Custom Computer

[manchesterutd81]

Just playing the devil's advocate here, but how much more powerful is this current setup compared to the Q6600? I cannot see the benefits of futureproofing this computer, since that once Bulldozer comes into town, chances are they are going to have a socket change, rendering the "upgradibility" useless. The only advantage of the current build over that ageing build is the 6 cores, which is not that much of an upgrade unless multithreaded apps are used.

Well ive waited a few weeks, and now the 6core is out.. how many more weeks will i have to wait for bulldozer?

 

[PaulieG]

Just a quick suggestion on the psu, if you have the budget for one that costs that much, why not get one that's 80plus bronze or silver certified?

Also, my friend has a setup that's very close to what you're getting, except add in an SSD and trade for a PII x4 965, and he's running it with this:
RAIDMAX RX-500AF 500W ATX12V / EPS12V 80 PLUS BRON...
http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/17-152-040-S01?$S640W$

Yea, rosewill, I know. But, goes to show that even a crappy power supply that's "only" 500W will power your system.

No, no, no!!! The Power supply IS the most important component in your system. The words cheap and power supply should never, ever go in the same sentence. A good power supply can add stability to your system, and a bad one can kill it. Buy a new power supply like the Corsair I suggested. You will never regret it, and it will hold up for you for later upgrades.

 

[Fourstaff]

No, no, no!!! The Power supply IS the most important component in your system. The words cheap and power supply should never, ever go in the same sentence.

QFT. All the dead rigs back at home are dead because of el cheapo power supplies (not my fault, but Dells and prebuilts are not well known to supply quality power).

how many more weeks will i have to wait for bulldozer?

Don't waste your time. Bulldozer is still at least about a year away.

 

[TIGR]

I've built rigs for several recording studios. Just a few notes—

Multi-core is good and all the current audio editing software I know of can utilize however many cores you've got. For bang for buck, Phenom II X6 1055T.

Lots of memory is good. For serious editing, I wouldn't go under 8GB in most cases.

Fast hard drive access is good though not as essential as with video editing. Considering the amount of work that goes into audio editing and thus the extreme frustration when you lose data, RAID is a good idea if you can swing it.

Keep in mind when working with audio that keeping the noise level down can be of paramount importance, unless the system is remotely located and/or you have awesome noise-isolating cans or earbuds. Generally for audio editing you'll want studio monitors anyway for good accuracy.

 

[scaminatrix]

I've built rigs for several recording studios. Just a few notes—

Multi-core is good and all the current audio editing software I know of can utilize however many cores you've got. For bang for buck, Phenom II X6 1055T.

That's good to know, I was wondering whether Cubase 4 and Reason 4 can utilize multi cores...

Fast hard drive access is good though not as essential as with video editing. Considering the amount of work that goes into audio editing and thus the extreme frustration when you lose data, RAID is a good idea if you can swing it.

TBH, RAID is a lot of hassle to someone who hasn't done it before or only dabbled. Even the professionals recommend that you don't use RAID, even when editing HD movies. Four HDD's are sufficient when even editing 1920x1080, you might even get away with just 3 HDD's on the new 6gb/s bandwidth.
From what I'm led to believe if it's redundancy you're looking for, it's better to be religious with every-day backups than go all the way through RAID.
I make music myself with a local rap group, we all have a PC each we use to make beats and take them (the beats) to the studio PC to record on, I've never had a HDD failure in the last 8 years of making music, but that doesn't mean you won't...

Keep in mind when working with audio that keeping the noise level down can be of paramount importance, unless the system is remotely located and/or you have awesome noise-isolating cans or earbuds. Generally for audio editing you'll want studio monitors anyway for good accuracy.

+1, the best vendor I've seen is red5, you buy straight from the manufacturer...
Just imagine if we could buy all our PC bits straight from the manufacturers!!!

 

[TIGR]

TBH, RAID is a lot of hassle to someone who hasn't done it before or only dabbled. Even the professionals recommend that you don't use RAID, even when editing HD movies. Four HDD's are sufficient when even editing 1920x1080, you might even get away with just 3 HDD's on the new 6gb/s bandwidth.
From what I'm led to believe if it's redundancy you're looking for, it's better to be religious with every-day backups than go all the way through RAID.
I make music myself with a local rap group, we all have a PC each we use to make beats and take them (the beats) to the studio PC to record on, I've never had a HDD failure in the last 8 years of making music, but that doesn't mean you won't...

RAID really is simple to understand and to configure, especially if, in the more common case of the OP, you use the on-board RAID controllers that are on pretty much every new motherboard these days.

Which professionals don't recommend using RAID? Respected DAW builders PC Audio Labs and Sonica, among others, offer and recommend it on all their systems, and it was even specifically required by some of the studios I built for.

RAID isn't just about redundancy, although for that it's superior to manual periodic backups, given that the system is in a secure environment (some also do manual backups in addition to RAID, which is a good idea). RAID is significantly less hassle than religious every-day backups. I generally suggest RAID 5 if only a few drives are going to be used, RAID 10 for extra security if more than a few. RAID 5 and 10 also offer added performance that, unlike in a regular desktop environment, is noticeable and useful when working with large multimedia files.

 

[scaminatrix]

Which professionals don't recommend using RAID? Respected DAW builders PC Audio Labs and Sonica, among others, offer and recommend it on all their systems, and it was even specifically required by some of the studios I built for.

Sorry I worded that wrong, 2 professionals have said that if you have less than 5 hard drives then to forget about RAID, 1 to me in person and also in post no. 1 on
http://forums.adobe.com/message/2397179#2397179

QUOTE:
"SUMMARY


If you only have 3 or 4 disks in total, forget about RAID. Set them up as individual disks, or the better alternative, get more disks for better redundancy and better performance. What does it cost today to buy an extra disk when compared to the downtime you have when a single disk fails?"
END QUOTE

Also I should have stated that all of my comments about not using RAID are based on the "end-user" point of view, not from a professional standpoint.
For me, it is so easy to just switch on the e-sata HDD and in 30 seconds my last three hours work is backed up, compared to the length of learning about RAID, setting it up, dealing with downtimes and HDD failures, etc. It looked daunting to me.

Once I realized that I don't need RAID for speed or redundancy (even though I'm making a ~75 minute long HD movie on a project containing ~23GB worth of imported videos) it was a weight off my shoulders. If you don't need RAID for audio or HD video editing then don't do it. Obviously, I say this again from a hobby-ists point of view with less than 5 HDD's, as I believe Hyper is not a professional video editor. (no offence mate)