New computer what do you think ?

spacecube · Post by **spacecube** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 4:24 am

Hey !

I am new in this forum.
Anyway , what do you guys think about this new computer ?
Bought some new components to lay my hands upon next week.

Thinking about to use this computer with Cubase SX 2 and Windows XP pro.

thankful for any sugestion ,tip or whatever.

Here we go -

CX-5759 MidiTower 350W ATX

Intel Pentium 4 Northwood 3.0 GHz -C Hyperthreading 512Kb 800MHz Boxed (with cpu-cooler!) Socket 478

Kingston KVR400X64C3/512 2x512Mb DDR PC3200/DDR400 184pin 400MHz

Abit IS7-E i865PE 4DDR-DIMM 5PCI SATA Audio LAN Socket478 ATX

Aopen Aeolus GeForce FX5200 128Mb DDR DVI TV-out RETAIL AGP

Seagate Baracuda 7200.7 ST3120026A 120Gb 7200rpm 8Mb 8.5ms UDMA100 IDE

Ricardo · Post by **Ricardo** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 8:30 am

Hi Spacecube,
I'm not an expert on all these components, but I think ASUS or Intel are your best bets for MoBo. If the video card has an on board fan remember it will be noisy.
Go the Barracuda and Kingston RAM however, good choice.
And BTW welcome to the Z

spacecube · Post by **spacecube** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 2:34 pm

Thanks Ricardo
also for your suggestion for mobo.
But the IS-7 have intelchips !
So hopefully it will work just fine...but we'll see !?...maybe I have made an bad choice here

...hopefully not !

Copied this from their Site:

Intel 865PE Chipset Pentium 4 Mainboard
DUAL DDR 400, AGP 8X, USB 2.0
SoftMenu™ Technology.
"The IS7 is the next generation of high-performance motherboards for Intel CPUs. The IS7 series uses Intel's newest 865PE chipset to bring the latest in technology to the Intel platform. The IS7 series supports Intel® Pentium 4 800/533/400 MHz CPUs with Hyper-Threading technology for superior performance, and offers full support for Dual Channel DDR. ABIT provides users with 6-channel sound and S/PDIF In/Out for enhanced audio performance (IS7-G /IS7 /IS7-E ).
With full support for AGP 8X, USB 2.0, and optional IEEE the IS7 series allows users to connect to today's hottest peripherals.

Features
Enhanced 800MHz FSB
The 800MHz FSB increases bandwidth and improves overall system performance.

Dual DDR Module Support
Supports up to 4GB of Single/Dual channel DIMM modules, delivering bandwidth of 4.8GB/sec.

Serial ATA 150MB/s data transfer rate
Serial ATA is an evolutionary replacement for the Parallel ATA storage interface. This new high-speed interface boosts data transfer rates to up to 150 MB/sec. More flexible power tolerances allow for smaller and more efficient cables.

6-Channel Audio and S/PDIF Out interface
Lets you enjoy 6-channel audio without having to buy advanced sound cards.

USB 2.0 Support
Supports speeds up to 480 Mb/sec, approximately forty times faster than conventional USB 1.1

ABIT SoftMenu™ Overclocking
The overclocking functions include CPU frequency, Vcore, multiplier and memory voltage adjustment to maximize your system performance."

Also thinking about the built in Soundcard.
Anyone here with experince from these kind of built in soundcards.

Quality...good or bad ?...gimme some input on this one !

[ This Message was edited by: spacecube on 2004-03-30 04:28 ]

Post by **garyb** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 3:54 pm

it should be o.k.
you may need to disable usb2.0 depending on how irq assingments are handed out...

spacecube · Post by **spacecube** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 1:53 am

Thanks for your input garyb.
appreciate your tip and the USB.
I'll check that out !

However - still wondering

what do you think about the:
"
6-Channel Audio card and S/PDIF Out interface

Anyone here with experience from these kind of built in soundcards ?

Anyone ?
Soundquality - good or bad ?

thanks in advance !

[ This Message was edited by: spacecube on 2004-03-15 01:53 ]

[ This Message was edited by: spacecube on 2004-03-15 02:03 ]

Post by **garyb** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 1:59 am

it probably won't be of much use...
maybe if you play media player files a lot....

spacecube · Post by **spacecube** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 2:09 am

Okay !

So what's your suggestion for an soundcard ?
I am looking for "
A good but not too expencive soundcard "

thanks !

marcuspocus · Post by **marcuspocus** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 3:41 am

Pulsar2

kiminet · Post by **kiminet** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 7:48 am

On 2004-03-15 02:09, spacecube wrote:
Okay !

So what's your suggestion for an soundcard ?
I am looking for "
A good but not too expencive soundcard "

thanks !

I have in addition to my 3 pulsarcarts an Audiotrak "Maja" on another computer,very cheap but pretty good.

Kim

Ricardo · Post by **Ricardo** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 9:24 am

Are you planning to use Creamware cards? Do didn't mention them in your set up!!

spacecube · Post by **spacecube** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 2:30 pm

Thanks for your input Kim.
I'll check that out as well !

Ricardo - I am still looking around for an Soundcard....and as Kim wrote I'll checkout this "Maja" thing...so we'll see.
Have been reading about the RME cards.
Looks like those cards can be something in my direction!? we'll see.

Also - have been reading everything I can come over so to speak when setting / tweaking this system.Hopefully I have these new items by Thirsday.....so I really can go to work.
By the way....
NTFS or Fat 32 is one thing I am reading about for the moment.
I think I am going for Fat 32 ?!
Since I have alot of songs in my win 98 computer.

Another critical install detail is the ACPI or standard mode !?
Have been reading about this in this forum....but I must say....did not give a real hint of which mode to choose
????.....and HT...why can't it be simpel

Anyway..

Really appreciate every input from everyone.
Keep em coming !
Thanks guys.

[ This Message was edited by: spacecube on 2004-03-15 14:56 ]

Post by **garyb** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 11:44 pm

soundcard? cw pulsar.

spacecube · Post by **spacecube** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 1:40 am

Pulsar is too expensive ;-(
maybe I can afford one in the future
however....Luna II can be something for my needs.

......I have to read little more about this card !

...later..

[ This Message was edited by: spacecube on 2004-03-16 02:22 ]

spacecube · Post by **spacecube** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 2:20 am

btw.
which mode do you guys suggest
ACPI or Standard PC mode when thinking of this system with Hyperthreading CPU ,
Cubase SX 2 and Win XP pro.
Can't really figure it out which one to choose and which mode is most stable ,which mode is best for an optimized performance , which mode bring out most power from this setup...
anyone !?

firubbi · Post by **firubbi** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 3:36 am

On 2004-03-15 03:41, marcuspocus wrote:
Pulsar2

100% true

one classic soundcard

spacecube · Post by **spacecube** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 5:26 am

Okay ! found this info online.
So it looks like I will start with the ACPI mode and then we'll see if any problems occure !

____________________________________________

ACPI or "Standard PC"
ACPI works extremely well with Windows XP, and has been significantly improved upon over Windows 2000.

Therefore, it is recommended that you first try installing Windows XP with the default option, which is as an ACPI computer.

The only time that the "Standard PC" mode can be recommended with XP, is when you are experiencing audio card or other problems (possibly relating to IRQ sharing/stacking), and only when you have exhausted all other possible causes.

If you have one of the more modern motherboards that has APIC capabilities, then it is definitely recommended that you install Windows XP as an ACPI computer.

In fact, installing Windows XP as a "Standard PC" on an APIC compatible computer will probably result in reduced performance and a reduction with overall reliability.

The number of available interrupts is increased from 15 (0 to 15 with irq2 reserved) to 24 or more with an APIC system, when using XP and ACPI.

Indeed, some IOAPIC's have 64 interrupts, and some motherboards have more than one APIC, potentially giving hundreds of IRQ's.

You should find that there is absolutely no IRQ sharing whatsoever when using an APIC/XP/ACPI installation.

If you have an older motherboard without APIC, then it may be better to install as "Standard PC".

However, the bottom line is that if you have a working system with ACPI, then leave it alone. If it isn't broken, then don't fix it.

To find out if your motherboard has APIC, then please refer to your motherboard manual and/or check in the BIOS. If you want to use APIC, then make sure it is enabled in your BIOS.

When installing XP as an ACPI PC on an APIC motherboard, it doesn't matter what the "Plug and Play OS" setting is in your BIOS. XP will override this anyway. Microsoft actually recommend setting this to "No" regardless.

If you do decide to install as a "Standard PC", then follow the steps below.

Firstly, the entry Plug and Play OS in your motherboard's BIOS should be set to 'NO'. Click here to find out why.

During installation of the XP operating system, you will see a screen displaying the message - "Press F6 if you need to install a third-party SCSI or RAID driver". At this point, press the F5 key (this won't be supplied as an option on the screen and the installation won't wait, so you'll need to babysit the installation process and hit the key at the right moment). A few seconds after pressing F5, you will be presented with an option to select either "Standard PC" or "Other (ACPI) PC".

At this point, select "Standard PC".

If you have already installed XP with ACPI, then you can change to "Standard PC" in the device manager afterwards. However, this method doesn't appear to be as effective as disabling it during the install. To do this, Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Hardware Tab > Device Manager. Expand the Computer at the top of the list and right click the ACPI Computer > Drivers > Update Drivers > Select List > Standard PC. Note that when you reboot your PC, you will need to re-install all of your device drivers again.

Post by **hubird** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 6:09 am

........

spacecube · Post by **spacecube** » Mon Mar 22, 2004 4:15 pm

Hey !!

Finally got this computer working !!!
No problems at all.

It is fast and booting up so much quicker than windows 98.

Now ....all that is left is to buy a good soundcard.
btw....
That built in Soundcard is really a bad sounding thing.....

_________________________________________

Have a nice one !

braincell · Post by **braincell** » Mon Mar 22, 2004 5:25 pm

How about USB audio? Eridol makes a good cheap one I think. The important thing is to get the conversion outside of your computer.

spacecube · Post by **spacecube** » Tue Mar 23, 2004 1:50 am

braincell ....nice nick btw..

yes...I have thought about a USB card.
one with a midi port as well......
a usb card with midi in /out would be nice.
....with zero latency would rock this thing i think...

we'll see what I end up with.