hi there im looking to build myself a good pc, which among general home use will be used to run music technology programmes.
can anyone recommend some components i should go for?
any replys would be greatly apreciated!
thankyou

It might help if you kinda laid out a price area. We could easily start quoting componets to make a 6000+ machine, or we could go cheap and get you a bare bones, (case, PW, MB, CPU, CPU Fan, maybe memory, etc.) for as low as 99+ship (after rebate).

George

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Thanks for the reply. well i want to go for a processor like a pentium 4 3-3.4ghz i think, or the amd equivelant. which is better. Ive also heard you can get processors in motherboards when you by the motherboard. The motherboard needs to hold 2gb ram because thats what i want. with harddrives probably holding 250gb - maybe a sata one?? and obvously a dvd rewriter - maybe dual layer? Does anyone have advice on sound cards? im thinking of getting an mbox which is protools compatable.
Thanks,
David

David:

Looking at what you want, the cost won't be too much. The biggest thing is the Operating System. Also, I would suggest getting a dual layer burner. Since then you can use dual layer if you need it.

Anyway, here is basically what I would use. (keeping price low, there are better parts that you could look at if you are wanting to spend $1000+)

MB
BIOSTAR TForce6100-939 Socket 939 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813138264
$69.50

CPU
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 2000MHz HT 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819103535 $154
(Could get better above, however, I don’t know your price range or what you want for upgradeability (expansion/SLI?))

Case – This is really up to you. I like the ultra series cases, but then that’s just my opinion
Ultra Wizard Black ATX Mid-Tower Case with Front USB and Firewire Ports
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=186331&CatId=0
49.99 – 20.00 rebate = 29.99

PSU
Antec TRUEPOWERII TPII-380 ATX12V 380W Power Supply 115/230 V UL, TUV, CB, FCC CLASS B, CUL
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16817103927
$59.99

Memory –I like the ultra brand, never had problem. But i’ll list two choices.
Ultra Dual Channel 2048MB PC3200 DDR 400MHz Memory (2 x 1024MB)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1491882&CatId=1352 $169.99 - $50 = $119.99

Crucial Technology 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146575 $158

Hard Drive
Maxtor MaxLine III 7L250S0 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813138264 $99

Graphics Card--- Well, I really like high graphics so I would be getting a Geforce 7900GT, very expensive. But I don’t know how much you care about the graphics. Currently I am running a Geforce 5200, and it works fine for common things, just not mid-level games. It’s a low-end card. (came in the factory built I got for b-day). I’ll list a low-end card, more to keep the price down.
eVGA 128-P1-N309-LX Geforce FX5200 128MB 64-bit DDR PCI Low Profile Video Card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130188 $46

Sound – I would be getting a low-level sound card. I don’t care much for the sound. But since you are looking to do sound projects, you might consider a better card.
Creative Sound Blaster SB0570 Audigy SE 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Interface Sound Card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102003 $28.99

SONY Beige 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache IDE 16X DVD±R DVD Burner http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827131010 $34.99

Case Fan
Evercool EC12025 120mm Ball Case Cooling Fan http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835119045 $4.99

Total 647.5 + ship
Also needed is OS and other software. DVD burning software etc.

145 for WinXP Pro SP2, brings total to 792.5 + ship

Still fairly expensive… might be able to lessen things some…

Hope that helps!

What I have done is buy a factory build to get the OS, and other software, (backup utilities and such), and then upgrade it from there. It also allows me to get a 1 year warranty on the whole system, which I think is useful. I use Systemax because they allow you to open up the comptuer to upgrade it without voiding the warranty.
Please respond after you have solved your problem to notify who helped you and what solved the problem. Both sides benefit when you do.

if he doesnt do serious gaming he could easily get something less expensive then the 7900GT and the like. go budget and still biuld a decent machine for all but the most hardcore gaimgn is quite easy. i recommend eBay, it is the best place for great deals beyond special sales.

HP Vectra VL400
1.0ghz Pentium 3
512mb PC133 SDRAM
120gb 7200rpm 8mb cache WD1200JB hard drive
ATI Radeon 9200 128mb AGP video card

wow! thank you very much for the advice!
how come an amd processor is recomended over a pentium on? what would the pentium equivelant be to the one recomended?

sorry ive just searched on various topics discussing the advantages of both types of processor :) my bad.
The AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 2000MHz HT 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor was recomended. will this run a normal version of windows xp? will the 64 bit cause problems? sorry if this doesnt make any sense but i heard from someone else to stay away from 64bit processors?

I choose AMD because I am a loyal fan of them. They are better for gaming, so the rumor has it. AMD's are normally, I find, cheaper then their intel counter parts. A 3200+ AMD is supposed to be equivilent to a 3.2Ghz intel.

Main reason that I suggested that one, is so that you are using a 939 socket, as then it would make it easier for you to upgrade to a X2 or a FX later. You could easily cut price and get a cheaper, non-64-bit processor but then you loose out on upgradability, unless you wanted to get another mb.

I am running a 64-bit AMD Athlon 64 3400+, which uses the 754 socket. I am using WIN XP Pro SP2, Office Pro 2003, and IE/Firefox, and everythign works fine. no problems. From what I heard, is that the 64 bit really doesn't get used unless you have a 64 bit operating system. since mine is a 32-bit, i am just not getting all the performance i can. However, there are few other programs that use the 64 bit, so staying with 32 doesn't hurt. It also makes your machine more useful when things do start switching to 64.

When building a computer things are balanced between upgradability and price. you can either buy newer parts so that you can upgrade without having to buy everything new, or you can get all old, and have to buy everything new when you upgrade. Extreme examples, and mostly its inbetween.

Again, I suggested the mb, so that you can upgrade easily in the future, and stuck in a processor that fits the board and is within your 3 - 3.4 ghz range.

hope that helps!

George

Please respond after you have solved your problem to notify who helped you and what solved the problem. Both sides benefit when you do.

The motherboard you've suggested seems like it'll fit the bill brilliantly. However i've just come across this one. Was wondering if you could have a quick look at it, see how it compares. Thanks.

http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/product.aspx?code=MBA-939SLI32

You get what you pay for.

I have never heard of the brand. So I wouldn’t buy it. There are no reviews on the site, so its hard to tell if its junk or not. The specs are similar they use different chipsets. I don’t know the price difference. The biggest thing I see is that the board is a ATX, instead of an Micro ATX, (the biostar), and it supports SLI, If you do want to use SLI I would look at the DFI Lan party (although it’s an expensive board) or maybe this BioStar. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813138253

Basically if you are planning to use SLI, pay for it, if not, then you can get a lot of good selection with out having it. It reduces expandability, and unless you are planning to drop a few hundred in a graphics card then its probably not worth it.

As for your selection again, I don’t know the brand or price. The chipset is unknown to me, I use nividia’s chipset. So I wouldn’t get the Asrock brand.

Here is a comparison of the two biostars and the Asrock that you found. http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductCompare.asp?SubCategory=22&CompareItemList=N82E16813138253%2CN82E16813138264%2CN82E16813157087

There are a few reviews about the board, but not very many. I guess it all boils down to quality vs price. More quality, more reliability, more widely used and more support, means more price.

Hope that helps!

George

Please respond after you have solved your problem to notify who helped you and what solved the problem. Both sides benefit when you do.

Forgot to mention

Depending on how much cash you want to drop on the board, you could consider the ASUS A8N-SLI Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail for $107, as then you get a good known brand name. and 227 5 star votes. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131524

Or if you don’t need/want to use SLI, you can look at the ASUS A8N5X Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD Motherboard – Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131569 which has a solid 5/5 average on 301 votes. $79

The above is to add to the consideration of the previous boards.

Hope that helps!

George

Please respond after you have solved your problem to notify who helped you and what solved the problem. Both sides benefit when you do.

The ultra black case which you recomeneded arrived today. looks really stylish! On first inspections it only seems to cater for 3 usb slots. As my motherboard will have more than this will more than 3 be able to be used through this case?

The case that I mentioned above has two usb ports and 1 firewire port on the front.
As I don't know what exact motherboard you bought, I can't comment on how it will work, But if you purchased the Biostar that I first mentioned, the TForce6100, then you will have 4 2.0 USB ports on the back, where all the other connection are, and you can put up to 4 more on the front. But since the case only comes equiped with 2 build in usb ports. then you can only have two usb ports on the front for use, unless you mod the case and add two more.

I have never seen a practical use for more then two. Two usb ports on the front seems to cover every thing that I need to do. I have four more on the back of my motherboard as well, but I only use two of them. So basically I only use 2-3 of my avalible ports. If you do end up finding that you need more usb ports, you can invest in a usb hub, which you can daisy-chain out to get alot of ports, or you can get a pci card to add more ports to the back, or you can even buy extention bays, (that fit in the 3.5" or 5.25" bays, (floppy/cd)).

Just a word of warning, when you are building your computer, do things slowly. don't be in a rush. it sounds like your going to spend alot of money, and you wouldn't want to break anything. I don't know if this is your first build or if you have built them before, and since I don't want to start stating the obvious, I'll wait for your reply before I say much more on building.

Hope that helps!

George

Please respond after you have solved your problem to notify who helped you and what solved the problem. Both sides benefit when you do.

Thanks thats good to hear. Yeh it is my first time at building a computer, so thanks for all this adive!:)
As i live in the U.K and newegg.com doesnt ship to the U.K ill have to buy a different power supply to the one you recommened. Is it vital to spend as much as that? or can i get a cheaper one? Is there anything i need to look out for?

Ok, I didn't know you were out of the usa. The powersupply is the lifeblood of your system. without enough power your computer can run poorly or crash. The more advanced the parts, the more powersupply you will need. The biggest thing to worry about is that voltage amperage, not the amount of watts that the powersupply has. For an example, the +3.3, +5, and +12 voltage lines are the important ones. The cpu and motherboard, as well as other parts, pull heavily on the +12v, so if you get a powersupply that gives very little to the +12 then your system may not run properly. Sometimes a 300W powersupply is better then a 600W powersupply.

Getting the right powersupply is a guessing game. I have not found a way to figure out how to calculate the amount that is needed (until after you buy). As such there are two things that you can do. 1) buy the powersupplies locally and make sure that you can return it if it doesn’t have enough power to run your system. (make sure that it will actually work, not just power on. Components will use more power when they are being used, so a computer that stays on when idle, may turn off when running hard.) or 2) buy a powerful powersupply in the first place, and then you won’t have to worry about it, and also, if you plan to upgrade later, you don’t have to worry as much about your computer being able to get enough power.

I can see spending up to $100 on a powersupply, but you should at least spend $50 for a good one, As it is the lifeblood of your computer.

Powersupply - Life Blood
Motherboard – Backbone
CPU – Brain
Not things you want to go cheap on. Most people pack as much money as they can into ram, hard drive, roms/writers, and graphics/sound card. Then go get a cheap powersupply. But if the three basics aren’t good, then the system may not perform well.

Here are some sites that might help:
http://www.pctechbytes.com/powersupply.htm -- shows what parts use what voltage.
http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/white_papers_and_tech_docs/26003.pdf
-- guide to building computers by AMD, (uses older parts for examples of voltages)

--- building tips----
Make sure that you de-static yourself
Make sure that when installing your motherboard to NOT have ANY motherboard risers installed that do not go through a screw hole. Having the metal risers on the back of the motherboard can destroy the board.
Check jumper pins on cds, and hard drives (slave/master settings)
Follow the directions that are given, that is the best thing to do for a first build, don’t think that you can just do it by guessing and expect to take anywhere from 1 to 3 days to complete your system. Most advanced builders can put a computer together in a few hours, some in less the 1 hour, but the first system that I built took two days, taking up the kitchen table, (which I don’t recommend doing, too much possibility to spill stuff in the computer). Remember to update everything once you start installing software. If you are installing windows, install windows, a antivirus program, and a antispyware program, then connect the computer to the internet and update all three. Make sure to keep running the updates until it says that they are all up-to-date. don’t expect just one update to do it, for windows it will probably take 5-6 (low number).

There is a lot to go over with building, you can easily find guides online.

Hope that helps!

George

Please respond after you have solved your problem to notify who helped you and what solved the problem. Both sides benefit when you do.

I have started to build the computer and everythings pretty hunky-dory i think. everythings been installed and connected up part from the vga monitor. The motherboard didn't come with a port for it! whats the best solution?

The motherboard i brought was ASUS A8N5X Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD Motherboard – Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131569
thanks.

Oops,

Sounds like you forgot the graphics/video card. I said this above:
""
Graphics Card--- Well, I really like high graphics so I would be getting a Geforce 7900GT, very expensive. But I don’t know how much you care about the graphics. Currently I am running a Geforce 5200, and it works fine for common things, just not mid-level games. It’s a low-end card. (came in the factory built I got for b-day). I’ll list a low-end card, more to keep the price down.
eVGA 128-P1-N309-LX Geforce FX5200 128MB 64-bit DDR PCI Low Profile Video Card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130188 $46
""

Looking at the low-end card, it is now priced at $46, has not changed. The FX5200 card will work fine for anything that isn't graphics intense, (mostly games).

Hope that helps!

George

Please respond after you have solved your problem to notify who helped you and what solved the problem. Both sides benefit when you do.