Opinions

[chinq82]

I will be building two separate systems for others soon, I have a general idea of what to put together... but I want to get some opinions to see what I can get done..

I am going to build a sound system, for recording & production, and a graphics system for photoshop and such... The budget is not really an issue, but we would like to save some money...

thanks in advance.

[Gait_Keeper]

Oh man!!! you've asked for it!!!!

AMD all the way opteron 64
after that things will vary

You plan on running windows?



I can't wait to see some of the suggestions, hmm.... matrox graphics card?? 4 gigs of ddr dual/dual channel ram??

[slinky]

for multimedia stuff like that, a 2.6C is your best bet (and since budget isnt really an issue). add PC3200 DDR + ABIT IS7/ASUS P4P800 and a nice 160GB /w 8mb HD and you're set!

next best solution is the 2500+ with an ASUS A7N8X.

[chinq82]

Thanks a lot guys. How about sound? Audigy2 platinum sound good? Which Opteron would be the best value.. Those are still a bit pricey.... Thanks again.

If you're building a machine for recording and production, why not put an audio card in it that is designed for recording and production?

Something like the Nuendo 96/52 DSP

EDIT - They have one here for the low, low price of $549 +S/H

[noisedude]

no no no NO NO NO!!!!!!!!

do NOT under any circumstances buy a CREATIVE card to do recording!

dear oh dear.

don't send a boy to do a man's job and please don't send a creative to do the job of, well, most other people!

if you're desperate for a fancy gaming card you can look at the terratec dmx6fire or whatever it's called, but for recording and production in the home you need to buy M-AUDIO.

the crucial thing in recording is the converters that change analogue-digital and back again. creative ones (and to an extent terratec's) are very poor - noisy, grainy and a poor frequency reproduction spectrum. you need a 24-bit 96khz sampling card but as i say they are not all the same.

m-audio on the other hand are the cleanest most pristine converters you can get for any where near the money. also, the creatives come with cheap mic pre-amps which have terrible gain/noise ratios and do your voice/instruments no good at all. the m-audios are 'clean' - they have no pre-amps so you can add your own from a mixer or dedicated rack unit, or do without (which is still better than the junk in the audigy IMO).

the basic card is the Audiophile 24/96 but for a few notes more you can get the Delta 44, same converters plus a breakout box - four ins and four outs. Next up is the Delta 66 which is the same format again plus SPDIF.

they don't have the 'pretty' extras that come with creatives, but they are by a country mile the best you can get for the small studio. i use a delta 44 in mine.

[noisedude]

just to clarify, in the UK the audiophile is £169, the delta 44 £179. so they're obviously not the card the Nuendo is, but by getting one of these superb cards you'll have wad left to buy condenser mics and cubase/pro tools with!!

[chinq82]

Okay, I've got an update... The sound machine won't be for recording/production.. just general mp3 crap..... Sorry to get you riled up noisedude, I am doing all of this by ear right now Im still jugling work and trying to collect some more information as to what they want... The matrox Parhelia looks good.. but im not even sure if thats necessary yet, they won't be doing any video capture though

[noisedude]

ah. fair enough!!

i do get a bit annoyed that creative sell their 2nd-rate stuff to geniune musicians, but i guess i got over-excited!!

if they're not doing video capture you only probably want a card with a TV-out. maybe a VIVO card would do more than that and they're quite versatile. or an all-in-wonder if they wanna pay a little extra for convenience?

just concentrate on some decent speakers, a nice monitor and a general all-round feel. maybe not on-board sound, but it's not the end of the world for mp3s cos they're relatively lo-fi anyway.

get an athlon unless tippy top performance is wanted, they're much better value for money around the mid-range. aim for DDR400 (PC3200) and a 333mhz FSB on the processor.

[jmichna]

Originally posted by Gait_Keeper
...AMD all the way opteron 64
after that things will vary

You plan on running windows?....

AMD Athlon64 FX51 rather than Opteron. Lower cost, more widely available components, excellent performance benchmarks, runs 32-bit Windows/apps flawlessly and faster than just about anything else out there, and is ready for the upcoming Win 64-bit OS.

See Nov 2003 issue of "Maximum PC," starts page 56, for very good article (includes benches of AMD 64, AMD 64 FX-51 and 3.2GHz P-4C.