Best Motherboard etc.

[MARKEG]

I'm about to upgrade my computer. Does anyone have any advice for the best m/board and system spec? Do I get a celeron or pentium?

I really want to get this right this type as my last computer was a nightmare.

PS I have a MOTU 828 that I want to run on firewire.

[Barely Human]

Asus boards are gererally rated as the best. As for cpu, dont get a celleron, they are a crap pentium basically. Id go for the petium, although an athlon would probably do the job a lot better. Its a gamble with athlon systems wether they will be stable. I have an Athlon 1800 running in one of my boxes, and that stays swithched on for mounths without crashing. So i guese thats up to you

[Antinoise]

First off.. get a p4. I have several systems with athlon’s.. They are finally solid but it took a long time of swapping parts before everything was finally copasetic. P4's are less hassle and currently faster.

If you’re building your own computer never skimp on the motherboard. THE MOTHERBOARD IS THE ROOT OFF ALL PROBLEMS (potentially). For p4 get an Intel (875 or 865) chipset motherboard rather than the cheaper VIA or SIS based options. Best look at www.tomshardware.com for reviews of current motherboards in the chipset you pick. They do great side by side testing and picking their winners have never led me wrong yet.

latest Intel 875 and 865 motherboard reviews in one article..
Awards: Gigabyte GA-8KNXP (Intel 875P) and MSI Neo 2 (Intel 865PE)

Obviously get a m/board that has firewire built in for the Motu.

All this said.. if you are building your own system your getting a better price over a pre-built machine. However there is always the risk of problems and then your stuck in diagnostics hell. If your not savy with building and/or don't have the time to do so... Look at getting a Dell. Their service (3 years on site) is great. Your computer breaks one day and a guy is at your door the to fix it the next.

[gustavo]

i have asus p4pe (with firewire)intel845chip)and its great proc p4 3.2
my advice is to buy the latest asus board of this series and the top p4 at the moment.
a lot of the people/producers in the music scene say that the way
p4 processors do algorhtymic calculations is more adequate to music data processing (besides mac)dont know ...
works for me...
also hdisk ibm7200 is certanly a good buy

a lot of people dont know this site (it help u configure xp in daw environment- essential)
http://www.musicxp.net

[DJZeMig_L]

I'm not a computer wiz so bare with me ... I wouldn't get the latest CPU 'cause changes r there won't b all that much dif from a 3.2 to a 3.4 in terms of speed and 4 sure there will b a big $ dif. So I would get a little bit more that the standard and def. Invest in the best RAM I could get my hands on. I got an old computer with RIMM 800 Mhz that stuff works like a bastar*. I don't know if rimm is still a good option in terms of compatibility etc... but if u get 2gb of 800mhz Rimm it will fuc** FLY!!!

Z

[Jimfish]

i have an asus ic7 in mine and it runs like a dream with my 828 and cubase sx2

it never ever ever crashes

[Jimfish]

i have an asus ic7 in mine and it runs like a dream with my 828 and cubase sx2

it never ever ever crashes

[Jimfish]

what?
why does this keep happening?

[Jimfish]

what?
why does this keep happening?

[DJZeMig_L]

It might b related 2 the DCS*....





*Double Click sindrome


ehehhehe :P

Jus pullin yer leg! :lol: ;)


Z

[Tyrisia]

INTEL P4 3.06 GHZ PROCESSOR
INTEL D845PE MOTHERBOARD
CARILLON UM320 ULTRAMUTE PSU
80 GB SEAGATE BARRACUDA HARD DRIVE
1024 MB DIMM DDR 333 MHZ RAM
ATI RADEON 7000 64 DUAL HEAD GRAPHICS CARD
ZALMAN ALCU CPNS7000 PROCESSOR FAN
SILENT SYSTEMS DRIVE CASE
MICROSOFT WINDOWS XP HOME
CARILLON UPGRADE CHARGE

That's a current Carillon Spec that I got the other day for upgrading mine, might help, they always work..

[MARKEG]

OK so here's what I'm getting... (minus my motu 828)

• Antec Sonata Piano Black Silent computer case with 380W quiet PSU
• ASUS Main board, P4P800 Deluxe Intel 865 chip with Firewire, USB 2.0, SATA, & IDE connections.
• Intel Pentium 4, 3.0GHz, Hyper Threading processor.
• 2X 512MB DDR400 memory.
• 1x 36GB 10,000rpm “RAPTOR” SATA HDD
• 1x 70GB 10,000rpm “RAPTOR” SATA HDD
• MATROX G550 Dual Head graphics card
• Sony DVD-Rom drive
• Sony DVD +/- RW with NERO S/W
• Floppy Disk drive
• Windows XP Pro
• Labour

What's this spec like then?

[Barely Human]

Looks good to me mate! Who makes the ram tho? And personally id ditch the sony drives for plextor. ;)

[Kevin Gorman]

looks like a good box there Mark!

[DJZeMig_L]

get a 450w box and double the ramm...

Get a good brand of ramm !!


Z

[MARKEG]

Why the 450w box? Is that quite important is it??

[Barely Human]

It can be. If your pulling a lot of power on a low rated box, then it can cause stabilty problems. 380 will do fine in my opinion, but Z's usually right ;) :lol:

[Antinoise]

A better solution is to get a 400w supply and then get a battery UPS that it plugs into. That will condition and regulate the power that gets fed into the box.

Even if you have a 500W+ power supply.. it will still crash if the power fluxuates. This is a common cause of computer malfunction. The battery solution helps with power dips and protects against spikes. My 3 computer rig runs much more stable since I have it all plugged into a big mother battery backup. Coincidence?.... I think not...

[DJZeMig_L]

antinoise has given' ya a great tip! UPS is the best thing u can do u can even get 1 with like 5 m power backup so if for some reason u get a powercut U have enought time 2 save yer work, powerdown and wait for the lights 2 come on again...

the prob with power suply is the amount of stuff that keeps draining power from yer pc, like usb/ firewire7 plug the normal components.. so make sure they have enought power for it all!

Z

[MARKEG]

right well i've just been back in touch with the bloke. he's pretty adament that the 380W case is the one to go for. He says they've repeatedly built systems like this with them and they're really good. so i'll hold him to it and just get a UPS battery backup. if anything goes tits up then it's going straight back. hehehe..

i mean i'm only running a firewire card and a mouse and keyboard.

re: memory - it's samsung. is this reputable?

really excited about this. yet again this forum has given me some great advice - something that my have had 400000 reponses on the cubase site had been simplified quickly and easily by you guys.

let's just see what it's like when it gets in the studio!!!!

*fingers crossed*