Best Desktops for Pro Tools LE

[jon sutton]

hello, hello,

in late '01 i built (with mass help from allen, phil, roy etc...) this machine:
a7v266e
xp 1600+
g450-2kds 17 flats
matrox 20gb and wd 40gb
plextor
generic rom
mitsumi floppy
win98se

actually united micro put together the barebones assembly (i think i may have been the first to recommend them, i see now they are standard around here).

anyhow.... i am in the process of upgrading my utility machine from this current p3 to something that smokes. i have thought about putting an a7v333 board and new memory in a case with an xp2200 (or so) to swap out the matrox, 2 hd's, plextor, and the rest of the guts to make my studio machine a little more cutting edge. that would leave the a7v266 to be my utility machine (with a new 128mb vid card, newish liteon that is now in my utility machine, new sound card, with 40gb drive that is currently in my p3 machine.

also the house i bought in '01 is wired throughout for network. i was thinking about plunking a 120gb drive in the p3 machine and using it to serve the two xp machines (studio and utility).

does this make sense to any of you guys? am i operating with any sense of logic here?

the only clunker is the disappearance of the 333 board. the a7v8x board is way more bucks also. this has me at a crossroads. anyone have any advice? anyone know a nice inexpensive 128mb vid card for this utility machine? any thoughts on the server?

thanks

[jon sutton]

one more thing...

as for dvd burners. is the -r format the one that will be here to stay? i see some dvd+r burners around the $150 mark but i was told that the -r is the way to go?

as for brands, is there anything to avoid or is burning technology high enough that brand doesn't so much matter anymore?

thanks again,

[Belondon]

I purchased all of the AH suggested componets from NewEgg and got a bum motherboard. When I returned the MB A7V333-X/L they said it was discontinued. Can you suggest a replacement motherboard?

Thanks,
Ben

[jon sutton]

hey ben,

i'm new back to this site but i have done a ton of digging on this thread. it looks like the a7n8x is the best replacement. it sounds like everyone is saying AVOID to the a7v8x due to socket. the bummer is that the a7n is $115 but newegg should deal on that a bit since they sent you a lemon.

good luck

[genebadd]

Hey Diazman, I have the same exact setup as you minus the rackmount. I had the same problem for the first few days. The cause had something to do with my audio drive. This might not be your problem but sounds like a hardware glitch. Try disconnecting all your drives except your system drive. That my free things up if there are any conflicts. I also had to completely shut off the computer and turn it on ( cant just hit the reset button) in order for the Radeon 9000 to initialize or something. Hense only fans... If you do get it back on where you can get into the bios. Reset the bios back to its origional configuration and make sure the bios is set to AGP and not PCI. That solved some stability issues. Also, I had to manually clock my 2800XP at 2 Ghz to make it run stable. None of the manual settings were working for me. Good luck. Once the bugs get worked out she works great. Dont give up. Hopfully its not a bad board..If you find your self heading in the direction I did. I will gladly post my bios details. Hate to reboot and get it all if its not needed..

Gene

[Haigbabe]

Hi jon....

one more thing...

as for dvd burners. is the -r format the one that will be here to stay? i see some dvd+r burners around the $150 mark but i was told that the -r is the way to go?

as for brands, is there anything to avoid or is burning technology high enough that brand doesn't so much matter anymore?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Good question jon!

If anything, the +R/RW format is the one in ascendancy at present. Makers such as Plextor and Mitsubishi have looked at the market and come out with this format for their burners.

From my understanding, the + format has higher compatibility rating. But the - media is cheaper. For the moment anyway.

I use the Sony DRU500Ax which burns both.

From the tests I've seen, there doesn't seem to be too much to get excited about between brands, except that the Plextor did very very well.

Best regards,

Haigbabe

[DIAZMAN]

Originally posted by DIAZMAN:
Hey Allen I need big time help
I've put together your machine , with everything listed on your post XP 2800 barton(execpt for case I got a rack mount ) I put everything together ,cranked it up got into bios did all the changes need except the cpu speed I did'nt know how to adjust that so I left it at defalt100/133, 16.0 [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] I installed Windows XP Pro
I did all the adjustments to Win XP according to PC Audio Labs Windows XP DAW Optimization guide
RE-booted a few times and everything seemed to be going great, I installed Digi hardware OO1 pci card on slot 3, I installed Pro Tools software ver 5.3.1
according to the instuctions I did'nt let windows install the drivers the install finished ok . I re-booted a few times and connected my oo1 interface started pro tools it did'nt load up I got an error stating that it could not find the hardware, I deleated the program , including drivers and started over again the same thing again it did not detect the pci card , I shut the sys down for the night .
Next morn. I started the system , I got no response at all , no beeps , no bios , no windows, the only thing that turns on are the fans , I read over the trobleshooting guide on how to build a pc, on your post , it said that if I get only fans , no beeps or anything , it might be a component thats not working , it said to check the prosessor or the memory , I checked the prosessor by detaching the fan and powering up the sys, it said if the prosessor heated up quickly it was ok , it heated up as fast as hell , it burned my @#*! finger , I got new memory and still nothing is happening please help what am I doing wrong [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img]

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I'm still having the same Problem , I tried to order a new MB from Newegg , no such luck , they said they don't stock it anymore , I ust ordered it 3-weeks ago [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img]


Now what !!!

Allen , please inform us of a replacement I can order from Newegg. I tried pricewatch but all those companys look a bit shaky, $75.00 for ground shipping [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]


Thanks for your help , keep up the good work

Roland

[Allen Hallada]

Originally posted by Belondon:
I purchased all of the AH suggested componets from NewEgg and got a bum motherboard. When I returned the MB A7V333-X/L they said it was discontinued. Can you suggest a replacement motherboard?

Thanks,
Ben

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Ben,
The new A7V8X-X seems to have the bugs worked out. One guy just posted results that were great with this new version. The A7N8X has worked well also.
Allen

[Allen Hallada]

Originally posted by DIAZMAN:
<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Originally posted by DIAZMAN:
Hey Allen I need big time help
I've put together your machine , with everything listed on your post XP 2800 barton(execpt for case I got a rack mount ) I put everything together ,cranked it up got into bios did all the changes need except the cpu speed I did'nt know how to adjust that so I left it at defalt100/133, 16.0 [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] I installed Windows XP Pro
I did all the adjustments to Win XP according to PC Audio Labs Windows XP DAW Optimization guide
RE-booted a few times and everything seemed to be going great, I installed Digi hardware OO1 pci card on slot 3, I installed Pro Tools software ver 5.3.1
according to the instuctions I did'nt let windows install the drivers the install finished ok . I re-booted a few times and connected my oo1 interface started pro tools it did'nt load up I got an error stating that it could not find the hardware, I deleated the program , including drivers and started over again the same thing again it did not detect the pci card , I shut the sys down for the night .
Next morn. I started the system , I got no response at all , no beeps , no bios , no windows, the only thing that turns on are the fans , I read over the trobleshooting guide on how to build a pc, on your post , it said that if I get only fans , no beeps or anything , it might be a component thats not working , it said to check the prosessor or the memory , I checked the prosessor by detaching the fan and powering up the sys, it said if the prosessor heated up quickly it was ok , it heated up as fast as hell , it burned my @#*! finger , I got new memory and still nothing is happening please help what am I doing wrong [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img]

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I'm still having the same Problem , I tried to order a new MB from Newegg , no such luck , they said they don't stock it anymore , I ust ordered it 3-weeks ago [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img]


Now what !!!

Allen , please inform us of a replacement I can order from Newegg. I tried pricewatch but all those companys look a bit shaky, $75.00 for ground shipping [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]


Thanks for your help , keep up the good work

Roland <hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Time to swap out the A7V333-X for the new version of the A7V8X-X.
Allen [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[DIAZMAN]

Originally posted by genebadd:
Hey Diazman, I have the same exact setup as you minus the rackmount. I had the same problem for the first few days. The cause had something to do with my audio drive. This might not be your problem but sounds like a hardware glitch. Try disconnecting all your drives except your system drive. That my free things up if there are any conflicts. I also had to completely shut off the computer and turn it on ( cant just hit the reset button) in order for the Radeon 9000 to initialize or something. Hense only fans... If you do get it back on where you can get into the bios. Reset the bios back to its origional configuration and make sure the bios is set to AGP and not PCI. That solved some stability issues. Also, I had to manually clock my 2800XP at 2 Ghz to make it run stable. None of the manual settings were working for me. Good luck. Once the bugs get worked out she works great. Dont give up. Hopfully its not a bad board..If you find your self heading in the direction I did. I will gladly post my bios details. Hate to reboot and get it all if its not needed..

Gene

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Hey Gene thanks for you help

I unpluged my audio drive from the promise card , I hooked it up back to the MB on ide 1 and the cdr on #2 , applied power " nothing " I reseted the bios by detatching the bat. and moving the jumper , " nothing " , should I get new ide cables? If it does start up , or if I get a new MB , how do I set up the XP2800 in the bios ? what setting for speed and freq?

Thanks Gene

Roland