thought I'd give some early impressions on my equipment for anyone reading this thread considering any of my components.

I got the Evercase E4252. It's a nice quiet case and I dig the frontside usb and firewire hookups. It only comes with a 300W power supply, but it's working with my system even though my mobo calls for at least 350W.

The Soyo mobo bundle deal from tiger direct was a nice package. And in case any of you have seen otherwise, this mobo does have a usb 2.0 header for frontside ports. Even though Echo doesn't list the KM Via chipsets as compatible, mine was. I did have some serious problems with the card early that I can't blame on the mobo though (see https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?s=&threadid=117895 for more details). The speeze heatsink seems quite loud, even though its specs would indicate otherwise (I know, specs are crap). I'll pick up a coolmaster when quietness becomes more important.

The rest of the components work fine. In sum, I think this was a great budget DAW/multimedia PC at $500. Would recommend you get the recommended 350W power supply even though I'm doing ok (single hard drive). I learned a lot from building it though my initial soundcard problems had me pulling my hair out. Good Luck to all future builders out there!
 
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