Jun 21, 2004 04:11 pm well Don't forget to put the termalpaste on the Cooler when putting it on the Processor
Forgot that last time
could throw it away^o)
Building a PC
Posted on Jun 21, 2004 03:51 pm
Jason H.
Jack of all trades master of ___
Member Since: May 28, 2004
I know PC's inside and out, for the most part. So I am heading to build me a tank for the studio. I am not going in thinking this will be a flawless process. But any suggestions?? Words of wisdom?? Hurdles to look out for?? Just anything that might blindside even the smartest of computer minds.
Here are my grounds so far...
All the parts I am considering are from TigerDirect.com. That's the best place I know of not to mention their prices are nice, in my eyes. I can somewhat shelf shop for the individual components. How about Pentium 4 vs AMD?? I have always been a Pentium guy, but open to whats best. Two hard drives vs one gigantic one?? Is firewire necessary?? or any other equipment suggestions. I am just throwing stuff out there. All great minds think alike. And the people on this site are cool as always...
I am getting excited just typing this email. Hopefully it'll help those looking to do the same eventually. Later all!
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Jun 21, 2004 04:11 pm well Don't forget to put the termalpaste on the Cooler when putting it on the Processor
Forgot that last time
could throw it away^o)
Jun 21, 2004 06:23 pm I got for two drives, one for system and one for audio, then I can wipe out the system at will and not loose audio...
I am an AMD guy myself, the performance is comparible and the price is MUCH better.
Jun 21, 2004 07:48 pm AMD wins on price but (not to start a debate) the P4 has the balls for audio. Firewire is a good thing to look out for, 2 hard drives. The biggest things that will determine track count and plugin count are FBS (get 800, fastest right now), processor speed (duh!), ram (1g +), and the hard drive cash(sp?). A good choice for a P4 mobo is the Asus p4p800 deluxe. More questions/detail just ask. I build my first using a P4 and it smokes. Good luck!
Jun 21, 2004 08:06 pm I'll agree, Asus takes the prize for Mobo's, I have an Asus as well, but I'll stick with my AMD for the processor. I have run A LOT of track and a lot of effects on my AMD and never had a problem...
Jun 21, 2004 10:53 pm Thanks folks! Seriously.
I just looked at that ASUS board and wow. It's pretty stacked. The board I was looking at is this Intel, check it out.
www.tigerdirect.com/appli...mp;sku=I69-2018
Does anyone have anything to say about tigerdirect.com? Is there another site where I should be looking for all my parts?? I like compUSA but they seem a little too high. Or am I high??
Thinking P4, 2.8 or 3.0. I am cool with sticking 800 FSB and going no lower. 2G RAM. I won't debate AMD either. Hardly worked with one so I have no right to knock it. Not looking to game but looking for a good bang for your buck video card??
Everything else should be pretty clear. Maybe next time I will get this post in the right topic....'Computers'
Thanks again all!!
Jun 21, 2004 11:28 pm above all, make sure you build your PC around what software and audio interface you plan on using. the before mentioned items can be pretty picky on what hardware is compatible with what and on what platform.
Jun 22, 2004 09:39 am I'd advise a matrox two monitor video card. I think the g550 has 32 meg. I got a g450 w/ 16 meg and am very glad as it's great to leave the mixer or effects up on one monitor and have the tracks on the other.
I got the g450 for ~30$us on ebay.
Another reason : the lower cards will have a heatsink w/out fan. I'd believe fan(s) will induce hum to your recordings.
You may want to tax dB's ear on this as well, he's got a very quiet PC (from what i've read here). I would think that quietness would be a very high priority, unless you're putting the pc in another room/sound iso area.
check my profile for what i'm running. i'm happy though i haven't run over 10 tracks at once yet.
Jun 22, 2004 10:23 am as far as quietness for me I built a box for my computer to live in... it's rough and ugly but I plan on building a better box with heatsinks later as the computer will overheat a lot inside but I've run it all day locked inside without much problem.
2 hard drives is the necessity. Personally I've had problems with ASUS and I have a friend ho will never buy an ASUS board again because their customer support sucks. Granted it's been a few years but 5 months to reply to an email is too much...
And it's my understanding that AMD is faster but intels is better for audio...expecially because everyonce in a while you get "Requires Intel montherboard" when you expect to see "Requires Intel Montherboard or 100% compatable." The dual AMD boards I've heard are running fairly nice though.
Also makes sure if you run XP that you install the standard PC mode which requires a little finageling during install because it's not listed as an option... otherwise XP will pile every device on one IRQ and it gets ugly.
Jun 22, 2004 12:09 pm I saw a webpage where a home studio owner basically built a wooden box with foam on the inside. Placed two access doors, one for each end, and on the inside he had the PC itself on a platform track, so it slides out. So I have seen that condition before. I would need to read up on ventilation to make sure it doesn't sizzle. Good reminders.
The motherboard is still up in the air. Like any other product there are good and bad. My basic assumption for being a rook to building a machine would be to run Intel on Intel.
XP Pro or Home?
I never considered two monitors.
I think I will look into it.
Hey dB, I checked your site...Are you located in MN? I am myself. St. Paul for home, but I work in Roseville. More to come I gotta go eat. Once again all info is greatly appreciated.
Jun 22, 2004 12:23 pm You may look to get the machine out of the room. I realize not everyone has the ability to do this because of space or room placement, but you should take a quick look at your rooms and rule that out first. I have mine in the closet of the next room. I drilled a hole for the cables and viola!!!the closet is slightly sound proofed to add some more peace of mind. I had about 10 other Ideas before I did this. I was even going to stick it in the corner of the living room, since it was just as close thru the wall.
Sometimes its easier to relocate the machine than cover it up. And like whats been said, if its not ported efficiently, you could fry the poor boy. If it IS ported well enough, you may have some noise back into the room, especially that a large dia. condenser would pick up.
Jun 22, 2004 02:29 pm Good stuff...
I know PC's well. I am still a lil wet behind the ears in these types of studio configurations.
For those of you who have built what is common preference on cases??
Jun 22, 2004 08:09 pm I use an Antec Sonata (sp?). Its great and quiet. I would look into getting a different cpu heat sink/fan because my stock P4 one goes through horrible bits of noise fits.
Good processor though.
Jun 25, 2004 08:35 am Ok, my turn for a question. I have neglected following the development of processors for a couple of years now and am obviously technicaly obsolete (again). My software over-runnith my pute! Looking at AMD processors I see a 32 bit and a 64 bit flavor choice. Per my primary softwre choices, Cubase SX and Ozone AMD is tested and cool although the software specs call for clock speeds and the liturature I see on the AMD's to date don't really make reference to actual clock speed. I see 2.8 and 3.0 in both 32 and 64 flavors. How about some chatter on on 2.8 vs 3.0 and 32 Vs 64. I do understand the technical implications, but obviously have no clue of the real world break down of bucks vs performance.
Jun 25, 2004 09:14 am From what I have read in some industry mags (Info World and stuff like that IT based) the 64 bit processors are stellar, but it's a matter of your software and OS being able to support it. Personally, I look forward to the idea of moving to 64-bit processing, but I am going to wait until Windows XP is replaced with the next version of Windows as the next OS (Server 2003 already is) will be fully 64-bit compatible as it will be more built around the 64 bit compatiblity rather than having the compatibility "patched in"...if that makes any sense...
much software is now claiming to be compatible, but personally, I rarely trust version 1.0 of anything that important to my overall platform and productivity.
Jun 25, 2004 09:33 am Valued input! Thank you. So we are sitting another swing point. Time to make bets on how long things will be backwards compatable, how long it will take for current soft manufacturers to stabalize 64 bit. Hmmmm, much more complex than I had anticipated. Time to get out the crystal ball!
Jun 25, 2004 09:36 am My guess is that very shortly rather than the low end and hi end CPUs' (Celery/Pentium, Duron/Athlon) shortly that difference won't be cahce size or FSB speed, but 32-bit/64 bit instead being the major differing factor...just my guess tho.
And I am also betting 32-bit backwards compatibility will be a pretty long time...
Jun 25, 2004 09:43 am In you I trust my friend! Your crystal ball has been much better than mine over the last few years. I really have no desire to create the killer unobtainium server. Better to hit current needs and let things shake out.
Jun 26, 2004 11:58 am for me 2 cents here ...
as far as for HDD's i would use 2 diff ones but good size cause you will need it ... plus HDD's are pretty cheap now a days as well.
me personaly i like gigabyte boards , but thats just me .
video , i have the matrox 450 as well and it rocks .. and i love the 2 montior option on it ..
make sure the board can support a good amount of ram .
haha also yea dont forget the heatsink and paste for the cpu .. that sucks ..
Jun 29, 2004 06:06 pm NEWEGG NEWEGG NEWEGG NEWEGG!!! (www.newegg.com)
That is the best place to buy parts, in my (and thousands of others') humble opinion.
In reference to the 32/64 bit question, it all depends on how much you want to spend, both now and in the future. 64-bit workstation operating systems (aka, Longhorn) won't be coming out for some time (officially, anyway), and so in reality, it really doesn't matter too much if you decide to go 64 bit now. However, I will also point out that, assuming you plan to use this mammoth computer for more than a couple of years, you will probably be upgrading to this OS pretty soon after it comes out. On a separate note, the 64-bit processors from AMD pretty much decimate the competition at this point, whilst running at much slower relative speeds.
One huge advantage that you can start using right away is the ability for 64-bit chips (and their corrosponding motherboards) to support HUGE amounts of ram (aka, 8 GB!!!), which sounds like a bunch now, but I remember upgrading to 64 MB of ram back in the day and practically falling out of my chair!
As for the hard drive question, get at least 2. Depending on how much you want to spend, the new(er) 'Raptor' series hard drives by Western Digital are quite a treat. (yeah, I said it, a treat!) They are limited to 74 MB for now though, so you'd have to buy a few. Otherwise, just get a couple massive drives (160+ GB) and MAKE SURE THEY ARE 7200 RPM with an 8 MB cache!!! Once you fill those puppies up, you will see why.
Other than that, you really can't go wrong with any of the new hardware out there. Pretty much anything you can still buy new will be able to do almost anything you want with it, it is just a question of how much do you want to spend today, vs. tomorrow?
P.S.
Having said all of that, I just got myself a P4 3.0 Ghz w/ 1 GB 3500 ram, and it works extremely well for me!
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