Best Desktops for Pro Tools LE

[Khatru]

Hi PTLE,

post your question in the "Core 2 Duo..." thread. I just posted there so it's bumped to the first page. Unfortunately, I can't answer your question. Someone else may be able to though.

Dave

[recordingguy]

I just built a new system...
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 2.13GHZ 1066MHz FBS 2MB Cache stock retail Heatsink & Fan
ECS PX1 Extreme Intel P965 chipset
SAPPHIRE 100119L Radeon X550 256MB DDR PCI Express x16 Video Card
Ampo/Wintec PC2-6400/2GB D-channel DDR2 800 (2x1Gig sticks)
Xion Supernova 600W Modular power supply
Raidmax Smilodon case
3 Maxtor 200G 7200rpm ATA133 hard drives
Promise 100 controller card
Windows XP Home SP2 no tweaks no overclocking.
PTLE 7.3.1
24/48 1024
D-verb Test 32+110
When you chose 2 processors you can only set the CPU usage to 90%
This system went together very easy and runs very stable and I bought everything accept the hard drives "bought them at Staples "day after thanksgiving sale $20 after rebate" that is why I don't have SATA drives. This system might get more D-verbs with SATA drives, but it will work for me.
All of these things are still available on newwegg accept the video card. I hope this helps those building new systems and can't find all of the parts for the allenstine under $600.

I just replaced one of the ATA 133 drives with a SATA drive and reRan the DVerb test and got some new results.
121 D Verbs.

[glubner]

Hey Allen,

If the Opteron Dual core is kicking ass on the Apple's, and I know at one point the Gateway Laptop 7422 and E Machines which you were recommending, All Athlon 64's, were testing at DAVEC 32 + 27 RIGHT????? Why are you now recommending the new MacBook which is an Intel Duo core---windows based--- and if it is truly better has it outperformed at 32 -27 at 128 and 64 which was posted for the Gateway 7422???? and even more has it proven over time with no problems??? Do I want to build the Allenstein???? Do I want to dump my Gateway 7422 for a new Mac????? Does the Opteron work well with HD????

[540s]

540s,

First welcome to the DUC!

Second you need to read the first page of the "Allenstein OctaPC and Quadzilla Machine *update*" thread for the updated Info on what to build.
There is 2 Quad systems that have been speced out and built there.
Most all the parts can be found at Newegg

Matt

Thanks Matt... I have a feeling those systems will be far ahead of my requirements.. which is a good thing I guess. However I stil run into the same issue of many of the listed parts not being available when looking up the part numbers. That coupled with my limited knowledge in what I'm looking makes me want to just pick up the phone & order something from the Apple Store.

[Teolin]

Never had a Mac. Do core 2 duo Macs permit overclocking?

[Eric_B]

I just bought a HP y4790d custom built computer from HP (intel dual core 2, 2.ghz, 2 mb ram, 400 gb sata drive,256 Gforce video card). It's running vista I knew this up front and asked HP if I could run xp as a dual boot, they said yes. Well what a nightmare this has turned out to be. I can not get XP to install. I called HP and those bastages charged me $99.00 for premium support becuase my warranty doesn't cover installing XP. They could not help me. So I bring it in to the Geek Squad at Best Buy and after 5 days with it they tell me that they can't get it to install either but mentioned another alternative. They said they could create a virtual machine running XP inside vista does anyone know if there would be any reason why this would not work with Pro Tools?

I would of just sent the computer back right away but I am under a time constraint becuase I am going to school online with the Berklee School of Music and I'm in the middle of a Pro Tool Mixing course. My old computer's MB fried so I don't have anything to work with right now. I figured the Geek Squad would have me up and running in a couple of days. I could still send it back but I'm afraid I would have the same problems if I went with a Dell.

Eric

[Eric_B]

I just bought a HP y4790d custom built computer from HP (intel dual core 2, 2.ghz, 2 mb ram, 400 gb sata drive,256 Gforce video card). It's running vista I knew this up front and asked HP if I could run xp as a dual boot, they said yes. Well what a nightmare this has turned out to be. I can not get XP to install. I called HP and those bastages charged me $99.00 for premium support becuase my warranty doesn't cover installing XP. They could not help me. So I bring it in to the Geek Squad at Best Buy and after 5 days with it they tell me that they can't get it to install either but mentioned another alternative. They said they could create a virtual machine running XP inside vista does anyone know if there would be any reason why this would not work with Pro Tools?

I would of just sent the computer back right away but I am under a time constraint becuase I am going to school online with the Berklee School of Music and I'm in the middle of a Pro Tool Mixing course. My old computer's MB fried so I don't have anything to work with right now. I figured the Geek Squad would have me up and running in a couple of days. I could still send it back but I'm afraid I would have the same problems if I went with a Dell.

Eric

[mykhal c]

ALLEN, an update to what's happenin' on the CORE 2 DUO side of things....

DUCer JEMD is gettin' some amazin' results...

I've added another 8 aux channels(40 DVERBS) and recording ok
im upto 200 DVERS 24bit 96K 256buffer on a seriously Over Clocked E4300 @3069MHZ- Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 (P965) There's even a bit of headroom still ~78% cpu used!

here is the link to post

thought i'd passed it along...mykhal

UPDATE...

Looks like I'm seeing this dilation effect bigtime Mat.... so Ive done some more testing!



I dropped the extra returns and the cpu shot backup to 98% ( where it was when I was initially testing
@ around 150deverbs.. and.. DAE error 8( .. repeat about 10 times and..

ok so I get 108 Dverbs 24bit 96k 256 buffer! A big backdown 8( but inline with a 2x c2d macpro getting 190!

I switched to standard 24 bit 48k 1024 buffer and added 128 dverbs I then started adding them until the cpu meter kept creeping up.. Then I tried to record and had to back down a couple more! Anyway by the end of it i got

141 DVERBS 24bit 48k 1024 buffer
108 DVERBS 24bit 96k 256 buffer

Good call Matt.. if something is too good to be true.. it usually isn't

Sorry to anyone who got too excited.. I'm just happy I can run BFD, LIVE( via - rewire) and 3 guitar rigs @ 128 buffer 96k 24bit with loads of headroom - Awesome!

[auxsend1]

Eric, you're probably having issues because you can't easily install XP on top of an existing alternate OS. You need to boot to the XP CD, completely wipe the drive (maybe use another clean drive for this), then install XP on the first (C:) partition. This should probably fix your issues.

[lbquota]

Hello folks! I'm a newbie in this forum although not a novice of Digi products.
I'm building a (Digidesign approved) PC workstation to run my new Digi002 and PT 7.3, I'll go with the $600 option...
Now I have some questions for you:
- how much will I improve the performance replacing the Corsair Value Select with Corsair XMS?
- how much will I improve the performance replacing WD ULTRA ATA with WD RAPTORS?
Many thanx in advance...
Lorenzo Bianchi Quota