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-- what's a good Music PC??????

what's a good Music PC??????

Hey,

I want to get ready to upgrade my piece of shit Pc to one that tweaked for music only. I know I can customize a PC my own way thats fine, I usally use Sonar and Reason and FL studio. When I load up Z3ta VSTs or any others they're a Pain in the AsS and a CPU KILLER!!!! what would you perfer... without over doing the price range. I know the faster the better? but something that under or around $1000.

Hmmmm, well I would say an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, ASUS motherboard, 2 gigs of dual channel RAM, a nice dedicated sound card (Creative, M-Audio, whatever ... as long as it offers low latency ASIO driver), Two hard drives (one for system files, the other for your music production, 7200 RPM,16MB cache). If you don't game, then video card isn't important. Then, just make sure you have a decent power supply as well (400 watts or higher should be adequate). Also consider staying clear of the 80mm fans, and using 120 mm fans, that way, you'll have less noise if you're recording with a mic next to your computer.

Those are my humble suggestions.

Rhythm

...and a nice widescreen flat monitor (or two).

Re: what's a good Music PC??????

quote:

Originally posted by MisterSofty6502 Hey, I want to get ready to upgrade my piece of shit Pc to one that tweaked for music only. I know I can customize a PC my own way thats fine, I usally use Sonar and Reason and FL studio. When I load up Z3ta VSTs or any others they're a Pain in the AsS and a CPU KILLER!!!! what would you perfer... without over doing the price range. I know the faster the better? but something that under or around $1000.

The E6700 CPU (Conroe, Intel Core 2 Duo) is a good start - and then you can overclock it to get even more out of the beast.

But if you don't mind waiting a couple of months, you could wait for the new Kentsfield (basically it's a double Conroe). The problem is, however, that these tend to produce a lot more heat than the Conroes, so no passive cooling there :-(

Regards

Here you go!

Intel 945G Chipset
Intel 64-bit Pentium D805
(2x 2,7GHz 2MB Cache)
512 MB PC533 DDR2 RAM
DVD/CDRW Combo
250 Gb 7200 rpm System HD
(16MB Cache 24/7 cert.)
2 monitor output(1xDVI/1xVGA)
Ti Firewire
USB 2.0

Cheers
C

quote:

Originally posted by substorm Here you go! Intel 945G Chipset Intel 64-bit Pentium D805 (2x 2,7GHz 2MB Cache) 512 MB PC533 DDR2 RAM DVD/CDRW Combo 250 Gb 7200 rpm System HD (16MB Cache 24/7 cert.) 2 monitor output(1xDVI/1xVGA) Ti Firewire USB 2.0 Cheers C

that system is outdated...

core 2 duo is the current processor to go.

quote:

Originally posted by thecYrus that system is outdated... core 2 duo is the current processor to go.

Yes i know that, but i was thinking of the pricelimit he metioned! Thats about a 1000 "bucks", if your aiming for the core duo with the same setup, you�ll have to ad atleast 3-400 more, and think that its not all in the processor.

Its how it all is put together with a good case, fan, where you put the ports, RAM (you cant have to much of that), A fast HD.

So yes its outdated but its still powerfull, and you can still buy it with a much lower pricetag.

However, the prices aren�t the same in every country, so i based this n what it would cost in sweden, so it will most sertain be cheaper in the states. So maybe you culd go with this setup!

Intel 965G Chipset
Intel 64-bit Core 2 Duo Processor E6300
(2x 1.86 GHz 4MB Cache)
1 Gb PC667 DDR2 RAM
DVD +/- Dual Layer writer
250 Gb 7200 rpm System HD
250 Gb 7200 rpm Audio HD
VGA monitor output
Ti Firewire
USB 2.0

quote:

Originally posted by substorm However, the prices aren�t the same in every country, so i based this n what it would cost in sweden, so it will most sertain be cheaper in the states. So maybe you culd go with this setup! Intel 965G Chipset Intel 64-bit Core 2 Duo Processor E6300 (2x 1.86 GHz 4MB Cache) 1 Gb PC667 DDR2 RAM DVD +/- Dual Layer writer 250 Gb 7200 rpm System HD 250 Gb 7200 rpm Audio HD VGA monitor output Ti Firewire USB 2.0

hmmm... 1.86 2x does that mean...double 1.86? I want a fast processor that would handle some very strong plug ins. So I was assuming I get the highest.... CPU speed possible. On tigerdirect.com I customized my PC in this way. Buying the pieces from them.

-Intel Pentium D Processor 945 3.4GHz Dual Core
-2GB DDR2 PC4200 Non-ECC Memory (1GB x 2)
-250GB 7200RPM 3G SATA II Hard Drive
(Planing on getting a 250gb external HD for back up)
- 16X DVD+R/RW-R/RW Dual Layer Drive
- STANDARD Integrated Graphics video card. IM NOT MUCH OF A GAMER
- SoundBlaster Audigy SE Sound Card
- 17" .27 Black CRT Monitor FLAT SCREEN

I already have some killer M audio Monitors.... im fine with speakers and stuff.

but all of that rounds up to about $853.96

SOUNDS GOOD TO ME? Wat you think?

TO >> SWAMPER: I VOTED! :-)

TO >> SUBSTORM : BTW.. Nice Tracks on the myspace page

quote:

Originally posted by MisterSofty6502 hmmm... 1.86 2x does that mean...double 1.86? I want a fast processor that would handle some very strong plug ins. So I was assuming I get the highest.... CPU speed possible. On tigerdirect.com I customized my PC in this way. Buying the pieces from them. -Intel Pentium D Processor 945 3.4GHz Dual Core -2GB DDR2 PC4200 Non-ECC Memory (1GB x 2) -250GB 7200RPM 3G SATA II Hard Drive (Planing on getting a 250gb external HD for back up) - 16X DVD+R/RW-R/RW Dual Layer Drive - STANDARD Integrated Graphics video card. IM NOT MUCH OF A GAMER - SoundBlaster Audigy SE Sound Card - 17" .27 Black CRT Monitor FLAT SCREEN I already have some killer M audio Monitors.... im fine with speakers and stuff. but all of that rounds up to about $853.96 SOUNDS GOOD TO ME? Wat you think?

No - not all of it. I still seriously think you should go with a Core 2 Duo CPU (aka Conroe). Any other CPU is so much outdated compared to this (it's not too much to call it a CPU revolution). Even the slowest Core 2 Duo runs faster than most other CPUs. And it doesn't have to be expensive. You CAN put a Conroe based system together (if you do it yourself) for less than 1000 USD.

Don't pay any attention to the CPU numbers (1.86, 3.4 etc.). It doesn't say ANYTHING about the performance you can expect. (Well, it does, but it's a long story... bottom line is that you certainly CAN'T compare CPUs based on that number. You're comparing apples to oranges (or in this case rather car engines to jet engines) if you think that a 3.4 Ghz Pentium 4 (or D or whatever) runs faster than a 1.67 Core 2 Duo (even though 2 * 1.67 < 3.4). Forget all about these numbers. It doesn't say anything - not even when it's the same type of CPU. There are different revisions, different cache sizes etc. This has a large influence on the performance you'll get). The best CPU available today is the Core 2 Duo from Intel. If you want a CPU that allows you to run some seriously demanding plugs (without spending all of your fortune), you should go for the E6700 or maybe the model just below that.

Oh, and the sound device... I would never consider going anywhere near a SoundBlaster device for the purpose of music production. I might not have any solid reasons for this. I might be a snob. But that's me. No SB allowed here, please ;-)

Otherwise I'ld say it looks fine, but you might want to consider getting a motherboard also ASUS is what you want...

And you can also consider (maybe at a later time) to add another hard drive for a RAID0 setup. This will improve your maximum track count much (for audio tracks).

Regards

Okay, let's go easy on the Core Duo evangelism. Now that the AM2 chipset is out, AMD (Athlon X2) once again outperforms Intel in almost every category and for a lot lower price.

Dual core does not multiply speed by 2, but it will let you run practically twice as many virtual instruments/effects under most circumstances. The "speed" in a sequencer is mostly the latency, which is determined by the quality of the sound module you get.

Get quiet parts, too. Video card is a huge one - Asus has a couple of GeForce 7600GS/GT models that are passively cooled (virtually silent) and give you a ton of bang for the buck, they can hold their own in a lot of games too. Power supply is another huge one; most power supplies are noisy as hell and not very reliable either, but Enermax has a bunch that are once again virtually silent.

It really is a lot better to build your own if you're a reasonably technical person. Commodity computers come with commodity parts, which are neither optimized for speed nor noise.

quote:

Originally posted by DigiNut Okay, let's go easy on the Core Duo evangelism. Now that the AM2 chipset is out, AMD (Athlon X2) once again outperforms Intel in almost every category and for a lot lower price.

Not that I in any way want this to turn into an AMD vs. Intel thread, but do you have a link or two to tests that proves this? All I've seen so far is the exact opposite. And not just by a margin. And I've been an AMD "believer" for years, so I would love it if it's true...

Quoting from http://www.hardware-test.dk/test_show.asp?id=5813 (UK summary or review of AMD AM2 Athlon 64 X2 5000+):

quote:

The performance isn�t quite impressive. It isn�t worse than a similay Socket 939 based system, but there are little performance gains by switching to Socket AM2 and DDR2 memory

But to the original poster: Although there now might be some confusion as to which way to go (AMD or Intel), you still should look at Dual Core CPUs. Almost all DAW applications are multithreaded and they highly benefit from dual cores.

Regards

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