FAO - MARK EG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Soundcards + New PC!!)

Alright Mark.

Boy has this come at the right time!!!
I've just been reading Janet Jinxs post on soundcards, and read your reply. Right here it is:
I'm just in the process of buying a new PC specifically for making Hard Trance, i'm really serious about going into this, so i new i would need a quality PC. So i went into www.redsub.com who make Specialist audio PC's for music production.
Here's the Spec, tell me what you think:

Motherboard - ASUS P4B533 Intel Pentium 4
CPU - 2.0 GHZ Pentium 4 Processor, 512K
Memory - 512DDR266 PC2100
Video Card - ATI Radeon 64 MB AGP Graphics Card
Hard Disk - 120gb 7200rpm
Optical Drive - LG 32X10X40 CD-RW +DVD Rom
Recording Card - M - Audio Delta 10/10 LT, 10in/outs.card
56k Modem
Operating System - Windows XP
Utility Software - Dual Boot System For Windows.

Comes to £1500 with the Warranty and Support.
What do you think of it for the money Mark? Is there anyhting what needs improving. Ive not really got a budget cos i just want everything done now. So when i get it i don't have to upgrade and that it will last me!!!!

I also read in your reply to Janet Jinx that you could possibly get one built??
If it's possible for myself, i would defintley be interested because you have more of an idea as what you need in your PC to create the best Hard Trance. And for around a grand its better than paying £1500 on something you hardly know is any good apart from the souncard (cos you said so)

Cheers Mark.

Have you considered a Dual channel DDR motherboard, if you wait untill this summer the new grantie bay chipset will be out supporting Dual channel DDR400 ! which will be much faster than Rambus (wider bandwidth)

heres my 2p's worth...
just a couple of small points...

Go for one with two seperate hard disks....this is very important - running your audio off an indepandant hard disk is almost as good as getting a new pc! - also if you dont, you could suffor from majot glitches and jitters running several tracks...

Also a dual monitor setup is piss cheap nowadays and well worth the investment, so you can have your mixer window and your arrangement window open at the same time...

I think anyone who knows what they are talking about will agree with me on these points - if you want to get it right from the start this is the way to go...

Also i have a p4 1.7 and an amd athlon xp 1.7 - both configured to studio specs and i can tell you that the amd can run about 30% more plug-ins than the intel (and was a good deal cheaper). Sound on Sound magazine also recommend AMD systems over Intel, as they thrashed the pants off em in a comparison article last year that was designed to clear up the whole AMD/Intel debate regarding Processors for music...

Yeah what jim fish said :D

I've a mate who works for scan as a system builder and trouble shooter. Whilst they don't specilise in audio systems he himself does on the side (He's Built / Maintained and fitted Breeze's, Dougals, Styles, Stompys, Scott Browns and a few others.... maybe not the sort of names you want to see but he does know about audio systems :lol: ). If anyone wants i can put you in touch with him and he'll build a system for far less than the specilist firm's who tend to be a rip off. He'll also slap on any software you'll require.

Not really anything new to add - but definitely go with a dual monitor setup. Improves workflow a lot - you spend less time moving windows around to get them out of the way. Once you've tried it, you'll never go back!

I'm using an AMD T-bird 1.4 with 512MB PC2100 DDR ram- it's a little old now, but it still gives me more than enough power.

i think my q has been answered for me :=]