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Forums - Computer music & technology
Subject: buying a new pc
Original Message Date: 21-Jul-00 @ 06:08 PM - buying a new pc
I'm soon buying a new pc custom built. These people did me solid on the last one. Couple of questions:
Somebody suggested getting an Athlon chip instead of a Pentium. Is Athlon really better for digital audio and graphics? I would otherwise get a P3 850 Mhz. I also have to look into Athlon compatibility with Logic, Cake, and Layla. Anyone know of compatibility problems between Athlon and any music software?
Would I be better off in your opinions to get a scsi hard-drive with less storage space> Otherwise I am planning on getting a 30GB IDE 7200 rpm hd.
The motherboard will be an ASUS 133 bus and probably with the square pentium chip slot as opposed to the long rectangular one. Scsi or Athlon will change tat of course. Is there any difference between the two chip configurations? I'm told that Intel is phasing out the rectangular one in favor of the square one.
Also an ASUS GeForce 32mg video card. I need to check that for compatibility also.
Lastly I'm sticking with Windows 98 because I detect that Logic and Windows 2000 have not totally embraced eachother yet.
Any comments, answers, insights are more than welcome.
Somebody suggested getting an Athlon chip instead of a Pentium. Is Athlon really better for digital audio and graphics? I would otherwise get a P3 850 Mhz. I also have to look into Athlon compatibility with Logic, Cake, and Layla. Anyone know of compatibility problems between Athlon and any music software?
Would I be better off in your opinions to get a scsi hard-drive with less storage space> Otherwise I am planning on getting a 30GB IDE 7200 rpm hd.
The motherboard will be an ASUS 133 bus and probably with the square pentium chip slot as opposed to the long rectangular one. Scsi or Athlon will change tat of course. Is there any difference between the two chip configurations? I'm told that Intel is phasing out the rectangular one in favor of the square one.
Also an ASUS GeForce 32mg video card. I need to check that for compatibility also.
Lastly I'm sticking with Windows 98 because I detect that Logic and Windows 2000 have not totally embraced eachother yet.
Any comments, answers, insights are more than welcome.
Message 31/54 26-Jul-00 @ 08:05 PM - RE: buying a new pc
yes, except for one thing, i'd say mebbe most people here are not utilising their machines to try to be 'large track-count' multitrack machines - ide and ata with busmastering and dma will give an easy 24 tracks no probs.... it is nice to know you have stacks of drive bandwidth, but, sometimes scsi cards can be a bastard to live with audio devices and other hardware, and also sometimes they are quite noisey & dont isolate well transfering drive noise onto the audio... also it add's another 400 at least to the price, for a decent controller, cable and drive, even a cheaper 3.1gb u/w jobbie.... it all add's up - which might not be worth it with smaller track rates, when the user could spend that money on more cpu & ram grunt and get more fx, synth voices etc etc, or a decent card system with cool drivers and quality outs etc... perhaps more of a priority ... i think on balance, now i'd put the priorities in this order what punters want when they think of a newer faster better pc....
1. loadsa speed for midi clock, lots of fx, and smooth operation generally of the interface, as well as plenty of overhead to acomodate vst instruments, rewire, sync'd s/w synths or samplers etc....
2. quality audio device, crisp clean not crashing all the time and works well with the assortment of programmes, provides outs for several proggies at once etc.
3. very Large track rates
i got mates producing commercial garage & rnb & pop etc - vocal and guitar etc hungry material that uses lots of audio tracks compared to say techno, trance drum&bass etc.... They use p2's and p3's just fine... i think there is this sortof fetish for track count rates, in terms of drive delivery when perhaps for us lot, fx are more important, s/w synths running in sync etc.. all processor borne chores... personally i've never seen mates upgrade to get more tracks once they get to a normal cheap-assed say P2-350 or low-end P3, they go for more power cos their fx etc run out first i'd say, not tracks....
it's not like the old days where you'd have yer two MTR's sync'd up and be running 48 tracks, with track_1 having a cowbell riff every 32 bars for 8 bars, or another track with the tom fills.. another with hats etc... etc.. obviously if yo were trying to setup a 48-60 etc actual physical tracks studio then yes fine for big live recording projects etc where you need lots of tracks & disk space for lots of actual playing, and do want to keep them on seperate tracks/outs- fine , i'd go scsi then for sure, and a bloody great terrabyte raid rack please !! !...
1. loadsa speed for midi clock, lots of fx, and smooth operation generally of the interface, as well as plenty of overhead to acomodate vst instruments, rewire, sync'd s/w synths or samplers etc....
2. quality audio device, crisp clean not crashing all the time and works well with the assortment of programmes, provides outs for several proggies at once etc.
3. very Large track rates
i got mates producing commercial garage & rnb & pop etc - vocal and guitar etc hungry material that uses lots of audio tracks compared to say techno, trance drum&bass etc.... They use p2's and p3's just fine... i think there is this sortof fetish for track count rates, in terms of drive delivery when perhaps for us lot, fx are more important, s/w synths running in sync etc.. all processor borne chores... personally i've never seen mates upgrade to get more tracks once they get to a normal cheap-assed say P2-350 or low-end P3, they go for more power cos their fx etc run out first i'd say, not tracks....
it's not like the old days where you'd have yer two MTR's sync'd up and be running 48 tracks, with track_1 having a cowbell riff every 32 bars for 8 bars, or another track with the tom fills.. another with hats etc... etc.. obviously if yo were trying to setup a 48-60 etc actual physical tracks studio then yes fine for big live recording projects etc where you need lots of tracks & disk space for lots of actual playing, and do want to keep them on seperate tracks/outs- fine , i'd go scsi then for sure, and a bloody great terrabyte raid rack please !!
!...
Message 32/54 26-Jul-00 @ 10:53 PM - RE: buying a new pc
Thanks K. Made me feel better. I didn't go with scsi cuz the price would have gone a bit high for less drive space. I would have had to get 2 drives. And because of the various issues that come up with scsi from time to time. Maybe someday I'll need scsi, but it is processing power and drive space I was after. I have several software programs that I haven't loaded. I will be able to when I get this new system set up. And some soft compressors I want to check out. It will be interesting to see how much more I can utilize Logic's plugins. Basically, I'm just repeating everything you said aren't I?
And....I'll be able to load more bots into the Unreal Tournament maps.
And....I'll be able to load more bots into the Unreal Tournament maps.
Message 33/54 27-Jul-00 @ 08:02 AM - RE: buying a new pc
Hi guys
Interesting read.
I found an updated roll yer own article at www.prorec.com .
I built my pc around their advice from the original article and i,m pleased with that.
I got AbitBH6/ Celeron @450.2 ide udma drives(small),128 mb sdram.
Basic vid card.
I had hassles with Plugs tho,so i,ve added another 128mb.
The new article suggests getting a Celeron 566 and clocking it to 850.
There is an address for a site that sells pre-tested Celerons.Much cheaper than P3.
Hoping to get this in October,when prices are rock-bottom before they discontinue it.
Guru.
Interesting read.
I found an updated roll yer own article at www.prorec.com .
I built my pc around their advice from the original article and i,m pleased with that.
I got AbitBH6/ Celeron @450.2 ide udma drives(small),128 mb sdram.
Basic vid card.
I had hassles with Plugs tho,so i,ve added another 128mb.
The new article suggests getting a Celeron 566 and clocking it to 850.
There is an address for a site that sells pre-tested Celerons.Much cheaper than P3.
Hoping to get this in October,when prices are rock-bottom before they discontinue it.
Guru.
Message 34/54 27-Jul-00 @ 11:45 AM - RE: buying a new pc
I saw that grow your own tutorial a few months ago. cool.
Message 35/54 28-Jul-00 @ 05:45 AM - RE: buying a new pc
Jasper
Posts: 424
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adams - sounds like your following the route I'm taking.. To overclock the 566 to 850 though is quite a big step your going to be running the m/board at 100Mhz which is a good speed for your memory etc.. gonna need some good cooling though.. which route you taking? peltiers or some ultra fan approach?
the next step down on the be6 is 85Mhz aint it? so that'd be your next option if the processor aint up to it.. that's like 8.5*85=722ish mhz
you might get a more stable overclock from a 533 at 100 mhz which would be 800mhz or a 500 up to 750mhz.
the next step down on the be6 is 85Mhz aint it? so that'd be your next option if the processor aint up to it.. that's like 8.5*85=722ish mhz
you might get a more stable overclock from a 533 at 100 mhz which would be 800mhz or a 500 up to 750mhz.
Message 36/54 28-Jul-00 @ 08:52 AM - RE: buying a new pc
Um,i found a site with lots of comparison tables on oclocking.
overclockers;com or something,i bookmarked it;so anyway i read guys getting 850 with standard intel fan .
The deal at this site in Kentucky(see prorec)is that u get a pre-tested 566 that is @ 850.Advanced Design.its called.
They include a better fan and a slot convertor(which i don,t need).
I hav"e a BH6 not BE6.
In the artickle he says all i gotta do is change the processor.
And get the latest Bios and set voltage to 1.7v,set multiplier speed to 8(not important) and set Speed Hold Error to Disabled
I just have to be sure i get the right Bios update!
For me this is a great deal as i already have an Abit board.
Guru..
overclockers;com or something,i bookmarked it;so anyway i read guys getting 850 with standard intel fan .
The deal at this site in Kentucky(see prorec)is that u get a pre-tested 566 that is @ 850.Advanced Design.its called.
They include a better fan and a slot convertor(which i don,t need).
I hav"e a BH6 not BE6.
In the artickle he says all i gotta do is change the processor.
And get the latest Bios and set voltage to 1.7v,set multiplier speed to 8(not important) and set Speed Hold Error to Disabled
I just have to be sure i get the right Bios update!
For me this is a great deal as i already have an Abit board.
Guru..
Message 37/54 28-Jul-00 @ 08:58 AM - RE: buying a new pc
well, on this subject, i'm getting 6-10 tracks with ease and zilcho latency with the hoontech system on my cruddy old 64mb 200mmx with the dreaded VX mobbo with no driver support for windows and dma & bussmastering controllers etc... i can add fx and use them in real time as i sing and play to the backing midi... oh, and that is with vst fx on all channels and eq too on most... imagine what i'd get with a p3 700 etc !! and more ram and faster bus/drives etc etc... no prob's for 24 tracks + fx.... that is surely enuff for even the most extensive RnB production or commercial pop crossover where audio is needed more extensively than for straight synth dance...
Message 38/54 28-Jul-00 @ 09:19 PM - RE: buying a new pc
nice site justin...just realign it with a more mature prose and presentation. I would like to buy from you, but "we'll get ya hooked up" is scarey when you are talking $2k worth of purchases
GT
A+ MCP CCNA
3rd Floor Studios
Miami
GT
A+ MCP CCNA
3rd Floor Studios
Miami
Message 39/54 29-Jul-00 @ 12:01 AM - RE: buying a new pc
SCSI is definitely NOT a necessity on
modern-day audio systems. Yeah, if
you want to do stuff that streams
across multiple drives (or RAID), it's
a good idea, but otherwise it's
overkill. ATA/66 and ATA/100 is
plenty fast and will easily get you 24
tracks of audio on a decent system.
It's nice, but on a properly set-up
system it isn't worth the extra cash.
As far as Intel vs AMD goes, buying
anything except an Intel chip for an
audio system is well, stupid, unless
you know FOR SURE that the app
you are buying has been tested with
the chip, you're asking for trouble.
modern-day audio systems. Yeah, if
you want to do stuff that streams
across multiple drives (or RAID), it's
a good idea, but otherwise it's
overkill. ATA/66 and ATA/100 is
plenty fast and will easily get you 24
tracks of audio on a decent system.
It's nice, but on a properly set-up
system it isn't worth the extra cash.
As far as Intel vs AMD goes, buying
anything except an Intel chip for an
audio system is well, stupid, unless
you know FOR SURE that the app
you are buying has been tested with
the chip, you're asking for trouble.
Message 40/54 29-Jul-00 @ 07:38 AM - RE: buying a new pc
Started to set up my new pc yesterday. I installed my pci sound card (Layla). It seems to have grabbed my modems's IRQ. I first configured my dial-up so that if I needed to go on line for drivers or tech support, I could. Went on line (posted a reply or 2 a DT...couldn't resist) everything was hunkie-dorie. Then installed Layla. Tried to get back on line and couldn't. Pc no longer sees my modem. Error 666, a foreboding number that didn't come up in troubleshooting. Modem seems to be accessing Com3, but Com3 is not enabled. Went to bios to change it and didn't see "peripherals" listed as an option in the bios. This is Windows98 Second Edition. System properties shows 15 IRQs being used. Layla is on IRQ 10, but so are 2 other things which I haven't a clue as to what they are. Not home now so I can't say what they are called. Anyone know how to successful assign IRQs manually and Where to enable a Com Port?
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