Quote:

It's all pretty confusing....
32 bit vs 64 bit? Core2 vs Dual core vs quad core? Intel vs AMD?
Integrated sound? DDR2 vs DDR3?
Forget Vista!! How much RAM can XP see?
SATA drive?

Any ideas would be appreciated!!

Thanks,
Mick



You got the forget VISTA right!! My opinion on it is unprintable. It's huge, bloated and slow and the new interface is a pain int A for anyone who is very used to XP. The new icons look too much alike and you have to relearn them too -another tremendous waste of time. Vista is often compared to Windows ME by professional computer people. Corporate sales of Vista machines (business versions) are actually downgradeable to XP and in fact usually are.

Ask anyone who has run Vista and XP on the same exact piece of hardware, as I have done.
Huge bloated means if you do an image backup (which is the most useful kind of OS backup there is) you will be wasting both time and space. It is also troublesome with many serious 3D applications and high end hardware. For example Vista users of DAZ Studio (a wonderful free 3D graphics program) installs often have serious problems with default installations under the PROGRAM FILES directory. The solution is to make a separate folder outside of PROGRAM FILES and your weird problems go away. You never see this problem w XP 32 or 64 bit.

As far as the claim by an earlier poster that you cannot find drivers for XP 64bit. That used to be true 4 years ago, but not in the last 2 years. It was a problem and is still a problem for Vista as well for very old scanners, printers, and stuff like that. In any case if you have any particular hardware that you want to use -check the manufacturer for drivers, so you know the facts.

I recommend XP 64bit. It's very stable (built on 2003 Server code) and supports memory over 4 Gb. Lots of newer motherboards have 8 slots which you can populate w 2Gb DDR2 which are very cheap these days.

XP32 can only use nominal 4Gb (which works out to only about 3.5 or a bit less), so 64bit is far better. I recommend putting in 8Gb. I find XP64bit rock stable, far more than any computer I have ever used. I build & repair computers for a living so my sample size runs in the hundreds and I personally have 6 machines in my office right now.

I'm pretty certain all the current music/midi software runs fine with XP64bit if not in 64bit, then in the x86 32bit mode. Band in the Box 2009 certainly runs fine on my XP64bit, (as does Photoshop although not officially supported in 64bit mode).
As far as SATA goes, you bet. All current motherboards are designed for SATA2 and you generally only get one IDE port if any for DVD-RW drives. Look for external SATA connectors if possible (eSATA) or you can put one in yourself. Any external SATA drive you hook up to your machine will run at the same high speed as the internal SATA HD, which is quite a bit faster than USB 2.0 or Firewire. Great for extra space and of course rapid backups.

Intel vs AMD -there is no clear winner here. AMD systems will cost less overall and other than for certain applications like games and possibly video transcoding, will be pretty competitive, but will not win the speed crown. Get Quad core in either case. For AMD the new Phenom II 940 Black Edition 125 watt is a very good choice. For Intel the i7's are all good just be sure to buy in the mid range. Newest fastest processor are usually very much over priced.

DDR2 vs DD3 - AMD's generally only work with DDR2 which are cheaper in any case. Unless you want to spend a lot of money and have very high power there is no great advantage to DDR3 at this time. In any case is probably the least important factor today.

As far as the integrated sound cards are concerned. You can certainly use them and see how things sound. If you don't like it, then you can buy a better one later.

You will probably have trouble finding XP 64bit at Best Buy or most other retail places, but you can get it at any built to order place.

That's about it.

Best,

Dan

Last edited by Dan Tong; 03/11/09 09:20 PM.
Dan

https://soundcloud.com/dstong