Should I act now or wait?

[Radagoz]

Hi;

It's my first time posting here. I hope I got into the right forum and I'd really appreciate any insight I could get. Four years ago I bought a DAW from an English firm and I've regreted it off and on since then for reasons I won't go into since it's not pertinent to now.

I don't have the speed and crunching power that I wanted and it's time to build a new computer.

Here is what I have come up with-

The case:
Enermax CS-718 ( silver black )

Power Supply:
Enermax EG565AX-VH(W)SFMA (2x PCIe, gold)

Mainboard:
Asus P5WD2-E Premium (2x PCIe x16, 2x G-LAN, SATA II RAID)

CPU:
Intel® Pentium® D Processor 960

CPU Cooler:
Arctic-Cooling Freezer 7 Pro

RAM:
Kingston HyperX DIMM 2 GB Kit (DDR2-800, KHX6400D2K2/2G)

Graphic Card:
256MB EVGA 7600GS Passiv 16x PCI-Express Graphic card with DVI, VGA, YUV HDTV und AVIVO

Systemharddisk:
160GB Samsung HD160JJ Sata-II
( 300MB/s, 8MB Cache, 7.200RPm, liquid stored, quiet )

Dataharddisk:
2 x 250GB Western Digital WD2500YD Raid Edition hardisks
( 150MB/s, 16MB Cache, 7200RPm, liquid stored, quiet )
Harddisks in Raid Array 0
(I have an external 300gig hard drive)

CD Burner:
LG GCE-8527B (Bulk, Black)
(I have a high quality external DVD burner)

Floppy drive:
3,5' Mitsumi Floppy ( Black )


Soundcards:
Creative X-Fi Elite Pro (Retail)
and MIDIMAN Delta 44

Running on Windows XP Corporate Professional

I'm assured by the person building this that I will have all the power and stability that I need. Meanwhile I have been reading a lot about the D-architecture compared to the new Core2 processors coming out in a few weeks. Their benchmark results aganst AMD are very impressive and they seem also to blow away all of the D-systems. I'm not concerned about spending a few hundred dollars more or less. I just want the best and I want it to be set up to interface with everything that is coming down the line in the next few years.

I use Adobe Audition 2.0 and occasional samplers and various plugins- VST and Dxi. I use Band in a Box to generate some portions of my music and I use TC-Helicon to generate harmonies when I can't do them myself. I record the guitar and piano and voice and mostly work with audio files that are either direct or recorded from MIDI. That's about it.

Am I over kill already with this other system or should I wait for Core2 and put that in? I'd be buying the best and fastest. Can I use the same motherboard from ASUS and would all of the other components work as well; RAM, graphic card etc?

Also, if anyone has any recommendations for replacing any of the components I mentioned I would really appreciate it.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

 

[cawhite12]

Well...For recording alone, that system IS overkill. Now, with that said if this is going to be an all around computer used for lots of different tasks, then you will have built a rockin system. The only thing that jumps out at me in your setup is the RAID configuration. I've heard of others having major problems with raid setups and audio, plus it is really unnecessary. As long as you have your programs and windows on one and your audio on another drive (which you do) you will be fine. I wouldn't mess with RAID.

As far as the Core2 stuff, I doubt that the motherboard mentioned in the thread will support it as well. Intel has a habit of just creating a new socket type rather than making the current socket type work for the newer processor. Your RAM and graphics card would probably go with the newer processor, but you will probably need a new motherboard.

A crucial thing with building a DAW is to make sure that your chipset on your motherboard is compatible with your audio device. On the intel side, I think your pretty safe with an Intel chipset. AMD side with an Nforce chipset. In general stay away from VIA or SiS stuff.

You said that saving a few hundred dollars isn't really a big deal to you, but do you already have good mics, monitors, or room treatment??? If you could save some money in a few areas up there then maybe you could upgrade some of those components.

Bottom line...The computer you spec'd up there is a monster that should handle any audio task you put up to it with ease. People are doing alot more than it sounds like your projects are with alot less machine. With PC's configuration is everything.

 

[altitude909]

should I wait for Core2

I would say wait. The Conroe is by far the fastest processer on the block and it is very affordable. You can never have enough horsepower for audio applications. The more powerful the processer, the lower the latency and the higher plugin count is

 

[Mindset]

I would also say wait, and you should change those hard drives to seagate sata II's instead of um western digital and a samsung. You wouldn't what your data be destroyed after a few hundred uses would you?

 

[Radagoz]

thanks for the imput

I've got a good AKG mic and near field speakers and AKG studio monitors. I will wait then and also go with Seagate. I'm not using RAID actually- that's why it says 0 for RAID configuration- that's something the computer builder put in. Does anyone know what motherboard is going to be appropriate for the Core2?

Should I get rid of my Delta 44 and get some other soundcard for my second sound card? I like having one for playback and one for recording.

Really appreciate the input.