Hi everyone.
So my project is to build a complete system for myself for music production, general internet, and computer stuff.
I have quite specific needs, but I posted in the hope that some fellow noobs with similar needs might benefit from my hours and hours of research and any feedback I receive
The system has to include everything I need for a working production machine EXCEPT: mouse and keyboard, OS, and a sound card - I use external Audio interface (Edirol FA-101) for sound input and output.
requirements -
1) As close to $900 as possible
2) decent processing speed (at a good value) and Mobo - the funk factory needs a solid powerhouse.
3) a fair amount of ram - music production eats it up
4) Firewire : allow use of audio interface
5) Needn't be good for gaming. Thus I went for on-board video, I can always get a card later if i want to upgrade to CS:S
6) Needn't be good for overclocking - I need a quiet system and overclocking would necessitate more fans etc. That's why I went for the Gigabyte boards with on-board video (the models lacking this were much better for overclocking). If anyone thinks I should overclock in order to help my music production software then let me know why - so far as I can see, it would involve excessive fiddling about, noisy fans, and not for a massive increase in processing speed (I am upgrading from a recently dead Dell laptop with Pentium III and 512Megs of Ram and even that would render what I asked it to eventually).
Anyway, here are the two builds, please give me some feedback!!!
1. Intel build
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz 2M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115004
$220
Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-965G-DS3 LGA 775 Intel G965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard – Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128018
$135
Case and PSU - Antec LifeStyle SONATA II Piano Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450Watt SmartPower 2.0 ATX 12V V2.0 for AMD & Intel systems Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16811129155
$99
RAM: OCZ S.O.E 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227118
$186
Video Card: none – onboard, upgrade later if it becomes necessary / desireable
CD/DVD drive: LG Black 18X DVD+R … 2M Cache IDE Super-Multi DVD Burner - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827136103
$30
Floppy: MITSUMI Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Model D359M3D/D359M3B - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16821104101
$7
Firewire Card: SYBA PCI to Firewire 1394a 3+1 ports controller card Model SD-NEC-4F – Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16815124003
$10 (note the more expensive postage on the open box version!!!)
Monitor: 17” something-or-other
$100
HD – Storage: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148140
$95
HD – Apps: Western Digital Caviar SE WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive – OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822135106
$44
Total Price: $926
Athlon build
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Windsor 2.0GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103735
$135
Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-M55plus-S3G Socket AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128010
$95
Case and PSU - Antec LifeStyle SONATA II Piano Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450Watt SmartPower 2.0 ATX 12V V2.0 for AMD & Intel systems Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16811129155
$99
RAM: Kingston 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820134046
$220
Video Card: none – onboard, upgrade later if it becomes necessary / desireable
CD/DVD drive: LG Black 18X DVD+R … 2M Cache IDE Super-Multi DVD Burner - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827136103
$30
Floppy: MITSUMI Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Model D359M3D/D359M3B - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16821104101
$7
Monitor: 19” something or other
$150
HD – Storage: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148140
$95
HD – Apps: Western Digital Caviar SE WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive – OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822135106
$44
TOTAL PRICE: 875 (+p&p)
Processor choice based on best bang for your buck rating at: http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.html?modelx=33&model1=433&model2=471&chart=195
All other choices made on basis of advice from another posting, or reading reviews on newegg - looking at products with a LOT of reviews - 5 stars from 13 people being less reliable than 4 starts from 145say.
ISSUES: (What I want advice about)
The Intel system is set to be more powerful, and much better at multi-tasking. However, it is slightly over-budget and I can only squeeze in a cheapo 17" monitor. The Mobo wont go to quad-core, I am not intending to make major upgrades on this in the near future. (maybe piecemeal sale-time additions of: a video card; extra HD's to make a RAID system etc.)
The Athlon set-up is less powerful for now, but they have just introduced AM2, so I thought in a year or two I can upgrade to an FX or whatever, and for now I can get a decent sized monitor and a system that will most probably serve my needs no problems.
Please fire away with comments, criticisms and (hopefully) suggestions about how to get more bang for my $900
So my project is to build a complete system for myself for music production, general internet, and computer stuff.
I have quite specific needs, but I posted in the hope that some fellow noobs with similar needs might benefit from my hours and hours of research and any feedback I receive
The system has to include everything I need for a working production machine EXCEPT: mouse and keyboard, OS, and a sound card - I use external Audio interface (Edirol FA-101) for sound input and output.
requirements -
1) As close to $900 as possible
2) decent processing speed (at a good value) and Mobo - the funk factory needs a solid powerhouse.
3) a fair amount of ram - music production eats it up
4) Firewire : allow use of audio interface
5) Needn't be good for gaming. Thus I went for on-board video, I can always get a card later if i want to upgrade to CS:S
6) Needn't be good for overclocking - I need a quiet system and overclocking would necessitate more fans etc. That's why I went for the Gigabyte boards with on-board video (the models lacking this were much better for overclocking). If anyone thinks I should overclock in order to help my music production software then let me know why - so far as I can see, it would involve excessive fiddling about, noisy fans, and not for a massive increase in processing speed (I am upgrading from a recently dead Dell laptop with Pentium III and 512Megs of Ram and even that would render what I asked it to eventually).
Anyway, here are the two builds, please give me some feedback!!!
1. Intel build
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz 2M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115004
$220
Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-965G-DS3 LGA 775 Intel G965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard – Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128018
$135
Case and PSU - Antec LifeStyle SONATA II Piano Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450Watt SmartPower 2.0 ATX 12V V2.0 for AMD & Intel systems Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16811129155
$99
RAM: OCZ S.O.E 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227118
$186
Video Card: none – onboard, upgrade later if it becomes necessary / desireable
CD/DVD drive: LG Black 18X DVD+R … 2M Cache IDE Super-Multi DVD Burner - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827136103
$30
Floppy: MITSUMI Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Model D359M3D/D359M3B - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16821104101
$7
Firewire Card: SYBA PCI to Firewire 1394a 3+1 ports controller card Model SD-NEC-4F – Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16815124003
$10 (note the more expensive postage on the open box version!!!)
Monitor: 17” something-or-other
$100
HD – Storage: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148140
$95
HD – Apps: Western Digital Caviar SE WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive – OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822135106
$44
Total Price: $926
Athlon build
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Windsor 2.0GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103735
$135
Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-M55plus-S3G Socket AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128010
$95
Case and PSU - Antec LifeStyle SONATA II Piano Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450Watt SmartPower 2.0 ATX 12V V2.0 for AMD & Intel systems Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16811129155
$99
RAM: Kingston 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820134046
$220
Video Card: none – onboard, upgrade later if it becomes necessary / desireable
CD/DVD drive: LG Black 18X DVD+R … 2M Cache IDE Super-Multi DVD Burner - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827136103
$30
Floppy: MITSUMI Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Model D359M3D/D359M3B - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16821104101
$7
Monitor: 19” something or other
$150
HD – Storage: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148140
$95
HD – Apps: Western Digital Caviar SE WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive – OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822135106
$44
TOTAL PRICE: 875 (+p&p)
Processor choice based on best bang for your buck rating at: http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.html?modelx=33&model1=433&model2=471&chart=195
All other choices made on basis of advice from another posting, or reading reviews on newegg - looking at products with a LOT of reviews - 5 stars from 13 people being less reliable than 4 starts from 145say.
ISSUES: (What I want advice about)
The Intel system is set to be more powerful, and much better at multi-tasking. However, it is slightly over-budget and I can only squeeze in a cheapo 17" monitor. The Mobo wont go to quad-core, I am not intending to make major upgrades on this in the near future. (maybe piecemeal sale-time additions of: a video card; extra HD's to make a RAID system etc.)
The Athlon set-up is less powerful for now, but they have just introduced AM2, so I thought in a year or two I can upgrade to an FX or whatever, and for now I can get a decent sized monitor and a system that will most probably serve my needs no problems.
Please fire away with comments, criticisms and (hopefully) suggestions about how to get more bang for my $900