Rayzoon Technologies LLC

[dinoman]

Hi,

I may be abput to get a new dedicated computer for my music.

1. Is Intel still recommended over AMD? Strongly recommended?

2. If I get this custom built, I would assume there are things that come on an "off the shelf" computer I don't need, is that correct? - like a fancy video cards, expensive consumer sound cards.

3. What do I need? - and - What don't I need?

4. Does it matter if windows XP is professional or home edition?

5. Should I customize the installation right from the beginning - partition the hard drive, etc? Are there any particular web sites / fourm discussions, etc. I should know about regarding this?

MY budget will allow me to upgrade, but probabaly not to the ultimate computer. So, if I have to cut corners, I don't want to do it in the wrong places. My current music computer is a laptop with pentium 1.7 gig processor (not mobile processor). How fast a processor do I need to go to to make it really worthwhile? (I am planning on going to a dedicated desktop), If AMD is not preferred, will a faster AMD still be better than what I got now, or am I really best not to try to save money on that part.

I appreciate any help on this.

Thanks,
Geoff

[Doc]

I´d recommend to do some research on http://www.musicxp.net

It´s a great resource.

[Jason]

i was just about to post on what kind of hardware resources Jamstix needs to run smoothly. i'm thinking about upgrading my system in the near future myself.

since this is a Jamstix site, my question will be related to Ralph's mighty software: how much system resources does Jamstix use in general?

if i'm using Cubase, recording audio, and using Jamstix, does Jamstix "drain" a lot of processing power?

if so, what kind of upgrades will alleviate the drain? more RAM? faster CPU?

thanks.

Jason

p.s. anyone with good Cubase hardware specs can PM me if they're feeling really, really kind; it's overwhelming all the processor/mobo choices. i would have thought at this point in PC history that all/most components and software would work together... NO FRIGGIN' WAY. it hurts my tiny digital brain.

[Ralph [RZ]]

[Jason]

thanks, Ralph, for the tip about the sound card driver.

i'm checking out the M-Audio Audiophile 192. i read the driver is superb. hopefully this will help me lower my latency and not get the pops and clicks i'm getting right now when using Jamstix at the lowest latency setting.

cheers.

Jason

[Ralph [RZ]]

[ProfRhino]

Some info about what most definitely works from my personal experience - I've built around 20 or so DAWs and many normal PCs during the last years (as always in Computerland : NO GUARANTEES and don't take my word alone, check the Cubase, Nuendo, UAD and Cakewalk forums for user experiences)
- AMD X2 CPUs have the best bang for the buck atm, take the fastest you can afford but don't spend money on the CPUs with bigger cache (4400, 4800), not worth it
- Cooler : Zalman 8000s are fine and cheap
- the new Intel Conroes are probably even faster, but more expensive and there is very little real world experience yet
- Mainboard : impossible to give recommendations, too individual
avoid nForce 3 & 4 if possible, if UAD is interesting use the old ASUS A8V or A8V Deluxe if you can still get them, but they are no go with Powercore PCI, there are rumours that the boards with ULI AGP chipset are compatible with both main DSP cards, but not many reports yet
- VGA : small nVidia cards like 6200 or 7300 work well, have good drivers and very few issues, AGP or PCIe doesn't matter
- Memory : Corsair C2 3200 is good and cheap, MDT too if you are in Europe, there are many choices but those two definitely work great in a DAW, 1 GB min, better 2 GB, in any case make it two identical modules, not one, not four, if you want good mem performance
- don't cut corners with the audiocard, RME PCI cards or Lynx are the best and most compatible atm, HDSP 9632 is a safe bet and not too expensive (400 €), Firewire interfaces do work, too, but have a performance penalty of ~ 10% if compared to PCI cards and generally more potential issues
- HDs : Samsung are my personal favx atm, fast, cheap and extremely silent. One small IDE disk for OS and programs, one big SATA for audio and, if you do sample streaming, another big SATA for your sample libraries. External disks are great for storage but not for demanding real-time audio or sample streaming
- PSU : Seasonic, Enermax are safe choices, ~500 W should be fine
- XP Home should do the job fine for most applications, if you do networking or multi user stuff Pro is a bit better as far as configuration goes, Home DOES work with Dualcores
- Most important : Do a lot of reading before you buy - it's extremely hard to find a flawless combination atm and you can't give components back most of the time
Good luck to you all,
Rhino

For those interested, here are my DAW specs :
(not meant as a recipe, everybody's needs are different)

X2 4200 @ 2*2600, Thermalright SI 120 / Papst 120 mm fan
ASUS A8V
2GB RAM MDT PC3200 (2 sticks)
4 HDs 7200/8MB Maxtor & Samsung
Burners Plextor & Benq
PSU Seasonic S12 500
MSI 6200 AGP
RME Digiface PCI card
3* UAD-1

[ProfRhino]

Before I forget :
- good cooling is vital, you probably won't get by without case fans
- if at all possible, buy a Big Tower case, better cooling, more space for HDs, easier for maintenance
- it's obvious, but for safety's sake :
CHECK TWICE THAT YOUR COMPONENTS ARE BASICALLY COMPATIBLE !
a 939 CPU won't work in an AM2 board, a PCIe card won't work in an AGP slot, etc.
Cheers, Rhino

[Phil Fee]

AMD X2 is fine but it has just been eclipsed by the release of Intel's Core 2 Duos which are comparable in price.

If you go Intel's way, the Core2Duo 6300 or 6400 are cheap and very fast and overclockable to boot. Get a compatible Asus or Gigabyte board and some fast DDR2 (PC6400 if you can affort it) and you should be flying.

Getting Athlon 64 compatible mother boards that perform well with audio is a bit of an issue. It is getting harder to get any boards besides the VIA chipset boards that are recommended above. NForce4 boards are an option but there are some inefficiencies there - same processor is faster on an NForce3 board by 10% or so.

If you buy the older boards you are buying DDR RAM and AGP video which is not going to move forward with your next upgrade. AM2 is better in that regard but the performance hit compared to NForce3 and the VIA based boards is still there.

[ProfRhino]

Phil,
no disagreement here, the new Intels look really good, and I don't doubt they will become a good platform for audio - though personally I would wait for some months until there are many reports about compatibility and what hardware to combine with them.
I've played "lab rat" with the X2s and I don't plan to do it again anytime soon. All my previous DAWs and hopefully all my future ones were / will be based on proven technology, making buying decisions and setup a lot easier.
You mentioned :

[dinoman]

Thanks everybody for your input!

I'll use all this info when I get someone to help me put the whole package together. It would be nice if someone could tell me exactly what to buy - but it's obviously not that simple.

Geoff

[Fingers]

[dinoman]

[Phil Fee]

Sure - depends on how often you want/need to move up in performance. I have reused DDR 400 but I don't expect to get a chance to do that again. DDR2 has become the standard and it is getting hard to get AGP cards with the features I want. Cases, Optical drives, hard drives, monitors and keyboards etc - all of those I reuse.

One extra point, in my local IT market you cannot even buy X2 processors that aren't on the new AM2 platform anymore - the socket 939/DDR ones have been EOLed. I have a similar system to Prof's which I built a year ago - I just wouldn't build it again now.

[Fingers]