Opinions on new DAW

Ben wrote on 8/28/2004, 7:40 AM

I'm currently in the process of thinking about upgrading my DAW. My current, slightly ageing, system is:

ASUS P4TE mobo with Intel Chipset
512 MB RDRAM
1.8 Ghz Pentium 4 (Northwood)
Radeon 7000 graphics card
IBM/Hitachi 80GB ATA-100 drive (system)
Maxtor 120GB running at ATA-100 (audio)
M-Audio Audiophile
Windows XP Pro

This was built myself, and has been upgraded over the years. My preference would be to build a new system from scratch, keeping the one above for office uses. However, I've seen a non-custom system on offer by UK company Mesh Computers, which theoretically looks like a pretty good deal, especially considering the inclusion on a Sony 19" TFT display. Here's the info:

http://www.meshcomputers.com/updated/elite_3.htm

I'd really appreciate your opinions on how you think this would perform as a DAW, particularly with Vegas. Obviously I'd immediately do a couple of tweaks, such as remove/disable the modem and soundcard and replace it with mine, add a second hard drive, etc.

I'm a little out of touch with the general consensus of what the latest and greatest is with regard to DAW systems. A couple of years ago the ASUS/Northwood combo was the one to go with. What's the current feeling on Pentiums and DAWs; which Pentium 4 model is the one to go with? I believe the Pentium with that Mesh system is a Prescott. I think I'm pretty inclined to stick with Intel systems, but would certainly welcome any opinions/info towards AMD.

Apologies for asking so many questions, and any info is much appreciated.

Thanks
Ben

Comments

JWB wrote on 8/30/2004, 6:47 AM

Ben,

I've always been an AMD user so I'm not sure about the CPU. As a new user of Vegas myself, the most demanding aspect has been my hard drive's speed and size. As long as your audio drive spins at 7200 RPM, you should be ok. The fact that you have a separate drive is a big plus. I would increase your RAM to 1GB... it's a cheap upgrade that DAWs seem to respond to. Also, I have a 3 year old Radeon 8500 and my video projects stutter within the app occasionally... I'm looking to upgrade that soon myself. If your doing audio only though, it doesn't matter.

Hope this helped a bit..
Jon

Ben wrote on 9/17/2004, 3:20 PM

Bump. Anyone else?

Cold wrote on 9/19/2004, 9:51 AM

Specifically what sort of projects? Tons of tracks? tons of effects and processing? Tons of edits? Video? Every users needs vary and this will be reflected in the system.
Personally I use :
a striped/mirrored raid array for speed and security,
a matrox video card for dual monitors,
a good quality cd burner for final masters,
a dvd burner for archiving,
a gigabit lan connection for synching multiple machines(which I do rarely),
a pentium4 hyperthreaded cpu again for speed and security (when intels get hot they slow down, when amds get hot they stop. A huge issue in the middle of a big tracking/ mixing session when everything has been running hard for many hours.)
also good quality ram ( I try to "match" my ram as much as possible, meaning I don't combine different manufactures or different flavours. Ram conflicts or a bad strip can drive a person over the edge.)
The best mobo you can afford(personally I only buy assus )

Something else to consider is the new pci express format. This is going to be a great benefit for faster bus transfers.

Are you keeping your audio hardware? do a long search and see if there are any known issues with specific components.

$.02

Steve S.