Opus, that's an amazing improvement. Is this at 1.6Ghz or did you do a little clockin! :D What was your former rig running at?

I'll be back. I have to pack a box to return to Gateway ;)

That's at 1.6Ghz...no OC'ing just yet!
My old machine was a PIII 650 Slot One style
The old mainboard was an Asus(but of course!) P2b-F!!
As soon as I overlclock it I'll let ya know!
Peace
Opus

okay,
Opus good news!!
If you did clock this thing at 2.?, then can someone compare some detailed benchmarks on plugs(Waves) and tracks(32./44.1). I am interested in anyone with an Athlon XP 1.7 or 1.8, 512 PC2100Ram, and either the Gigabyte GA7DX or the Asus A7M266 or an equal
chipset board. Also anybody with a stable A7M266-D, if you could chime in with some benchmarks and sys specs that would be great. I can't wait to build my new rig. The suspense is killing me.
Thanks Opus

I can tell you right now that at 1.6Ghz I put five Waves Trueverbs..5 Waves Q4...two C1 compressors and a RCL compressor on a 24 track project at 44.1/16 it didnt even budge my CPU meter :eek:
this is scary!! Good scary tho!! Wooohooo!! Man, my jaw dropped when I did a batch export of MP3 files from Wavelab...each one song which is about 3 minutes long( I batched 10 songs) and it took about 7 seconds per song!!! TOPS!!!! Just about a minute to convert them from Wav to MP3 at 128bit!!!
Oh boy oh boy!! You have to get this setup folks!! I'm amazed...
now all I have to do is get in touch with Mwave.com and see what I can do about this Sis chipset board swapparoosky for maybe a hard drive or something of that nature!!
Opus

Jetoney...man, you want some benchmarking...I got this program called SiSoftware Sandra that gives a CPU benchmark and from its database it compares it with other typical systems and it shows my cpu at it's current speed, which is by the way at 2.13Ghz!!!, kicks Athalon XP 1600 and 1800 series CPU's asses in a bad way...I'll take a snapshot of it with a program I got and post it for you all to see!! I'll do some other benchmarks too
Opus

Opus ,
you are speaking my language,
preach on.

JT

I...PC Preacher....here by sentence you to .....
oh ...sorry, wrong forum...have I slipped throught a time portal :roll:
OK....
http://www.opusaudioprojects.net/P4%201.6%20OC'd%20to%202.13Ghz%20Benchmark%20Page.htm

Check this out......

It looks good on paper,
If you compare the price difference(about 72.00 in the config I was going to buy to the one you are running), I think the real win situation here is stability(as well as no via) and possibly a few more plugs. It does not look like it is a huge diff, but then again I know nothing when it comes to these tests, I only know what I can squeeze out of any given system. It looks like my next solution. Any plug and track counts with the overclock in place? and how many 32 float/44.1 tracks? I think this rig will do what I need, add a UAD and it's looking good. Can anybody compare with their Athlon setup? I have to admit going Intel makes me feel better with my Delta 1010(soon to be RME).

Holy crap, Sandra is showing your new rig trashing a P4 2ghz chip. :)
Sure, leave out the details, keep em comming back for more!
Are you running 133FSB, 1/1 syncronous with the RAM, PCI bus frequency, three DDR slots filled, CPU voltage, RAM voltage, what are system temps, I gotta know!
FEED ME I'M HUNGRY :D

Well....being I'm not at home right now...
I do have it at 133 system bus...if you look closely at some of the details under the graphs it does tell you my system bus speed..4x133!!
I dont know other specifics right now and what track counts or sample rates I'll be able to handle...
system temps and all that I'll look into..
I will feed you guys more info as I get it...right now I can tell you this..my system is probably going to be rented out to a very high up engineer who needs a stable Nuendo system to be able to handle 24/96 with 8-16 channels input...
oh boy!! Here we go again with system being rented out!! I wish I could tell you what project and who...but you know how it goes!!! lol
Suspense sucks dont it!!!!
Ha ha ha ha ha
Opus

I know you are not an advertiser or anything, but for my information, who did you buy your system from?

OPUS, If and when you get a moment how about a parts list including manufacturers parts No.s

Opus2000,

Regarding the "five Waves Trueverbs..5 Waves Q4...two C1 compressors and a RCL compressor" ... is that a total of 13 plug-ins for the entire song, meaning some tracks got plug-ins and some did not?

Great Opus- You just hit my hot button. My buddie JDitty- as he's known here- has been all over me to go with the Athlon. I'd like to copy what you've got built. the results are almost unbelievable!
Is there an Athlon comparable setup?
JDitty is building with me- I think he may go AMD and me Intel. But I'd like to pass it on to him.

...we won't come out right with sublimations,
...we can't really rap, we're just 2 caucasians.

thanks!

Opus - Glad your smilin'!! :) Let us know how it goes for the next couple of days of testing. If all goes well, a parts list would be apprecated. Time for a build or two!! Good job on your build!!

Thanks,

CustomProd

WOW!!!! Can you say fast!! Can you say Unbelievable!! I added an Adaptec 2930U card today and had to bring my system for someone to use(go figure..I get it working for one day and it's out the door on a rental allready!! geez!!!)
we recorded from an ancient analog 8 track machine to my nuendo system at 24/96 and the cpu and disk meter indicator in Nuendo didnt even budge!!! Seriously!! 24/96...8 channel passes with no stuttering or anything of that sort!!
At first we recorded to my secondary IDE drive because the SCSI bay we had was bad...so we had a new bay delivered at once of course!! So..there you have it folks...this system is top notch
Here are the components...
Asus P4B266
Pentium 4 1.6a
Kingston 512MB PC2100 DDR 266 Non-Ecc
Crucial 256MB PC2100 DDR266 Non-Ecc
4RU Rackmount case from Mwave.com w/ 300watt PSU
40X CDROM, 12x8x32 CDR/W, 10GB Fujitsu 7200RPM drive, 40GB Maxtor 7200RPM drive, Matrox Dual AGP 32MB, Adaptec 2930U...
Tonight the system has an RME 96/52 card in it..usually I use the Echo Layla but since I had to accomodate 24/96 in Adat optical format...had to use the RME card!! Ahhh...the perks of my job..got to love it...
So, what else for information do you all need?
I think that should say it all...
If you want a comparable AMD system...Athalon with the highest CPU rating and a non Via motherboard...in otherwords...you're screwed...even the AMD 761 series usues a VIA sidekick.....can you trust Via enough on that aspect...I wouldnt..
Opus

Opus - Thanks for swallowing the pills of the unknown and building a rig that works! Good Job. Now that we have the laundry list, it's time to make my credit cards scream like a whore who is not getting paid!!

For those of us that have followed your adventure here, I understand exactly which chip to get: The P4-1.6a (w/512 L2), Mem= DDR2100, The only question I have is on the MOBO. You say that you have the Asus P4B266. As I have now begun my search for this board, I am finding variations of the platform. Example; the "Asus P4B266 P4 S478 MBD (aud)" This card has an integrated C-Media CMI8738 6-Channel Audio Controller. Is this the correct board to get?? What is the exact model# of yours?

Thanks for the time :)

CustomProd

Hey Opus. You must be really stoked. Great to hear some good news. can I ask if you think that this system is gonna be future proof enough to accomodate more tracks, more plugins and soft synths etc?

Could you give us a rough idea on your full track count and resolution and how the system generally runs, boot times and other factors within the operating system itself.

Cheers

I'm sure Opus will answer this too, but if you're going to use a seperate audio card, don't get the variation of the mobo with included audio, if you can avoid it. More crap to pay for, more crap to worry about.

Originally posted by CustomProd:
Example; the "Asus P4B266 P4 S478 MBD (aud)" This card has an integrated C-Media CMI8738 6-Channel Audio Controller. Is this the correct board to get??

Jon - good point; the only problem is, from the last 3-4 months of research I've been doing, you almost CAN NOT get everything you want in a MoBo for audio machines, without having to live with things you have no use for. The good news is that I've yet to see a MoBo with built-on stuff (lately, anyway) that can't be defeated. Yeah, it's a bitch to pay for something you don't want or need, but usually there's little choice.

The method that's been sorta working for me, is I go to Pricewatch, type in my "goodie" list with spaces in between, see what comes up, go to their websites, download the .pdf manual, read it from "cover to cover", find out why it sucks, either put it in the pile of "maybes" or toss it, and go to the next. If nothing comes up on Pricewatch, I remove one of the "goodies" from the search and try again. Once I'm either done looking or fragged, I'll get the least obnoxious MoBo in the "keeper" pile, and go from there. Not the fastest way, but when I plunk down the bux I will know I've got the most functional system (til next week's models come out)I can start with. As Hunter used to say (from the TV show of the same name) Works for me... Steve

The man did say P4B266, so that's what I just picked up on my way home from work, along with a P4 1.6a. The difference in price is about $30.00 between the one I got and the "c" version.The P4B266 has an extra DDR slot(3 total), comes with 6 channel audio, and an S/PDIF bracket and some other goodies.
Yesterday I RMA'd that SIS board. Although I've had great luck with my two other SIS735 boards, it took some work. Opus made a good point when he said one day of trying is enough for a pro builder doing a music rig.. What I'd never considered before is, how important it can be to have a mobo that can take any card you throw at it and work first time out.
Thank you Opus the man!

Now if my wife would get off my back for a while, :D I might have some time to mess with my new toys!

Originally posted by Tommy P.:
The man did say P4B266, so that's what I just picked up on my way home from work, along with a P4 1.6a. The difference in price is about $30.00 between the one I got and the "c" version.The P4B266 has an extra DDR slot(3 total), comes with 6 channel audio, and an S/PDIF bracket and some other goodies.
Yesterday I RMA'd that SIS board. Although I've had great luck with my two other SIS735 boards, it took some work. Opus made a good point when he said one day of trying is enough for a pro builder doing a music rig.. What I'd never considered before is, how important it can be to have a mobo that can take any card you throw at it and work first time out.
Thank you Opus the man!

Now if my wife would get off my back for a while, :(
Right now it does take a little while to boot up but that's Win2k for ya!! I need to do some more tweaks to it anyways since I didnt really have the time to do so..it was borrowed the very next day I got it up and running!!
It's being borrowed to record from analog thru an Apogee AD16 to go 24/96 into Nuendo. So, they're doing a 4 track pass first then sending in an 8 track afterwards..so while the 4 track has been recorded it is muted...but then 8 tracks of 24/96 into Nuendo with no problems...of course it's up to your drives and their speeds to handle it even better! They've attached a SCSI drive to the 2930U card and the meter for the disk activity doesnt even budge a 1/4 inch!! Not too shabby I say! As far as plugins go..couldnt tell ya..The studio using my system isnt recording and then mixing with it right now..just converting to digital than I believe they're transfering it to analog to mix down or something like that...
So, you'll all have to wait a bit as they are probably going to borrow the system thru the weekend to learn Windows/Nuendo a little better...I'm probably gonna go over there and just sit with them to make sure everything is A OK!!
So....there it is ya'll(saying that for our dear friend Rambling Red Kneck Steve!!! HA HA HA HA HA!!!!)Opus :D

Quick note, I havn't been able to get to the build yet, but for anyone considering the P4B266 , be advised, the third DDR RAM slot will only work with a single sided DDR in slot 2 and 3. So if you are buying RAM don't count on the third slot as usable ( I 've never seen a DDR single sided piece and don't know where to get them. I bought a bunch of sticks from Crucial when 256DDR was 30 bucks, so my rig will only have 512 for now, 256 in slot 1 and 256 in slot 2). :cool: If you want a gig 'O ram two 512 sticks of double sided stuff will work in slot 1 and 2.

Tommy P.

I found that out the hard way but didnt have time to try and figure out why that was the case!!
Thanks Tommy for finding that one out!! I currently have one stick o 512 and one stick o 256MB and it's doing great..
but two sticks o 512 would be amazing!! 1GB of Ram....wow..the performance would be amazing!! Altho 768 is just fine for me thanks!!
Just put together a system for Jetoney last night at my place on the same exact specs!
P4B266, 512MB Kingston Ram, P4 1.6a, ATA 133 Raid controller..Matrox G550..install went smooth and I'm sure we'll hear from him on how the setup is going!!!
Well Jason? Can you give us benchmarks yet? lol!
Opus

OPUS,

on newegg.com I found this mobo, is this the correct one to buy?(NO AUDIO. NO LAN)
Asus P4B266-C

Asus P4B266-C Intel 845D chipset ATX Motherboard-OEM Supports Socket 478 for FC-PGA2 Pentium® 4 (Willamette/Northwood) 1.4GHz to 2.4GHz+. FSB: 400 MHz. Memory: 2 x DDR DIMM Sockets, Max. 2GB unbuffered PC2100/PC1600 ECC/non-ECC DDR SDRAM Memory. 6 PCI slots, 1 x AGP. Up to 4 USB. NO AUDIO. NO LAN. Model#: P4B266-C Special FedEx Saver

ONEBLOOD

Hey Opus - sounds like you found a good cheap MoBo alright - 6 PCI, actually works, i845D, actually works, actually works, etc. - I'm still holding out for more goodies onboard, but that's just me (call me greedy, but call me in time for dinner)

The only caution I would add to this thread: Anybody who is planning to overclock - Keep in mind that both CPU's and RAM are made, THEN tested, THEN marked. The way this works is: a batch of chips comes off the line and gets tested. the fastest an individual chip can work without overheating (factory spec, NOT blow-up) and without crashing or "glitching", is what determines what label goes on the chip. (PC2700, PC2400, PC2100, 1.6 gHz, 2.0 gHz, etc.)

So, if you go over that rating (overclock) you're on your own as to whether it works or not. Usually it will, up to a point, YMMV.

Since ram that is rated PC2700 will work in a MoBo that needs PC2100, (it just slows down to the board's clock) and since overclocking speeds up the ram, I would recommend spending about $45 more for 1 gB of PC2700 ram, and know that the ram won't throw up at higher clock speeds. Just an added insurance - If you're on a tight budget, take the chance, test a lot, or don't overclock. (Hey, I wonder what you could do overclocking a 2.2 gHz chip with PC2700 ram? From Opus' comments on the 1.6a, it should be scary, huh?

Hey, everybody was getting too comfortable knowing what they wanted - we can't be havin' no steenkin' happiness here, everybody get back to bein nervous, got it? Steve

Good cheap mobo? hey.....what are you saying? That I'm a cheap bargain hunter jew here? lmao!
What I do is only overclock it to 2.13Ghz..I dont push it too much..keep it somewhat on the safe side..you can overclock it higher but to be honest from 2.1 to 2.4 aint too much of a difference..a difference but not something completely noticeable..the FSB at that point will be around 532Mhz..runs smooth as a baby's bottom!
Mines been running all this week doing the 24/96 tracks without any problems! At least the guy hasnt said anything about any problems other than some user issues on the software!!
I think the the highest you can OC a 2.2 is to 2.4!! So why bother at that point! I 1.6 is 150 and a 2.2 is like 375 or something like that!!
Save yourself some money as I said(again, I'm jewish, we like saving money!! ha ha ha ha!!)
Opus

Knightfly, don't worry about the RAM in our current setup. It's not being overclocked. PC2100 is 133Mhz RAM(Dual Data Rate). So if the multiplier locked onto the 1.6a is 16. Then 16 x 133 = 2128Mhz. The PCI bus is also in spec at 33Mhz. Only the CPU is overclocked and its not really being pushed all that hard. The current yield on these new Northwood cores probably doesn't go below 2Ghz! So no worries! I have info, that Intel will not be making anything under 2Ghz shortly. Pushin 3Ghz soon. And Gateway has cancelled all orders on people like myself who were backordered for the 1.6a. Can't get the chip anymore. So get'em while you can. If I were Intel, I'd produce another run of these puppies, just so I could stand on top of the hill and pound my chest some more. By the way, we're also running a 533FSB in our example. Intel hasn't even released the 533FSB chip yet! Still selling the 400FSB! "We are golden....and we've got to get ourselves back to the garden" uh, sorry, flashbacks.. :D

Tommy!!! Stop it!! (putting finger in ears and closing eyes) LA LALA LALA LALALALAAAA!! Don't go telling us what's in the tech pipe!! :) Now I have to research what might be coming?? NNnooOOOoooo!! :) Asus P4B266, P41.6a, lottsa RAM... It's a fine rig.

A fine rig indeed!

Thanks again Opus for showing us the light.

CustomProd

Hey, its only a rumor! ;)

Originally posted by Tommy P.:
Hey, its only a rumor! :D

Hehe...

Hello Troops!!

Heads up!! The P4B266 Mobo is getting hard to find. There are a lot of P4B266-C's that are striped down to mimic a stock P4B266. I found an original stock, no audio, 3 slot DDR, and have ordered it($135). Also the P4-1.6a(512L2) is out-of-stock and backordered all over the place. :)

CustomProd