hello,
I am thinking about getting a PC for my Pulsar - do not have to much plans about that stuff.
I would like a economic and small system - so I thought about a Intel Core Duo/C2D with mobile CPUs.
How about a Intel 945GT or GM chipset for use with Pulsar? Any problems with Pulsar and DualCore CPUs? (In former times there where problems with DualProccessor systems - do not know)
I have Scope SFP3 software btw .....
thanks for your thoughts
best
Motherboard question
-
Nestor
- Posts: 6683
- Joined: Tue Mar 27, 2001 4:00 pm
- Location: Fourth Dimension Paradise, Cloud Nine!
I am in the process of building one myself, so I don't know first hand, but everybody in the forum tells that the C2D systems are great for Scope boards, so for sure you can go with that.
Which motherboard? I would start by writing down exactly what I need, how many USB ports, firewire, SATA disks, how much ram I need for the system, how much CPU speed, and then would go based on this, to search for the components.
I am investigating much, and I can tell you the following:
800MHZ memory compared with 667MHZ memory is not worth the money, it’s better to get the 667MHZ. The increased performance is minimal and nevertheless, you need to overclock it some to really show any benefit, from 1 to a maximum of 3% difference, but about 40% in “price” difference.
Processor:
If you want a small system as you say, you can go sure with the INTEL CORE 2 DUO E4300 - 1.80 GHZ 800 MHZ 2MB. I have read a few reviews about this processor and it is simply great! No way to get lost in the way with it.
Ram:
I think you should get 1GB of DDR2 667mhz in two sticks of 512 each. It would be better if you chose a pared one, like those offered by Corsair as they tend to work better when fine-tuned by the manufacturer, for the best dual channel performance. I would recommend Corsair, OCZ (very, very good memory), or cheaper but with less performance even with the same characteristics and specs, Crucial or Samsumg.
Power supply: (often and wrongly overlooked)
Please! Spend some money in your power supply, don’t go with a cheap low power one… this is truly important not only for a good working machine, but the safety of the components… With 450W you have enough, but let them be “real” watts. And for them to be real and sustainable 450watts, you need a serious choice like Thermaltake, Coolermaster, Enermax or Corsair for instance.
Video Card:
I think here you can save a lot of money, because you are not going to do any graphic related work, so get a decent 256mb card with an nvidia, hopefully PCIE specific, and you’ll be more than ok. I would like to be more precise in this one, but I have not researched for these particular middle-low end video cards.
Motherboard:
Well… there is an array of motherboards out there… too many to choose from… it is the most difficult choice of them all if you start getting in depth with compatibility, capability, stability and performance issues. It all depends what you are going to do exactly with the system. If you are not going to overclock it at all and you will only be working with Scope, an Intel board will probably be the best choice for you, there are several constantly recommended here in the forum, quite cheap by the way. See Gary posts about them please.
I hope you build a good, stable system, good luck!
Which motherboard? I would start by writing down exactly what I need, how many USB ports, firewire, SATA disks, how much ram I need for the system, how much CPU speed, and then would go based on this, to search for the components.
I am investigating much, and I can tell you the following:
800MHZ memory compared with 667MHZ memory is not worth the money, it’s better to get the 667MHZ. The increased performance is minimal and nevertheless, you need to overclock it some to really show any benefit, from 1 to a maximum of 3% difference, but about 40% in “price” difference.
Processor:
If you want a small system as you say, you can go sure with the INTEL CORE 2 DUO E4300 - 1.80 GHZ 800 MHZ 2MB. I have read a few reviews about this processor and it is simply great! No way to get lost in the way with it.
Ram:
I think you should get 1GB of DDR2 667mhz in two sticks of 512 each. It would be better if you chose a pared one, like those offered by Corsair as they tend to work better when fine-tuned by the manufacturer, for the best dual channel performance. I would recommend Corsair, OCZ (very, very good memory), or cheaper but with less performance even with the same characteristics and specs, Crucial or Samsumg.
Power supply: (often and wrongly overlooked)
Please! Spend some money in your power supply, don’t go with a cheap low power one… this is truly important not only for a good working machine, but the safety of the components… With 450W you have enough, but let them be “real” watts. And for them to be real and sustainable 450watts, you need a serious choice like Thermaltake, Coolermaster, Enermax or Corsair for instance.
Video Card:
I think here you can save a lot of money, because you are not going to do any graphic related work, so get a decent 256mb card with an nvidia, hopefully PCIE specific, and you’ll be more than ok. I would like to be more precise in this one, but I have not researched for these particular middle-low end video cards.
Motherboard:
Well… there is an array of motherboards out there… too many to choose from… it is the most difficult choice of them all if you start getting in depth with compatibility, capability, stability and performance issues. It all depends what you are going to do exactly with the system. If you are not going to overclock it at all and you will only be working with Scope, an Intel board will probably be the best choice for you, there are several constantly recommended here in the forum, quite cheap by the way. See Gary posts about them please.
I hope you build a good, stable system, good luck!
*MUSIC* The most Powerful Language in the world! *INDEED*
thanks for your reply -
I also thought about the E4x00 series of Core2Duo - but I think the mobile series Txxxx is more efficient and produces less heat. The PC is only for running Creamware stuff and some PC-only stuff - I am a Mac user and will do most (sequencing and most plugs) on Mac. Heat is a real concern and power consumption - I think for that the T series is better - also more expensive though ....
But I remember that my old PC was not too noisy compared to the PCs of my friends, but it was a hell of a psycho compared to my Macs ..... it should really be silent and small (I know that there are silent cases - but they are rather big and so on ....)
do you know where I can find power comsumption comparisons of T and E seres Intel-CPUs? Also how much heat they produce ?
Graphic card - well, I thought I will try the Intel motherboard graphics .... think that should be faster than my old NVidia and it has no cooler and so on. alternatively a Matrox G-series ......
Yes, 667MHz-Ram should be enough. 1 or 2 gigs .... Perhaps 2 gigs is better when using a sampler ...... (and the onboard graphic chip also eats RAM ....)
anyone know if it is better to install 2 CW-cards immediately next to each other or to have a free slot between them - how about the connection cable between the two cards does it require them to be in adjacent slots?
I just want that computer to do the music stuff (creamware and some PC-stuff like emulator or so).
how about Scope and USB-Interfaces - from the past I just remember that this was nightmare without end (I think the USB-traffic had a negative influence on the PCI-bus) - is this better now?
I think about a AOpen-board (microA??) with a mobile processor - all those boards only seem to have 2 ram slots - that's bad .....
About Intel-boards? most of the other boards use intel-only chipsets - as far as I understand it .... is there really an advantage over using a brand motherboard?
thanks for your thoughts .....
best
I also thought about the E4x00 series of Core2Duo - but I think the mobile series Txxxx is more efficient and produces less heat. The PC is only for running Creamware stuff and some PC-only stuff - I am a Mac user and will do most (sequencing and most plugs) on Mac. Heat is a real concern and power consumption - I think for that the T series is better - also more expensive though ....
But I remember that my old PC was not too noisy compared to the PCs of my friends, but it was a hell of a psycho compared to my Macs ..... it should really be silent and small (I know that there are silent cases - but they are rather big and so on ....)do you know where I can find power comsumption comparisons of T and E seres Intel-CPUs? Also how much heat they produce ?
Graphic card - well, I thought I will try the Intel motherboard graphics .... think that should be faster than my old NVidia and it has no cooler and so on. alternatively a Matrox G-series ......
Yes, 667MHz-Ram should be enough. 1 or 2 gigs .... Perhaps 2 gigs is better when using a sampler ...... (and the onboard graphic chip also eats RAM ....)
anyone know if it is better to install 2 CW-cards immediately next to each other or to have a free slot between them - how about the connection cable between the two cards does it require them to be in adjacent slots?
I just want that computer to do the music stuff (creamware and some PC-stuff like emulator or so).
how about Scope and USB-Interfaces - from the past I just remember that this was nightmare without end (I think the USB-traffic had a negative influence on the PCI-bus) - is this better now?
I think about a AOpen-board (microA??) with a mobile processor - all those boards only seem to have 2 ram slots - that's bad .....
About Intel-boards? most of the other boards use intel-only chipsets - as far as I understand it .... is there really an advantage over using a brand motherboard?
thanks for your thoughts .....
best
-
Nestor
- Posts: 6683
- Joined: Tue Mar 27, 2001 4:00 pm
- Location: Fourth Dimension Paradise, Cloud Nine!
Here you have a few good readings so you educate yourself about it, before buying one:
http://www.hardcoreware.net/reviews/review-257-1.htm
http://techreport.com/reviews/2004q4/psus/index.x?pg=1
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/348/1/
http://www.trustedreviews.com/periphera ... st-2006/p1
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/451
http://www.tomshardware.com/2002/10/21/ ... _labeling/
Some Asus motherboards are great at battling hit, as they have some pretty good and proved technologies to cool down the board as well as components, like the P5B Deluxe, but perhaps a little expensive for what you’re looking for, nevertheless, here you have the technology I’m talking about:
8 Phase Power Design
Cooler and quieter system
Longer components lifespan
More stable and reliable under heavy-loading and overclocking
The ASUS 8-Phase Power Design provides highly efficient operation to generate less heat (at least 15°C (59°F)) than other conventional power solutions. It reduces input ripple current and output ripple voltage, which keeps CPU and power module from suffering the risk of high power stress. It has the advantages of quick transient response and stability, especially beneficial when CPU requires more current immediately under heavy loading or overclocking mode.
And then they also have…
Fanless Design - Stack Cool 2
Effective and zero-noise heat dissipation
Stack Cool 2 is a fan-less and zero-noise cooling solution offered exclusively by ASUS. It effectively transfers heat generated by the critical components to the other side of the specially designed PCB (printed circuit board) for effective heat dissipation.
And finally…
Fanless Design - Heat Pipe
Zero failure
Support side-flow fan or passive cooler
The Heat Pipe design effectively directs the heat generated by the chipsets to the heatsink near the back IO ports, where it can be carried away by existing airflow from CPU fan or bundled optional fan. The purpose of the innovative heat pipe design on this motherboard is that the groundbreaking fanless design does not have lifetime problems as a chipset fan does. Furthermore, it provides options for users to install side-flow fan or passive cooler. The Heat Pipe design is the most reliable fanless thermal solution to date.
Also the superb quality of their capacitors makes dissipation an easier task, I cannot explain why, but I understood that these new capacitors are made of some new, more resistant materials that dissipate hit in a better way.
http://www.hardcoreware.net/reviews/review-257-1.htm
http://techreport.com/reviews/2004q4/psus/index.x?pg=1
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/348/1/
http://www.trustedreviews.com/periphera ... st-2006/p1
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/451
http://www.tomshardware.com/2002/10/21/ ... _labeling/
Some Asus motherboards are great at battling hit, as they have some pretty good and proved technologies to cool down the board as well as components, like the P5B Deluxe, but perhaps a little expensive for what you’re looking for, nevertheless, here you have the technology I’m talking about:
8 Phase Power Design
Cooler and quieter system
Longer components lifespan
More stable and reliable under heavy-loading and overclocking
The ASUS 8-Phase Power Design provides highly efficient operation to generate less heat (at least 15°C (59°F)) than other conventional power solutions. It reduces input ripple current and output ripple voltage, which keeps CPU and power module from suffering the risk of high power stress. It has the advantages of quick transient response and stability, especially beneficial when CPU requires more current immediately under heavy loading or overclocking mode.
And then they also have…
Fanless Design - Stack Cool 2
Effective and zero-noise heat dissipation
Stack Cool 2 is a fan-less and zero-noise cooling solution offered exclusively by ASUS. It effectively transfers heat generated by the critical components to the other side of the specially designed PCB (printed circuit board) for effective heat dissipation.
And finally…
Fanless Design - Heat Pipe
Zero failure
Support side-flow fan or passive cooler
The Heat Pipe design effectively directs the heat generated by the chipsets to the heatsink near the back IO ports, where it can be carried away by existing airflow from CPU fan or bundled optional fan. The purpose of the innovative heat pipe design on this motherboard is that the groundbreaking fanless design does not have lifetime problems as a chipset fan does. Furthermore, it provides options for users to install side-flow fan or passive cooler. The Heat Pipe design is the most reliable fanless thermal solution to date.
Also the superb quality of their capacitors makes dissipation an easier task, I cannot explain why, but I understood that these new capacitors are made of some new, more resistant materials that dissipate hit in a better way.
*MUSIC* The most Powerful Language in the world! *INDEED*
what is that 'PC only stuff' ? Office, Internet ?steff3 wrote:... The PC is only for running Creamware stuff and some PC-only stuff - I am a Mac user and will do most (sequencing and most plugs) on Mac. Heat is a real concern and power consumption - ...
that question left aside I don't get your point at all - what the hell do you expect a coreduo and a ton of Ram could do for Scope ?
I have a dedicated Scope system on a P3 Tualatin (the latter is pure snobism), 512 MB Ram under Win2K Pro (...I swear it ran even better under Win98...)
W2K is just for the sake of a couple of VST plugins and the wide screen display drivers.
CPU cooler is a Scythe Katana (fits any socket afaik), almost unhearable, without recording I've booted it from a 1 GB Flash disk, I added a USB2 card (Nec chipset) that doesn't even seem to affect PCI bandwidth.
The system never gets hot, it's very quiet and mobo, cpu and ram was about 150 Euro.
cheers, Tom (back to the future)
