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Posted By: tributeman best computer - 07/13/11 02:29 PM
Hi Because of all the problems Im having running biab 2011 Ive decided to go for a new machine.I'd be interested to have advice on which one would suit me best but not one that is overly priced Thanks Frank
Posted By: rharv Re: best computer - 07/13/11 05:25 PM
I have a new mobo and CPU coming in a couple days, I'll let you know how it works out. The Phenom triple core and motherboard with 2 gig of ram was only $185 ... I plan on adding some drives and more RAM too.
Posted By: John Conley Re: best computer - 07/13/11 05:29 PM
I have friends who are pulling out their hair because they bought off-brand stuff and can't make it work right.

I don't mind that approach for someone who is quite knowledgeable.

BUT,

Brand name computers that are not clearance items, and run Win 7 (64 or 32 bit) with 4 gigs of memory and a 500 gig hard drive are to me the best purchase.

If I was in the market right now I'd be looking at something like this HP, mind you this is the CDN price in our bucks $599.00

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/ca/en/ho/WF06a/12454-12454-4144617-4144618-4144618-5035316.html

Because the computer is built into the display along with the DVD optical drive there is no tower. I see this becoming a wide spread standard.
Posted By: rharv Re: best computer - 07/13/11 05:40 PM
Recently got the wife an Emachines at BestBuy that was only $499; win 7 64, 4 gig RAM, 500 gb drive, dual core at 1.8gHz. Not the fastest but runs well.

Barry got a new W7 64 machine too, but he went a little better and got a terrabyte drive, 2.6 gHz quad-core, 6 gig RAM for $585

Both prices seem good for what you get.
Posted By: jcspro40 Re: best computer - 07/13/11 07:05 PM
If your handy you can always DIY it yourself. This System is a good deal IF you have the OS you want...with the OS it still comes in around $400

I built my system from one of the kits... ASRock M3A770DE MB / AMD Phenom II 4x 2.9GHz (the MB can handle a 6 core AMD when the prices come down) 6GB DDR3 1333 Kingston Value Ram, x2 WD 500GB SATA HDD, 1 TB WD SATA HDD, 24x DVD Burner 600watt Pwr Supply, Mid tower case, no OS, for a little over $400 6 months ago. I got a kit & had 5 coupons to use, so I also got free shipping for it all.

If your not a DIY'er the other deals mentioned seem good also.
Posted By: tributeman Re: best computer - 07/13/11 07:16 PM
thanks everyone for the advice.My son has built computers and is Microsoft certified(does this as a hobby)but I wasnt sure if I should go down the "build your own road" but JCS might have just about convinced me to do exactly that with his post.Thanks again Frank
Posted By: tributeman Re: best computer - 07/13/11 07:23 PM
John,I love the look of this machine now thats what I call a professional neat looking piece of kit ...so Im really confused now. If this computer will more than handle biab 2011 biab 2012 etc etc I might just go for it.Cheers Frank
Posted By: jazzmammal Re: best computer - 07/13/11 07:35 PM
The big thing is what exactly are you planning to do with it and what are you using for your audio/midi interface. You want to leave possible options as open as possible because you may not know what you'll need next year. I'll use myself as an example. A few years ago I bought the EMU 1820M Audiodock system. Retail price on that is about $500 and it requires two PCI slots on the motherboard. Just that alone required me to pay attention to the motherboard in any new system I get because not all of them have two PCI slots. The other thing is USB 3. USB 3 is out now but there's not a lot of stuff that can take advantage of it yet. Some mobo's have USB 3 ports built in but mine does not. I did however check on how much it costs to do an upgrade later and there's already add on cards for $30-40 that I can plug right in to give me USB 3 if and when I decide I need it. You may not need that now but ask if any new box you're considering has an available slot for that upgrade if it doesn't have USB 3 already.

What I wound up doing is having a guy custom build my PC using a Gigabit mobo for $600. When you see the specs in my sig a name brand PC with those specs would be a more than that plus I have a very nice Cooler Master case. Also, all the name brands load up their new PC's with all kinds of crap (bloatware). The first thing a lot of people I know do with a name brand PC is remove all that stuff. Mine of course never had that in the first place. If your son knows how to build a PC, I would go that route or if not your local Craigslist or other online sales sites have tons of guys who do this. You can probably find one within 5 miles of you.

Just going though this process of deciding what components you want in a new PC will teach you a whole lot about PC's and the more you know the better. Name brands work fine, a lot of folks here use them but you run into all sorts of things like you open the case and you void the warranty, you want to upgrade something do you have to get it from Dell or HP, what if they don't have what you want, will this other brand work or will I screw something up etc, etc. Using the best name brand components in a custom built PC avoids all that. You can easily use Google to research mobo's, CPU's, ram, hard drives, controllers, cases, power supplies to determine just which ones really are good and only use those.

Bob
Posted By: eddie1261 Re: best computer - 07/13/11 08:17 PM
My personal experience is that I have avoided eMachines. Best Buy will tell you "They are made by Gateway." That is not true. Gateway OWNS eMachine, but they are still their own company. Gateway does NOT build eMachines. I worked for Gateway during that acquisition and the plan was to buy a company that already had a retail store presence, then leverage the retail stores by saying "Okay now that we own eMachine, we will put Gateway on the shelf next to them or you will get neither." That was all with an eye on closing the Gateway retail stores. (Which resulted in me and a lot of people losing out jobs.) Try to reach eMachine tech support sometime.

I will always steer people toward Dell. I own 5 Dell's right now and in the rare occasions I have needed tech support they were very good.

The only downside of a kit is that YOU are tech support for a kit computer, and the parts typically have 90 days warranty vs one year. I used to build too, and still would if I needed a computer for a specific application, like a gaming system would have THE latest and greatest state of the art video card at the time of build, etc.... and it's not a bad way to go. I typically find that buying pieces parts and assembling runs me about 30% more than buying a name brand computer. And when you factor in that if you order your case from here, your mobo from there, your RAM from the other... you are paying $100 in shipping.

But again, it is not a bad way to go IF you need anything special in the computer.
Posted By: rharv Re: best computer - 07/13/11 08:24 PM
I can see why you have a bad taste for eMachines.
However myself and others here have ran them for years with great success. The system I toted around for recording for 5 years was an eMachines, just added RAM and a second drive, the Delta 1010lt and an SBLive (for quick MIDI sound) and it is still in service to be honest! Probably 6-7 years old now. Athlon 2.2
Has gone through a couple power supplies in its day.
Posted By: GHinCH Re: best computer - 07/13/11 09:11 PM
In a couple of days I will get an i7-2600k based machine. That will be a boost from my current 600 MHz machine on my desktop. And Band-in-a-Box will move from laptop to desktop.
Posted By: jcspro40 Re: best computer - 07/14/11 07:50 AM
Your Very Welcome tributeman, and Good Luck no matter which way ya go!

Quote:

I typically find that buying pieces parts and assembling runs me about 30% more than buying a name brand computer. And when you factor in that if you order your case from here, your mobo from there, your RAM from the other... you are paying $100 in shipping.




That is why I have built all of ours from the kits from either Tiger Direct, New Egg, or Geek's. You can save a lot over the individual prices, including shipping. But like you mention, there is no support except for your knowledge of the system & it's parts.

There were a few reasons I went with the kit that had the ASRock MB for the studio

2 PCIx + 3 reg PCI clots

Could handle AMD 6 core CPU's up to 140watts

Could handle 16GB of DDR3 1600

Solid-state VRM

And as a side note, I have an old Dell P3 700MHz system with 768mb of memory and a huge 64mb AGP graphic card that is still going strong & playing all my old DOS & Win98 games just fine, I just can't kill this thing!
Posted By: tributeman Re: best computer - 07/14/11 08:38 AM
I was asked a question what I wanted from my computer.I have a small recording studio for my songwriting and the computer is 99% used for this purpose.When I first came across BIAB I was blown away it got me to write again after not bothering for many years.I need a machine to run this software eg BIAB|RB without the problems Im experiencing now which is very slow regeneration(because its an old machine)and playback judder which on the task master shows it going to 100% cpu usage.I know nothing is perfect but the more capable the computer to handle such things the happier I'll be because at the moment these glitches are driving me mad.Cheers Frankie
Posted By: ZeroZero Re: best computer - 07/14/11 11:32 AM
I have run as home studio now for twenty years or so, I am no techy but I do know that I had years and years of using a sequencer that could not behave as it should becuase of hardware limitations, until I got a core i7 920 and ran it in Win 7 64 bit.

Now everything works as its designed to, and nothing is coming up against hard limits.
Maybe te core i5 is also a decent machine,
I know (OK I think I know) that unless an application is written for four cores then it does not use them, maybe just uses a sigle core, or at best uses the cores in a limited way (not sure).
If you run in 32 bit there is no sense in fitting over 2 gig as the operating system can't access it and so it is dead. Ther is a woraround - some sort of soft switch, but tghat only accesses a little more. I think win 32 uses about 1.2 gig of the 2 gig available and there rest is there for use by apps.
Posted By: Mac Re: best computer - 07/14/11 01:59 PM
The emachines name is still suffering a bad rep from the junk the original company put out there long ago.

Since the Gateway takeover, the Emachine lineup represents a very good value indeed.

Having bought several for myself and others, I have always been pleased with them - and with what I have found on the inside of them. Good stuff, for the most part.

Even the metal edges inside the cases are rolled and polished such that there are no sharp edges to cut fingers on.

I am fully able to build my computers and used to build all of them, then moved to only building the ones I would use for DAW music work, now, the last DAW bought here is an Emachine that has turned in yeoman's service as a DAW and works and plays well with pgmusic products. The only thing custom that I have done is to replace the original power supply with a larger capacity power supply with quieter fan, this to have a bit more power to run aftermarket soundcards when recording and also to reduce noise.

Many people who used to custom build thier music making puters are now using OEM off-the-shelf builds, not only from the Emachines lineup, but from other mfrs as well.

I see no reason why someone should have to build from scratch to enjoy home recording anymore.

Because, The Times Are A-Changin' on that front...


--Mac
Posted By: tributeman Re: best computer - 07/14/11 02:27 PM
Mac for the layman OEM?
Posted By: Tommyc Re: best computer - 07/14/11 02:33 PM
I bought my IBM 3.1 gig w 3gig ram (room for 4),500 gig SATA on ebay for $65 that included free shipping and restore disks . Not lighting fast but workable ! I saw a 4 x 3.6 processor w 12 gig ram installed sever mobo on ebay for $99 a few days ago . You might just need a power supply and extra fan to cram that in your old tower . I bet your son could make that happen very cheap .
Posted By: LawTunes Re: best computer - 07/14/11 02:49 PM
My current (aging - 2003) computer was from Carillon, the US branch of a UK company that made innovative systems optimized for music production. It was a bit pricey, but performed well, and I felt I needed it to produce the CDs LawTunes puts out for commercial sale. If possible, I'd like to not have to spend the extra money this time, and my sense is that mainstream (e.g., Dell) systems are far quieter, etc. than they used to be. I'd be interested in whether others have considered whether or not to go with specifically music-production-optimized systems recently, and if so what you decided and how you got there. Thank you.
Posted By: jazzmammal Re: best computer - 07/14/11 03:26 PM
Frankie, there's nothing wrong at all with Dell, EMachines, HP etc. I bought an EMachines for my lady about 3 years ago, and it looks and runs great. When I was shopping around Best Buy had a sale on an HP that is basically identical to what I have now except the CPU was the Phenom 4 core while mine is a 6 core and that probably makes little difference. With tax the total would have been $689 while mine was $600 even. Pretty close except my Gigabit motherboard still has a couple of things on it the HP doesn't and my Cooler Master case is dead quiet.

My point here in this thread is what are you going to use for your audio/midi interface? Internal or external? If it's external then the available slots on the mobo doesn't matter and lately a lot of the good ones are external USB. Some here are strictly part time hobbyists and are happy to use the standard onboard sound for that with no extra interface at all while others like me want a higher end prosumer interface like my 1820M that costs over $500. Also, you get a Dell or HP and the first thing you do is open it up to install something like my EMU then poof, there goes the warranty so you're right there with those of us who built a custom box anyway.

Just some things to think about.

Bob
Posted By: jcspro40 Re: best computer - 07/14/11 04:00 PM
Quote:

If you run in 32 bit there is no sense in fitting over 2 gig as the operating system can't access it and so it is dead.




A 32bit system can access 3.2GB of memory, which makes the remainder of the 4gb useless. In Reaper you can run, say VSTi's, in a separate process that can access this useless ram, but the most I have ever got out of a 32bit system natively is 3.2gb, according to Windows System Report...
Posted By: eddie1261 Re: best computer - 07/14/11 04:42 PM
Quote:

Since the Gateway takeover, the Emachine lineup represents a very good value indeed.




This is where my information is likely out of date.

I was a Gateway employee in 2004 when the eMachine thing went down. We were told that Gateway purchased eMachine for the sole purpose of being able to leverage the retail stores into carrying Gateway computers along with the eMachines, using something dangerously close to blackmail in saying "Or we will pull the eMachines from your shelves completely." The Best Buy and Walmart type places did not want to lose the low price sales appeal of the eMachine, so they deferred to Gateway and made room. At that time, we were also told that the production of the eMachines would remain in Taiwan, as would the support.

This strategy allowed Gateway to close their retail stores and save the overhead that went with those stores. I was part of that overhead, though that has no bearing on this topic. I was not a fan of Gateway even when I worked for them. The point is that it has become homogenized to a point where sales kids in Best Buy are telling customers that eMachines are "made by Gateway". As of the last information I had, now out of date by 7 years, that is not accurate. They are OWNED by Gateway, but not produced by Gateway. That may be different now, but at that point in time, the correct analogy would be that while Chevy and Pontiac are both owned by GM, Chevy parts are not made at the Pontiac plant.

My thought is that as long as it says eMachine it is not a Gateway, and vice versa, and the last I knew of eMachine their support was still in Taiwan and close to impossible to reach. I tried to find contact information for them online once, and everything was web based with no phone numbers provided. I have not touched an eMachine since 1997, and I only owned one which I ended up throwing away, so I may be wrong on all of this due to the age of the knowledge.

Has their support improved?
Posted By: rharv Re: best computer - 07/14/11 04:55 PM
Quote:

Has their support improved?




Their website is informative, giving the info I needed when I needed it, as far as specs etc.

Haven't had a need to contact support for any issues, which says something in and of itself.
I thought most computer companies farmed out the tech support for years now.
Posted By: tributeman Re: best computer - 07/14/11 06:09 PM
Hi jazz the way Im going to work on here for writing my songs is using biab for the chord structure\styles etc and then using RB to use effects editing solos etc.When Im happy with the mix I will then mix down on to my Roland vs-880. If I then need to add harmonies or maybe a keyboard or guitar riff for me its easier using my DAW than trying to do this on computer using biab.Ive got good nearfields for putting out a final mix so having a computer that flows with biab\rb is essential.Cheers Frank
Posted By: KeithS Re: best computer - 07/14/11 06:42 PM
Quote:

I wasnt sure if I should go down the "build your own road" but JCS might have just about convinced me to do exactly that.




I’ve come to the conclusion that there is no one BEST off the shelf machine for anyone. Even if you have Gateway or Dell build you a computer you are still stuck with the things that they are willing to offer you. If you build your own, you decide up front what you need, and build it to those specs, and if you are smart, you leave yourself some room to upgrade later.

I recently built a nice Intel i7 2600 K computer loosely built on the specs of this commercially available audio work station and using instructions that were available for FREE from the My SUPER PC website . I have exactly what I wanted built into my computer, nothing more and nothing less. I put in a powersupply that was ample for the number of hard drives and the high end graphics card that I put in, and I know exactly how it was put together if I ever need to trouble shoot a problem. Personally, I'll never buy off the shelf again.
Posted By: ZeroZero Re: best computer - 07/14/11 06:50 PM
jcprop 40 your right

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778.aspx

and
http://www.dansdata.com/askdan00015.htm
Posted By: eddie1261 Re: best computer - 07/14/11 06:53 PM
Even on the Dell I just bought, which runs just fine and does what I need, I had to go out and buy the dual head video card because I prefer to run 2 monitors. I put my BIAB on the left screen and anything/everything else on the right. Sometimes Sonar, sometimes Finale, sometimes nothing musical, like maybe a browser window to keep an eye on email...

Adding the dual head video card from Dell would have run me $200. Buying it myself I spent $125. And anymore this is so dummy proof.... "Put CD in drive now and click OK" is pretty straightforward.

Good points to be made in both camps. Love good discussion like this!!!

Like Yogi Berra said, "You can hear a lot just by listening."
Posted By: Rob Helms Re: best computer - 07/14/11 07:13 PM
My gripe with off the shelf computers is simple. they load that darn thing up with crap, and now i have to fuss to get it off there, and sometimes it just fights back. I build a simple audio computer about 8 years ago and the darn think is still running. It is a bit tired these days but will still with a single core Mammaboard resord 15 to 20 tracks with out breaking down. I am currently looking for a decent two three year old refurbished machine like a dual core with 2 gig ram. to replace it. Just that small bit of upgrade outta smoke my current setup. Geeks.com has them for under $200 POP my 320 gig second drive in with BiaB and all my toys on it and record like a mad man. I really want a rack mount case to pop in my rack system and roll it around where ever i want.

Laptops are nice as well, but require me to change sound cards, and that is another expense.
Posted By: eddie1261 Re: best computer - 07/14/11 09:58 PM
I once plugged in a brand new Compaq that I was setting up for a customer. I got

<get ready for it>

THIRTY SEVEN POPUP WINDOWS!!!

From Musicmatch Jukebox, from the demo versions of 5 different pieces of trialware....

I wrote SUCH a nasty letter to Compaq (and yeah, I'm sure they cared) about how their greed is ruining the computer buying world. If I want Music Match, Roxio, WinAmp, Nero or any of the other junk they pre-load (for a fee), I am capable of finding and downloading it myself.

My first stop is the add/remove programs panel and I start kicking them out!!
Posted By: jcspro40 Re: best computer - 07/14/11 10:20 PM
Thanks for the Dans Data link ZeroZero, I never seen that site before!

And I have heard all sorts of numbers tossed about for a 32bit system, from 2.8gb up to 3.5gb, but I have never seen it go above 3.2gb without some kind of software "switch flipping".
Posted By: earl kirby Re: best computer - 07/15/11 01:41 AM
I just purchased a new system from Dell to use strictly for music. I got a I5 with 8 gig of ram, terabyte of hard drive and dual monitors for just under a thousand dollars. I gota say, I love it and it blows everyone away when they see those double monitors!
Posted By: ZeroZero Re: best computer - 07/15/11 06:23 AM

jc

I dont know whether you have tried running in 64 bit, but drivers permitting this is the best way to go IMO I dont get any issues at all with RAM its blue sky all ythe way. I put in 12 gig, but find I never use that much and i have Cubase with some heavyweight apps . In particular a heavily sampled piano will max a 32 bit system
Posted By: tributeman Re: best computer - 07/15/11 09:14 AM
can I just say this is the most in depth info Ive ever received on any post on any forum you boys are the best.And if I ever have a hit song I will credit all of you(no royalties mind you)lol.Thanks again.. my son who is taking a look at all the posts will have a lot to chew over
Cheers Frank
Posted By: Mac Re: best computer - 07/15/11 02:19 PM
Quote:

My gripe with off the shelf computers is simple. they load that darn thing up with crap, and now i have to fuss to get it off there, and sometimes it just fights back. ...




There is a program that is FREE to private users at home, The PC DECRAPIFIER.

Run it once on the brand new OEM computer and it gets rid of all that added junk, leaving it pretty much the same as if you installed the OS and nothing else from scratch yourself.

So this is now a nonproblem (although it once was).

http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/

I usually run the OEM PC just as it comes out of the box first, for a day or two, just to establish that everything is working properly and not in need of return or exchange, then, when over that hurdle, I run the DECRAPIFIER on it and voila! Lean, Mean Music Machine.


--Mac
Posted By: Rob Helms Re: best computer - 07/15/11 02:32 PM
Nice call Mac, i will download that dude!
Posted By: tributeman Re: best computer - 07/18/11 03:09 PM
Hi,I would like some comments on this possible upgrade for my computer.Thanks Frankie

AMD Athlon 64 X2 7550 2.5 GHz Socket AM2+ 2MB Cache OEM Processor £36.52

Extra Value Thermal Compound Silver Grease £0.59

Zalman CNPS7000C-CU Super Flower Socket LGA775, AM3, AM2+, AM2, 754, 939 and 940 Processor Cooler £15.72

Samsung HM500JI 500GB 2.5" Hard Drive SATAII 5400rpm 8MB Cache - OEM £44.68

Inwin EM020 Shiny Black MATX Screwless Case With 400W PSU - 20+4pin £36.51

Kingston 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 1066MHz/PC2-8500 Hyperx Memory CL5(5-5-5-15) 2.2V £25.00
Posted By: John Conley Re: best computer - 07/18/11 03:21 PM
Why the slow hard drive?
Posted By: eddie1261 Re: best computer - 07/18/11 03:29 PM
Same question, John.

I would double the RAM and get a 10,000 rpm hard drive.
Posted By: rharv Re: best computer - 07/18/11 04:45 PM
Is there a MB listed there, or does the old system have a AM2+ socket already?

Beware, during my research I found a few motherboards that slow down when used with the AM2+ processor instead of an AM3 or 4. Pushed me to go to the Phenom II line.

BTW, I got a MB, Phenom X3, with fan and 2 gig RAM for $184, not sure how yours adds up all things considered. I had case, IDE drives and power supply laying around. All parts assembled already so I didn't need the thermal-juice. MB handles 6 SATA and 2 IDE if powersupply does, also supports hardware RAID.

And for those interested, I received it Saturday, assembled Sunday and it is a nice system so far. Clips along pretty well. They actually sent a better processor and motherboard than I ordered. Processor is faster, better reviewed, and MB had HDMI (which the one I ordered didn't).
Now to add the RAID stuff. Gotta find an affordable set of 4 SATA drives.

Then to see if RB works in Server 2008, just for fun. If not, I may switch the OS to Win7 Pro.
Posted By: marvin Re: best computer - 07/18/11 11:09 PM
how much ram can you add to an e machine/ i have 2 gigs now can i go to 6 gigs with out over clocking
kneelever
Posted By: jcspro40 Re: best computer - 07/19/11 12:08 AM
Quote:

Samsung HM500JI 500GB 2.5" Hard Drive SATAII 5400rpm 8MB Cache - OEM £44.68


Kingston 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 1066MHz/PC2-8500 Hyperx Memory CL5(5-5-5-15) 2.2V £25.00




Since this is an upgrade I will assume that you have another HDD for the OS & some other ram already installed....

I would double the ram & grab a HDD that is at least 7400rpm, and that has the biggest cache that you can afford.

I went thru 6 months of memory hassles between Tiger Direct & Corsair because the memory that they said would work in my MB did not. I grabbed some Kingston Value ram and absolutely no problems. Make sure you check your motherboards recommendations on what ram will work, & stick with that brand to save you some headaches....
Posted By: ZeroZero Re: best computer - 07/19/11 07:37 AM
Lst time I looked it was clear that intel processors were better than AMD
if you want real tech info try Toms Hardware
Posted By: Mac Re: best computer - 07/19/11 01:57 PM
The recentl released AMD Phenom series may be in line to take over for a short, time will tell.

When specifying a hard drive for music work in a desktop, try to avoid 5400 rpm and small cache size.


for good value plus good performance, you could specify the 7200rpm drive, with at least a 16mb cache. As for the cache size, more is always better. You will notice that the cache size typically ramps up on the higher caoacity disks, some go as high as 32MB. That's a good thing when streaming audio.


--Mac
Posted By: tributeman Re: best computer - 07/20/11 03:39 PM
adjusted to a 7200 rpm drive thanks for the advice.BIAB Ultraplus is on an 150gb external hard drive the Motherboard is a Biostar N68S
Posted By: jcspro40 Re: best computer - 07/20/11 04:44 PM
Been an AMD household for over a decade, and have never had a complaint so far.....
Posted By: jazzmammal Re: best computer - 07/20/11 05:14 PM
Quote:

Lst time I looked it was clear that intel processors were better than AMD
if you want real tech info try Toms Hardware




Correct if you're comparing the top of the line AMD Phenom to your i7 (I'm drooling here). The i7 is the best there is right now but the cost of a i7 system is more than double what I just paid for my system. The fair comparison is the Phenom vs the i5. Here's a good comparison article about that:

PC World

When I was shopping around I looked at i5's but even they were around $200 more than my Phenom 6 core with only a slight performance edge so for me anyway AMD won the bang for the buck contest.

Bob
Posted By: eddie1261 Re: best computer - 07/20/11 05:24 PM
You hit the key, Bob. Compare apples and apples. Of course the top of the heap X Model is going to spec out better than the bottom of the heap Y Model.

"Just" being an Intel doesn't make it better, nor does "Just" being an AMD....

I had one guy tell me his 2.6 should be faster because his girlfriend's 2.6 is faster. When I looked, hers was a dual core, his was not. When he launched that second app.... running in mud. On hers I simultaneously downloaded, burned a CD and did a scan and saw no slowdown.
Posted By: jazzmammal Re: best computer - 07/21/11 07:37 AM
If price is no object, great but if you're like me price is always the object. I subscribe to the 90/50 concept. When you can find something that gives you 90% of the performance of the price is no object item at 50% of the cost, Houston we have a winner! It's not worth to me to pay another 50% for a 10% improvement in performance. In the case of my new AMD Phenom those numbers are not quite there with the i7 but close enough.

Bob
Posted By: rharv Re: best computer - 07/23/11 12:40 AM
As an update:

RB and BiaB running on Server 2008 just fine. Pretty cool.

This experiment made me realize how cool Remote Connection can be. Updated the server to 2011 versions from the laptop downstairs.
Also luanched RB from a remote connection. The implications are making me grin. I can take the laptop into the drum room and take control of the RB desktop in the next room ...

Learning is cool.
Only issues:
Have to enable 'Desktop Experience' in Server 2008 to enable some WinMediaPlayer core services or RB stalls.
Also, the motherboard driver kit came with wrong Audio driver; a quick search and download fixed that.
Otherwise, I'm impressed at how easy it was.
Posted By: eddie1261 Re: best computer - 07/23/11 02:45 AM
Know what you mean rharv. I run logmein and I run the upstairs computer with BIAB from my couch a lot. Helps on the days when the studio hit 97....
Posted By: tributeman Re: best computer - 07/25/11 10:46 AM
To All.Ive upgraded my computer and now it takes 6 secs to regenerate not 3\5 mins..no judder on playback and it does what a computer for music making should do.Thanks to all those who gave me advice on this Cheers Frankie
Posted By: rharv Re: best computer - 07/25/11 01:12 PM
Very cool

Now you gotta change your signature!
Posted By: Rob Helms Re: best computer - 07/25/11 03:38 PM
Frankie, my new system is a Biostar and i think the same mother board. I ran it yesterday a bit and it was smooth again. I seem to be working out the kinks. I love the fast generation in BiaB, and now in RB.
Posted By: tributeman Re: best computer - 07/28/11 10:03 AM
"Very cool

Now you gotta change your signature!"

lol thanks Rharv.
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