I have decided I need a new computer. I want something very good, but not out of this world extravagant. I'm not interested in case mods, plexiglass windows, tons of fans, neon lights, video cards with heatsinks and fans etc.
My Budget is approximately $1500 (Canadian Dollars)

Here are my needs:

-Stable Workstation with windows XP Pro (SP1)/Linux
-Top Notch Sound Card for recording stereo analog inputs at 24bit/96khz
-enough RAM to edit audio files up to 2Gb
-a 40Gb HDD for the OS.
-one drive for burning CDs and DVDs, and one for reading both.
-adequate video card for watching DVDs at fullscreen.


Here is what i have tentatively decided. I have come to the conclusion that AMD gives "more bang for the buck" in terms of processor speed/dollars, without sacrificing performance. I've been advised that SOLTEK builds the best motherboards for AMD processors, so i have decided to go with a SOLTEK KT600 motherboard (KT600 400FSB DDR AGP 6PCI SATA RAID SOUND LAN), and an AMD ATHLON XP 2500+ processor. Are these good choices? Also I have some specific questions on components of my computer.


Operating System
I have decided on Windows XP Pro for my system. There are two options, the OEM version for $206.37, or the full retail box for $439.98. is it really worth an extra $233.61 to get the retail version? is a CD provided with the OEM version? that's all i require, i don't need any manuals, registration, extra stuff, just the windows XP CD, because when (not if) windows dies and needs to be reformatted, i will need that CD, if the CD is not included in the OEM option, then maybe it is worth paying more than double just to have the CD. (and yes, i know there is a 3rd option, a free pirated copy of XP, but I am not interested in pursuing that route) I will also be installing linux most likely, but i'll figure that out when i get there.


Processor
is 333 FSB good enough on a proccesor?
-I can get the AMD ATHLON XP 2500+ 512K 333FSB for $138.51
OR
-I can get the AMD ATHLON XP 3200+ 512K 400FSB for $692.16
is it really worth an extra $550 or so for a 400FSB, i'm thinking not.

I know the AMDs have a tendency to run hot, will this processor (the 2500+) require a fan? (assuming i will not overclock or otherwise mess with it)


RAM
i think i would like to have at least 1Gb, for editing digital pictures, possibly very light video editing, but most importantly editing large audio files (80 min uncompressed .wav files at 24bit/96khz). is 1Gb enough? if so, would it be better to get a 1Gb chip, or 2 512Mb ones? The tradeoff is that the 1Gb chip is $369.60, while 2 of the 512Mb ones only comes to $232.56. Is it worth the extra $137 or so just to keep that slot open (for putting in another 1Gb chip eventually)? also, am i correct in thinking that memory bandwidth would be better with 2 chips instead of one?


DVD Writer
these have come down in price enough, and i think i need one to satisfy my backup needs. But, I'm not sure which one to choose, as the "format wars" are still going on. there are the four formats DVD+R,DVD+RW, and DVD-R,DVD-RW, which one should i get? or should i get a combo drive that does both for a bit more money? I have the feeling that either + or - is going to become obsolete like betamax soon. are there any advantages disadvantages to either option (besides popularity)?


Video Card
I'm not particularly concerned about having an awesome video card. I am not a gamer, and thus do not need the most advanced card out there. All i want to do with the card is standard computer stuff, surf the web, edit files, etc. I will also want to play DVDs with the card as long as they look decent on my monitor i am happy. I don't need a dual head card either, as i only have one monitor and am not planning on adding another any time soon.

I really don't know much about video cards, so i have just accepted the default that comes with the system i have built: SOLTEK GEFORCE FX 5200 AGP 64MB DDR VGA DVI TV OUT, is this a good card? there are other options, both higher and lower on the scale, but i'm not sure what to get, any advice would be appreciated.


Sound Card
This is the most important part of the system, as i will be using it primarily as an audio workstation. I will want to record from analog inputs at 24bit/96khz quality, for durations of at least 80 minutes, and possibly up to 5 hours. The card must have an excellent analog line in and out capabilities, with as good a S/N ratio as possible, and very little THD. Home theatre outputs (5.1, 6.1, 7.1 etc) are NOT required, at this point, and Digital I/O is not required either. Compatibility with popular audio programs (SoundForge, FruityLoops,Reason,Cubase,Traktor etc) is a must.

I have considered the ubiquitous Creative SoundBlaster series, but have been told they are overpriced and overated. I have been advised that M-audio is the way to go for hi-fidelity audio, but the only one available from the retailer i have chosen is the M-Audio Revolution 7.1 PCI Sound Card 24bit/96khz W/Digital out (107dB signal-to-noise ratio and 0.003%THD) for $140.22. Will this card satisfy my needs, particularly in the compatibility department? Since soundblaster is such a standard, i want to be sure if i get an M-audio, it works with all the latest audio programs.

here is more info on the card: http://www.m-audio.com/products/con...ution_page1.php

Or would i be better off going with a soundblaster instead, i have considered:

SOUND BLASTER AUDIGY 2 PCI 24bit 106 SNR 6.1 W/ SB1394 Retail $160.74
SOUND BLASTER AUDIGY 2 PCI 24bit W/ SB1394 OEM $106.02
SOUND BLASTER AUDIGY 2 ZS Platinum PCI W/Internal Panel Retail Box $252.56
SOUND BLASTER EXTIGY USB EXTERNAL SOUND CARD KIT $195.29

all available from the retailer i have chosen. a breakout box or the front panel would be nice to have, but are not strictly neccesary.

There are also other sound cards i am considering such as the:

Audiophile 2496 24 Bit 96 kHz 4 in/ 4 out PCI Digital Recording Interface with MIDI (MSRP $264.02) http://www.m-audio.com/products/m-audio/audiophile.php

Delta DiO 2496 24 Bit/96 kHz PCI Digital I/O Card (MSRP $330.04)
http://www.m-audio.com/products/m-audio/dio2496.php

or the Delta 44 PCI Analog Recording Interface MSRP ($396.06)
http://www.m-audio.com/products/m-audio/delta44.php

I've also considered one more soundcard, the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz
http://www.turtlebeach.com/site/pro...uz/indetail.asp (MSRP $105.57)

Of all of these, i am leaning towards the Audiophile 24/96, as it seems to have the best balance of what i want, without extra stuff, plus it also has the benefit of RCA ins (instead of 1/8" ins) meaning i can plug my mixer right into the card without going through a lossy converter cable.

which of these cards would best satisfy my needs? (keeping in mind that this is the most important part of the system and i am willing to pay extra for quality if neccesary)


OVERVIEW

have i taken everything into consideration neccesary here? are the prices listed good? Any other advice you can give me?

Here is the system that i came up with:

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If I remember correctly, the sound blaster's don't support recording at 24bit/96khz. They support playback at it, but not recording.

Go for a M-Audio card.

I have the Delta 44 and couldnt be happier (using winxp). If you are not doing any kind of production work, I think the Audiophile 2496 would be good. The Revolution is also good (from what I've heard) but it is considered a consumer level card. They might have gone cheaper on components, especially to support 7.1, but I really couldn't say for sure.

quote:

Originally posted by DJ Chrono If I remember correctly, the sound blaster's don't support recording at 24bit/96khz. They support playback at it, but not recording.

yeah, the original Audigys did not support 24/96 recording, only playback. But the Audigy 2 definitely does.

Nonetheless i am leaning towards the M-audio 24/96 as i don't have midi needs, and it has analog RCA ins, which i need for recording DJ sets.

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ok, seriously, if you really wanna do some heavy duty editing with video, audio, pictures, you should get the latest mac... but if you don't like macs. also, amds are cheaper, but they're more for data processing and file management, pentiums do better with heavy multimedia. here's what i would sugget:

intel 845 series motherboard
compatible 2.8+ GHz P4

1 GB of ram should be enough to get you through most of your editing. i would suggest using 2x512mb chips unless you plan on upgrading. the thing with the gig chips, even though you can't visually tell a difference, the seek times are greater, i.e. it takes a little bit longer to start using all the ram for whatever task you've chosen.

at least an 80GB hard drive. A full length video in divx format is about 700 mb in decent quality, almost 1.5GB for decent copies, and a little over 2GB for excellent copies. also with music...an 80 min recording of dj sets, at 24/96 is easily about 2GB, plus you'll need room to edit. and with soundforge, it makes a temp files while your working and they tend to take a lot of room (this is due to the undo function, you can turn it off, but i wouldn't advise it)

for the audio card, i would suggest the m-audio 2496 audiophile card. i didn't check if you were in the united states or not, but if there's a guitar center near your house, you might wanna check there, they carry stuff by m-audio.

as for the dvd-R and the dvd-rom, it doesn't really make a difference which one you get. you'll pay a little bit extra for brand name, choice is yours.

since you don't need an impressive vid card, i would suggest buying something relatively cheap, but still has some punch. i.e. like an older geforce 4, with hopefully like 32mb-64mb of unshared ram.

of couse, you'll need a power supply and a case. get at least a 400W powersupply otherwise you won't have full processing power.

also you might wanna check around to see if they have a local computer fair around. prices are ridiculously lower there.

also, i'm guessing that you'll be assembling this yourself, so good luck, and if you need any help setting up the computer, leme know, i'll see what i can do

hope this helps, take care

quote:

Originally posted by JohnSmith I've been advised that SOLTEK builds the best motherboards for AMD processors, so i have decided to go with a SOLTEK KT600 motherboard (KT600 400FSB DDR AGP 6PCI SATA RAID SOUND LAN), and an AMD ATHLON XP 2500+ processor. Are these good choices? Also I have some specific questions on components of my computer.

ok, I have been a bit out of the loop when it comes to mobo chipsets, but in term of motherboard makers look at either ASUS or ABIT. Either one is a great choice. If you are going 'cheap' look at Elitegroup.
I am not sure that I would go with a VIA chipset. I have had some _BAD_ experiences with them, but I haven't heard much about the KT600. Last mobo I got was an nForce2 based one. I liked it a lot, since it WORKED out of the box

quote:

Operating System I have decided on Windows XP Pro for my system. There are two options, the OEM version for $206.37, or the full retail box for $439.98. is it really worth an extra $233.61 to get the retail version? is a CD provided with the OEM version?

OEM version should provide a CD, how else will you be able to install it?

quote:

Processor is 333 FSB good enough on a proccesor? -I can get the AMD ATHLON XP 2500+ 512K 333FSB for $138.51 OR -I can get the AMD ATHLON XP 3200+ 512K 400FSB for $692.16 is it really worth an extra $550 or so for a 400FSB, i'm thinking not.

if you are looking at saving some money now, get the LOWEST clocked Barton core AXP [333MHz]. Then o/c that to 400, which is almost a certainty with a good mobo and you will have a wikked fast system.

[/quote]
I know the AMDs have a tendency to run hot, will this processor (the 2500+) require a fan? (assuming i will not overclock or otherwise mess with it)
[/quote]

nowadays there are _VERY_ few processors that do not require active cooling (i.e. a fan). Two that I can come up with are the VIA C3 -used on the EDEN plattform- and the Transmeta crusoe. Any Intel/ AMD x86 chip that you can buy today _WILL_ need to be cooled with a fan+heatsink. Unless you run it at like 100MHz or something.

quote:

RAM i think i would like to have at least 1Gb is 1Gb enough?

you can NEVER have enough

quote:

if so, would it be better to get a 1Gb chip, or 2 512Mb ones?

depends on your mobo. If it cannot address 1GB DIMM's then you won't be able to use them, hence it doesn't make sense to buy one. If you are planning to have the OPTION for 2GB, then you 'need' a 1GB dimm, or a board with 4 DIMM slots.

quote:

also, am i correct in thinking that memory bandwidth would be better with 2 chips instead of one?

depends on your motherboards' chipset. If it has a dual-channel memory controller, nForce2 for example, then your bandwidth will be higher with two chips. I don't know about the KT600, you need to do your own research here.

quote:

DVD Writer But, I'm not sure which one to choose, as the "format wars" are still going on.

Plextor is offering the 705a (i think), which is a burner that burns all formats. See www.cdrinfo.com for more info about that. I think it's worth the $235 or so it costs.

quote:

I really don't know much about video cards, so i have just accepted the default that comes with the system i have built: SOLTEK GEFORCE FX 5200 AGP 64MB DDR VGA DVI TV OUT, is this a good card? there are other options, both higher and lower on the scale, but i'm not sure what to get, any advice would be appreciated.

Any ATI card from the 9x00 series should be perfectly fine, if you don't plan on ultra high end gaming. Don't buy nvidia Geforce FX, since it is WAY too expensive for the performance you get. Right now, ATI is the best way to go for price/ performance in the lower end of the segment.

quote:

Sound Card

don't know much about these, but someone suggested that a Soundblaster with the kx drivers (www.kxproject.com i think?) are really good.. but as i said I have NO CLUE.

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I see your 4 Crushs and raise you 3 As The Rush Comes. - Yan from PvD's first summerstage event in '03

quote:

Originally posted by liquidmist2001 at least an 80GB hard drive. A full length video in divx format is about 700 mb in decent quality, almost 1.5GB for decent copies, and a little over 2GB for excellent copies. also with music...an 80 min recording of dj sets, at 24/96 is easily about 2GB, plus you'll need room to edit. and with soundforge, it makes a temp files while your working and they tend to take a lot of room (this is due to the undo function, you can turn it off, but i wouldn't advise it)

or you might want to consider a seperate drive for your editing, like the Wester Digital Raptor, which is a 10K rpm IDE drive, therefore has a very low access time and a reasonable streaming xfer rate. It's a SATA drive with 37GB, which you could use as a "swap and edit" drive, which having a big, cheap 100+GB drive for storage. Also, the raptor is supposed to get an overhaul soon and will be available in 70-odd GB capacity.


more info on www.storagereview.com
If you are not getting the raptor, there is no reason to get a 40GB drive at this point.

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I see your 4 Crushs and raise you 3 As The Rush Comes. - Yan from PvD's first summerstage event in '03

i see yiou're gettinmg a 300w power supply, tjat's borderline... get more like 400, i jave a 380 one and it ran fine for the whole 20 minuites i used my newky assembked pc for until my mobo bios died... igh... and my amd athlom xp 2400 came witj a reallu decemt heatsimk/fam.

p.s. dom't mind mu spellimg, my righjt imdex finger reallu hurts.

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Make sure you get the Audiophile 2496

+R recording is better for burning DVD movies and console games , and the media is cheaper.

I would recommend getting a larger hard drive than 40GB. 120GB 7200RPM with 8MB cache (good for large files) are relatively cheap, you can get them for under $150 CAN. If the description for the hard drive doesn't mention cache, assume that its 2MB. If you're willing to spend more, look at the 10K RPM drives like drizzt81 suggested.

Remember that if you're recording livesets that are a few hours long, and if you are recording using 24-bit 96KHz your sound files are going to be quite a bit larger than a regular 16-bit 44KHz wav file. Plus if you are doing post-production on the liveset like normalizing and such, you're going to be waiting a LONG time.

About the video card: Don't bother spending $100 on a gaming card. Look at the older ATI cards, ones like 7000 series, 8500, 9100, or 9200, or the older nVidia cards like the GeForce 4 MX. Buy OEM and not retail. You can probably find one for around $60-$70.

You're in BC so in case you haven't looked it up, check out www.NCIX.com they have great prices and service is good too. Maybe thats the site you're buying from, I can't tell from the picture.

About the CD/DVD stuff: If you don't need to do 'on the fly' burning then you won't need the DVD-ROM. However, if you'll be burning rented DVDs its good to be able to do that without copying to HDD first. Otherwise, scrap the DVD-ROM and use the $50 somewhere else or just save it.


Also remember that some stores have a price match guarantee (like NCIX) and you just fill out a few boxes at checkout and they will match the price of a competitor, as long as the item is the exact same.

Good luck.

quote:

Originally posted by whiskers i see yiou're gettinmg a 300w power supply, tjat's borderline... get more like 400, i jave a 380 one and it ran fine for the whole 20 minuites i used my newky assembked pc for until my mobo bios died... igh... and my amd athlom xp 2400 came witj a reallu decemt heatsimk/fam. p.s. dom't mind mu spellimg, my righjt imdex finger reallu hurts.

or just get a GOOD 350W power supply. Most of the time, a cheap 400W will cause you more trouble than an Enermax or similar 300W one.

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I see your 4 Crushs and raise you 3 As The Rush Comes. - Yan from PvD's first summerstage event in '03

I'm not sure what sorts of problems the Canadian Dollar issue would cause, but one of the best places for parts that I've ever found is:

http://www.cpusolutions.com

Its where I do all my computer shopping. Even if Smith can't use that link, for all my American TAs, I urge you to check it out.