Best Desktops for Pro Tools LE

[LEVON]

HI Allen,i am gone specify what my systen is and i would like some info or opinions if possible.

*p4 2.53ghz
*intel D845EBT mobo(with raid on the mobo)
*samsung 768 ddr memeory
*2x w.d 7200rpm 80gig drives(connected to raid, in the divice manager it shows as 2+0 the setup)
*geforce ti4200 128m ddr dual monitors
*pioneer 104 dvd-rw
*liteon dvd-rom
*win xp home

*digi 001 with 5.3.1
*delta 1010
*wamirack 192x

somehow the souncards seem to work all fine but i do get errors from ptle every now and then.i changed the pci slot as of yesterday and now digi shares no irqs.and its on irq 22.

now,i have never tweaked the conputer and i do use the ethernet for dsl etc.i am gone be getting a laptop for the internet and then tweak the daw.but i need info befor i do that the ones that are essential.i hope i'll get some help from you guys on the tweak or if neccesery change parts etc.

what am i missing here if any?i would like your inputs as much as possible.it would be appriciated.

[Gingley]

I began following this thread a long time ago, and based upon Allen's recommendations, I bought/built a system based upon the GA-7DXR+, XP 2000+, 512 Meg PC2100 DDR SDRAM, IBM Deskstar 60 Gig 7200 RPM ATA100 HD, etc.

This is a blazing fast system for general use (Win XP Home). I had been holding off on getting a Digi 001 setup until it supported Win XP, but now that the 002 is available, I couldn't resist and ordered one from Sweetwater.

My question now is, what kind of hard drive to get for audio. I had been planning on getting another 60 gig IBM drive, but with the 002 I am wondering if I would be better off with a FireWire drive. Any thoughts? And if I go the FireWire route, are there any recommendations on specific drives?

Also, would there be any advantage to having PTLE installed on its own drive (say, a smaller Deskstar), and storing the actual tracks, etc. on a FireWire drive?

Thanks, G.

[guitarrob]

Allen & Axeman:

Thanks for all the help. I put my two hard drives on the Promise controller card, and my two CD drives on the MOBO and my system now works without any problems with Windows XP.

By the way, will my GA-7DXR+ MOBO support the XP 2200+ processor? If so, I may have to think about upgrading.

Thanks again,

Rob

[Allen Hallada]

Originally posted by LEVON:
HI Allen,i am gone specify what my systen is and i would like some info or opinions if possible.

*p4 2.53ghz
*intel D845EBT mobo(with raid on the mobo)
*samsung 768 ddr memeory
*2x w.d 7200rpm 80gig drives(connected to raid, in the divice manager it shows as 2+0 the setup)
*geforce ti4200 128m ddr dual monitors
*pioneer 104 dvd-rw
*liteon dvd-rom
*win xp home

*digi 001 with 5.3.1
*delta 1010
*wamirack 192x

somehow the souncards seem to work all fine but i do get errors from ptle every now and then.i changed the pci slot as of yesterday and now digi shares no irqs.and its on irq 22.

now,i have never tweaked the conputer and i do use the ethernet for dsl etc.i am gone be getting a laptop for the internet and then tweak the daw.but i need info befor i do that the ones that are essential.i hope i'll get some help from you guys on the tweak or if neccesery change parts etc.

what am i missing here if any?i would like your inputs as much as possible.it would be appriciated.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I'm not that familiar with P4 systems and tweeking so I'm not the one to ask here. YOu may do better by posting it as a new thread for other P4 owners to help you out.
Good luck,
Allen [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[Allen Hallada]

Originally posted by Gingley:
I began following this thread a long time ago, and based upon Allen's recommendations, I bought/built a system based upon the GA-7DXR+, XP 2000+, 512 Meg PC2100 DDR SDRAM, IBM Deskstar 60 Gig 7200 RPM ATA100 HD, etc.

This is a blazing fast system for general use (Win XP Home). I had been holding off on getting a Digi 001 setup until it supported Win XP, but now that the 002 is available, I couldn't resist and ordered one from Sweetwater.

My question now is, what kind of hard drive to get for audio. I had been planning on getting another 60 gig IBM drive, but with the 002 I am wondering if I would be better off with a FireWire drive. Any thoughts? And if I go the FireWire route, are there any recommendations on specific drives?

Also, would there be any advantage to having PTLE installed on its own drive (say, a smaller Deskstar), and storing the actual tracks, etc. on a FireWire drive?

Thanks, G.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">There was one guy that got incredible results using an external firewire drive for audio last year. I would recommend installing PTLE on your system drive and have a separate audio drive whether it be an internal IDE like you already have or an external drive such as firewire. I would think that having an internal audio drive for tracking and an external firewire drive for backup would be the way to go. Would make transfering sessions to another computer a breeze.
Just a thought.
Allen [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[Allen Hallada]

Originally posted by guitarrob:
Allen & Axeman:

Thanks for all the help. I put my two hard drives on the Promise controller card, and my two CD drives on the MOBO and my system now works without any problems with Windows XP.

By the way, will my GA-7DXR+ MOBO support the XP 2200+ processor? If so, I may have to think about upgrading.

Thanks again,

Rob

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Rob,
The XP2200+ is supported by this motherboard. http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/
Good luck,
Allen [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[iamspooky]

Aloha,

Has anybody had problems updating the bios of a A7M266 motherboard from 1004a to 1007 using an AMD Duron 1.2Ghz CPU ??

Research has told me that Duron CPU's can cause problems with booting on A7M266. Anyone had same problem ?? It could be a bad MB but I think there is a conflict with the Duron...Any advise would be appreciatted..

Thx,
Mark

[JamesV]

I picked up a 40gig Glyph firewire drive and pci card on Ebay ....followed the Glyph pdf install and formatting instructions Don't know how it compares to the others out there, but so far has worked flawlessly. Which I could say that about the Digi001 at startup, but that is another thread.

[BassWear]

What comes first the chicken or the egg? I purchased the A7M266 and the XP2200. The A7M266 needs updated bios to run XP chips. The bios needs a functioning A7M266 before it can be updated. The XP chip needs a motherboard that recognizes it. Its a big circle??? My A7M266 wont boot with the XP chip because of its older bios. But I cant update the bios unless I have a bootable motherboard. Must I purchase two chips? One older chip to get the board up and running to update bios. And then install the newer XP chip once the bios has been updated? Help!

[Gingley]

Can I set up PTLE to use an internal IDE drive as my audio drive, and then easily change it to use a FireWire drive to store track data? If so, I will probably follow Allen's suggestion of getting another IDE drive (IBM DeskStar's still a good option?) and then perhaps add a FireWire drive later.

Here's another question, Allen. Currently, I have my (only) hard drive, DVD/CD-ROM, CDRW, and a Zip drive all running off my two on board IDE channels. Since I have the GA-7DXR+, I have two channels of Promise controllers left. I have not defined a RAID array yet (which is a bit annoying at boot-up), but of course I just plan on using the promise controllers as ATA100/133, not RAID.

Can I just run my audio drive off of one of the Promise channels and leave everything else as is? If not, would I have to reinstall WinXP if I switched my system drive to the Promise controller?

Thanks, G.