Message 7/12
Date: 14-May-04 @ 02:13 AM -
RE: upgrade or UPGRADE?
yes you will see a GIANT HUFGE idfference - the added bus speed and faster ram combined with the faster cpu - even a step from a 2ghz athlon (1667mhz) to a 2.4ghz athlon (2000hz) is quite big actualy cos you jump up buss speed too
i am building a client machine now - 310 quid for the core parts, 27 for the case - this is not a 'quiet' pc, but has everything you need to run a powerful studio setup - he can always upgrade the 'quiet' stuff if reequired later for 100 pounds max for quiet cooler and p/s unit
anyways, his budget package (310 pounds) is amazing for what it can do powerwise and jobs.
2.4 athlon cpu (keep cost LOW, last pre-barton chip, but the board can take upgrades when they get cheap (3ghz size), very nice but cheap Gigabyte board - Gigabyte boards have great install & setup guides on huge pull-out A2 sheets, really clear instructions if need basicaly - you get Free Norton Antivirus with em i find mostly (this one has Norton 'Internet Security' included - that's gonna start him off with 512mb of 3200 ram which'll also serve any cpu upgrade fine - an 80gb 7200 drive, a 64mb DDR dual head AGP card (so again, he can upgrade if required to 2-screen option - you can pickup GOOD s/h 17" crt's now for like 20 quid so why not!.... also in the price a LITE-ON cd-burner/rom -they work ok with wavelab and i rate 'em - + mouse, keys, cooler/fan unit, floppy-drive - the case is ok looking with a 350 watt supply.
trust me that machine can run a TON of shit!!... it's ALOT of power, i think he wont beleive it - anyways add-in on top a hoontech card (or any other card in that bracket, they are all 100 quid-ish in price)
add OS & proggies
you might as well just build a whole new one and network 'em up - no need to go online with the music PC therefore
you can get a switcher box & cables to save having two mice, keyboards & screen - 20 quid for the box and 10 or so for cables - run the two PC's sharing mouse keys & screen if required - network should be onboard the gigabyte (i didnt open to check yet) but if not two cards & a cable is a MAX of 16-20 quid ) it's easy to setup.
the power you can get now is really silly stuff for peanuts - a machine like that will run tons of top end VSTi's, lots of fx and plenty of audio tracks, video editing in realtime, etc.