set-up
I’m in the market for a new chipset/cpu, and would be interested to know what some of you folks are using as hardware combinations.
Here’s mine:
XP
[Edit:
MOTU 1224 I/O
(so far) Tascam US-428 for controller]
Celeron 2 GHz
VIA chipset (later model)
Maxtor ATA133, 7200, 80GB, 8MB cache
ATI Rage128 viddy
Toshiba DVD Burner
Kenwood CD Reader (redundant?..)
I’ve been told a Pentium board 865PERL is very stable. Also stuff by Abit, ASUS. But I think it depends on what your whole system is. Yes?
I’m after stability more than anything. I await arrival of the MOTU 1224 (thanks all for the advice!), and I got it first 'cause it was a deal ($200). But I don’t see myself mixing sessions of more than 16 tracks at a time before bouncing commences, so I’m not into big track counts, particularly.
So what you guys got, out there? What in the heck do I get that won’t give me the “…has encountered a problem and has to close” window!!
Thanks in advance…
I have;
EMU 1820M Audio/MIDI interface
AMD Athlon XP 3200+ CPU
ASUS A7V600 Mobo w/VIA KT600 chipset
1Gig Kingston pc3200 DDR RAM
2x 80 GB Western Digital 8MB Cache PATA hard disks
1 LITE-ON DVD-RW/CDRW burner
1 HP LightScribe DVD-RW/CDRW burner
Runs smooth as a babies back-side! 
Oh yeah, we run the same PC except for the processor ar church. That one is an AMD Athlon XP 2600+ That one is connected to a MOTU 24io interface. Again, no problems.
Good hunting.
D
Interesting- a VIA chipset. A newer one, I guess. I’d been told to get rid of mine… then again, it’s the whole system, isn’t it? Thanks for your post, Di.
Whats even more interesting is the interface - it’s 24 channels of 24/96 - on a via chipset with no problems…
Work that out!
So you can understand my bewilderment at reconfiguring a PC for audio. You change one component, and have to check the entire set-up stepwise! Anything could be the winning combination! 
Gawd…
I have an 865 Intel chipset on a Shuttle mobo. But after what happened over Christmas I cannot recommend it.
A series of apparently unrelated faults which followed the installation of a new DVD burner had me tearing my hair out.
Turned out in the end that all the spring fingers on all the sockets; PCI, AGP and RAM, have become “tired”. They’ve all lost their spring. And that’s a six month old mobo. Maybe that’s the Texas heat or maybe it’s just bad components.
What’re you going to replace it with?
RE: VIA chipsets
EVERYTHING between KT266 and KT333 sucked. KT400 was pretty much turning the corner and KT600 has been great.
These were all AMD mobo’s I had experience with. My last Intel was a PII 450mhz.
D
I use:
Intel 478 Pin Motherboard (Dunno which model, Not @ Home).
Pentium 4 3.4Ghz (Hyper Threading Blah, blah)
1 Gb Ram on dual channel memory controller. (512+512)
nVidia MX6300 (256 DDR) Video Card.
250Gb Sata System Drive
2x100Gb Pata Data Drives (Raid 2)
m-Audio 192.
Phillips DVD/CD-R/CD-RW Drive.
650W Quiet Power Supply
Zalman Quiet Fan.
Windows XP
Has been rock stable for me, although the mAudio 192 card won’t work with WDM drivers, but ASIO works fine.
.-=gp=-.
Sloom - check out my website & you’ll get some ideas of what hardware I use & recommend - pcDAW.net.
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| it’s the whole system, isn’t it? |
I’m not sure exactly what you mean here? It is the whole system in the sense that you want to match hardware that is compatible & is of the same spec’s, but that’s just stating the obvious. For example, no point in getting a SATA II drive if your system only supports SATA I. No point is getting real fast RAM if your motherboard doesn’t take advantage of it.
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| Interesting- a VIA chipset |
Echo Audio recommends VIA chipsets - see AMD. Apparently, there have been compatibility issues with other chipsets.
That’s cool, thanks for the resource, Midnight. I’ll be doing something major, maybe, this year, so it’s good to have sources.
I’m at present able to get my hands on an AMD 3200+ thing, or maybe a 2000+ or in that neighborhood for a good deal less. Budget is King around my house, so if I can get stable and reasonable performance, I can work! And the VIA heads-up is good to know about too, thank you Diogenes.
Great to be able to get such ready info! Much obliged!
| Quote (MidnightToker @ Jan. 03 2006,16:32) |
| it's the whole system, isn't it? |
I'm not sure exactly what you mean here? It is the whole system in the sense that you want to match hardware that is compatible & is of the same spec's, but that's just stating the obvious. For example, no point in getting a SATA II drive if your system only supports SATA I. No point is getting real fast RAM if your motherboard doesn't take advantage of it.
It's not that I meant to be that obvious: I just mean that if you change one thing, you have to realize that there could be a ripple-effect that down the line that might effect, or alter the performance of, another component.
The PC seems to be a big world to us specific users.