Please, help me building my much awaited NEW SYSTEM!!!

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Sun May 11, 2003 5:11 pm

Very nice tip Immanuel, thanks, I'm going there right now, cheers...

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Sun May 11, 2003 8:00 pm

I have read a few pro reviews and well, the Barracuda 7200.7 line of drives, delivers a very slight increased difference in performance compared to it’s predecessor the Barracuda V… It is again a new born technology. The platters are indeed of 80GB each. They have removed the shielded metallic cover of the Barracuda V, it seems it has caused some heat problems… the removal of this shield decreases temperature.

I am for sure not buying the Barracuda 7200.7, and probably not either the V. If I were to buy a Seagate drive, would be the Barracuda IV.

I’m investigating now the Western Digital Caviar Special Edition, if you know anything or have comments on this drive, please tell me. Thanks.

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Sun May 11, 2003 8:48 pm

More specifically, I'm refering to the:

Special Edition Caviar 80GB (EIDE, Ultra ATA/100, 7200 RPM)drive.

Valium · Post by **Valium** » Mon May 12, 2003 5:35 am

Hy again,

I have used Seagate HD's most of the time and I have been very pleased with them, as to performance and most of all : noise!

I tried two WD drives a couple of months ago but I think they were much more noisier especially during seek/write operation and the whirling of the platters made me switch back to seagate drives.

HTH Greetz

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Mon May 12, 2003 7:33 am

Hi Valium
Which Webstern Digital drive have you use exactly, do you remember? To be a WD it is not to say much, cos there are so many different models today. An old WD could be very noisy perhaps, but the new WD Caviar SE, is rated as one of the coolest drives in the market, with an average noise, and it has the best performance of them all.

Would I sacrifice 30% of performance for just a little more noise? Mmmmm

Cheers for your answer Valium

Valium · Post by **Valium** » Mon May 12, 2003 9:17 am

Sorry, guess I had to mention that before, lol

I used the special edition 8mb cache drives, and they were IMO noisy.

HTH

Greetz

Immanuel · Post by **Immanuel** » Mon May 12, 2003 9:45 am

Question is ... how much performance do you need? Look at peoples systems. Can they do, what you want to do? In that case it is enough. Once you go to 32bit floating/fixed, your soundfiles will probably not grow bigger within the foreseeable future.

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Mon May 12, 2003 11:23 am

Thanks Valium
So we were in fact talking about the same drive, if you say so, they sure are a bit noisy.
You know? I have two old IBMs of 13GB each and they are quite noisy as well, but thanks to the shielded case, there is not a noticeably or annoying noise coming up. I’m going to get the Antec PlusView 1000AMG case, a very intelligently build quiet case with an Antec TruePower 430W, which is also quiet. The Seagate Barracuda drives are, for sure, the quietest drives in existence, but sacrificing 30% of performance for a little bit of noise, it’s something to weight up carefully… That means, if you are capable of running 70 audio tracks with WD, you will run 49 with SB, it’s a great difference in performance.

Good question Immanuel
To this I have to say: All the performance a system can give me… i.e. I would use everything available! The more the better, particularly cos I have only one Creamware board with only 4 DSP. A good performance HD will give me more audio tracks, so I’ll be able to bounce more tracks at higher bit rates. I work with 24 bits at the moment, cos I have Cubase 5.1r, not 32 or SX, I will one day… But… to be honest with you, I sure will be more than happy with a couple of Seagate Barracuda IV!

Wouldn’t you sacrifice a little bit of quietness in order to get 30% more performance? I really IS a temptation! Isn’t it?

Valium · Post by **Valium** » Mon May 12, 2003 1:28 pm

well just some food for thought.

If HD performance is an issue you could skip the P4Pe board and go over to an Abit IC7 mobo with intel ich5r southbridge. This has integrated serial-ata raid built into it avoiding the pci-bus to accomplish this. Couple this with a couple of the new seagate s-ata native drives and you'll be bouncing up to 60% more tracks than any wd special edition drive will be able to do. But it'll cost ya

and coupled with a new p4 800 FSB processor you'll be future proof for quite some time.

HTH (not to mention the frustration of having to reconfigure your shopping list

)

Greetz

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Mon May 12, 2003 4:11 pm

I would love something like that Valium... but...

I'm in a budget, and can't dream to high...

But I'm the happiest person in the world just with what I'm planing to have, it's just fantastic to me...

Still thinking about Western Digital SE, any body whants me back?

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Mon May 12, 2003 4:11 pm

I would love something like that Valium... but...

I'm in a budget, and can't dream to high...

But I'm the happiest person in the world just with what I'm planing to have, it's just fantastic to me...

Still thinking about Western Digital SE, any body whants me back?

mr swim · Post by **mr swim** » Tue May 13, 2003 11:35 am

In terms of the choice between P4PE and P4G8X, these reviews might be useful. Bit too much tech talk to me, but it sounds like the P4PE is not only more stable, but more compatible with other stuff, like IDE interface etc. And you can still stuff an aweful lot of memory into it (and DDR333 is really cheap these days ! Check out this link: http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/spec ... M-33%2f512 )

P4G8X: http://www.motherboards.org/articlesd/m ... 229_1.html

P4PE: http://www.motherboards.org/articlesd/m ... 215_1.html

Hope this helps. Trying to help a mate of mine by a new setup and it is SOOOOO confusing. AAAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH . . .

Immanuel · Post by **Immanuel** » Tue May 13, 2003 12:06 pm

On 2003-05-12 17:11, Nestor wrote:

Still thinking about Western Digital SE, any body whants me back?

Not at all

It is your system, and it is realy best that you make your own personal final choise. You will like your PC much more that way too. I think you will end up designing a very good audio PC. I think you are already more or less doing the final toping on the cake now. All major ingredients are found, and now it is more down to - do you want vanilla or strawberries

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Tue May 13, 2003 3:19 pm

Well well well well… Thank you Mr Swim and Immanuel for your answers!!!

Yes dear friends, the time for “ZEUS” to come up, is near the end… This is the name of my new system. I have always put names to my computers…

The one I’m using to write this post is called “Pedrito”, i.e. “Little Piter”. I know is crazy, but… I’m crazy in a positive way anyway… My wife’s computer is going to be called “Diana”, isn’t it beautiful?

Very nice links Mr Swim, I didn’t read those ones. I have already decided, nevertheless, to go with the P4PE. It’s clearly a more suitable chose for a DAW, despite it only allows 2Gbs memory instead of 4Gbs allowed by the P4G8X. It’s enough nevertheless…

Immanuel, you’re write, the one building the System is the one that is going to chose finally, what is needed. But we have to remain as open as possible to what other Pulsarians have to say, cos in fact, my choices have been inspired by you all, rather than by myself alone. I know what I what to be able to do, this is what I know by heart, by I don’t know much about new technology so it’s very important to be wide open to criticisms and perceptions you have never taken into account. If I knew enough about what is going on in the market, my post would have been about the what computer system I already bought, instead of making so many questions.

That is why I want to thank very, very much, to all of those who have helped me making up my mind! Thank you!!!

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: nestor on 2003-05-13 16:20 ]</font>

arela · Post by **arela** » Tue May 13, 2003 7:20 pm

Hei Nestor, I got my new P4PE today, but....i haven't bought CPU or Ram jet.
I did ask Crucial what was best suited RAM for this MB, and they adviced me to go for pc3200 RAM.
512 MB has factory nr: ct6464z40b

Guess other brands are as good, but....
good night...are

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Tue May 13, 2003 8:52 pm

Hello there… Fantastic so, you’ve got yours!

No, Crucial RAM it’s not as other sticks you can get, unbranded. I can’t tell you why exactly, but I’ve been told by some real knowledgeable in DAW stuff that we should always use Corsair, Kingston or Crucial. I don’t know the technological reasons by heart, but their quality, reliability and fastness are second to non!

Don’t make the mistake of trying to save money in your RAM, it’s far TOO important to the rest of the system. If you do, you are contradicting a great system just for a few dollars. Do the maths and you’ll come out cheaper spending more! I’m sure you know what I mean.

at0m · Post by **at0m** » Tue May 13, 2003 9:49 pm

Hi Nestor,

Just as a small confession I'd like to say I did not buy the fastest RAM cos it's very expensive still. I'm waiting for a price drop, and will get faster memory when that happens. Also, my board supporting HT CPU, I will probably get one once they're affordable.

The latest and greatest often costs relatively more than what it's worth, which makes it IMHO only for big spenders or utmost demanding customers... I usually get 'last years top notch'.

Still Nestor, I'm convinced you're about to build an excellent system!

at0m.

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Tue May 13, 2003 11:20 pm

Hey atOmic, it’s nice to see you here…

So you actually think I’m pointing too high?

I think I’m being rather measured in my election of parts…

I did the same last time and I have had an amazing 6 years of enjoyment and reliability with my present Pedrito DAW. So I think I’m going to have another 5 or 6 years of reliability with my new one if I choose well. I hope so!

A stick of 512MB of Crucial DDR PC2700 costs $75.
A stick of 512MB of Crucial DDR PC3200 costs $84.
The difference is $9 only, so even if a little more expensive it worth the effort.

What would you change at my place?

at0m · Post by **at0m** » Tue May 13, 2003 11:42 pm

i payed way more for DDR2100, DDR3200 wasn't available here at that time and 2700 too rare/expensive.

Go for the 3200 of course

arela · Post by **arela** » Wed May 14, 2003 3:36 am

I think we better spend those $9.
What is best; a beer or better ram

And what about that in a month?

.....go for both

..are

PS: Saturday 17. is our national day and a beer would be propriety. Are