KVR Audio

iDavid · Post by **iDavid** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 5:08 pm

I've decided to use my present PC for video editing and get a dedicated PC for music. I got just too many things going on for that PC.

So far I am looking at:
AMD 3.2 XP
two sea-gate HDs

A motrox P650 video card
Some type of ASUS mother board.
I want 2 gigs of DR 400 ram, Corsair (?)
Maybe a Zalman quiet fan.

Everything else I need help with, or perhaps change my mind one the other items.

I also am planning to run two external hard-drives, I guess firewire.

Ok, advice?

Oh, some quiet type case.

rlabz · Post by **rlabz** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 5:31 pm

Since you don't mention a budget, I'd say go with an Alienware Ozma. If you were on a budget, I'd say piece together your own, and give you help on specific components, but you didn't.

Alienware's known for building good machines, particularly for gaming, but I'm sure their DAWs are awesome, as well.

http://www.alienware.com/Product_Pages/ ... audio.aspx

Lot of options, Athlon64/Opteron (!) and Xeon/P4

Hope this helps, let me know if you meant advice on components.

iDavid · Post by **iDavid** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 5:51 pm

I really want one put together here in Germany. I had my last PC shipped and it took a beating...

I have a budget, not so tight, but least expensive is better than more expensive....

A bit over $2,000 is OK

whyterabbyt · Post by **whyterabbyt** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 5:56 pm

If you're going for 2Gb RAM, be aware that not many AThlon mobos have more than 3 RAM slots; so you'd be on at least one 1Gb stick; and they seem still to be bloody pricy compared to 512Mb sticks...

And a DVD-RW might be more use than a second external HD, depending on usage.

daizo · Post by **daizo** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 8:38 am

go for a custom workstation - i got mine from www.monarchcomputing.com. Sweet Dual Opteron Box. Best prices and huge variety of excellent componenents to choose from, they install burn in make sure everything works.

Lunch Money · Post by **Lunch Money** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 10:21 am

A few things to consider--

1. Heat. You don't want lots.
2. Efficiency. You want to avoid diminishing returns. That means you don't want to pay 10% more money for a 0.5% increase in performance.
3. Noise. Relates to point 1. The hotter your system, the more noise you'll need to make in order to keep it cool.

Some random thoughts related to the above points:

Make sure you actually NEED all that power before you plunk down $$ for it. I have to admit, I've finally hit a power roadblock with my own system (Athlon XP 1700+) and I understand the desire to have more than enough power. However, in the long run I'd rather have a good hardware vocal compressor and large diaphragm condenser mic than a new system. If you don't use hardware, you're spending your money correctly on the powerful system-- but make sure you're not sacrificing more important tools for the sake of an uber-computer.

Noise from fans is my number one pet peeve. If my budget is strict, I'd rather portion out some money for quiet fans than more RAM.

Speaking of RAM, 2GB can be more harmful than helpful. I don't know the theory behind it, but it's been documented that if you have "too much" of it, you'll slow down system performance. Now, if you're loading lots of large soundfonts or samples directly into RAM, it's a worthwhile trade-off. But if you're streaming your samples or don't load much stuff into RAM, you're actually better off with less. At 1GB you start facing troubles. The money you save on the extra RAM could possibly be used more wisely for something else (ie. the quiet fans like I was mentioning). I'm not sure if dual-processor systems are different, but since you say you want an Athlon XP (single), I'd reconsider the 2GB of RAM.

Why so many hard drives? 2 internal and 2 external, if I read correctly. You must have your reasons, but for many people, 2 drives -total- is a luxury, and 3 drives is ideal. 1 internal for system, 1 internal for audio files, and 1 external for backup. What's the 4th for?

For cases, Sonata makes some 'quiet' ones. However, with a bit of creativity, almost any case can be made quieter. Mount your hard drives with rubber grommets, make sure you actually USE those feet that come with your case, and--more importantly--use quiet fans and hard drives.

The video card looks pretty sweet. I wonder if you can get cheaper dual-head cards, though-- you won't need any fancy features or 3D acceleration. Still, it's not a bank-breaker, and is passively cooled (well, from the pic... maybe they just didn't show the fan and heatsink) which is the main thing I'd look for. The last thing you need is a video card that adds yet another fan to the noise factor.

iDavid · Post by **iDavid** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 10:32 am

Hard-drives...

One for apps
One for Halion-3
One for BFD
One for Audio streaming

If I can get away with using two, that's great. I have three in my present system and it worked fine. Just looking ahead.

Memory, again it is a BFD thing...

If I were only to use two drives how would you set them up?

whyterabbyt · Post by **whyterabbyt** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 11:10 am

Lunch Money quoth Make sure you actually NEED all that power before you plunk down $$ for it.

Umm, an XP3200 aint exactly the pinnacle of CPU power these days, and they come in at £110 UK. Nothing else on the system spec is particularly heavy duty either, 'cept maybe for the 2Gb RAM which is unusual for a 'consumer' machine.

Can you provide sources for the 'lots of memory slows your system down' thing BTW.

iDavid · Post by **iDavid** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 12:03 pm

Ok,

What would be the pinnacle of CPU power these days?

AMD 64?

I really would like power to spare.

whyterabbyt · Post by **whyterabbyt** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 12:13 pm

Fastest on the block seems to be the Athlon FX53 on Socket 939. That'll cost you a bomb, though.

The slowest 64-bit Athlon you'll get on S939 is the 3500. But if you're intending to upgrade your CPU later, Socket 939 is what you want. Sockey 754 doesnt have much of a lifespan yet, although the processors are generally cheaper at the moment. Your fastest option there is currenbtly the 3700, but the 3400 is still about £100 cheaper than the 3500/939.

3000/754 is about the same speed and price as an
XP3200. I'd at least start there if I was building a system today.

iDavid · Post by **iDavid** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 12:19 pm

Are those 64 bit systems, or would you stay away from 64 bit systems?

Re-read your post and these do seem to be 64 bit

DevonB · Post by **DevonB** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 12:26 pm

iDavid wrote:Ok,

What would be the pinnacle of CPU power these days?

AMD 64?

I really would like power to spare.

Yes, Athlon 64 FX53, and your wallet will ache from the price. I wouldn't bother, personally. It's not THAT big of a jump from the Athlon XP high end procs to warrant it. The rpices you'd pay for 'top of the line', you'd get more CPU power out of going with a whole new system and FX Teleport instead.

For example -

http://www6.tomshardware.com/cpu/200406 ... 39-22.html

Look at the AMD XP 3200+ took 98 seconds to do that MP3 encode, whereas the Athlon 64 FX53 2.4ghz took 89 seconds. The AMD XP 3200+ with the Barton core is $170 cheapest I could find it. The FX53 chepaest is $785. For an extra 9 seconds faster, is that worth it to you, or do you take that extra $615 and build another system instead? As you can see right here you'd be WELL on your way to a pretty nice AMD 3200+ completely built!

Devon

iDavid · Post by **iDavid** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 12:29 pm

Damn, that is a serious price difference

DevonB · Post by **DevonB** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 12:29 pm

iDavid wrote:Are those 64 bit systems, or would you stay away from 64 bit systems?

Re-read your post and these do seem to be 64 bit

From what I've read, the 64 bit procs run 32 bit code faster than the 32 bit procs, so it's not a bad idea, it's just you need an OS to support it, and that'll either be Linux or Windows 2003 64 bit Edition, which the audio market doesn't exactly 'support' right now in high numbers.

(Yay! Ultra run-on sentence! Woohoo!)

Devon

iDavid · Post by **iDavid** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 12:33 pm

With the Barton, are you overclocking?

(one question!)

Design my new DAW, please.