Time for the overhaul...

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Brad

Brad

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Well, I have pushed my PC (500mhz, 128 ram, 46 gig w/DiO 24/48) to it's limits. She is still holding up, but I have hit that wall, and I want to experience the other side.

I am supposed to be saving for a DP on a house, but this is important, dammit!


So I am going to overhaul the PC, and since the guy that walks me through all of my PC upgrades is not an audio guy, I figured I would run my idea up a pole here and see who salutes it.

So far, this is my plan:

Upgrade the soundcard to a Delta TDIF. This will still give me the SPDIF in/out that I require and add a TDIF port so I can fly in tracks from my DA-38's and vice versa. This will also allow me to do "stem" recording for film/TV music - which is really the direction I want to go in.

Upgrade the processor to an AMD Athlon 1.x Ghz. I will try to steer clear of the VIA chipset because of issues with Delta cards - although if I have to get that chipset, I will because per the Delta website, VIA has written fixes for the problem. This will be a motherboard/cpu combo purchase. I am lost when it comes to what is good and what sucks, but I will run any final decisions by my PC consultant.

Upgrade RAM to at least 512mb. If I can afford more, I will go for it, but 512 is a nice starting point.

Upgrade system HD to a 40 gig (I have that already as my data drive) and purchase a 120 gig HD to be my new data/media drive.

My existing software, which I like for now, includes the Sonic Foundry family (ACID Pro 3, Sound Forge 6, Vegas Video 3) and Cubase VST 5.1.
I might get other software in the future, but this is the way it will stay for a while.

Would anyone reccomend the jump from Win98se to Win2000? I don't know anything about 2000.

This is my plan for now. Does anyone see any outstanding compatability issues? Would you say that this is a financial mistake? (I am guessing about $600 for this upgrade, minus Win2000)

Thanks,

Brad
 
Sorry, I want to add one more thing:

I have Win98se. I can upgrade to 2000 or XP pro - what is best for my set up?

Sorry, I hate those "what is best" questions too, but I really haven't a clue - all I know when it comes to Windows is 98se.

Thanks,
Brad
 
Brad,

This doesn't follow the spec's you listed, but anyway:

How about:

asus p4b266
PIV 2GHz
512 DDR
Better Power Supply (if needed)
80GB 7200RPM seagate, don't see any 7200RPM 120GB, depending on your track count 7200RPM may or may not be a big deal to you.

This adds up to around $600 USD, add another $70 labour to have someone do the upgrade for you.

XP home is good enough. I've used enough now that I'm confident in it for this configuration.

- Shoot that doesn't include the TDIF thing.

Knock off approx $100 to go the AMD route with a good motherboard.

Check out the ASUS boards, the SIS 735 chipset works with Delta products. The nvidia chipsets I've heard are compatable. Email midiman in either case as to what chipset your considering should you go the AMD route.

Another thought, if your case is a POS anyway (small, generic) you may just want to replace it as well. Something like an In-Win S508 that already comes with a decent PIV rated 300W P/S for $90 or so.
 
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I have my eyes on one of those western digital 120 gig 7200 rpm drives with the 8mb buffer...
 
Ooooh, thanks for pointing out the 7200rpm issue Emeric! I believe you are correct and I do need to keep it at 7200, so I had better get myself back to thinking about an 80gig media drive...

Good catch, I totally missed that!
 
Shit, and I didn't even know that power supplies are rated for different processors. See what a computer anti-geek I am?

Thanks for the info on all that other stuff (MB, compatibility, etc.)!


And according to Milkman, there is such an animal as a 7200rpm 120 gig drive... hmmmmm... expensive, I bet ???

Maybe 80 is enough...


I dunno, I am still in the baby stages of doing this. I am just trying to reduce the number of roadblocks that I no doubt will run into.

Thanks guys,

Brad
 
Oh yeah I see WD does have 120MB 7200RPM drives, didn't know that. $350 Canadian. Although, it's WD... I've found them to be not the greatest drives for reliability IMO.
 
Hey guys,

I also noticed an IBM HD 120gig 7200RPM for about $140 USD.

Do IBM drives suck ass or something?


Brad
 
I have the Western Digital 120G hard drive with the 8M cache; it's nice and fast, and I've had no problems with it at all.

I have also owned IBM hard drives, and in general they have performed well for me. IBM's 75G HD (model 75GXP) apparently failed a lot of users, but I had no problems with it. That drive's uneven track record has apparently fueled some nervousness about the 120G HD, the 120GXP. Also, note that IBM's specs for the 120GXP say it's only supposed to be on about 330 hours a month. Nonetheless, the 120GXP is supposed to be a great drive.

I hope this helps,

Grotius.
 
>asus p4b266
>PIV 2GHz
>512 DDR
>Better Power Supply (if needed)
>80GB 7200RPM seagate

Brad- you're gonna love this system coming from that 500MHz platform. I don't have any info on the competition from AMD, but this is pretty much the heart of the system that Emeric put together for me. I'd also consider putting that audio drive in a removeable bracket. So that way you can work on two (or more) projects without offloading any of the data to make room as long as each could fit completely on that drive. And PLENTY will! And you can save bucks by tailoring the HD you use for the project to the complexity of THAT project. The brackets are cheap and so are the drives! Compare an 80GB 7200 RPM HD to a roll of 2" tape that will only give you 20 minutes of 16 tracks!!!!

Screw all those other O/S choices. XP Home does the job.

>Do IBM drives suck ass or something?

I read that they had problems with either the 60GB or 75GB drives
but my 14GB IBM is still chugging along (on 24/7) after 3 years. That one (an early 7200 RPM model) gave me 36 tracks of 16/44.1 w/ no effects.
 
Brad said:

Upgrade the processor to an AMD Athlon 1.x Ghz. I will try to steer clear of the VIA chipset because of issues with Delta cards -
Click to expand...

woah?! excuse my lack of expertise, but I presume the VIA thing is a motherboard chipset that runs with AMD CPUs. Does this have some kind of problem with Delta cards? Cos I got a 1.3GHZ AMD TBird running on (i think) a VIA motherboard with a SB Live planning on upgrading or adding a Delta card when I get the money, but does this mean that a Delta card would now be a bad idea? Sorry to hijack Brad's thread but this has got me really worried that I just spent a lot of wasted money on a bad PC...
 
From the M-Audio Delta FAQ:

Q: I own a AMD processor with a VIA chipset and am getting jitters when recording or when starting the windows machine .

This is usually due to VIA chipset with AMD processors and there are fixes from the two links listed beneath. The problems seems to stem from the USB in the BIOS being disabled plus there is a file you will need to download and run from one of these web sites.

http://www.via.com.tw/drivers/index.htm or try this other site…

www.gainward.com
 
Wachoo guys think about this...

How about:

Asus A7S333 SiS 745
Athlon XP 1800 1.53GHz

???

This is combo is affordable and I think it'll still shoot my puter into a new dimension.


SiS 745?? I assumed since the the SiS 735 got a nod from Emeric, the SiS 745 would still work, no?


Thanks AGAIN in advance!!

Brad
 
I only comment on things I've actually used. But...

I'll speculate that the SIS 745 will more than likely work, especially with a decent ASUS board. But if it doesn't don't quote me! Email midiman though and ask them - "are there any known issues with blah blah motherboard and XXX chipset?" They are usually pretty good at getting back to you.

You will still need a new powersupply. Enermax make some good ones.
 
Thanks Emeric! I will email those M-Audio dudes.

Not sure about the power supply. I seem to remember it being more than I needed when the puter was put together. I will check it out though!

Thanks for your help!!

Brad
 
Brad said:
I am supposed to be saving for a DP on a house, but this is important, dammit!
Click to expand...
A friend of mine was explaining to me how he bought his house with no down payment, plus got enough extra cash to pay off his bills and furnish the place, all included in his low interest mortgage.

Somehow you strike a deal with the seller to take over their mortgage, kick them back some cash, everybody likes it, including the bank, bla , bla, bla. I didn't pay close attention because I really hate business stuff, but when I finally get a chance to buy (when I get the hell out of SF) I'm going to have him explain it again.

Oh yeah, can't you just see it. An extra $20k for a cool new project studio.:D

barefoot
 
I second what Doc said about the slide-out drive. I have a slide-out that is fantastic. I can just swap projects when I need to.
 
I am looking into the slide out drive idea - any links to show me what you guys are talking about exactly??? Thx.
 
Nevermind, I found some.

:p

So, it means I can get another HD later if I want, put it in the same bracket dealio - and it is as just as simple as swapping out the HD's when I need to??

Sounds too damned good to be true!
 
That's the idea of it Brad.

But don't buy one, buy 3 of them. One bracket that is installed in the computer, and 1 'bay' that will contain the drive. The other 2 bays for spares when you buy another drive. That way you just pull the old drive/bay out and pop the new drive in.

The reason for buying 3 at one time is because you will very likely never find the identical bay/bracket design ever ever again. That's been my experience anyway.
 
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