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AMD X2 6000, or wait for Quad Chips??? (pg. 3)
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| DigiNut |
I'm actually upgrading shortly and have already gotten an Asus P5B Deluxe for this (no fan = no noise = good for production).
If you can actually find one (I can't), I'd personally recommended any of the MSI boards based on the 650i chipset. That's either the P6N-SLI FI or the P6N-SLI Platinum. The FI is not passively cooled, so it's very cheap; the Platinum is passively cooled, and it's a bit of a better buy than the P5B Deluxe, but harder to find.
If you don't care about passive cooling, get either the Asus P5B-E or the MSI P6N-SLI FI.
Re: Firewire, I have an Asus card right now for my Athlon single core and a MOTU 808mkII hooked up through firewire and have never had a single problem. |
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| Elendil |
| Man - Intel will be far better than the AMD; I'd not leave the Core2 lineup at this point. However, I'd definitely wait until Quad cores are out - thats what I plan on doing, before I move up from this 3000 64. |
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| djbruuen |
thanks! ok i've priced some things out from doing some research on my own...tell me what you think! (also if i'm missing something?...i already have my soundcard, so don't need to inlcude that)
Computer Specs:
Component Name Price
Case: Antec P180 $146.99
DvD-Burner: LG Drive $ 41.99
CPU: Intel e6600 $278.99
MotherBoard: Asus P5B-E $175.99
Hard Drives: Western Digital SATA 500gb $139.99
160gb $ 67.99
Memory: OCZ 4GB (2x2) DDR2 800mhz $344.99
Power Supply: Corsair HX Series CMPSU-620HX 620W $169.99
Video Card: XFX GeForce 8500GT $120.99
LCD Monitors: LG L204WTX Silver 20" (x2) $609.98
TOTAL: $1487.91
TOTAL w/tax: $1696.22
TOTAL w/monitors & tax: $2391.59 |
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| jupiterone |
I personally hate MSI, last few pc's with their mobos i've had has been nothing but trouble.
I just got a new PC with a 2.4 E6600 Conroe, 3gb ram, 8800gtx and an Asus P5N-E SLI mobo, fantastic, not a single problem at all. |
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| DigiNut |
| quote: | Originally posted by djbruuen
Memory: OCZ 4GB (2x2) DDR2 800mhz $344.99
Power Supply: Corsair HX Series CMPSU-620HX 620W $169.99
LCD Monitors: LG L204WTX Silver 20" (x2) $609.98 |
Couple of things I'd point out here:
1. Unless you're running a 64-bit OS (which I wouldn't - major compatibility issues with audio software), you have absolutely no use for 4 GB of RAM. You won't be able to use more than about 2 GB of it because a 32-bit OS only has 4 GB of addressable space and a lot of it is taken up by other things (video, I/O, etc.). In practice you'll be lucky to have even 3 GB of available memory, so just don't bother - stick to the normal 2 GB.
2. You absolutely, positively, do not need a 620 W power supply for what you're putting together. You should be able to get by on 400 W, but if you plan on adding another video card or something, get 500 W. Don't waste your money on anything more.
3. If you plan on running in a weird widescreen mode like 1680x1050 then that's fine, but if you're going to use a standard resolution like 1280x1024, then there's no advantage in getting a 20" monitor over a 19" monitor. Also, I thought this was just an upgrade - why do you need new monitors? |
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| DigiNut |
| quote: | Originally posted by jupiterone
I personally hate MSI, last few pc's with their mobos i've had has been nothing but trouble. |
Back when I was running my "classic" Athlon 1800, I went through two Asus mainboards which both ed up. Then I got an MSI board for half the price that Asus wanted and it ran great.
Parts are defective sometimes, and it's not uncommon to have a string of bad luck with one manufacturer, especially when you buy almost exclusively from them for a period of time. In general, all mobo brands are about the same in terms of reliability; the only one I would recommend against is Abit because their support is god-awful. And maybe some of the really bizarre off-brands like "ASRock" or PC Chips and so on - stick to the mainstream ones like Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, maybe Tyan.
Anyway, he's already chosen the Asus board. :p |
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| djbruuen |
| quote: | Originally posted by DigiNut
Couple of things I'd point out here:
1. Unless you're running a 64-bit OS (which I wouldn't - major compatibility issues with audio software), you have absolutely no use for 4 GB of RAM. You won't be able to use more than about 2 GB of it because a 32-bit OS only has 4 GB of addressable space and a lot of it is taken up by other things (video, I/O, etc.). In practice you'll be lucky to have even 3 GB of available memory, so just don't bother - stick to the normal 2 GB.
2. You absolutely, positively, do not need a 620 W power supply for what you're putting together. You should be able to get by on 400 W, but if you plan on adding another video card or something, get 500 W. Don't waste your money on anything more.
3. If you plan on running in a weird widescreen mode like 1680x1050 then that's fine, but if you're going to use a standard resolution like 1280x1024, then there's no advantage in getting a 20" monitor over a 19" monitor. Also, I thought this was just an upgrade - why do you need new monitors? |
i'm actually getting a new computer from scratch here. Giving the one i'm using to my parents. I also have a 17CRT monitor, so thats something i'd really like to add to this list.
perhaps you're right about the power supply, i know it stands out in the list as being excessive. I run some demanding programs like 'East West Gold Orchestra etc.' so i've heard mixed things about big power.
would you advise windows xp-64bit? or would i run into a ton of compatibility issues to make it not worth it? Its such a shame to not be able to make use of 4gb of ram right now.
edit: do i also need fans/heatsinks or anything...forgot about that. |
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| djbruuen |
| quote: | Originally posted by DigiNut
Anyway, he's already chosen the Asus board. :p |
;) well i know asus is a trusted brand for motherboards, and i'm running one in my current setup too without problems. So unless otherwise convinced, asus seems like the safest route to go with mobo's. |
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| DeZmA |
buy less ram, and buy a faster hd for windows and programs, 10.000rpm or even better 2 10.000rpm in raid 0 (mb has to support that).
If you plan to play games I'd go for 8800 gts or gtx.. |
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| djbruuen |
| well i'd like to have dx10. i play games time to time, but i'm not so hardcore that i need an $800 video card. i'll consider getting the middle class card, but if i can't afford it, the 8500 should be fine i guess for casual games. |
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| DeZmA |
| quote: | Originally posted by djbruuen
well i'd like to have dx10. i play games time to time, but i'm not so hardcore that i need an $800 video card. i'll consider getting the middle class card, but if i can't afford it, the 8500 should be fine i guess for casual games. |
The 8800 gts is around 300$ I think, that's the middle class. Just keep in mind that a big lcd screen needs to run in native resolution to get good quality so a 8500 probably won't perform that well. |
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| DigiNut |
- Don't buy an expensive video card, even for bleeding-edge games you don't need it. GeForce 8500 or 8600 GT are just fine; I've got an old-ass ATI X700 that's already fine running my 24" display at 1920x1200, and even the lower-end GeForce 7600GS can run most games.
- Don't bother with Windows XP 64-bit, you'll run into a ton of problems. The DAW world isn't ready for 64-bit yet; wait a couple of years maybe and then upgrade to Vista 64-bit.
- Right now, 4 GB of RAM is past the point of diminishing returns anyway. Trust me, you'll do just fine with 2 GB. Memory is easy to upgrade, so if you do upgrade your OS later, you'll still have the chance to add more RAM and it'll cost less then!
- No matter how demanding your programs are, you still won't need more than a 500 W power supply. The biggest beasts for power in any system are the video card and the CPU, and the ones you've chosen won't even use 150 W at peak load.
- Boxed processors come with fans. You don't need a separate heat sink or fan unless you plan to overclock or cool passively (or both).
Edit: Also, this is up to you, but I'd recommend an Enermax power supply instead. I don't think there's much of a price differential and they're extremely reliable. Some people will tell you Antec, but they've had entire product lines with major defects (once I bought their "Sonata" case which came with a PSU, and lost a lot of data and wrecked a video card because the 12 V rail was running way below tolerance - later on I ran a google search and found that hundreds of people had the same problem). |
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