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Subject: buying a new pc

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Original Message 1/54 21-Jul-00 @ 06:08 PM - buying a new pc

sitar

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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.

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Message 2/54 21-Jul-00 @ 06:23 PM - RE: buying a new pc

Espoo2

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Yeah, I got a k6-III, 450... Works fine and no problems with software at all.
And definetly stick with 98, although it is FAR less reliable than 2k, its made to work with mostly NT software, not 95/98 stuff... so just hold out till windows millenium or whatever comes out...

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Message 3/54 21-Jul-00 @ 09:30 PM - RE: buying a new pc

sitar

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Thanks Espoo2. I found out that Layla and the rest of the Echo line has problems with the K chip motherboards. There is only one Athlon motherbaord that they claim is compatible. I think that I will stick with pentium this time around. My present computer is a P2 350 and takes everything I throw at it through Logic without coughing a bit. I also have Photoshop, Illustrator, 3D graphic proggies, Cakewalk, and Unreal Tournament

on it and it just runs. So I figure an 850 with twice the RAM (256) and 3 times the hd space will be way more than enough. I'm upgrading 'cause my wife needs her own puter so she will use this one. It has served me well. Thanks for the input.

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Message 4/54 22-Jul-00 @ 07:50 PM - RE: buying a new pc

Espoo2

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You may want to look into the whole midi/usb option also...
Its supposed to be faster and more reliable than the basic gameport/pci midi option...

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Message 5/54 22-Jul-00 @ 08:32 PM - RE: buying a new pc

sitar

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Good idea. I have to expand my midi ins/outs.

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Message 6/54 23-Jul-00 @ 01:20 PM - RE: buying a new pc

sitar

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From what I found out Espoo2, there is not much available in the way of usb midi interfaces for the pc yet. Emagic just came ot with one that has only 2 ins and four outs. I think I will pick up the MOTM with 8 ins/outs and smpte sync. I am going to be working on some music for some videos soon and that will come in handy. usb midi is surely going to expand soon, but it's not there yet for my needs. I haven't had even a hiccup with the parallel port setup. I also don't want to chain my instruments together. When I tried that in the past I got hiccups in playback.

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Message 7/54 23-Jul-00 @ 05:34 PM - RE: buying a new pc

nobody

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erm.. MOTU.. if MOTM made midi interfaces i would have one :P

:/

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Message 8/54 23-Jul-00 @ 07:58 PM - RE: buying a new pc

sitar

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Nobody you have a one track mind. Maybe when I hit the lotto I'll start thinkin the same thing :P

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Message 9/54 23-Jul-00 @ 10:43 PM - RE: buying a new pc

Defector Z

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Well Sitar, let me share some VERY recent experiences. I have recently put together a dedicated audio machine that currently isn't working because I suspect the chip is defective. Currently sorting that out. This is a brief summary of what I got and why - I am sure there will be people who will argue against me, but for your entertainment...

Soyo 6VCA motherboard. - Heard good things about Soyo.

PIII600e CPU - Considered an Athlon, but after running through a few websites and contacting some manufacturors, Athlons don't particularly care for audio. Some chips may be good, and I understand that some people have had good luck with them, but when my sound card manufacturor (Echo, by the way) says they won't recommend an Athlon, I take that to heart. I paid more money for a slower chip, but I know that my software and hardware will work with it. That is, when I get one that works. :-)

ALL SCSI! - very fast, easily expandable, but expensive. I got a western dig 9.1gb hd, a cd burner and a cd-rom. I got an Adaptec 2940uw controller which, although a bit old, is tried and true. Again, highly recommended from a number of trusted and respected people.

Make sure you get a motherboard with LOTS of PCI slots, an AGP slot, lots of DIMM spaces and with a good chip set. You will need to get a bigger (more expensive tower) but that is better anyways as you'll have more expandability options, and the unit will run cooler anyways.

My humble opinion is Pentium III and SCSI all the way around. If I get my system running soon, I'll let you know if my advice actually works... :-)

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Message 10/54 24-Jul-00 @ 05:51 AM - RE: buying a new pc

Jasper

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basically you should be allright as long as you pick the right motherboard.. my mum has just received her athlon/gigabyte setup and it works shite.. I just spent a whole weekend trying to get it to work smoothly.. no go..

But my homebuilt Celeron/Abit BF6 setup has yet to crash in a music app after buying the board in march. It's an oldish board based on the 440bx chipset but it'll take up to a 1Ghz P3 processor.

thing is to see whether a board is termed as 'reliable' or 'performance' cos you rarely get both.

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Message 11/54 24-Jul-00 @ 07:57 AM - RE: buying a new pc

sitar

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Thanks guys, at least I've always assumed you're guys. If you're not, what are you doing tonight?

Looks like I'm going today to do this thing. I'm going to check into scsi again, but it brings other issues into the game. Scsi is faster. The motherboard I'm getting is supposed to be very good. I'll check on the number of pci slots again. I am going to stay with Pentium for the same reason. I saw COMPATIBILITY PROBLEMS between Athlon and Layla and the Athlons went right through the window....rather than Windows going through the Athlon. Aren't I the best??? I've heard from several sources that the Athlon IS better for Audio, but like I said, this system is going to be fast...if it works. Thanks again everyone.

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Message 12/54 24-Jul-00 @ 08:25 AM - RE: buying a new pc

Defector Z

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Sitar - I have yet to hear ANYONE say anything positive about the Athlon in an audio situation. Doesn't mean there isn't anything nice to be said, just relaying my findings. Also, if you are going to get one SCSI device, get everything SCSI. Again, general consensus (with dissenters) is that SCSI and IDE don't share their toys well in the sandbox. You might get lucky, but odds are not in your favor.

Also remember that SCSI is EXPENSIVE!!! VERY EXPENSIVE!!! It pretty much doubled the cost of my system. Cords and adapters are the worst (like if you need to go from ultrawide to narrow - or vice-versa - it's gonna cost you $30). Sucks, eh?

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Message 13/54 24-Jul-00 @ 12:14 PM - RE: buying a new pc

99devils

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It's not the Athlon CPU itself, it's just that current motherboards are crap. They don't like most audio cards. Once you get the audio into the box, my Athlon 700 blazes through operations in Sound Forge. But for now, stick to Intel. Go SCSI if you can afford it, as it'll up your track count and it's better at dealing with more than one drive at once (cd burning, in particular, runs smoother). The ABIT BE6 series boards I have heard good things about.

-Craig

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Message 14/54 24-Jul-00 @ 12:56 PM - RE: buying a new pc

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well, i thought the athalon's prob's were cos it runs on a 133 buss, and alot of cards cant deal with it

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Message 15/54 24-Jul-00 @ 01:02 PM - RE: buying a new pc

sitar

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Thanks again guys (I won't go into that again). It's done. I went with the P3 850. Didn't want to put the extra money into scsi. Maybe that's penny smart/pound foolish but like I said above, the P350 128mg has handled everything I've thrown at it so far. So i'm way ahead of there already. I don't use a gizillion audio tracks. If I ever use 40+ audio tracks going at the same time for dance, please shoot me.

They are partitioning my drive for me, 5 gigs for the bootup partition just in case by some strange mystery a few 500mb games crawl into my computer....again. Damn, don't know how those varments get in there. The other 25 gigs are for music. I will probably get an external firewired drive down the road for the video stuff I'll be putting music to for my friend. If that turns out not to be the right solution I can add another hd internally.

DefectorZ, I hope your system gets up and running. Let us know. I'll let you know if mine actually works, but I have confidence. I'll be picking it up on Thursday. I only have to choose the monitor size. 19" is awefully deep and heavy. Might have to go for another 17". Not a big deal but I love playing games....um...I mean working on bigger screens.

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Message 16/54 24-Jul-00 @ 02:00 PM - RE: buying a new pc

99devils

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Kilo, don't the faster Coppermine CPUs run at 133mhz bus speed also? And it shouldn't matter, cause PCI is 66mhz anyway (I think it's 66mhz) no matter what the CPU bus runs at? Or am I way off here?

-Craig

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Message 17/54 24-Jul-00 @ 04:44 PM - RE: buying a new pc

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yup true they are, ive prolly got it wrapped round my arse as they say... but as i understand it alot of audio devices wont work with that buss speed of the cpu i presume cos of command cycles, not the actual pci buss movement... is this an urban myth??... anyone got firmer info cos i'm a tad busy to keep up right now, but i'm sure ive read that...

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Message 18/54 24-Jul-00 @ 08:38 PM - RE: buying a new pc

Defector Z

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I seem to remember hearing something about 'floating points' and that's why the AMD chips stumble.

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Message 19/54 24-Jul-00 @ 09:32 PM - RE: buying a new pc

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Defector Z, You may want to rethink the last comment that you made. You remember hearing something about floating points being the downfall of AMD's is about as far from the truth as it gets. AMD's floating point calculations are better than Intel's, so for many audio applications such as soundforge, where floating point calculations determine how fast your audio is processed, AMD is the better solution. All you have to do is check out any PC magazine and they show you that. I am completely happy with my AMD 600, and it cost me a hell of a lot less than a Pentium. I currently use, Cubase, Acid, Soundforge and many other programs with no problems at all. I put the system together myself, and it saved me megabucks! If any of you are interested in building a system, all of the info is available on the net, and it only helps you to know how to work with your components, so when something goes wrong, you can fix the problem. SITAR- I'm just curious how much your system would cost? My system is the 600 overclocked to 750, an Asus mboard, 30gig, 7200 maxtor hard, vodoo 3d card, Gadgetlabs 824 sound card, 17inch monitor, and keyboard, mouse etc. My price $1600. Can anybody beat that for a bargain?

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Message 20/54 24-Jul-00 @ 11:01 PM - RE: buying a new pc

sitar

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Me, I can't beat that except that I live smack in the middle of Manhattan so everything is more expensive than most other places on the planet...2k+ for rent in a descent place. Sick to live in this toilet. I payed 17K plus tax before the monitor. Monitor will cost me another $2-300. Asus Geforce deluxe 3d card in that....games being what they are

Hope it's compatible with Logic/Cakewalk. Otherwise I'll just have to play games the rest of my life.

Same hd I suspect...Maxtor 30 gig 7200. We both show taste. No sound card. Layla (which I have already) will handle everything. You got a good deal there, unless you're living in buttf*ck Illinois, in which case I'd say they're laughing all the way to the bank. :P

Good deal guy. If your goal in life is to make me jealous, you can retire.

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Message 21/54 25-Jul-00 @ 07:57 AM - RE: buying a new pc

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i'm not talking about FP processing at all... thats internal calculus... but i'm sure some older (not THAT old) sound devices have problems with a 133 fsb ... as do some agp cards... innit?

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Message 22/54 25-Jul-00 @ 10:07 AM - RE: buying a new pc

Breakerbox

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The problems were with the chipsets on the motherboars since the new VIA chipset.
I am getting an ASSUS K7V motherboard and an 750 athlon probably overclock to 900 Mhz i am searching for new ram too.
i am converting my old pc (p400 128ram sblive) to do sampling ,burning cds, either gigasampler or unity ds-1 atleast i am gonna try.. I wanna get 32-50 polyphony
and 10ms. response time... hope it works, that would stop me buying a sampler. I am networking the pcs so we can play couple games too. i am gonna install the minumum version of the windows with no internet explorer (try this if you pc is slow, no active desktop either) no progrmas running on the background either.
i have almost 2 of everything except the soundcards any suggestions?
I might even get the powersampler but i heard its not that great.

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Message 23/54 25-Jul-00 @ 11:15 AM - RE: buying a new pc

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whoah 10ms.. thats low.. what card you hoping to get that from ??

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Message 24/54 25-Jul-00 @ 12:16 PM - RE: buying a new pc

Defector Z

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I'm not suggesting that all chips are bad and all that, just repeating what I have been told. I write music, not build computers, so I didn't spend 24hours/day for 3 months researching this stuff. I'm not surprised if I have a few things wrong, but if I were to build another PC again, I would do a much better job of it. Learning experience.

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Message 25/54 25-Jul-00 @ 12:30 PM - RE: buying a new pc

99devils

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DefectorZ - What you've heard about AMD being weak in the floating point department was true up until the Athlon came out. The Athlon has superior floating point speed to the P-III, although the coppermine chips have new FPUs that are supposedly better than the Athlon.

K - I have no idea why the cards don't work. You could be as right as I am ;-) I'll see if I can find anything out, but I'm suspecting that AMD will want to hush up any incompatibilities, so probably won't find much info.

I have heard that it was the VIA chipsets that most cards have problems with. Dunno though. I'm still trying to get answers from a couple of sound card companies as to why/what/if they will work with AMD based machines. Most notably, I'm trying to find a compatable ADAT card so I can interfcae with the 01V and dump the Darwin HD recorder (it's fine, but I'd prefer on-screen editing, easier cut/copy/paste, more tracks, plugins, etc. DAWs are just better)

-Craig

-Craig

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Message 26/54 25-Jul-00 @ 07:51 PM - RE: buying a new pc

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well, the lowest rates seem to be from rme hammerfall for latency, Stephan from Native Instruments was rating them highly... but you'd need a seperate midi port as they dont come with - alesis make their own adat card but it's sposed to have horrendous latency and not be too hot - frontier design do one... dunno bout Terratec, midiman and gadgetlabs etc, i aint gone over for a while, but they all do big multi-i/o systems.. wether they have adat options i dunno.. korg have the 1212 but that again sposed to be not too hot, dunno bout the new ones tho cos they re-vamped it didnt they... thats all i can think of right now

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Message 27/54 26-Jul-00 @ 04:16 AM - RE: buying a new pc

drastiksolutions.11net.com

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I build computers all day for a living for studios princes keyboard player ect.
I worked for mars guitar center and as a rep for sonic foundry. I have seen some athalon systems work great on some stuff, but I have also seen them fail on
one program and work on anather on the same system.Why Intel??

In a nutshell when Audio Software designers write the code for computers to record Audio they build the design around Intel's Pentium processor, therefore to get the most performance you need a Pentium chip.

In the future this will not be the case, but for now better safe than having glitches and pops and clicks in your audio playback.

Understanding a processors role in Digital Audio

Often people misunderstand what a processors capabilities are in audio applications, the misconception lies in: "A faster processor gives me more tracks of playback." Wrong

Example:I fitted a standard 233 with a SCSI drive and a SCSI card and was able to play 24 tracks when before I could only play 8. This is because a processor is nothing more than a high speed calculator not a Bandwidth pusher.

Role:It is simple a CPU's main role is for doing Plug In's and sequencing that is why buying a superfast Discount computer at Best Buy and Comp USA, is not the answer for you, you need a custom build.

Bandwidth and Motherboard Bus speed?

Your Soundcard is plugged into your PCI expansion slot and connected to the PCI motherboard Bus. Bandwidth is the amount of Audio running back and forth on that Bus. Your typical PCI bus is only 66mhz, Ram is 100-133mhz, and finally your CPU is 233mhz-1000mhz. None of this makes sense but it will very soon.

The Bottle neck effect

500mhz-(cpu)

100mhz-(motherboard)

66mhz(Soundcard)

notice how the numbers get smaller? Your audio runs off the PCI bus at 66mhz so even with a hefty wefty PIII-800 that cost you $500 your trying to suck a basketball through a straw with a Vacuum!!!!!

So what the hell am I trying to say? SCSI to the rescue!!

SCSI

by not being able to keep up with the flow of data your (slow) ATA-66 and IDE drives cant maintain constant bandwidth, fluctuating up and down throughout playback causing lock ups, pops clicks and head aches!!!

Your CPU tries to make up the slack but uses too much math to be useful for anything else like: PLUG IN'S.This is were SCSI interface comes in. Having it's own onboard processor for a SCSI drive and Card you are able to free up the CPU for what it is meant for (math) and plug in's. In addition to freeing up CPU, it has a stable bandwidth of 40mg-80mg depending on the version Ultra, Ultra-w, Ultra2w. This means no data surges, just a straight boost of constant transfer of Audio.

My PIII-600e through PIII-700e SCSI machines will outperform your buddies PIII-900 in the Audio category for all of the for mentioned reasons.

if you need a custom system check out the best priced Power PC's from
a veteran who knows Audio!!!!!

justin lynch 651-696-9128

http://drastiksolutions.11net.com

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Message 28/54 26-Jul-00 @ 08:36 AM - RE: buying a new pc

Defector Z

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Justin - you have made me feel alot better. :-) I am building my own SCSI machine - SCSI all the way around - but like I said, the CPU is defective, we think.

Actually, i don't know how "professional" you are (but let's assume you are), maybe you would like to do a computer audio article. You know, what to look out for, that sort of thing. It may not increase your business, but it would be really helpful for folks like myself. :-)

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Message 29/54 26-Jul-00 @ 08:51 AM - RE: buying a new pc

Defector Z

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Justin - just checked the website. Pretty impressive. What's the going rate for your PIII600e system? I just put together a system very similar to that and I am curious where your price fits in what I paid. thanks.

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Message 30/54 26-Jul-00 @ 03:54 PM - RE: buying a new pc

Defector Z

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Justin -

Yeah - me again. :-) Hey, I saw that you offer systems with the M Audio Delta 1010. What has your experience been with this card? How does it compare to comparably equipped cards in that range. Multi analog I/O's, SPDIF I/O, high quality rack type stuff? I am in the market for a new card in the range of that above mentioned, as well as the Aardvard Aark 24. Any thoughts on any of that? What would you recommend and what would you use?

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Message 31/54 26-Jul-00 @ 08:05 PM - RE: buying a new pc

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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 !!

!...

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Message 32/54 26-Jul-00 @ 10:53 PM - RE: buying a new pc

sitar

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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.

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Message 33/54 27-Jul-00 @ 08:02 AM - RE: buying a new pc

adams04

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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.

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Message 34/54 27-Jul-00 @ 11:45 AM - RE: buying a new pc

sitar

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I saw that grow your own tutorial a few months ago. cool.

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Message 35/54 28-Jul-00 @ 05:45 AM - RE: buying a new pc

Jasper

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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.

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Message 36/54 28-Jul-00 @ 08:52 AM - RE: buying a new pc

adams04

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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..

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Message 37/54 28-Jul-00 @ 08:58 AM - RE: buying a new pc

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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...

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Message 38/54 28-Jul-00 @ 09:19 PM - RE: buying a new pc

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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
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Message 39/54 29-Jul-00 @ 12:01 AM - RE: buying a new pc

killah altarboy

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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.

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Message 40/54 29-Jul-00 @ 07:38 AM - RE: buying a new pc

sitaR

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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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Message 41/54 29-Jul-00 @ 09:12 PM - RE: buying a new pc

adams04

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Hmm,Hoontech.
U got any Direct X plugs u can try?
This DSP Pack i got is class.
Gonna try some other soft wares on it?
Oh yeah,could u ask Claus about oclocked Celerons?
I know they don,t do well with sw1000.

Cheers Guru.

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Message 42/54 30-Jul-00 @ 01:55 AM - RE: buying a new pc

cremedementhe!

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Jeez... get an external modem from buy.com or suchlike for $50. You have enough nonsense filling up IRQs and stealing resources without having an internal modem.

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Message 43/54 30-Jul-00 @ 07:42 AM - RE: buying a new pc

sitar

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That's an option I didn't think of. I'll see first though if I can get this modem back on with everything else since I paid for it. I think I still have some irq resources left. There are 6 pci slots in the motherboard but some are being used virtually it seems. I found it all last night in the bios. 3&6 and 4&5 seem to be taken by 2 devices. It's all unknown territory to me. Worst case scenario is that I bring the cpu and the Layla to the guys that put it together. If it can be resolved, they'll know how.

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Message 44/54 30-Jul-00 @ 09:55 AM - RE: buying a new pc

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if you double click on the PC icon at the top of the hardware list in control-panel/system, it shows all the irq's, but windows is wierd cos it remaps some interrupts internally so what you see aint always what you get - what you need to do first is turn off all un-used ports in your bios.. No printer?.. disable the printer port, Not using the comm port/s ??... turn 'em off... in your windows system find all unused hardware/drivers and disable them for your normal boot-up default profile

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Message 45/54 30-Jul-00 @ 10:12 AM - RE: buying a new pc

sitar

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Hmmmmmm. I'll look at those things tonight when I get home. The puter I'm on now is NT, but I'll look at the system/hardware/irqs if I can. Don't have administrative privileges here.

But then what? Assign an unused irq to com3? I didn't even see com3 in my bios last night. But the modem must be assigned to com3 cause when I click on more details under properties in Control Panel/Modem I get a message com3 cannot be found, or is disabled or something. Plus it tells me in Control Panel/Modems which Modem I have, but it's not being seen by the rest of the computer. I thought a search in Install New Hardware would come up with it, but nope. Jeez. Then I have to install my MOTU Midi Express to a parallel port. That should be no problem though. This is no big deal either. Need to know how is all. I tell you I love computers. This kinda stuff only points out my own ignorance in these matters. But then I learn something. I'll follow your steps K.

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Message 46/54 30-Jul-00 @ 04:40 PM - RE: buying a new pc

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so where actually is the modem?... you say it's assigned to comm3 ??>. huh?? - is it internal/external where is it plugged in?

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Message 47/54 30-Jul-00 @ 04:53 PM - RE: buying a new pc

sitar

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Its internal. I think it's plugged into a pci slot. Would that make sense? I say pci because I think I remember using the pci slot below it for the Layla card. I'll have to look when I get the chance at home. I have to be up for work again tomorrow though so it might be tuesday before I can futz with it. Thursday's my last day at this job. Start a new one in about a week.

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Message 48/54 01-Aug-00 @ 07:13 PM - RE: buying a new pc

Breakerbox

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I need a good sound card with low latency.
Sitar, you should do waht k says, you are not gonna use any serial ports, assuming you have ps2 mouse port, you shoulg go to mycomputer/control panel/and teh click on system settings, than the device manager.that should show you if there is any conflicts, you can disable the cars, you also click the propeties on your sound card and change the irqs ( righ click on device then properties then resources you can manually configure the port/dma/irqs manually) i ad a modem which was crashing my pc everytime i try to dial up, but after messing with the port numbers for the sound card and modem averytung works fine now. hope thi helps

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Message 49/54 02-Aug-00 @ 06:34 AM - RE: buying a new pc

sitar

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Thanks Breakerbox. I did what K said and the puter sees the modem now, but the modem won't dial up. I'll work it out. I needed a surreal

port for the Logic key. Unlike last time the puter found the key immediately because I new to assign the port to com4. Logic says this is necessary. Strange thing happened though. I copied my logic tracks to zip from my old puter and loaded them in to my new puter. I ran a song with 10 audio and several midi channels. Everything played smoothly. I went back to it later and the timebar began moving in jumps and starts and I get that pc/av cpu or drive to slow message when only 2 audio tracks are being played back. I'll work that out too...I hope. Don't know what changed what changed. Also installed my new Motu XT Express midi interface. At first the puter couldn't find it. I rebooted and went in to the bios/changed LPT1 mode to normal and voila. Proud of myself on that one since I don't know a thing about the inner workings of computers.

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Message 50/54 02-Aug-00 @ 03:55 PM - RE: buying a new pc

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you're using logic yes?.. is it V5 ?.. - and the modem guy.. if you look at the proporties of the modem in i think control-panel/modem what port does it say the modem is on etc ?

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Message 51/54 03-Aug-00 @ 03:01 AM - RE: buying a new pc

Breakerbox

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I don't have my modem installed anymore, i had this problem abut a year ago, right now i have an intenal DSL card, which lists as a network card in properties, why were you asking?

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Message 52/54 03-Aug-00 @ 09:39 AM - RE: buying a new pc

sitar

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I am continuing my plight in the Logic Forum under 'More pc/av misery'. Sounds like a good time huh.

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Message 53/54 30-Aug-00 @ 01:21 PM - RE: buying a new pc

drastiksolutions

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Message 54/54 31-Aug-00 @ 03:50 PM - RE: buying a new pc

99devils

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Man don't you give up?

You should be paying Kilo for the free advertising you're getting.

-Craig

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