Best Desktops for Pro Tools LE

[MadeByNick]

Dissapointing Vendors:
BzBoyz.com
PartsPc.com
TufShop.com
PcRapids.com

They are all the SAME VENDOR with different website storefronts.
I talked to the SAME guy in sales every single one of the 4 (YES - 4) times I ordered the A7V333-XL from each of the vendors. Caveat Emptor indeed!

Long story in a nutshell:
1)BzBoyz.com - Ordered off web site. Got the A7V8x "conversion call" 1 week later. Cancelled order.

2)PcRapids.com - Ordered off web site. Got the A7V8x "conversion call" 3 days later. Cancelled order.

3)PartsPc.com - Called first to verify stock. Was told if I hurried I'd get the very last retail box board in stock. Got the A7V8x "conversion call" 1 day later. Cancelled order.

4)TufShop.com - Called first to verify stock. Was told that they had "a few" left. I asked how many "a few" was. He said "3". I recognized the guys voice by now. Asked him if they were affiliated with the previous 3 websites. He only admitted to the PartsPC connection and later admitted that they "might" be sharing some operations with the other sites mentioned. I told him of my ordeal with the matter and asked him to guarantee that they had 3 in stock. He then said "wait while I check with my inventory guy.... No we don't have any in stock." Then proceeded to lecture me on supply & demand saying that I was going to have to "look harder than that" if I wanted to find the darn board. He was very rude, and was acting as if I was wasting his time.

I let the guy know that having a bachelor's in business, I was well-versed in the forces of supply/demand and that his company needed to stop misprepresenting itself & it's on-hand inventory to customers like us DUCers. His companies ended up wasting very valuable time that could have gone toward finding vendors that actually had the board in stock.

STAY AWAY from these guys.

[MadeByNick]

Straight from the ASUS web site:

"Due to chipset limitation, the RAID controller on A7V600 cannot be disabled."

I'm thinking this might be a problem...

I just placed my order for one an hour before I read this.

Should I cancel? Or will this just spell trouble for my PTLE set up?

[recordingguy]

I think the raid is for the serial ata ports,not the ide cables, just disable it in the divice manager.

[drumfreak]

Hey guys,
I am kinda new to the DUC and I think that I am taking the plunge and building my own PC b/c i have been inspired by all of your succes stories. Does anybody have any background on the performance of this MOBO with 002 and PTLE 6.1.
Here are the specs:


MSI Computer Corporation KT400 ATX Motherboard, Socket A for AMD® Athlon XP / Athlon / Duron Processors

CPU:
Supports Socket A (Socket 462) for AMD® Athlon™ XP/ Athlon™/Duron™ processor
Supports 600MHz up to 2600+ MHz processor and higher

Chipset:
VIA® KT400 chipset (552 BGA)
FSB @200/266/333 MHz
AGP 8X and PCI advanced high performance memory controller.
VIA® VT8235 chipset (376 BGA)
High Bandwidth V-link Client controller
Integrated aster Ethernet LPC
Integrated Hardware Sound Blaster/Direct Sound AC97 audio
Ultra DMA 66/100/133 master mode PCI EIDE controller
Integrated USB 2.0 Host Controller
ACPI

FSB:
200/266/333 MHz clocks are supported
Main Memory:
Supports up to four memory banks using three 184-pin DDR SDRAMs.
Supports up to 3GB memory size.
Support 2.5v DDR SDRAM DIMM
Supports DDR200/266/333/400 memory.(DDR 400 memory support by MSI certified module only)
Due to the High Performance Memory design, motherboards or system configurations may or may not operate smoothly at the JEDEC (Joint Electron Device Engineering Council) standard settings (BIOS Default on the motherboard) such as DDR voltage, memory speeds and memory timing. Please confirm and adjust your memory setting in the BIOS accordingly for better system stability.

Slots:
One AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) slot.
AGP specification compliant
Supports AGP 2.0 4x/8x.
Six 32-bit PCI bus slots (support 3.3v/5v PCI bus interface).
On-Board IDE:
An IDE controller on the VT8235 chipset provides IDE HDD/CD-ROM with PIO, Bus Master and Ultra DMA133/100/66 operation modes.
Can connect up to 4 IDE devices

BIOS:
The mainboard BIOS provides "Plug & Play" BIOS which detects the peripheral devices and expansion cards of the board automatically.
The mainboard provides a Desktop Management Interface (DMI) function which records your mainboard specifications.


This MOBO can be found at COMPUSA for $75. The reason for my question is b/c I figured I could pick it up today and start building, instead of waiting for it to be shipped. I have been following the DUC for a couple of weeks and I am eager to get started.Thanks in advance.

[takeastand]

Hello all. I'm interested in purchasing a computer to use with the 002. After reading this thread & others several times, I supplied component suggestions to a local PC builder for quote. This is what they've proposed.

• AMD Athlon XP 2600+ 333-FSB w/ 256K L2 Cache
• ATX Mid-Tower Case w/ 350-Wt PS & 2 Fans
• ASUS A7V8X-X SocA ATX Aud/Lan/8XAGP/6PCI/3DDR Motherboard
• 1-GB DDR-333 PC2700 Memory—(2 x 512)
• 64MB—4X AGP ATI RADEON 9000 Video*
• DVI To SVGA Adapter
• Belkin F5U503APL 3-Port FireWire Card*
• Two—Maxtor 160-GB ATA133 Hard Drive
• Integrated 10/100 Network Interface
• 16x/48x EIDE DVD Drive
• 52xw/32xrw/52xr CD-RW Drive
• Microsoft Windows-XP Professional
• MS Internet PS/2 Keyboard
• MS Optical Intellipoint USB/PS/2 Mouse
• Integrated Sound
• No Monitor
• 3-Year Warranty

Cost $1450

With this system, I would purchase two monitors as well for an additional $300, for a total of $1750.

Here are my questions . . .

1) Do you see any problems or missing information in the above quote? IOW, is it a good 002 system?
2) Obviously, this is higher than $1000. Is this a fair price to pay a local PC builder?
3) In this price range, would the new Centrino laptops be the way to go? If so, which would be your choice?

Thanks for helping!!

[Shan]

I would personaly build the Allenstein classic(Or the Allenstein at the top of the thread) to the EXACT specs. You'll save yourself alot of money and it is the best performer. I have built 2 of them last week. You wont be disappointed. I think your system is way to much. Just my 2 cents.

Shan

[scotth]

I would personaly build the Allenstein classic(Or the Allenstein at the top of the thread) to the EXACT specs. You'll save yourself alot of money and it is the best performer. I have built 2 of them last week. You wont be disappointed. I think your system is way to much. Just my 2 cents.

Shan

Ok, what am I missing here? Shan, where are you getting the MOBO's? Do you have elves making them in a tree? Everyone else says that they can't find them. Do you know something that we don't, or am I misunderstanding?

Thanks for your help,
Scott

[Shan]

Well, they are slowly drying up. I just took out the yellow pages and started calling every computer store. What I found is that the big computer stores wont have this board, but you'll probably find it in a smaller computer store hidden in the corner of town somewhere.

Shan

[scotth]

OK, thanks. I'll give that I try, maybe I'll luck out.

[Gravity Productions]

Hey All,

Just got my new system but they gave me the wrong motherboard. They gave me a KM400 chipset instead of KT400. Does anyone know if this chipset is any good?? It still performs quite well and I'm wondering if I should take it back or just keep it.

My setup:
ASus A7V8X-MX
AMD Barton xp2500+ fsb333
512 3200RAM
2 x WD 80gig HD 8meg cache
ATI Radeon 9200 dual

DAVEC 32+8

I'm keen to hear any thoughts on the km400 chipset. Is it OK to overclock etc.

Thanks,
Adrian