Best Desktops for Pro Tools LE

[Finne]

Yes

One little promlem is turned out. K8N DL seems to so old (2005), that it can not be any more found in Finland. Is a newer mobo test and proven? I supose I am not alone with this matter.

[djspl]

Craig,
This will be a dinosaur very soon. I'm betting that the new Mac Mini with Core Duo Intels will even outperform these now for under 700.00. Easy setup, no noise, 1 yr. warrantee and inexpensive 3 yr. add on warrantee.

Allen

The CPUs are pretty comparable in performance from the benchmarks I saw when I purchased my last CPU a month ago (unless the Apple OS makes the 1.83 C2D faster). Both CPUs will be dinosaurs soon. Compared to the latest and greatest, all other CPUs are dinosaurs in the same way.

Note that $799 Mac mini with 1.83ghz C2D has a 5400 rpm hard drive and 512 MB of ram. Great little computer, but not a sub $700 workstaion out of the box, IMHO.

[junk]

can anyone tell me if this combo will work? i can't find the ASUS A8N-E anywhere.

ASUS M2NPV-VM
http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/def...px?EDC=1092843

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200
http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/def...px?EDC=1111775

1Gb PC2-6400 DDR-2 800 Dimm
http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/def...px?EDC=1189357

[soundguy_2000]

it's probably too late on this one but why not get a bunch of mac mini's with the education discount?

Hey Dave,


It's now March and my school wants me to order the six computers for my class right away. I was planning on ordering them in July....

So I'm curious to know if you've found out any new info regarding the AM2 vs. QUAD debate? We were posting back and forth about 8 weeks ago regarding specs and such.

I have about 800-900 budget for each computer. I'll be adding ext. firewire hard drives after the fact, so this budget is for a PC with one cheap 80 GB HD.


Of course I'd like the latest up to date system I can afford. As of 8 weeks ago it was something like this:

ASUS mobo for AMD AM2 w/ SLI w/ IEEE1394
AMD Athlon AM2 4800+ cpu
80 gb hd
2 gb good ram DDR400
simple vid card
lite on DVD R/W
lite on DVD ROM
keyboard & mouse
Mbox 2 Pro with LE 7.3+


and that's about it. Does this sound like a dinosaur already.

For a school computer lab, we certainly don't need the most killer system, but don't want to have to upgrade right away.

What do you think would be the best way to go now? Intel dual core duo???? AMD quad? Can I even do these systems for under $1K.

Appreciate your input!!!!


Craig
stereocp

(Yeah Allen, I know.... get a MAC....)

[stereocp]

I understand that the Mac Minis are a good, quiet, easy alternative to the PC AM2 system I'm working on, but I must reiterate:

my school is a PC school

all the tech support & software is Windows based

we may use these machines for some digital art and video classes as well - already PC based

the mac mini doesn't have sufficient RAM and HD speed for the cost... it will be much more expensive even with an educational discount. The educational discount isn't all that much. It's 10% off, which doesn't do it for me.

I appreciate the MAC suggestions, but there are more factors involved that steer me away from MAC. Our school is very vested in PC/WIN platform, and won't spring for new software, OS, etc....

I still think this system is a good one:


ASUS mobo for AMD AM2
AMD Athlon AM2 4800+ cpu
80 gb hd - Western Digital 7200
2 gb good ram DDR400
simple vid card - Nvidia 7100
lite on DVD R/W
lite on DVD ROM
PCI IEEE1394 card (digi approved)
keyboard & mouse
1 year parts/labor warranty
$680 delivered to our school

I suppose I could always upgrade the MOBO and CPU in the future if need be, but I think we'll be fine for the future, no?

Happy Easter and Passover as the case may be!

Cheers

stereocp
Craig

[mezza9]

Allen wrote:

You could check into an A8V motherboard or get the motherboard you mentioned with a good return policy. Newegg is usually good about returning items within 30 days. I'm betting this motherboard you mentioned will work with PTLE 7 or above though.

Just a little report on my system update from LGA775-land and Pentium D820 to AM2 and AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ (the new 65nm version with 2,5MHz clock and 65W thermal design against older ones' 89W, product number ends in "DD"). As my old Pentium-equipped unit was getting increasingly loud and tired, with the processor fan whining under all the time heavier loads, I decided to go for the quieter, more powerful AMD. I replaced the following parts:

-Asus P5WD2 mobo -> Asus M2N SLI Deluxe
-Intel Pentium D820 -> AMD Athlon X2 4800+ 2,5GHz
-Graphics card Ati Radeon X550 -> Asus EN7300GT Silent passive cooled 256MB DDR2
-doubled RAM from 1Gb to 2Gb DDR2 533MHz

Initial test of Pro Tools, without installing the AMD Dual Core Optimizer, saw jerky screen refresh and failures to start playback. Installing the optimizer fixed this, and now the system is running silent, stable and with obviously greater capacity compared to the old one. The M2N seems to be a safe choice for a mobo, at least running PT LE7 or higher. Before buying I also spotted some Pro Tools-PC building companies using the same 'board.

The complete rack looks like this:
Win XP Pro SP2
Pro Tools LE 7.3.1cs2
Mbox 2 Pro
Asus M2N SLI Deluxe
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+
Nexus 400W power/Nexus Breeze case
2Gb Kingston 533MHz DDR2 RAM
Asus EN7300GT Silent GPU
Additional 3 port firewire card + 2 ports on mobo
WD Raptor 37Gb 10000rpm SATA for system
Seagate 200Gb 7200rpm SATA for files and video
Lacie 120Gb firewire for audio
Lacie 250Gb USB2 for misc. storage

[macr0w]

I am currently running a Athlon 3500+ 939 pin on an Asus A8V-deluxe.
Do you think this processor is compatable with this motherboard?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103582

[The Weed]

I'm putting together a parts list for a friend of mine and would like to know if the following will run an M-Box with no compatibility problems. I checked the compatibility documents, but the motherboard chipset was not listed.

Asus M2N-SLi Deluxe (with Firewire)

AMD Athlon 64x2 Socket AM2 5000+ (nForce 570 SLI MCP)

OCZ 2gb PC-2 4200 DDR2 EL Dual Channel Gold Gamer eXtreme (533 MHz)

Asus Extreme AX1600Pro Silent video card

Powered USB Hub

Windows XP Pro SP2

WD Raptor drives for system and audio, WD ATA for storage

Any advice much appreciated,

[hummingfish]

i m living in bali and amd based machines are limited available here.

so one dealer offers me

DEI nforce 4200

and i cannot figure out if that would work for my

DIGI 001 with 6.4 version

the compatibility page on the digidesign-site is confusing since all the recommended stuff is outdated for 6.4

please help, my old cpu had its final day

[stevegrisham]

The Original Under $600.00 System (Digi Approved)


Aspire X-Dreamer II case with 420W PSU 54.00

A8V motherboard for 64X2 processors 65.00

Athlon 64 4400+ Dual Core Processor 295.00 (I am unable to find this processor)

It works with A8V motherboard?? Is there another processor that I could use
with the A9V mobo??

Corsair Dual Channel Ram 1GB = 69.00

ATI Radeon 9600 128Mb DDR 8X Dual Video Card 54.00

Western Digital 80GB 7200RPM 8MB CACHE Hard Drives 51.00 x 2 = 102.00

Lite-On DVD/CDRW Dual Drive 39.00

Total = approx. $600.00 US