PC stats!

[peacock1987]

Hi guys, i have been in the market for a desktop pc so i can do some home recording via an audio interface into cubase 4. I have came across this PC and was just wondering what people think. I have to adhere to a budget by the by. anyway here is the info:
AMD athlon 64 bit dual core 5000+ processor with 4GB of Ram. 7200rpm 250 gig hard drive (ill probably invest in an external one also). asrock alive NF5 motherboard, comes with screen n mouse n whatnot, 6 usb ports, microsoft windows vista operating system and microsoft office for about 510 pounds stirling. What do you think????

[T_J_G]

You may be better trying to get a machine with XP as i know alot of problems on Vista (although I dont use it) SOunds like a reasonable spec and can be upgraded aswell...for a screen i'd seriously look at 19 inch and more.

[peacock1987]

i have just priced another one at pc world which is about the same price but is quadcore with 3 gb of ram. it has a larger harddrive and the processor is amd phenom x3 8450. Any body know which would be the better option???

[Ian B (again)]

Hi peacock,

I think the general opinion here would be to fight shy about buying a machine from the likes of PC World. They are cheap for a reason, they tend to use lower end hardware, etc, which are perfectly adequate for general use but *may* give problems for audio use.

I recently bought a new AMD based system from my local pc shop. They much prefer to sell pre built systems, but with money being tight for most people now, they were happy to build one, if not to my exact specs, near enough and at a reasonable price. A sale is a sale even if it meant extra work for them, you might want to try the same if possible.

I went for a
AMD 6000+
4gb ram
NVidia GeForce 7300 graphics (basic but I don't need more)
Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H mobo (not my first choice but it's proven ok)
3 x 250 gb Seagate Baraccuda SATA hard drives
Sony dvd rewriter
Coolermaster Elite case (I regret this)
XP Home SP3

Besides the case, I now wish I'd gone for a quieter cpu fan, but that can easily be replaced for not much money.

As I said, if getting a new pc isn't urgent and you have a local shop, try them first to see what sort of deals they can offer you.

[peacock1987]

well, the one at the top i spoke about was from a local store called GHI. im not really a computer wizz so by lookin at them specs i cannot really tell which would be the better choice. What do you think???

[Ian B (again)]

Hi peacock,

There isn't enough detail in the specs you gave to compare the two tbh, and if you're not sure what to look for, have a look at this link to get some idea of what other members have asked/bought http://www.musicradar.com/forum/sear...earchid=649352

[digitalscream]

Originally Posted by peacock1987

i have just priced another one at pc world which is about the same price but is quadcore with 3 gb of ram. it has a larger harddrive and the processor is amd phenom x3 8450. Any body know which would be the better option???

The Phenom X3 isn't quad core - it's triple core. The Phenoms are pretty weak compared to the latest generation from Intel, to be honest - you're better off with an Intel Core 2 Duo at 2GHz or above.

Ian: What do you regret about the Coolermaster Elite? Personally, I've always thought they were OK as a brand (built a few for other people), but then I've always bought Lian Li for myself.

[Ian B (again)]

Originally Posted by digitalscream

Ian: What do you regret about the Coolermaster Elite? Personally, I've always thought they were OK as a brand (built a few for other people), but then I've always bought Lian Li for myself.

Hi,

I'm perhaps being a bit unkind, there's nothing wrong with it per se with ample expansion slots, etc, but it's not the quietest case in the world, tho' this is made worse by my not getting a quieter cpu fan. Compared to the case on my old Red Sub built P4 2.0 (which took a lot of abuse over the years without complaining) the Elite just doesn't feel as substantial and the difference in noise levels between the two is marked.