If you want something pre-assembled, companies like HP, Dell, Gateway, etc. make pretty decent computers for only a few hundred US dollars. I don't know how readily those are in Ireland (assuming that's where you're from?). Yea, they won't be quite up to par with something custom built, but it's a [really] cheap solution. And now that dual-core has blown up, it doesn't cost that much to get a lot of power for custom built machines.

http://www.carillondirect.com/clnweb/index.jsp

I have one of these and can really recommened them.

Some of the more expirenced people here could probley just build their own but if you just want a rock soild computer designed only for this sort of stuff then it 's excellent.

Their support is wicked to.

quote:

Originally posted by Jason_R http://www.carillondirect.com/clnweb/index.jsp I have one of these and can really recommened them. Some of the more expirenced people here could probley just build their own but if you just want a rock soild computer designed only for this sort of stuff then it 's excellent. Their support is wicked to.

thaks mate looks interesting.

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Custom building a PC would be the cheapest by a long way. If you haven't got a mate who knows how it's not actually that difficult to do yourself if you found a decent guide on the net to guide you through it. There's not that much you can do wrong if you're careful.

I paid just under a grand for the below (doesn't include any displays/sound card):

Components:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+
Asustek A8N-SLI PREMIUM S939 nForce4 SLI ATX
2x OCZ Value 1GB DDR400 PC3200
Samsung SpinPoint P120 Series 250GB SATA II
NEC ND-3550A DVD/RW Silver
NVIDIA Fanless 7600GS 256MB PCI-E
Seasonic S12 500W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply
Case/Quietening:
Antec P180 Case
Scythe Ninja-PLUS Heatpipe Cooler, with 120mm fan
Scythe Quiet Drive Internal HDD Silencer
Zalman FANMATE 2 Variable Fan Speed Controller x1
Scythe S-FLEX 120mm Fan (1200 RPM, SFF21E) x2

This was about 3 months ago I should add, you'd get that spec cheaper now I imagine.

quote:

Originally posted by nfreer Custom building a PC would be the cheapest by a long way. If you haven't got a mate who knows how it's not actually that difficult to do yourself if you found a decent guide on the net to guide you through it. There's not that much you can do wrong if you're careful. I paid just under a grand for the below (doesn't include any displays/sound card): Components: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ Asustek A8N-SLI PREMIUM S939 nForce4 SLI ATX 2x OCZ Value 1GB DDR400 PC3200 Samsung SpinPoint P120 Series 250GB SATA II NEC ND-3550A DVD/RW Silver NVIDIA Fanless 7600GS 256MB PCI-E Seasonic S12 500W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply Case/Quietening: Antec P180 Case Scythe Ninja-PLUS Heatpipe Cooler, with 120mm fan Scythe Quiet Drive Internal HDD Silencer Zalman FANMATE 2 Variable Fan Speed Controller x1 Scythe S-FLEX 120mm Fan (1200 RPM, SFF21E) x2

nice system

Just to give some contrast, just whipped around eBuyer quickly to get an idea of how little you could spend on a decent build.

Asus A8R-MVP Socket 939 Xpress 200 crossfire PCI-E SATA ATX £54.38
Sony AW-G170AB2 18xDVD±RW/RAM Dual Layer Writer Black - Bare Drive - £19.99
Maxtor 60160V0 160GB 7200rpm 8MB Cache - OEM - £38
AMD Athlon 64X2 4200+ socket 939 Dual Core 2.2ghz 512kb and 512kb Cache - £133.85
Kingston Value Ram 1GB 533MHz DDR2 Non-ECC CL4 DIMM - £75.63
Asus EAX300SE-X TD 128Mb Radeon X300SE 128Mb PCI-E DVI-D/VGA £28.79

Case+Power Supply Unit - £40+ (£40 would be bottom of the pile)
12" Case Fan(s)/CPU Fans £10-15?+ (Could be ignored or you could spend on both case fans and a better CPU fan)
Keyboard/Mouse - £15-30
Monitor - £100+ (£100 would get a cheap 17" TFT)
Soundcard - ?

So you're talking around £400-450 without a monitor, around £550 with (17" TFT perhaps) for an AMD Dual Core 4200+ system (Most important part of an audio PC), 1gb of RAM (plenty), 160gb hard drive space(you might possibly want more, hard drive space is relatively cheap), adequate graphics card, and a dvd writer. The motherboard mentioned has 3 PCI-E slots as well as 3 PCI slots (I think) so you wont get left behind.

You've got to be careful to check compatibility with parts and when you get it you've got to be careful with what you're doing. With the amount of information on the internet/various forums I don't think anyone with any sense should have a problem.

The price difference in comparison with a £1300 Carillon is so much that I think you've got to consider it.

Last edited by nfreer on Oct-24-2006 at 09:23

I don't think it really matters as you have the abilty to bounce down to wav anyway...i have a dual core pc and i don't need no more it can load lots of instruments and fx...i won't be upgrading for a while yet.

Craig

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[edit] Ignore, clicked quote instead of edit

omg i cant believe those X2 chips are so cheap now, i'm gonna so get one come pay day

AMD Athlon 64 (ADA4800CDBOX) X2 4800+ socket 939 Dual Core 2.4ghz 1Mb and 1Mb Cache

£219!!!


these were like £400 when i checked before

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Intel Core2Duo
Intel Core2Duo
Intel Core2Duo
Intel Core2Duo
Intel Core2Duo
Intel Core2Duo
Intel Core2Duo
...got the point??? :P

Those things are the fastest processors EVER to hit the manistream market. They're somewhat more expensive than the X2 CPU's (which are also very good, and DIRT cheap!, very good "budget" option (haha) ), but the power of this thing... wow... just imagine running 20 instances of albino 3 at the same time... with 5ms latency (I can actually do that on my computer, I have a Core2Duo E6600, 2gig DDR2 and an M-Audio Delta 44 audio interface)

Some comparison charts of most of todays CPUs... E6600 compared to X2 5000 (top of the X2 line), E6600 kicks it's ass every time
http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.h...2=465&chart=177