I've been really gettting into producing lately, but my 800mhz P3 isn't cutting it anymore.. So here what i want to go with....

1) Asus P4P800 w/ Intel P4 3.0ghz 800mhz FSB

2) OCZ 256mb PC3700 466mhz DDR (Will upgrade to 512 later)

3) 40gig 7200rpm HD (will also upgrade later)

4) ATX Case with 350 watt power supply ( still looking for a case, any suggestions??)

5) ATI 7500 with 64MB DDR

6) Dual 10/100 Network Card ( FREE! )

7) CD-RW 52x24x52 (also need to find one for around $60.00)

8) Viewsonic 21 inch monitor

9) Windows 2000 or Windows XP (Can't decided, i will be running Fruity Loops Studio 4 at first but will eventully get into cuebase and reason )

10) Finally the all important sound card... I'm only going to have a MIDI keyboard, and maybe a Oxygen 8, i would like to use both of them at the same time if possible, I would like to go with either a
- Echo Mia or
- M-Audio Audiophile 24/96

I would like to keep the cost around 1000.00, please help me out... Thanks!!!!!

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Orbital Grooves Radio --==-- orbitalgrooves.com
6-8pm EST wednesday Night --==-- Progressive/Hard Trance/Tribal

Hi AmP.
That spec looks pretty good, but I'd suggest a few things that you
may want to add either straightaway or as an upgrade.

2/ Memory - you probably want to double that to 512 if you can, those VSTs can be real memory hogs. (i've just re-read your e-mail and you state that u'll upgrade later anyway!)

3/ A 40 gig drive is pretty small, but you do say you'll upgrade that. I reckon a 100gig drive or over is best. Also try and
get a drive with an 8Mb cache as these are significantly faster.

9/ I've been using Xp for 6 months or so now and it really is the best, so I'd opt for that over W2k.

10/ The Audiophile is rated as a good soundcard. I've got a Terratec dmx 6Fire which gives me really low ASIO latency and a handy front
panel. You might want to consider that aswell.

One other thing - fans & CPU coolers. Make sure you get nice quiet fans (check out www.silentpc.com)!

Hey AmP,

I'll just post my 2 cents. Although everything looks good, definatly a good purchase.

Firstly, yeah I'd probably agree with Stuart Silver on the ram and hard drive issues... I'd say you could just about cope with 256, but 512 is always nice. Also, hard drives are so cheap these days, seems silly not to opt for something around 100gig. Even 60 or 80gig would be a significant improvement, for not much extra cost.

Operating system depends on how you use your computer I guess. I disagree with Stuart Silver here. XP is the easiest to use sure, but for control and stability i'd have to go with 2k.

I guess the best balance is something like WinXP Pro, but i wouldn't touch Home with a barge pole.

And one last thing, I'm not sure a 350watt power supply with handle a decent P4 (that will require decent cooling), along with a powerful soundcard all that well. You might consider somewhere around 400 watts or even above.

Hope that helps.

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:: In Trance We Trust ::

I'd go with XP and tweak the hell out of it. You get just as much control and stability as with 2k but with the added benefit of better multimedia drivers and performance. Check this thread on futureproducers for tips on how to tweak it. Also check out Black Viper's detailed breakdown of all the services and what their dependencies are in XP.

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Thanks guys for your help, I'll defiantly go with a bigger power supply, again, I’m trying to keep my costs down at first, I think I’ll get a 40gig 8mb cache and add a 100gig drive later.. I just don't see me using up 40gigs that soon. I'm going to start with 256mb however, I’ll go with a 512mb chip if you think it would be faster because it's on one chip???? and not two.. I'll be sure to load up my case with fans, ect. Still having a little trouble deciding on a sound card. I'll it research more. I've been using Windows 2000 ever sense it came out, pretty good with it. I didn't know if Windows XP was better Multimedia wise. Also can anyone recommend a MIDI Controller, the ones with the Knobs faders, ect. I know about the oxygen 8, but want something a little better, how about this… http://www.waveidea.com/en/products/bitstream/

Thanks Again!
DjAmP

___________________
Orbital Grooves Radio --==-- orbitalgrooves.com
6-8pm EST wednesday Night --==-- Progressive/Hard Trance/Tribal

For a midi controller, I prefer something with an actual keyboard, but that's just me. My current favourite is the Evolution MK-249C. 49 touch-sensitive keys, 12 Rotary assignable knobs as well as assignable pitch bend and modulation...

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http://www.aponaut.com

Okay, here is my next question, I already have a MIDI Keyboard, just a cheap one, but it should work fine from what i've learned. ... Can i buy a MIDI controller with nobes and sliders ect. and have them both running at the same time???

___________________
Orbital Grooves Radio --==-- orbitalgrooves.com
6-8pm EST wednesday Night --==-- Progressive/Hard Trance/Tribal

Yeah I think they all chain to each other before going to the soundcard

Some more opinion...

For quiet PC component reviews, goto Silent PC Review

If you're going for XP (and, IMO you should), 512Mb RAM is almost essential.

The P4P800 has dual channel memory, which means you should use two identical memory modules together for maximum RAM speed.

The P4P800 has onboard gigabit LAN - consider using that instead of the network card if you need network. If you don't need network, leave it disabled.

You don't need a powerful graphics card if you're not playing 3D games. You might save some money here if you don't need the graphics power.

If you have the room, a tower case is probably the best choice. Unless you want a small, desktop or specalist case, of course There are some case reviews at Silent PC Review (link above).

NO GENERIC PSUS. Go with one of the following names for some quality, it'll save you ALOT of hassle in the future. Some of the current leaders are Fortron, Zalman, Antec, Enermax, Thermaltake.

(before I start, I'd like to mention I'm not an intel guy so my research into this is minimal) If I were in the market for a P4 I'd grab the Gigabyte 8KNXP Ultra. It's feature-packed and even supports SCSI out of the box in case you ever wanted to pick up some cheap 10K drives later. If your going with 256MB ram, and you upgrade later, both boards supports Dual Channel DDR, meaning it'll pull from both sticks at the same time and actually be FASTER than an actual stick. I'd suggest against the OCZ RAM, as I've had bad experiences with OCZ in the past. Get some Crucial (Micron) or some Corsair if you're overclocking. And what the heck do you need DDR466 for? DDR400 will be fine @ stock speeds. The video card's crap, but I understand your not making a gaming system. There's been killer deals on GF4 Ti4600's recently if you're gonna game occasionally, they run about $110 online. As for the monitor I personally run a Sony G500 that I aquired here just shy of $240. These are factory pulls and are all in rather good condition. My "B" grade monitor was prettymuch brand new except for some sticky residue on the top (looks like a piece of tape was there, maybe with number/name written on it. After that was cleaned it's pristine. I'd suggest going with a Lite-On, simply for the fact that mine's been through tons of tough times and has never let me down, it's a great drive, it'll burn anything I don't quite understand the "
6) Dual 10/100 Network Card ( FREE! )" considering the P4P has integrated 10/100/1000

well, whatever.. uh, yeah..

Well i already got the P4P800, I forgot the 10/100/1000 network port was on the motherboard, so i'm not gonna but in that card.. I'm def. going to go with 2 sticks of 256 instead of 1 512, I'm actually going to put in, PC2700.. It's free so i'll use it until it craps out or i need more power... I'll look at the video card a monitor, i was trying to keep it around 200.00 for both... I'll see... What i really need right now is a case????

___________________
Orbital Grooves Radio --==-- orbitalgrooves.com
6-8pm EST wednesday Night --==-- Progressive/Hard Trance/Tribal

I've had my eye on this one for a while now. Antec cases rock.

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http://www.aponaut.com