Best Desktops for Pro Tools LE

[Allen Hallada]

Originally posted by BassWear:
<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Originally posted by Allen Hallada:
<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Originally posted by markus44uk:
Allen:

It sounds like the new AMD XP2600+ processors won't work on the A7M266 mobos. What is different about them vs the XP2200 processors? Now that I have the "hunger" again, I feel an upgrade coming on in the next few months. XP Home is only a stone's throw away for me.

Do you think I'll notice any difference in performance by upgrading to XP now (with the T-bird 1.4 and the A7M266)?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">markus,
Looks like there is a hold up on those XP2600 processors. Newegg took them off their list and Pricewatch hasn't listed them yet. One guy got the XP2200 to boot with the A7M266, and two can get them to boot intermitently, running into problems after shutdown the first time. I don't know what the problem is yet, so I've swapped the A7M266 out for the new A7V333. That will prepare us for the FSB333 processors and Digi002 with onboard firewire. It also complies with Digi's approved AMD list of motherboards needing to have a complete VIA chipset.
Will you see a noticeable difference from the 1.4Ghz? Probably not enough for the price yet. That 1.4 is a workhorse. I'd focus on making music with it and wait to see what comes down the pipe for Christmas. Should see a whole new line of processors by then based on the Barton core.
Allen [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] <hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">You said only one guy got the a7m266 to boot with the XP2200. I still dont have a working setup and I am getting discouraged. I have flashed the bios (erased the bios in the process, had to order a new chip with bios 1008). In the process burnt out my XP2200 chip, fortuneatly Newegg is switching it out. Now I am waiting for the fresh 2200 chip to put into the 1008 bios A7M266. Crossing my fingers and praying. Will my misery ever end. I have a project I need to get to, not to mention I havent got to play with my new toy (digi 001) for a whole month... now I am complaining, sorry. I have heard from so many people that the Xp2200 and Bios 1007 or newer work together, but everyone who has told me so actually hasnt done it themselves. Since then you have switch the recomended board to the A7V333. Would switching out my board for the A7V333 be the quickest way to end this nightmare? Allen your the best, I appreciate all that you do for us. God Bless You. [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] <hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">We now have two guys using the A7M266 with the XP2200 successfully. I don't know what the problem has been here. Make sure in bios the settings are Freq. 133 and Multiplier 13.5
Yes the A7V333 has been a no brainer for most and the new processor, but we have had some problems in getting it to detect the hard drives occassionally and few of them came DOA. If you check Newegg you will see they have a few reburshished models available. LOL

PS: Where did you get bios version 1008?
Allen [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[Taylor1725]

Originally posted by BassWear:
<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Originally posted by Allen Hallada:
<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Originally posted by markus44uk:
Allen:

It sounds like the new AMD XP2600+ processors won't work on the A7M266 mobos. What is different about them vs the XP2200 processors? Now that I have the "hunger" again, I feel an upgrade coming on in the next few months. XP Home is only a stone's throw away for me.

Do you think I'll notice any difference in performance by upgrading to XP now (with the T-bird 1.4 and the A7M266)?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">markus,
Looks like there is a hold up on those XP2600 processors. Newegg took them off their list and Pricewatch hasn't listed them yet. One guy got the XP2200 to boot with the A7M266, and two can get them to boot intermitently, running into problems after shutdown the first time. I don't know what the problem is yet, so I've swapped the A7M266 out for the new A7V333. That will prepare us for the FSB333 processors and Digi002 with onboard firewire. It also complies with Digi's approved AMD list of motherboards needing to have a complete VIA chipset.
Will you see a noticeable difference from the 1.4Ghz? Probably not enough for the price yet. That 1.4 is a workhorse. I'd focus on making music with it and wait to see what comes down the pipe for Christmas. Should see a whole new line of processors by then based on the Barton core.
Allen [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] <hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">You said only one guy got the a7m266 to boot with the XP2200. I still dont have a working setup and I am getting discouraged. I have flashed the bios (erased the bios in the process, had to order a new chip with bios 1008). In the process burnt out my XP2200 chip, fortuneatly Newegg is switching it out. Now I am waiting for the fresh 2200 chip to put into the 1008 bios A7M266. Crossing my fingers and praying. Will my misery ever end. I have a project I need to get to, not to mention I havent got to play with my new toy (digi 001) for a whole month... now I am complaining, sorry. I have heard from so many people that the Xp2200 and Bios 1007 or newer work together, but everyone who has told me so actually hasnt done it themselves. Since then you have switch the recomended board to the A7V333. Would switching out my board for the A7V333 be the quickest way to end this nightmare? Allen your the best, I appreciate all that you do for us. God Bless You. [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] <hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">BASSWEAR,
I've gotten the A7M266 to boot with the xp2200. i had to install my friends CPU, update the bios to 1.007, i think the 1.008 is a beta (not sure). but the only problem i had was when i turned the computer off after saving the bios, but i turned it off too soon and i guess the information didn't save 'cause it wouldn't boot up again. now my only problem is that i can't get my hands on a win98 boot disk 'casue xp can't make a proper one for 98. send me an email and hopefully i'll be able to help you out. [email protected]

patrick

[BassWear]

Allen, I got bios 1008 directly from Asus on a new bios chip ($30) that you have to solder in. From what Asus told me, once you lose the bios, for instance it doesnt flash properly, your bios chip is toast. That is why I had to get a new chip with bios 1008 pre loaded. I am learning all this stuff as I go. I am just educated enough to be really really dangerous and stupid. Lots of lessons learned though.

[Sugarnutz]

I got the Asus A7M266 for HP in today. It is a Micro ATX and has "A7M266-M" printed on the MOBO. It has a "Pheonix" BIOS instead of the standard "Award" BIOS. It only has 3 PCI slots + 1 AGP slot. After some research I found that it does not take registered DIMMS as the standard A7M266 does. DO NOT! use ASUS bios or bios utilities with this MOBO. It's DOA as soon as you do. HP just released a new BIOS for this MOBO on 9/10 (REV 3.34), supposedly Ver. 3.33 added XP processor support up to 2200+ , but there was some doubt as to how well with 2100+ & 2200+ processors. The BIOS update is an .EXE to floppy which I will extract sometime tonite and find out what the release notes say on this. I will "not have this MOBO up and running for some time as I have not ordered a Processor or RAM just yet, all I have is my old HawkingTech rack case with a new Enermax 350w supply and the MOBO. This is a work in progress. If this machine fails for Digi001 it will be a soft synth/sampler PC with an RME Digi96/8 lightpipe card. Anybody else seen this MOBO yet?

[img]images/icons/blush.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img]

[Allen Hallada]

Wow that is interesting. I'm amazed at how companies can resell those HP mods on the open market. I work with alot of HP computers with that bios and the only problem I've had is that it usually doesn't allow for manually changing the IRQs around. You may not need to though. I'll bet it will run fine for you. Let us know how it goes.
Hey anyone jumping on those reburb A7V333s at Newegg yet? Around $85.00 right now. They had the firewire version listed for the same price the other night but now I see they changed that, unless they sold that batch. I think I'd take one of those over a new one, depending on the return policy. Newegg has been great to us so far.
Allen [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[Taylor1725]

does anyone know how well the A7V333 works with windows 98SE? The A7M266 is unstable with it, but I was told that all i needed to do was to update the chipset

[aviv_gefen]

hello

I am going to buy a new PC,i think AMD.
I've heard that PT-6 will suport 2 prosessors
and in october amd will work on 333 or 400 FSB.
is it true ?
please help me...i am confused

[Allen Hallada]

Originally posted by aviv_gefen:
hello

I am going to buy a new PC,i think AMD.
I've heard that PT-6 will suport 2 prosessors
and in october amd will work on 333 or 400 FSB.
is it true ?
please help me...i am confused

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">That would be great, but sounds like speculation to me. AMD is going to those frequencies this fall.
Allen

[snowmonkey5]

Hey Allen would it be better to get the pc 2100 ram or go ahead and get the pc 2700. The asus a7v333 board is made for 333mhz ram and the 2100 is less then that. Will it work better to get ram that runs at 333mhz? [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img]

[Jayman#9]

I have the A7V333 with pc 2700 RAM. Now logically, running 266 vs 333 should have no performance difference because your AMD processor's frontside bus only supports a frequency of 266mhz. So you have whats called a bottle neck in your system (sorry if you know this already).

But in real life use, it does make a difference. It seems like my computer is always on top of things. The processor always has something to do because the RAM always has something waiting in line. So another way of looking at it is, if your running 266 RAM and the processor is running slightly faster than your RAM, then there will be a performance lag. But if your RAM is running at 333, the processor has lots of stuff to do, it is never caught sitting on the job! [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]