New system

[Wyatt]

Here is what I decided on:

Intel Core Duo/ Asus mb
2X 750 GB Hitachi perpendicular HDS
4 Gig DDR2
Quiet fan
Win XP
nVidia video card w/ ddr3

Robust enough for my purposes, and about a grand less.

I decided against the RAID 5 setup with 4 HDs, and passed on the Intel Quad Core.
..just don't think I need the extra speed..also passed on water cooling and wireless
internet.

Hope to have all this stuff straightened out while I'm still young. 

Wyatt

[folderol]

Good luck!

[Wyatt]

THX!!

W

[rharv]

Those are huge drives!  I wonder how the sustained transfer is from them(?)
I tend to avoid the cutting edge too, and just go for proven,reliable fast...as opposed to blinding new cutting edge fast. In the long run it saves me time!

[Oren]

Details, Pilgrim!

XP Pro? Which mobo? Which Intel chip? Case?  Why the hotshot video card? Why all the storage (ever considered external storage to ease up on the power supply and cooling)?

Is this a DAW ?

Got the old AMD64 machine tuned up for some Linux action?

Are we having fun yet ?

[Martin E]

Details, Pilgrim!

XP Pro? Which mobo? Which Intel chip? Case?  Why the hotshot video card? Why all the storage (ever considered external storage to ease up on the power supply and cooling)?

Is this a DAW ?

Got the old AMD64 machine tuned up for some Linux action?

Are we having fun yet ?

I'm with Oren on the storage. I would go for one smaller internal HD and get one or two external ones. Whatever suits your needs.  I'm using an external HD to store my songs, projects, samples and sound libraries. USB, plug & play, no hassle. And if your computer dies you still have all your stuff save. And external HD's are reputed to be faster as well, loading times that is. But don't take my word for it. I think I read it somewhere. And of course as Oren said you need less cooling inside your case which means less noise from the fans 

Yes and if you only need the comp for making music you don't need a state-of-the-art videocard. It will only lead to more noise from the fan to keep the thing cool.

The difference between XP pro and XP home is as far as I know only that XP pro is set up to be used in a network. But you probably don't need that. So XP home is just fine.

And Personally I would go for a Gygabyte mb

Indeed which chipset.

[kara]

I agree with most that has allready been said.
Don't overdo it on the size of your HD, take an external USB harddrive for storage.

I don't think that transfert over USB is faster then internal HD, as far as i know transfert is slower over USB then it is over IDE or SATA
But external drives are perfect for storage !

It is actually the way I work. I have one windows partition with nothing else on it, one data partition with the installed software on it. On the data partition there are mostly just one or two songs on which I currently working, from the moment the song is finished it goes to the external drive with a backup on CD.

The main difference between XP Pro and Home, is that only Pro can connect to a domain. A domain is a local network organisation, where the central point is a domain server, so you don't need that, home will do. With home you still can put your pc in a network where it will be part of a usergroup.

k
 

k

[Wyatt]

Those are huge drives!  I wonder how the sustained transfer is from them(?)

I don't have all the specs, but the perpendicular drives are nearly as fast as a RAID/striped setup. I just added a second 250 G drive to my present system, and drive 2 is 60% full already..more on that in a bit.

I tend to avoid the cutting edge too, and just go for proven,reliable fast...as opposed to blinding new cutting edge fast. In the long run it saves me time!

Yeah, I backed off a lot from cutting edge here. For one thing, my tech had in mind to leave me in a position to upgrade to Vista in 2-3 years when they finally get it working, and also to upgrade to DDR3 RAM once the price comes down. He designed a great system for that, but I am sticking to solid and reliable.

But I will not be going to Vista, and my audio needs are being very well met by Audition 3. Finally I got to the point where I am running it just fine, and the new system will be a bit faster and more robust than the present one. I don't need fancier software...I need to get the best out of what I have...and keep writing songs.

I am sure the new technology 2 years from now will be tempting, but at this point in my life I am not so G.A.S.-driven..what a relief. In 2 years, my restoration job will be over, and Au3 will be my multi-track software, and Reason will be my electronic keyboard canvas.

The important thing for me is to continue to write, play, and record music.

[Wyatt]

Details, Pilgrim!

XP Pro? Which mobo? Which Intel chip? Case?  Why the hotshot video card?

XP home, as I don't need domain or remote access.  Mobo is Asus..dk the model..chip is Intel Core DUo 2.3 Ghz..video card has half the RAM that my present one has, but its faster RAM..in some situations, Audition has some awesome disply capabilities, and I have had probs in the past..realtime display has to be rock solid and dead accurate..600w power supply and large capacity slow velocity fan for cooling instead of the water-cooling.

Why all the storage (ever considered external storage to ease up on the power supply and cooling)?

This is a good question..my needs are a little different..my audio work is speech not music..music is my hobby.

Yes, I already use a 250 Gig XHD..and I already back up to CDs, (between one and two hundred of them so far)..but I also have to keep a couple of hundred Gigs in live storage to cut down on CD burning time when I have requests..if I have to load files from the XHD to burn, it takes a lot longer, and I can only spend so many hours straight at it. Waiting for stuff to load drives me up a wall, and sometimes I have to load 5-6 Gigs at a time..also, the XHD runs hotter than my whole computer..in the summer it is awful..so I got into the habit of leaving it off.

I still have 1-2 years to go on my restoration project, and I can easily rack up a half a gig a day in storage when I am working.

The plan is to have the OS, Audio software, and current audio project files on the primary drive, and then use the secondary drive for live storage, the XHD for backup, and CDs for permanent archiving. I don't need that much space on the primary drive, and I have read of folks using a 160 Gig for the primary, but it isn't costing me much, and it will allow me some extra live storage down the road if I should need it.

Is this a DAW ?

Got the old AMD64 machine tuned up for some Linux action?

Yep, it's a DAW..no linux yet..another week before I get the new system, and then a tremendous amount of data needs to be shuffled around on three machines..oh, and I'm trading in two laptops..so I will be getting them sano this weekend.

Are we having fun yet ?

Funny thing is, I am looking forward to spending a couple of days moving data files and re-installing software..that's a switch. 

Wyatt

[Wyatt]

I'm with Oren on the storage. I would go for one smaller internal HD and get one or two external ones. Whatever suits your needs. I'm using an external HD to store my songs, projects, samples and sound libraries. USB, plug & play, no hassle. And if your computer dies you still have all your stuff save. And external HD's are reputed to be faster as well, loading times that is. But don't take my word for it. I think I read it somewhere. And of course as Oren said you need less cooling inside your case which means less noise from the fans 

My XHD is a couple years old..might not be state of the art fast. Anyway I have no problem with noise when I am recording with a mic, as it is a very close pattern cardioid. When I record harp, thats a different mic, and I play in a different room. I actually do get a little electronic noise from my amp, which is no problem because I have a copy of the noise signature, and can easily remove it..all I have to do is remember to do it!

Yes and if you only need the comp for making music you don't need a state-of-the-art videocard. It will only lead to more noise from the fan to keep the thing cool.

I had a small but deadly display problem with Au 2..and you really need the position cursor to be deadly accurate to three decimal places of a second, to be able to edit. I never could get it to display accurately enough to use in Au 2, neither could their techs, so I stuck with Au 1.5 for an extra year. So I need a little bit more than on-board video.

I also have had a video project offered to me, but I am on the fence about taking that one on.

The difference between XP pro and XP home is as far as I know only that XP pro is set up to be used in a network. But you probably don't need that. So XP home is just fine.

Yeah, that's the way I was thinking too.

And Personally I would go for a Gygabyte mb

Indeed which chipset.

I don't know..Used to be I would be researching every detail, but I have not kept up for years..I let my tech handle that, because he is the one who guarantees it and has to keep it running. A few years ago I got so saturated with comp-tech, that now I reserve my study time for audio.

Wyatt

[Wyatt]

I agree with most that has allready been said.
Don't overdo it on the size of your HD, take an external USB harddrive for storage.

I hear that..and I hope I don't regret it down the road. BTW..the system I didn't go for had 4 HDs..750 Gig each!! That one was kind of complicated, with the first two drives striped, and the third and fourth drives mirrored.

I don't think that transfert over USB is faster then internal HD, as far as i know transfert is slower over USB then it is over IDE or SATA
But external drives are perfect for storage !

My XHD is USB transfer and is is very slow compared to the drives I have now. My new drives are even faster, (perpendicular drives.)

It is actually the way I work. I have one windows partition with nothing else on it, one data partition with the installed software on it. On the data partition there are mostly just one or two songs on which I currently working, from the moment the song is finished it goes to the external drive with a backup on CD.

That makes good sense..in fact it is very similar to the setup I am planning, just on a smaller scale. I haven't messed around with partitioning drives since a dozen years ago. I think I can qualify as a computer drop-out. 

Thank you and everyone for your replies..very interesting.

Wyatt

[Moon]

I agree getting an external HD is better. But I don't think their slower: an external HD with a gigabit network connection is as fast as an internal one and I don't now if a usb2 one ore FireWire one os slower, although these are using more CPU, so look out for some cpu drainage....

[folderol]

One thing I've heard repeated on a number of different forums is the idea of keeping everything on as many separate drives as practical (not necessarily big ones), especially input and output audio files. This is so that you don't have head seek timing issues.

I don't do any significant audio editing etc. so this isn't relevant to me of course!

[Wyatt]

But I don't think their slower: an external HD with a gigabit network connection is as fast as an internal one

!!never heard of that!!  ..but then I just heard about RAID5 a couple days ago. 

I don't now if a usb2 one ore FireWire one os slower, although these are using more CPU, so look out for some cpu drainage....

My USB2 XHD is way slower than internal drives.

Wyatt

[Wyatt]

One thing I've heard repeated on a number of different forums is the idea of keeping everything on as many separate drives as practical (not necessarily big ones), especially input and output audio files. This is so that you don't have head seek timing issues.

That must be why the RAID setup is fast..it splits the data stream and alternates bits between 2 drives. If one of them goes out then you lose it all..so they string three together and leap-frog a complete data set..or use 4 together with the second pair mirrored, to provide backup.

I read recently that the perpendicular drives are fast enough, that the RAID setup doesn't offer that big a speed increase for a DAW.

Wyatt