x
sturoc 22 January 2006

Hey Gang,
I have perused forums, read countless threads, emails from builders, manufacturers etc etc...I am still confused.
Here's what I want to do:

DAW for audio,some video only.
run at 24 b/96k, Record 4-8 trks at once, simul mixdown up to 24trks.
use 1-3 plugins, Vst's ? won't know till I start to ck em out. But will do majority of instruments + processing via hardware.
on rare occasion run video to sync a soundtrk to,
It's just me with all my samplers, basses, guitars. and rare guest guitartists,vocalist. orchestral, ambient, progressive jazz rock.
NOW the big Q:
would a P4 3.2 ghz 800fsb 1-2 gb ram w/ASUS p4p800 deluxe, 2 hd's 160ea. poss 3rd HD ? do the job w/ alittle left over?
Things like psu,other periphs know already.
If not, some recommendations? I don't wanna choke myself down the road.

Please Help as i m ready to purchase this week for the build.

Thanks
S.

Comments

anonymous Sun, 01/22/2006 - 21:55

I run a Dell laptop with p4 3.2 Ghz, 1GB DDR 400 Mhz, 60 GB 7200 HDD, XP home, ATI rdeon 9700 128mb video. I have Cubase SE and Nuendo (ouch goes my credit card!) installed w/ PCMCIA Echo Indigo I/O soundcard.

It would do everything and more. I have run more than 20 tracks of 24/96 audio w/midi and softsynths, vstis, effects etc and the CPU still had some headroom left (on AC power). The only time I had a problem with performance is when I forgot to close my internet security suite first. I have had Nuendo and Reason opened with 12 rewire channels and 14 audio tracks with vstis and effects work just fine.

If concerned, just go for more RAM. I would love 2GB in my laptop for extra smooth performance. Or look at the new dual core intel processors (or dual amd 64 or opteron etc)

sturoc Sun, 01/22/2006 - 22:30

Thank you very much guys.
My feeling was to go w/ this cpu set up but needed that last few opinions to nudge me over.
Of course price is always an issue and maybe down the road I'll go to dual core. But I am just migrating from analog world so it is new lingo and gear for me to learn.
Great Site!
Thanks again , I 'm sure I'll have more Q's on other topics in time.
S.

Guest Mon, 01/23/2006 - 06:16

absolute waste of money to buy something that old.

at least buy the latest mobo like a 945 chipset. cheap but supports dual core.

the single 3.2 is only $20 less that a 820 dual core so thats a no brainer.
the dual core will be far faster.

buy and AMD X2 3800 and be even faster for about the same money

Scott
ADK

sturoc Mon, 01/23/2006 - 10:24

Understand your points Scott,
As I have said price is an issue. I am not looking to keep up with the Jones'. My needs are fairly modest I think. Sure maybe the CPU price is close to each other, but up goes the MB price as well.
My pricing is thru Newegg.
I don't care so much about having to get the latest greatest software that works with the latest greatest cpu.
It's about creating the music .
S.

anonymous Mon, 01/23/2006 - 19:58

sturoc,

the price for the p4p800 deluxe is $114.00 and for that price you can get a very nice 945P based system board from Gigabyte with TI firewire and other nice features.

So if you run any dual processor enabled application like Nuendo, Cubase or SONAR then Scott is right. You should go for the dual core processor.

Also, this set-up will let you upgrade to X64 in the future when 64 Bit drivers for your sound card become available.

I would stay away from any 448 socket board at this point.

Also, the thermals for the P4 448 socket CPU are not very good.

Talking about thermals, the new Intel 900 series or the AMD X2 will run alot cooler.

My best,

Guy Cefalu
Sonica Audio Labs

x

User login