View Full Version : hardware for pc help!!!
Penny
6th March 2003, 15:05
hi freaks,
i'm putting together my new pc for audio workstation,
i have already chose sound system, which will be RME Hammerfall DSP Multiface + PCI.
i figure out that there is a lot of problems with compatibility of sound cards with motherboards and what comes with that, with PCU.
from one side i hear that to forget about AMD XP Athlon 2600+ and get P4, and opinions about motherboard's chipsets are so dofferent,
i don't know to chose VIA or nForce chipsets?
as many of you guys are musicians, please help me to chose best hardware for win XP and RME sound system.
any help will be like a blessing after hours and hours and HOURS
of researching :)
thanks a lot
cheers,
penny
piscaries
6th March 2003, 15:39
buy a mac!
:)
it's an old myth that athlons are no good for music because they used to be long in the past, it's not like that anymore. from what i read it's possible a pentium IV has a bit more power in audio, but it doesn't justify the price. why pay 30% more for 5% more power? i also read that nforce chipsets are the best choice today for athlons, but it also depends on the core of the cpu. especially for the new 'barton' core you should choose nforce but i don't even know if the 3000+ is already in stores and if it is it will be very expensive. i'd go for an 2800+ or so for best value for money. if money isn't important buy the 3000+ or pentium IV with hyperthreading - 800 euros or so... ;)
Originally posted by piscaries
buy a mac!
:)
nice try. ;)
piscaries
6th March 2003, 15:43
i was actually thinking of puttng together a little pc box of my own and that's a good question penny, athlon or pentium. i figure the same as you c s, and i'm thinking of going with an athlon. now as for motherboards... i'm thinking abit or asus.. any reccomendations?? i see that some abit boards already have s/pdif outs and some audio ins/outs, but are they actually any good?
Sheridan
6th March 2003, 15:58
Originally posted by piscaries
buy a mac!
:)
I second that motion.
i understand that especially for mac users the freedom of choice when building and configuring pcs is a bit... lol no, seriously: the manufacturer of the mainboard is not as important as the chipset it uses. all manufacturers have mainboards with different chipsets. so the first thing is to choose a chipset and then compare models with this by different manufacturers. i read reviews where good old asus wasn't always the winner, especially their price is always the highest.
as for the s/pdif and audio chips built into mainboards in general you can say that it's always low-end quality. it's for offering cheap discount pcs at supermarkets, and so they can save the money for a real soundcard. there is also onboard-graphics sometimes, and this would probably be cool for you if you just want to make music, then a cheap graphics chip on the board would be enough i guess.
ischo
6th March 2003, 16:04
Originally posted by c s
nice try. ;)
i second that motion..
piscaries
6th March 2003, 16:04
screw it, i'll just buy an old mac to beat up
lol
Sheridan
6th March 2003, 16:06
Originally posted by piscaries
screw it, i'll just buy an old mac to beat up
lol
sounds like an expensive punching bag. dude why not get a dell and do the same thing? :-p
Originally posted by Sheridan
I second that motion.
just because of recent pro-us declarations by the polish gouvernment don't expect the polish will follow you in every matter... lol :D
Sheridan
6th March 2003, 16:10
touche'
(hope I spelled that right.):)
the french worms ;) put their accent aigu above the e like: é
mr franks
6th March 2003, 16:13
Originally posted by piscaries
buy a mac!
:)
....i agree!
Sheridan
6th March 2003, 16:18
Originally posted by c s
the french worms ;) put their accent aigu above the e like: é
yeah I know that, but since I am on a pc I don't know what key combos can make an accent. if I was on my mac I would have had it right...:D
grobelaar
6th March 2003, 19:12
Originally posted by Sheridan
I second that motion.
and I third it - motion carried...
Guess your just gonna have to go and buy a mac... :)
don't buy american war computers, as the fatal us-british coalition suggests! build your own unique peace machine! :D
piscaries
6th March 2003, 20:00
war computers?? oh yeah.. they do consider g3's/g4's as supercomputers! eat it!
invisibleplanet
6th March 2003, 20:01
http://www.no-future.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2238
this thread has the spec for my new pc, minus sound card.
hope it helps
invisibleplanet
6th March 2003, 20:06
if u want to find out what the spec for a macG4 is, and build ur pc to a similar spec, then check out http://www.apple.com
of course, only sun microsystems make a risc chip for a pc, but i think the AMD Athlon XP series is far better than the Pentium IV
JE:5
6th March 2003, 20:36
Quantum computers are the way forward.
Penny
6th March 2003, 20:55
hehe :]
seems i'm in even bigger trouble
can i afford good mac for 1250 euro
or is it better to get a very good PC for the same price?
"every new answer leads for new questions"
invisibleplanet
6th March 2003, 21:25
lol my 'mac equivalent'pc cost only 331 GBP as oppose to 800 GBP which they sell for here.
it doesn't have the risc processor, but one can't have everything
umm risc processor? works neither in pc nor in mac i guess. anyway, if you have 1250 it would be crazy to spend it an older, 2nd hand mac in my opinion.
piscaries
6th March 2003, 21:36
that is the big drawback with macs: cost.
invisibleplanet
6th March 2003, 21:53
i thought the mac had the 'reduced instruction s??? command" chip, which is a kind of mathematical algebraic boolean logic gate simplification thing....which makes the whole goddamn maschine run faster?
and also the mac has a better way of storing data, than a windows OS pc, as the mac stores ALL the file in one place, whereas windows will split the file up and store parts of one file all over the place.
piscaries
6th March 2003, 22:40
this is very true. and when you install an app it doesn't create files in tons of directories (if you delete an application folder, it's about 99.9% gone from your system). you can manually allocate ram to any program (so if you want to run only one piece of software and really run at max performance you can allocate almost as much memory as is left over after system usage). and one more thing: NO BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH. and now the newest mac os is unix based and is super stable.
I wish i could buy a mac but i'm too poor right now :(
I want to fix my pc with a sledgehammer at least once a day >:(
invisibleplanet
7th March 2003, 07:06
my pc has only broken once in 5 years, and that's because some dumbass engineer cracked the motherboard *grrr*
there are ways to keep your pc stable :)
not running off with a mac is one *hrhr*
wheezer
7th March 2003, 09:04
Originally posted by piscaries
this is very true. and when you install an app it doesn't create files in tons of directories (if you delete an application folder, it's about 99.9% gone from your system). you can manually allocate ram to any program (so if you want to run only one piece of software and really run at max performance you can allocate almost as much memory as is left over after system usage). and one more thing: NO BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH. and now the newest mac os is unix based and is super stable.
hmm sounds like my pc(s).
invisibleplanet
7th March 2003, 10:48
i began to use a pc before windows was invented...
we ran our whole office system on DOS with a basic program as a front for all our little programs. DTP hadn't been invented yet, and autocad was the only graphics prog on the market.
i remember when the little mac was born, and macdraw made my life easier for flow-charting and structured systems analysis design.
i believe the trick to keep your pc happy and stable, is to keep your registry clean. u can get programs to do this for u, but i don't use them, as i already know how to do that.
Try not to store things on your pc if you're gonna delete them later - use a cd to save your creation instead.
i still use DOS occasionally to tidy up directories. I don't know what Windows XP is like, but I'm installing it this weekend. I've been using windows 95 with 98 upgrade for years! I rearranged all the directories in DOS, and got rid of alot of the windows rubbish, and honed it to a lean and clean and simplified directory form.
I'm probably old fashioned, but things haven't changed much over the last 10 yrs.
Still, I'm looking forward to seeing how XP will work.
I'd love to learn/use linux one day.
wheezer
7th March 2003, 11:03
the main trick with windows systems is to have stable hardware, stable drivers, no hardware conflicts and no uneeded crap installed. get that down and you'll be fine. my home machine has been running uninterrupted for 2-3 weeks now, and I used to run a ftp server with windows 95 osr2 as an os and vnc for remote access, the thing ran stable and without crashes for a good year.
it's good to keep your registry clean, but I don't consider it a major factor.
Yoss
7th March 2003, 11:34
hey fellas, China is coming up to the marvellous world of CPU ;)
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=8182
wheezer
7th March 2003, 12:30
yeh yoss I was mentioning that a while ago in the mp3 thread...interesting stuff, would love to play with one of those =)
Originally posted by invisibleplanet
and also the mac has a better way of storing data, than a windows OS pc, as the mac stores ALL the file in one place, whereas windows will split the file up and store parts of one file all over the place.
don't think this is true - mac users use defragmentation tools just like pc users. fragmentation occurs over time on every hard disk and can't be avoided i think.
invisibleplanet
7th March 2003, 13:19
ah - my apologies, c s
i was believing some hype from friends who are macsnobs
wheezer
7th March 2003, 13:22
yes as long as apple continues using hard discs, there will be fragmentation. this is not due to the file system but the fact that a hard disc is divided up into sectors and data is stored on these sectors as they become available, resulting in fragmentation over time.
probably macsnobs use their hd's as read-only media... lol
wheezer
7th March 2003, 14:10
might be, after all you can't get any software for macs anyways lol
decadnids
7th March 2003, 14:21
run linux you will all learn the truth.
Originally posted by wheezer
might be, after all you can't get any software for macs anyways lol
great shot. ;)
invisibleplanet
7th March 2003, 23:36
i'm just now building my new pc
it's fascinating 8-()
a proper pc building session has to last till dawn. ;)
piscaries
8th March 2003, 05:20
Originally posted by c s
probably macsnobs use their hd's as read-only media... lol
yeah, well... my dad can beat up your dad :!
i really haven't used a pc hardcore since windows 2000, so i'm really not one to comment on pc's nowadays. they do seem to be getting a lot smoother though. i really don't hate pc's at all, i just prefer my mac. everyone has their reasons for liking a mac or a pc..
wheezer
8th March 2003, 06:32
Originally posted by decadnids
run linux you will all learn the truth.
I run 3 servers with linux on 'em, gentoo to be exact. but for desktops I prefer windows.... though I run evolution over x sessions coz there's no proper imap clients for windows :)
piscarieseveryone has their reasons for liking a mac or a pc..
that's true, for me it was working as a sysadmin for a local daily newspaper 2 or so years ago... they had a mixed mac/pc network with windows nt servers - the whole setup was fucked to hell, with macs showing negative file sizes (!) on the mac shares the nt machine was offering, jpegs were being resized to 1/10 of their original size... it was horrible. I vowed that I would kill Steve Jobs if I'd ever meet him in person, I was that angry :)
invisibleplanet
8th March 2003, 08:16
Originally posted by c s
a proper pc building session has to last till dawn. ;)
hä
yes - bed at 4:00am
and my friend's toddler woke me up at 5:30am!!!!
continuing with s/w installations now...
..installed reason....
more to follow
invisibleplanet
8th March 2003, 16:59
Originally posted by c s
great shot. ;)
ok - i'm installing s/w now....
what's sonic foundry all about then? does anyone here use this?
i've installed a variety of browsers, databases, graphic and music progs
i can't believe how geeky this weekend is for me
invisibleplanet
8th March 2003, 17:14
ok - i'm slaving my old drives to the new HDD for some data transfer..
invisibleplanet
9th March 2003, 10:51
this is invisibleplanet talking to u from it's new fast machine!! had trouble connecting to the i-net cos i didn't push my modem into the pci slot properly!
but it's all working now , cos i got my engineer friend out of bed at 9:00am this morning to veryify that i'm incompetent lol
i'm so happy :)
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