New Build for Music/Gaming

Titansound

Titansound

Titansound

Associate
Joined
9 May 2005
Posts
22
Location
London, UK
Hello all.

I am planning to build a new system in the near future (backdated payrise being the funds!) and would like some advice. It will mainly be used to compose and arrange music (Reason 4, ACID, Soundforge etc) and play games (World in Conflict, COD4, Frontlines etc)

It will be my second home built system and I would like to get it totally right this time as I have had trouble with my current one.

First of all here is what I am thinking of using to build the beast


AMD Phenom Quad Core 9600 2.30GHz Black Edition

Asus M3A AMD 770 (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard

Crucial Ballistix Tracer RED 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C4 800MHz Dual Channel Kit

Asus GeForce EN8800 GT 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail

Maxtor Diamondmax 21 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache

Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache

Antec Nine Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case

Scythe Kama-Meter Multi Functional Fan Controller

Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio 7.1 Sound Card

Total £718.80

I have heard the Phenom's have had bug issues so I am open to changing the processor. I just want to try and get the most power for my money so I dont have to upgrade for a while. I will admit to being an AMD fanboy so I would prefer a processor from them.

I'm on a bit of a budget and not totally clued up to todays hardware marvels so any sugesstions for better components are much appreciated.

Also if any one has any ritual/checklist they run through when building a machine, such as, what order to build the PC up in, what tools to have handy (apart from the obvious ones) that would be great. When I built my current PC I gave my old one away before it was built and was not aware that XP needed a floppy drive to install drivers for a SATA HDD, needless to say when I ordered the parts I neglected to order a floppy drive, what the hell would I need one of those for :)

Thanks for reading.
 
I will say upfront what everyone else will say - Intel CPU's are better in terms of performance.

AMD aren't massively behind so if you really dislike Intel by all means get an AMD system, but Intel are just better performance at the moment.
 
i'd have a look at the following, not sure why you had 2 hard disks listed, i've gone with a samsung F1:

Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £123.99 (£145.69)

Asus P5K Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £59.99 (£70.49)

G.Skill 4GB DDR2 PQ PC2-6400C5 (2x2GB) CAS5 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ) £51.99 (£61.09)

PNY GeForce 8800 GT 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £97.99
(£115.14)

Antec Nine Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case £64.99 (£76.36)

Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK) £59.99
(£70.49)

Creative Sound Blaster X-FI Xtreme Music UAA Vista-Certified 7.1 Sound Card - OEM (PCI) (30SB077200000) £46.99 (£55.21)

Scythe Kama-Meter Multi Functional Controller - Black/Silver/White £27.99
(£32.89)

Samsung SpinPoint F1 750GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD753LJ) £57.99
(£68.14)

Sub Total : £591.91
Shipping : £12.95
VAT : £105.85
Total : £710.71
 
Dark_Angel said:
I will say upfront what everyone else will say - Intel CPU's are better in terms of performance.

AMD aren't massively behind so if you really dislike Intel by all means get an AMD system, but Intel are just better performance at the moment.
Click to expand...

Fair point and I understand that I will probably get roasted for going with AMD against advice but I just prefer AMD for some reason. Plus the quad core is cheaper than an Intel chip. I think its my OCD kicking in as I do tend to a bit of a brand whore for no apparent reason.

mp260767 said:
i'd have a look at the following, not sure why you had 2 hard disks listed, i've gone with a samsung F1:
Click to expand...

Thanks for that! I had 2 HDD's listed because I want a completely seperate disc for my music stuff incase of failure. I did not realise that you could get a 750GB drive for that price tbh. I actually prefer smaller discs just for the fact that I hate backing things up and smaller discs are a lot more managable.

Thanks for your replies guys. Keep em coming people :)
 
aproctor said:
if its for music surely you want a better sound card? asus xonar maybe?
Click to expand...

yeah was thinking that tbh when i spec'd, just not quite sure what offers the best balance.

titan:

maybe swap some of the stuff round for the following, gone with a split 250gb /500gb disk unless you know you're not likely to use the 80gb/160gb no real point going for the smaller disks as you'll just end up adding more :) :

Asus Xonar D2 7.1 PCI Sound Card - Retail £79.99 (£93.99)

Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L Intel P31 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £39.99 (£46.99)

Intel Core 2 Duo E8200 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 2.66GHz (1333FSB) - Retail £94.99 (£111.61)

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3250410AS) £30.99 (£36.41)

Samsung SpinPoint F1 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD502IJ) £39.99 (£46.99)

Sub Total : £285.95
Shipping : £8.95
VAT : £51.61
Total : £346.51
 
I understand the two drives mate, I'm not sure you really need to DO it that way any more but I know what you're at. Last thing you want is your OS and swap on the same device as your tracks,

M-audio or Digidesign's the way to go, best to avoid gamers cards like creative (unless there'a a current equivalent for the sb-live>emu-aps hack), and just get something designed for music (my delta works a treat for games too).

And go with AMD, I've gotta say, with both platforms available to me, the "slower" AMD runs much nicer.
 
m-audio are great, really great but it is not made for gaming, that is a professional sound card and is not really cut out for everyday use in games etc.

but it is very very nice.

imo an auzentech or xonar would be more suited for everyday use.
 
Cheers guys, appreciate the suggestions.

In regards to the sound card I actually have a PreSonus Firepod that I use with my laptop. I play drums but also compose and we sometimes use backing tracks in the band. But I also like to do electro/funk/d 'n' b for fun and come up with my own tracks to play along with. The Creative card is just for gaming on the machine as I mostly leave the Firepod at the rehearsal studio :)
 
aproctor said:
the point being made is, is that the x-fi is a turd.
Click to expand...

I quite like my card, i like the crystaliser stuff, i'm in no way an audiophile, but for gaming i can tell directions from the sound which is what i need. The recent debauchle with Vista drivers has ****** me off though, wish i'd gone for the asus xonar, i love their products.
 
thats what i mean, the drivers are so bad any benefits are lost, you get the *sound direction* with on board sound nowadays.

and titan do you know the people that reviewed it? would you let them spend your money just because they can click 5 stars?
 
if u want your music and games to sound e-mazing i personally get auzentech or asus zonar and or m-audio, if i were you i would keep clear of creative (x-fi).

RME hammerfall series are getting a good response but are too over priced
 
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aproctor said:
and titan do you know the people that reviewed it? would you let them spend your money just because they can click 5 stars?
Click to expand...

Of course not, but if I see positive reviews I think its fair to say it could influence my purchase. I could have just gone ahead and bought everything but I posted here first for the exact reason of making sure I was buying decent stuff based on real time opinions of you fine forum folk =D
 
x-fi could be very good, but the driver support in vista is abysmal, when/if the drivers get sorted it will be brilliant, but creative are tyrants and will make us wait for x-fi 2 before they provide any decent vista support.

and beacuse of that my audigy 2 will suffice until i make the 64bit migration, and then i will go asus or onboard.
 
asus sound cards are extremely good and miles ahead of creative overpriced rubbish. however onboard sound cards are all you need unless you have £5k speakers and an equally good amp.

I use an onboard soundcard run through optical to a marantz amp and it's brilliant for playing games and music.
 
Ok...I have seen the light and am going for the Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 as mentioned above. I have been doing lots of research and it is a wicked chip for the money.

One question I do have though is the Gskill Ram. Never heard of that brand before...are they good?
 
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