Suggestions for my new system?

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Hello all,
I'm about to get a new system and I was curious what you big timer's thought about which products to get. My goal is, I want a decently highend gaming machine, but I need lots of speed because I plan on making it into a small, personal recording studio. My plan so far is, I want a Athlon 1giger (maybe slightly faster), an Asus board (I'm not stuck on Asus, but I am leaning heavily towards them), I want DDR ram, and I need a lightning harddrive. I don't know a ton about harddrives so Im not too sure what to look for. I mean, I know about rpm and a little bit about ata, but thats about the extent of it.

Anyways, if anybody can give me some suggestions I'd be much obliged.


BTW, I'm new to these forums and I just wanted you all to know I do tech support for Canon so if you have problems with your printer/multipass just leme know. :)

"He not busy being born is busy dying."
-Dylan
 
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Can you give us a price range, and maybe you should think scsi
 
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Well, price range Im hopin to keep around 500-750$. Im also gonna be getting a cable modem HUB and a plextor burner, but Im trying not to count those. :)

As for scsi, yeah, most people I know who are doing recording use scsi, but I just dont wanna spend that kind of money. IDE (that the right term? I dont pretend to be a know it all.) has come far enough along that I dont think scsi is enough bang for the buck. Im hopin that, after I get some more money saved up, I can get a second HD and run a raid controller. (I'm not familiar on which is which, but I want the raid that has 2 drives writing as 1 drive but twice as fast. Raid 01 I think?)

Also, I was told by a good friend that the problem the recording on most harddrives is that the majority of them use an error control that slows the proccess down a few milliseconds, which is nothing when running business apps but can screw up a song easily.

Anyways, I hope that helps kind of narrow down what I have in mind for you guys. I know my initial post was rather broad. Sorry bout that, this idea is just starting to formulate in my noggin. :)

"He not busy being born is busy dying."
-Dylan
 

alph

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Mar 21, 2001
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What parts will you buy and what parts do you already have?
This is interesting when thinking of how much money you can spend on each part.

<font color=purple> english first language nono</font color=purple>
 
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ok. :)
I have a really nice case (forget the name) that I am about to repaint (read a cool article in maximum pc about detailing your home puter) so Im keeping that. I have a Creative GeForce2 32MB which I will obviously keep. I have a nice Logitech Wheelman mouse Im keeping. (infra-red). hhmm, lets see, I need a new monitor, but I am definatly not including that in the price because a good 17" or 19" is ludicrously expensive. Ive got a half-ass Creative 52x cd-rom that loves to overspin, but until I get a burner Im gonna keep that. Microsoft Sidewinder flight stick. cheap little keyboard with the caps lock buttons removed (hate those buttons). And as far as I can think of right now, thats it. Everything else I think Ill sell to get some of my money back.

Incase your interested in what Im selling
Asus P2b-F
Celeron 366 overclocked to 550 (damn cele's clock nicely)
190 Megs of 8ns SDRAM
and the best part I have right now- My V.90 Everything external modem. The fastes 56k modem on the planet from what I understand. (atleast for home use)
:)


"He not busy being born is busy dying."
-Dylan
 

jmycal

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for the time being if going with ddr for the most stable performance you want a board with the amd760 chipset. do you want a process and memory to be able to do a 266 fsb? crucial has ddr priced really well, it is a division of micron. 256k $59.39-70.19. 128k $31.49-34.19. 64k $20.69 . that is for pc2100 which will allow you to run a 266fsb. pc1600 will allow you to run a 200 fsb, 256k same as pc2100, 128k same as pc2100, 64k $24.29-25.19. some mobos come with raid built right into them, so check for that as well. check pricewatch.com for best prices, they are sometimes cheaper than what each companies web site lists

life is what happens while you are making other plans
 
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Jmy,

Im definatly going for the 266 fsb, The price isnt that much different and I need all the speed I can get.

"He not busy being born is busy dying."
-Dylan
 
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BTW, Ive been looking at the Asus A7A266 board. So far, from what Ive seen, that looks like the top choice, and Ive seen them on pricewatch for around 160$. Unfortunatly there is quite a few specs they list that I have no idea what they are. :) It's funny how the more you learn, the more you realize you don't know. :)

"He not busy being born is busy dying."
-Dylan
 

jmycal

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in reallity a 266 fsb,is a 133 fsb double pumped, hence 266. even still that is what i have in my new system

life is what happens while you are making other plans
 

Frocer

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Actually, I would not suggest you go with the A7A266. I recently upgraded my system as well. I chose the A7M266 over the A7A because it's using the AMD 761 chipset, a much more stable chipset than Ali Magik, well, from reviews and comments anyway. I never used the A7A266 myself, so I am not gonna say anything about it. But I can assure you that you would be pleased with the A7M266, it's very stable. I am running a AMD Thunderbird 1.33 Ghz 266Mhz FSB, with Crucial's 256MB DDR memory. I did not overclock at all so I am using a Volcano II HSF, and it cools really well. With Win2k this system is stable as a rock, no crashes yet, lighting fast =)
 
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The A7A uses the Ali chipset!? Oh man, glad you told me that. Thats a terrible chipset. Infact, when customers call in with USB problems (I tech support for Canon) and they have an Ali chipset we immediatly send them to ali.com.tw to download severl patches.
Thanks for the input. What chipset does the A7M use? Via?

"He not busy being born is busy dying."
-Dylan
 

jmycal

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A7M266 uses the amd761 northbridge and via-686b southbridge, off all current mobo ddr combos this is by far the most stable.

life is what happens while you are making other plans