possible computer

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matt_barlow

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Heres what I am thinking about getting. I will be building this with a friend. I would like to know what you think. 10 gig 5400rpm maxtor hard drive for the Operating system. A 40 gig 7200 rpm hard drive for the audio files. A 900mhz adm processor. 128 mg Ram. Not quite for sure about the sound card yet. Any suggestions. I want one for recording vocals bass keyboard drums and acoustic and electric guitars. Also on a motherboard does anyone no what APG slots are? Are they just like PCI slots? Thanks Matt
 
take care of the chipset!

some of them create pops by handling the irq's wrong...
read thru sokik hardware forum first (search=chipset,...)

And ensure to install your windows as 'Standard PC' and not ASPI...
 
Get a 7200rpm drive for the OS as well, it really makes a difference compared to 5400rpm. 256 of Ram is a must as well.

AGP stands for Accelerated Graphics Port, it's kind of like a PCI designed exclusively for the graphics card (the transfers are faster than with a regular PCI slot). All current mobos have an AGP, it's nothing to worry about.
 
don't make my mistake

I went an bought a pc before I knew that certain chip sets on motherboards were unstable to record on.
If I had to start over, I would have emailed Aardvark (I got a
Q-10 of theirs, which I think is the best bang for the buck for recording 8 mics at a time (6 for a kit and 2 for bass and guitar)
Anyhow, I ordered a gatway pc and they put an elpaso 82845 motherboard in there and the guy from aardvark told me I need an elpaso 82850 for stability. Alos via chips are unstable as well.
Find out what motherboard you decide on and what chip set is in it before you buy a pc recording set up and then go to the web site of the pc recording gear you're getting and start asking the chip set/motherboard question and also ask if they are incompatable with any of the windows applications, like XP or ME
 
Thanks. Do you know what chipset I should get if I will have cool edit pro 1.2a and fruity loops 3.0 and if I will have a 900mhz AMD processor.
 
Also, motherboard I was looking at was the amptron M810LMR due to the low price. any betters ones for a low price.
 
db51 said:
Get a 7200rpm drive for the OS as well, it really makes a difference compared to 5400rpm. 256 of Ram is a must as well.
Click to expand...
definitely right, especially the 256MB if u want to use software samplers or record multiple tracks in one step.

For a suggestion of the motherboard search thru the sonik bbs. Thats the link i gave u.
 
I appreciate all the help given. More is welcomed but thanks again for the help already received. Thanks Matt
 
AGP slot is the one that sits little further from the edge, than PCI slots. You can leave it empty if you use PCI video card.

I've posted this before, but I'll repeat because it caused grief to many computer builders: get a good AMD approved power supply, and get a good cooler for your AMD. These two issues proved to be very important for overall stability.

The list of approved power supply untis can be found at AMD website.

As for the cooler you would want the one which is quite but efficient: music software puts more load on processor than MS Office. Consider Alpha PAL8045 heatsink with Papst or Panaflo fan.
 
] Originally posted by matt_barlow
motherboard I was looking at was the amptron M810LMR due to the low price. any betters ones for a low price.
Click to expand...

Ouch!

If you want a stable system, the motherboard is the one piece you should not skimp on...Buy a well known brand such as ASUS, Abit, Soyo, Epox, MSI...It costs a bit more but it's well worth it.

Also, it would be wise to choose your soundcard first, and then send an email to the manufacturer of the soundcard to ask if the card works well with the chipset (motherboard) you're intending to buy, or if they recommend any particular chipsets

Good luck
 
Good News. I am getting a friend of mines brother who owns a computer srore to pick out the mother board based on my circumstance. Thanks for the help, Matt.
 
Besides being quieter, cheaper, and more reliable than 7200 rpm drives, a new 5400 rpm drive like the Maxtor D540X is more than adequate for 40+ 24-bit/96kHz tracks. Look here.

Also, you don't especially need separate drives for programs/audio.

Get at least 256 MBs of memory. The slightly better performance of DDR isn't worth the extra cost right now.

I would go for at least a 1.4GHz T-Bird.

Try to avoid VIA chipsets.
 
I am now wandering would it be best to spend extra money on the extra 10gb hard drive for the OS or put that extra money into a better soundcard. Thanks Matt
 
better soundcard...
you can at least record 14 tracks with a simple IDE 7200 rpm drive.
 
matt_barlow said:
I am now wandering would it be best to spend extra money on the extra 10gb hard drive for the OS or put that extra money into a better soundcard. Thanks Matt
Click to expand...

There's no need for an extra HD. Get one fast drive and save your money.

you can at least record 14 tracks with a simple IDE 7200 rpm drive.
Click to expand...

I should hope so, considering you can record at least 40 24-bit/96kHz tracks with a 5400 rpm drive. See my post above.
 
I appreciate your help on this. I am probally going to also instead of getting 128 mb of RAM get 256 mb. I need help though choosing a soundcard in the 100 to 175 dollar range. Thanks Matt
 
how many inputs are you looking at? you won't get more than a stereo pair for that much money... or am i wrong?
 
I just wanted an input to hook a mixer into. Thanks Matt
 
so you just want a stereo pair? or 2 stereo pairs (so you can use your alt bus, if you rmixer has one)

what kind of outputs does your mixer have?

take a look at the m-audio audiophile
 
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