Hey guys, I've been running my Scope cards in a bx motherboard for 2-3 years now. When I moved them out of my main desktop I went that direction as I have a closet full of old Asus bx motherboards, and using a 700-800 mhz cpu in a slotket adaptor gives the Scope UI and Xp enough horsepower to get the job done really.
However as all parts inevitably age I think someday soon I'll be required to move the cards into something newer. I've been looking around through retail channels and I really don't see a truly 'inexpensive' option. It seems like even NForce3 solutions will cost enough that a newer system is still an attractive option. Since I'm sure a lot of you out there have more experience with the last 2-3 years worth of typical desktop hardware than I do (I use xeons for my main machine) I'm looking for some input on what I might do with the Scope box...
any ideas?
2nd Machine for Scope ideas?
make it easy on yourself.
intel cpu/intel motherboard.
core2dous work great and are reasonably priced. the intel DP965LT motherboard is about $125 and very stable. you'll then have a current machine that won't need to be upgraded for quite some time even if you use it as an all-in-one box(scope plus sequencer).
intel cpu/intel motherboard.
core2dous work great and are reasonably priced. the intel DP965LT motherboard is about $125 and very stable. you'll then have a current machine that won't need to be upgraded for quite some time even if you use it as an all-in-one box(scope plus sequencer).
The BX was the first good audio chipset. What a loyal piece of hardware.
As you know SFP only needs a single threaded CPU.
Get an Intel chipset that doesn't have excessive heat dissapation like the first Northwoods, i.e. 2.4GHz - 3.0GHz., and an 865 or 875 mobo, preferrably brand new as there are still some on www.ebay.com or www.pricewatch.com They don't crash, or get hot, and I believe it is wise to use matured and proven designs that are stable as the sunrise.
But if you will run other apps w/ SFP, the Core 2 Duo E series are excellent CPU's, and fairly cheap.
The Intel DP965LT w/ an E6400 and DDRII is very reasonably priced, as long as you get mid priced RAM like Samsung, or Patriot.
I'm sure you know what to do anyway, as you have squeezed every nickels worth out of your Intel BX chipset, and pre Coppermine PII !!!
As you know SFP only needs a single threaded CPU.
Get an Intel chipset that doesn't have excessive heat dissapation like the first Northwoods, i.e. 2.4GHz - 3.0GHz., and an 865 or 875 mobo, preferrably brand new as there are still some on www.ebay.com or www.pricewatch.com They don't crash, or get hot, and I believe it is wise to use matured and proven designs that are stable as the sunrise.
But if you will run other apps w/ SFP, the Core 2 Duo E series are excellent CPU's, and fairly cheap.
The Intel DP965LT w/ an E6400 and DDRII is very reasonably priced, as long as you get mid priced RAM like Samsung, or Patriot.
I'm sure you know what to do anyway, as you have squeezed every nickels worth out of your Intel BX chipset, and pre Coppermine PII !!!
The only other apps I'll be running are the various IM & chat clients I run when not doing audio work. Really I'd be happy with a TUSL-C but I never picked one up and they're impossible to find now.
The main concern (of course) is solid PCI performance. I have no need for a dual core in that box really, nor anything beyond AGP unless a PCIe solution is cheap enough to make sense as well.
Also I think 865/875 chipsets are for socket 775 and not northwood compatible, right? 845/850 era seems more in line with the northwood family. I can't recall offhand what the coolest running p4 even was at this point tbh.
The main concern (of course) is solid PCI performance. I have no need for a dual core in that box really, nor anything beyond AGP unless a PCIe solution is cheap enough to make sense as well.
Also I think 865/875 chipsets are for socket 775 and not northwood compatible, right? 845/850 era seems more in line with the northwood family. I can't recall offhand what the coolest running p4 even was at this point tbh.
I still have an 865PERL w/ the 3.4GHz Northwood, running 3 x Scope boards, and a G450 video card. Absolutely no problems ever except my fondling fuck ups at home. Onstage this DAWg can hunt.
If you ever want to run a quality sampler w/ it, the GSIF 1.7 drivers are super stable, and Gigastudio 160 is still a great app for quality samples, and can be had for peanuts thesedays. Larry Seyer's Acoustic Drum Library is quite possibly the best sampled drums available. Since you are a bass and drum guy, this combo w/ Scarbees bass, or other libs. like Larry's Upright Bass would give you some hours of fun doing D & B stuff, but as a just Scope box, this one will do very well.
GaryB probably had the foresight to buy several PERL's, and I would send you a 3.0GHz Northwood 4 free, as you have given me great advice before, it would be a pleasure. It has had some use, but I used 4 different CPU's on the PERL until I got the right one for Giga.
check out www.calibex.com 865perl w/ 1GB pc3200 70USD,...............................a sore dick dea l!!!
So It Shall Be Written, So It Shall Be Done,
If you ever want to run a quality sampler w/ it, the GSIF 1.7 drivers are super stable, and Gigastudio 160 is still a great app for quality samples, and can be had for peanuts thesedays. Larry Seyer's Acoustic Drum Library is quite possibly the best sampled drums available. Since you are a bass and drum guy, this combo w/ Scarbees bass, or other libs. like Larry's Upright Bass would give you some hours of fun doing D & B stuff, but as a just Scope box, this one will do very well.
GaryB probably had the foresight to buy several PERL's, and I would send you a 3.0GHz Northwood 4 free, as you have given me great advice before, it would be a pleasure. It has had some use, but I used 4 different CPU's on the PERL until I got the right one for Giga.
check out www.calibex.com 865perl w/ 1GB pc3200 70USD,...............................a sore dick dea l!!!
So It Shall Be Written, So It Shall Be Done,
Thanks for the input guys. d865perl sounds like just the deal. I'd really hate to build a sidecar box for scope that outclasses my main (aging) Xeon workstation, plus doing it inexpensively & long lasting is the real idea.
If I find myself bored with scope I might even give Gigastudio a shot someday. =]
If I find myself bored with scope I might even give Gigastudio a shot someday. =]
Main Xeon box is due for an update this year too. I'm undecided as to what to move to yet so I figured I might do an update on the Scope box. Everything in the Scope box actually works fine, but the heatsink on the cpu works itself loose after about 6 months due to being mounted upside down (the slotket adaptor then the cpu+heatsink) and I'm getting tired of yanking the corner of the studio apart to fix it, although it does give me a good opportunity to clean the dust out...