New PC spec advice

[immrama]

New PC spec advice please

Hi all,

I'm in the process of putting together a new PC spec and would very much appreciate any feedback/suggestions - especially if it helps save a few quid!

My main uses are:

1. Audio recording using Sonar 6.2, running various plug-ins and softsynths
2. Photoshop CS2
3. Dreamweaver 8 for website design
4. Swishmax for Flash website design
5. Internet

No games.

I currently use and will continue to use XP Pro 32 - new system will probably be in a dual boot configuration. Just audio apps on one, everything else on the other.

I'm currently running an old P4 3GHZ on an Asus P4C800E Deluxe board, 1 GB Ram, dual monitors, Matrox video card (16MB!!), Motu 24io sound card, several internal and external hard drives (firewire and USB2) for samples and audio. 2 x 19" monitors - I generally run 1280 x 1024 on each monitor.

My new system needs to be stable and relatively quiet and I tend to stick with something for a while, so the abilty to upgrade (e.g. CPU) whilst welcome, is not essential.


My proposed spec is:

MB. P5K Deluxe. Asus boards have a good reputation in the audio world. I do not need wi-fi but Raid may be useful. The P5B deluxe board is another possibility. Any suggestions here would be welcome. Is the P5K overkill for my needs?

CPU. This is where I'm still a bit undecided. Sonar and Photoshop are both multi-thread capable (as far as I'm aware) so the Q6600 seems a good choice. However, the E6850 also seems a good choice with higher clock speed. I guess either will make a huge difference to my current system but again, any suggestions would be welcome.

Graphics. Been looking at the Asus GeForce EN7600GS Silent HTD 256MB DDR2. Need Dual outs. Again, open to any suggestions.

Case: Antec Sonata III

Ram. GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra

Hard Drives. Samsung Spinpoint 2 x 500GB.

Any advice appreciated.

Cheers

Ian

 

[immrama]

New PC spec advice please

Any advice appreciated.

Tried searching but couldn't find any previous posts re: this spec and intended use i.e. audio apps, photoshop, no games.

Thnx

 

[DavidB]

My advice would be to go for a quad core, as i think itl be more advantageous to you than a duo core clocked at a faster speed.

Generally i think the core duo's are only better for items such as gaming or other programs that cant utilise multiple cores, so yeh, id go quad .

If your doing a lot of graphical editing more RAM might be usefull to you too, but that would pretty much envolve upgrading to vista as XP cant cope.

The MB may be a little overkill, personally i think one of the lower ASUS models may do you as well, as your effectively paying for the wireless card ontop of the MB. Possibly have a look at this , chosen because it will support DDR2 &3, so will be easier to upgrade in the future.

 

[immrama]

Thanks for that. I was very tempted to move to Vista/XP 64, especially as Sonar comes in a 64bit version. The ability to utilise extra ram as you mention, would have been very useful. Unfortunately, most of the audio plug -in developers (at least the ones I use) are yet to release 64 bit drivers so it's 32 bit for the moment!

I think I will go the Quad route as you suggest.

Thanks for the MB recommendation...I'll check that one out.