new computer

deathtotaliban

deathtotaliban

Member
Dec 14, 2005
455
0
16
Indiana, USA
www.voltaicrecording.com
ok so im ordering this system in 2 days, I have a friend who built the exact same computer about 3 months ago and its running great, so im really stoked. I thought, since my main use will be recording (and a little gaming), I would ask this forum if anyone saw something they definitly wouldnt use in a system mainly used for recording. so here are the specs:

EVGA nvidia geforce 7600gt video card
OCZ 2GB RAM
ASUS A8N-E motherboard
AMD ATHALON X2 4200 processor (dual-core)
Antec Smartpower 2.0 power supply
Western Digital 250GB hard drive
DVD/CD READER
120mm thermal take fan
ZALMAN CNPS7000B-ALCU heatsink and fan
ViewSonic VA902b 19" LCD Monitor
Antec Performance IP1808b case
Saitek Black Wired Eclipse Keyboard
Logitech MX1000 wireless laser mouse

so go ahead and check it out if your interested, ill be ordering it all from new egg. wish me luck

thanks
jordan
 
Mostly good choices. My suggestions.

I've said this gobs of times before when ppl ask about building an X2 rig... Spend a tad more cash and get an Opteron170 CPU instead of that X2 4200. Or, just get the 165 retail since they are only $325 now - still less money than the X2 is and a better CPU (double the L2 cache, and they will OC perfectly to 2.2ghz per core even on stock volt and stock fan). A friend of mine has his opty at 3.1ghz per core, on a DFI board. It's ridiculous.

The Zalman you do not really need, as the stock fan that comes with retail opty is a heatpipe and adequate.

Mainly, you really have no need for such a high end video card, unless you plan on gaming... Instead of cash chucking $170 on such a card, just get a basic 64MB PCI card for 2D. OR, fuck the ASUS and snag a Biostar Tforce6100-939. I love those boards, have built about 30 rigs with em so far, zero issues on any of em. They kick total ass and are stupid cheap. Check em out on the egg.

Put extra money towards a second HDD and run RAID0. Get the Sata2 wd's with the 16mb cache - great drives. Biggest bottle neck in most PC's right now is HDD. If you can afford it, buy Raptors or step up to some 10k or 15k SCSI.
 
thanks for the input. i probably wont switch out my processor just because mostly everything revolves around it, and it should be adequate for what i need. I do plan on doing some gaming (counter strike source, cod2, ect.) so the 7600 is really gunna work well for that. I have thought about running RAID but i really dont know too much about it other than it splits your info and puts it on to different hdd, right? and the zalman heatsink and fan are a maybe thing only if i need it, and im not planning on oc'ing so i prolly wont get it. thanks again
 
I don't know what optical drive you were planing on getting, but I recommend the NEC 3550A. Its 35 dollars and probably thee best burner right now. You also might want to look at Microsoft's RF mice, they're about 20 dollars cheaper, and if there as good as the wired mice you'd be happy.

Just two little things I thought I'd mention.
 
The OC thing... I don't have the energy to debate it any more. All I will say is that some people are PARANOID about it and think their system is going to burn up overheat blow up explode fry everything... that is an old wives tale... or something.

A gently nudged 165 at 2.2ghz per core is well within spec. You can *easily* bump your FSB from 200 to 240 and call it a day. Just keep in mind that your $375 X2 4200 only has 512MB L2 cache, versus the 1MB in the $325 165 and the $460 X2 4400. Normal, rational brain activity would lead us to believe that it is a Foolish Endeavor to buy a $460 chip, when you can buy a $325 chip that will perform just as well. If you want to chuck cash, that is certainly your perogative, Bobby Brown. =) If money not an issue, do as thou wilt. I'm the type who likes to squeeze ALL the juice out of the least expensive lemon.

And yes, the 35xxA NEC's kick ass... especially with liggy and dee firmware hack supporting riplock and bit setting (bit set to force book type of DVD-R onto DVD+R media for compatibility, etc).

Hope the build goes smoothly for you. One last thing ... go with an Enermax 535W over any Antec "smartpower" PSU. Antec power rails fluctuate like a mother trucker under load.
 
dude.... i'd definatly go for another HD but my advice would be to go for another system drive first....only needs to be small say 80gig (you'll get better performance over 40gig) over raid-ing up it would only cost an extra 40 tops and it would mean in the event of windows currupting your system drive your audio is still intact,

also if you've got an old hd from a diferent pc.... get an external caddy (say £20) and use that as an external back up

also if your recording loads of channals of audio simultaintiously or going for a dsp card... try going for a lower spec grafics card as they eat up your pci bus and can introduce pops and clicks

but yeah looks like a sound system
 
the systems going to be about $1400 bucks right now. i run nuendo 3 and its supposely built for multicore processors so i cant wait to see how it runs. i am looking into a second harddrive for my os and some programs but that will probably be later.
 
dude... do it now!!!!!! No better time than when your building and it would cost nothing it comparison to what your spending... but obviously if things are tight you cant, but if you can it's so much better mate
 
EVGA nvidia geforce 7600gt video card
ASUS A8N-E motherboard
Click to expand...
I should warn you that PCI Express + nForce4 + DAW/sound = very likely problems in certain cases. It has to do with the current implementation of PCI Express in the display cards at the moment. They hog out ALL bandwidth of PCI Express by a hard wired default that cannot be altered. That means, if you use a PCI or PCI Express based audio card, you will get sound glitches and crackling during heavy HDD usage (read: recording many tracks at once or when pushing the limits of your system performance in DAW work). This is especially apparent with M-Audio sound cards (to my dismay :p).

There is no fix for it.

I personally haven't run to that problem in recording, since I only record one track at a time. But if you intend to record drums, there could be problems. The worst times when that "feature" hits me is when I download something through Bittorrent, and especially when I move files and listen to music at the same time. The whole system nearly grinds to a halt, the sound is slowed down and it stutters and crackles to no end, sometimes it simply cuts out for a few seconds, until the file moving is complete and the system continues like nothing had happened. That's the HDD usage part, which is very noticeable.

Here's some DAW results:

http://www.rme-audio.de/techinfo/nforce4_tests.htm
 
Torniojaws said:
I should warn you that PCI Express + nForce4 + DAW/sound = very likely problems in certain cases. It has to do with the current implementation of PCI Express in the display cards at the moment. They hog out ALL bandwidth of PCI Express by a hard wired default that cannot be altered. That means, if you use a PCI or PCI Express based audio card, you will get sound glitches and crackling during heavy HDD usage (read: recording many tracks at once or when pushing the limits of your system performance in DAW work). This is especially apparent with M-Audio sound cards (to my dismay :p).

There is no fix for it.
Click to expand...

Good piece of information there dude, ta.
 
Torniojaws said:
Hmm, actually it seems that the problem only surfaces with single core CPUs.
Click to expand...

Correct.

My first advice to this homie was to bail on that 7600 card. You are spending $1400 on an AUDIO rig. It is not meant to kill space aliens and defend Planet Nebulon while you run around in a cod piece collecting armor points and special weapons. You should not even net surf on that thing and keep your OS stripped and clean. Gaming/internet/porn/audio rigs are wack.

Good luck though, dude... Hope it all goes together smoothly for you. As many others have said, do not run just a single hard drive.
 
About those PCI-express. Are problems only accouring when you use PCI-express with the nforce4 or is PCI-express a bad choice overall?

What kind of ram should one choose? Is it worth buying very expensive top of the line or are usual ones good enough? For ex. Corsair TWINX Xpert 3200C2 DDR 2048MB Kit w/two matched 1024MB PC3200 2-3-3-6 or Corsair Value S. PC3200 DDR-DIMM 2048MB Kit w/two matched Value Select 1024MB?
 
Dawn Patrol said:
What kind of ram should one choose? Is it worth buying very expensive top of the line or are usual ones good enough? For ex. Corsair TWINX Xpert 3200C2 DDR 2048MB Kit w/two matched 1024MB PC3200 2-3-3-6 or Corsair Value S. PC3200 DDR-DIMM 2048MB Kit w/two matched Value Select 1024MB?
Click to expand...

I don't know about everyone else, but I've always used cheap (name brand,though) ram and everything has been a-okay.
 
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