tips...31.
buying pc's for powertracks.

i just want to cover this topic and some tips.
cos prolly quite a few people are looking mebe to buy a pc this year.
particularly as ive worked for various computer companies in
my life. and know the biz from several angles of how computers
are marketed. (just a fact..not trying to be an ego idiot...lol.)
let me explain how the game is often played by vendors.
the new sexy stuff mostly starts off at a high price to catch
the early adopters,,THEN...when the next phase of tech comes out,
...once again the new stuff comes out at a high price..while the older
gets stepped down in price.
for example now the quad core (and also octo)...
(followed by more cores...)
are coming out i expect to see further deep discounting
of dual cores. and even more on single processors.
THUS..if u always buy top end i would suggest your wallet will suffer.
what i normally do is wait out the new cycle for some time.
i bought my own new dual core after the dual core tek had been out for some time.

buying used is often a viable option.
let the other guy takes all the sales tax hits etc etc. lol.
its like buying a car. u can save lots on a demo or slightly used product.
it also depends on the pricing structures in your country.

but there is another factor to consider.
for example here in canada a dual core amd 64 is about 600 buks while a new
quad core i saw in the last couple of weeks is 900 buks.
while single processor systems have dropped as low as the 300 buk range.
(i dont advise getting celerons. semprons are a better buy imho at the
very low end.)
thus as one can see that quad is mighty tempting due to the price
diff of only 300 buks from a dual.

which makes me suspect that cheap 8 cores are mebe only 18 months or 2 yrs away.

processor aside..my standard recommendation these days is 2 gigs of ram and two 7200
rpm hard drives. i prefer 16mb cache hard drives.
this will give you a very nice system.

for laptops i normally recommend ..if the manufacturer allows it..
and many do.. upgradeing the internal 5400 rpm drive to a 7200 rpm drive.
at a minimum. (u can google for laptop internal drive upgrades.)
some people might disagree. but this is my stance on the issue.

on the subject of laptops i see soo many people making major mistakes imho. when it comes to buying them.
sorry .but i got pretty strong feelings bout this.
i personally wouldnt buy any laptop without first running tests on
it with ptw and my chosen sound device.
i really wouldnt. but many do.
one only need peruse various forums to see the results when people buy laptops without first running tests.
particularly related to sound device compatibility etc.
therefore PLEASE.do yourself a favor.
check the laptop u select is compatible with your sound device
before buying.

as i said before....most modern pc's in ptw's test of audio performance should show a full
48 track capability. most of the ones ive tested anyway.
but of course then we have to remember real time plug ins.
ptw's plug ins are very very good at resource useage ive found.
and there are more than a few third party plug ins that are
reasonable on pc resource useage TOO.
BUT....if your one to layer on lots of third party real time plug ins across lots of tracks.
one needs to be aware of those that might consume lots of resources.
the reason i mention this is.if u google...youll see all the time,
folks with single processor systems particularly haveing problems as well as the occasional
dual core user.
when i moved from a single processor system to a dual , a couple of my awkward projects
resource useage dropped from the 70 per cent area , way down into the 20's.
thus in my case dual is a nice solution.
i suspect for most ptw users a dual core is a v nice solution.
but the price of those quads is getting v tempting. lol.

if u anticipate useing say firewire, i would suggest u insist on a texas instruments TI
firewire chipset. cos it seems where sound devices are concerned there are far les probs with a TI chipset.
the only way to know is to run a test with your FW sound device.

and this brings me to a MAJOR POINT.
all the time on recording forums one sees people asking of others ,
recommended pc configs..like motherboards etc n systems etc.
this ignores a basic fact.
the pc industry is moveing dam dam fast. so in a few weeks there
might be a better deal,
also just cos a particular config works well
for one person, another person with completely different sound
devices n plug ins etc n way different song projects...
it might not.
also .on a more subtle level related to motherboards, mebe there was a design revision,
whereby an issue developed.

thus best bet is to take your ptw song projects plus your chosen sound device and test
a few systems out. and see how your projects perform.
an excellent test is pitch shift i mentioned earlier.
cos on some systems it takes quite a time.
thus a good speed test.

now let me explain one point CLEARLY.
you get a new system and u see its partitioned.
you DO NOT have two physical drives. you have just one.
(unless u ordered two physical drives.)
and if that one drive fails your studio is kaput.
i see sooo many people working off one drive systems its scary.
a second drive these days is soooo cheap its a NO BRAINER.
thus get yourself a second drive 7200 rpm with 16mb cache.
they are cheap cheap cheap.

on the subject of vista. my personal belief is i think it needs another year to settle.
and it seems not all audio devices seem to work with it.
some audio device vendors still have to get drivers out.
frankly i'm v happy with xp.
running ptw never a crash or prob yet.
so i'm staying xp till vista matures more.
i just dont need vista.

if u have very little money.
heres a tip.
the sempron STILL is a nice little processor for the price.
u might find a used sempron system for next to nothing/given away.
but to improve things. upgrade the memory to 2 gigs mebe.
and , as well a its internal drive, get a nice new second hi performance drive for 80 buks.
and that baby will do you sterling service in ptw.
..for little money.
but,as always , before buying such a giveaway....
load up a ptw song project on it....and run tests.
the reason i mention this is....as all the fancy
more and more core pc's come out, youll likely see nearly
yard sale giveaway prices on these one processor sempron systems.

me...i might wait for 16 cores.

so..where will we be in five years.??
well....u can throw eggs at me if i'm wrong....
but the trend is obvious. more and more processor cores.
more power etc.
for example there is talk of 1000 processor systems.
i think at a minimum, we will prolly be at affordable
16 processor on a chip systems in 5 years.
(enough time for u to cook those smelly egggs to throw at me if i'm wrong..lol.)
overall i think the next ten years is going to be a very exciting time.
all i would suggest is a degree of care choosing when to spend your hard earned money.
(more to come.)