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Hello everyone,
i'm spending most of the time on the harmony-central recording forum, but I think you guys can really help me out..
After saving some money I finally can get rid of my Pentium 2 and buy myself a new DAW.

I already bought a RME multiface/PCI card, i'm going to use XPpro and Logic 5.2.

I've done some research on this great forum and got a few things sorted out already, but I'd really appreciate some feedback and/or suggestions.

-MoBo:
P4533FSB with intel chipset but I don't know which type to buy, for instance the P4B533-V with 845G chipset? please help me out here.

CPU:
P4a, but which type?

-app drive:
Maxtor 40GB drive

-Sound drive:
WD 1200JB 120 GIG

-chassis: Chieftec, equipped with Enermax power supply.

-videocard: Matrox G550

-CD-RW: PLEXTOR 24*10*40

Thing I haven't figured out yet:

-Which kind of memory/RAM ?
-Which CD-rom drive ?
-Cooling?

A lot of questions, but I'll really appreciate any help..
Thanks,
Jarno

Comments

Opus2000 Wed, 09/11/2002 - 10:12

Hey....thanks for the RO compliment and we will try to help you out as much as possible.
The 845G chipset allows for the DDR 333 PC2700 RAM which is ultimately a good thing since it's a higher anount of processing in the long run and allows for faster performance.
SO I would definately recommend that board in the long run.
When you deal with the 533 FSB systems the "a" doesn't matter any more...the A was only due to the northwood systems...now that the 533 systems are out the processors now have a "B" after them for the 533 specifications...any P4 processor that you see having a 533FSB is that "B" P4 and that's what you will want to get...they start at the 2.26Ghz level if I'm correct.
Memory...go for Kingston..seems to be the most reliable as certain companies are selling cheap ram as Samsung...so they are lying to you basically...
Cooling, no need...use the stock Intel fan and be done with it...the .013 micron's are cool as they are and don't need to be cooled specifically..
CDROM...why? If you have a burner that's all you'll need. Get another machine for duplications if need be..otherwise having two optical drives only limits your hard drive expansion capabilities...
Otherwise everything else looks great!
Any more questions...just ask away!
Cheers
Opus

anonymous Thu, 09/12/2002 - 00:03

Oeps, that was a bit of too much enthousiasm.. :confused:
I've checked a website
( http://www.alternate.nl )but there are still a few little things i'm not sure about..

Chasis :
do I need a MIDI tower or a BIG tower Chieftec and which type do you recommend?
If I’m right I need a Chieftec without power supply and buy an Enermax power supply..
How much WATT do you recommend?

-CD-RW:
I’ve checked out some Plextors, but there are a lot of different types, which one should I get?

application drive:
there are about 3 different 40Gig Maxtor drives, like the Quantum DiamondMax Plus D740X , Quantum DiamondMax D540X-4D and the
Quantum DiamondMax D740X . Any suggestions?

RAM:
I can’t figure out which one to get, is it the Kingston DIMM 512 MB (Double Data Rate, CL2,5) or the Kingston DIMM 1 GB (DDRAM, Registered )

Opus, you told me about the DDR 333 PC2700 RAM , but I live in the Netherlands and I cant find this type of RAM', maybe it is only available in the US.

I'm sorry about all these questions, but I'd like to get things clear before spending my money.

Thank you for reading, I once again will appreciate some feedback.
cheers,
Jarno

Opus2000 Thu, 09/12/2002 - 04:57

Tapehead
You are doing the right thing be doing research and homeowrk before buying everything. It's the smartest thing you can do.
As for the case. A mid tower or full tower case will be fine. It's a matter of preference as to how tall you want the thing to be. If you look on the post I just put up on the Enermax case you will see that's the type of case I recommend. Enermax makes the best PSU as it's quiet, efficient and very reliable.
For what you are getting a 350Watt PSU is the minimum and will do just fine for you. The only reason I would choose a PSU over that amount is if you were going dual processors. Otherwise over 350 is overkill for you
CDR/W...some people are having some problems with the 40X CDR/W models from Plextor. Also realize that Plextor models tend to be a bit noisy in the long run when they spin up and in the burning process. Teac makes some nice ones as well as Sony or Phillips. Most people tend to go with Plextor though as they are the most reliable. I like going with the 24X models as they aren't as noisy and to be honest 24X is fast enough. Geez, I remember when 4X came out! lol I though that was fast! :roll:
Maxtor drives...
MAXTOR 40.0GB DX6E040L0 EIDE ULTRA-ATA 133 8.5NS 7200RPM 2MB BUFFER (Bare drive

That's the model I recomend...it's the latest ones and are perfect for the OS drive. Usually I recommend 20GB as that's really all you should need plus the smaller the drive the faster it reads. The less the OS drive has to work the better.

Hmmmm...that sucks you can't find the PC2700 type of memory. If you're going to get any type of RAM it's best to get tow sticks of 512 so that if one goes bad you can troubleshoot it by removing one and seeing if the other is bad. With the 1GB stick if it goes bad you have to get another one. Not that Kigston memory will go bad but why take the chance I always say.
Get Non ECC un registered RAM...you do not need it as it only adds extra cycles to the calculations which in turn will increase latency.
Again, glad to help in any way
Opus

Jon Best Thu, 09/12/2002 - 11:56

Don't get anything less than maybe 350watt, minimum. I'd say 400+ to be on the safe side. Get an Enermax supply, or some other name brand- I've had good luck with the Enermax 'whisper' line. As far as cases go, if it's ATX it will work, but you really want to get as big a case as you can fit where you want to put it, if only because it's easier to work in and has the potential to stay cooler. Again, I've had good luck with Enermax cases as well.

Any of the Plextors are fine- speed is not really that important for audio, as you're going to get your best (lowest error rate) masters between 2x and 4x anyways. High speed can be a plus for data backups, though. Get something with a read speed of 32x or more, if you're using the burner as your primary CDR.

With the IDE hard drives, Maxtor has a line with an 'L' in it that has liquid bearings, and is quieter. It's also got a decent size cache and runs at 7200rpm, which you should look for.

As far as ram, try and find some that's rated cas/CL 2,2,2 (or just 2). Kingston's a good name, but I think Crucial is easier to find in the lower cas rating.

RAM is little, so it should be cheap to ship- there has got to be someone over here in the US that will ship you your ram when you nail down what you're getting.

Good luck!

anonymous Thu, 09/12/2002 - 22:14

Hi,
thank you all guys for the replies.
Joy4U, you're of course right about logic and OS-X, but i'm working with Logic 5.2 and it gives me enough possibilities for the first few years.

About the Maxtor drive; I visited their website and got interested in the DiamondMax® Plus 8.
What follows is some info:
" DiamondMax® Plus 8 blends performance and value in an ATA hard drive. This drive is the perfect combination for the mainstream consumer or commercial user. Offered in capacity points of 20, 30 and 40GB, the DiamondMax Plus 8 is equipped with fluid dynamic bearing motors. This technology minimizes the noise of the drive, which is especially important in personal video recorder applications. This fast performer at 7200 RPM and fast Ultra ATA 133 interface is the most reliable and robust single-head/single platter hard drive on the market."

Seems pretty good to me, huh?

The only problem is the RAM. I still can't find the Kingston RAM recommended by Opus, I guess it's hard to find over here..
I'll check out the Crucial, recommended by Jon.

I have to buy my DAW as soon as possible, I've never had that large amount of money on my account and I've never visited more bars than recently :c:
It's a shame, I know, so I gotta get my DAW.
Cheers,
Jarno

SonOfSmawg Sat, 09/14/2002 - 13:09

Case & P/S ... take a look at the Antec PLUS1080B. It's a killer case with a sweet 430 watt P/S, and you can get them at a decent price.
I just visited the Maxtor site, and they've recently made some changes which may cause us to rethink certain things. They have a new Diamondmax Plus9 range, which is obviously an upgrade from the D740X range. Check this out ... ATA 133, fluid dynamic bearings, EIGHT MEG CACHE, available in 80, 120, & 160Gb. This may very well be preferred over the current Western Digital Special Edition drives (ATA 100) that we're currently recommending for audio files! Whatcha think, Gary?
It's a shame that Maxtor doesn't have a HDD with those specs available in a 5 or 10Gb model for the primary drive.

Opus2000 Sun, 09/15/2002 - 09:42

Ya know...I was wondering when Maxtor was going to jump into the 8MB cache drive scene....This I will have to do some testing with...
Before Western Digital came out with those drives Maxtor was in the lead on performance oriented drives...now that Maxtor has these drives I would not doubt they will once again take the lead on performance. I will see who has them for sale and buy one to test with and see what the read and write times are like
Opus