Frugal DAW Build- MOBO?

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DougCPilot
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2008/12/08 10:27:33 (permalink)

Frugal DAW Build- MOBO?

Hi folks,
I'm looking to build a DAW with a close eye on the $$ by staying way back from the bleeding edge. At this point it's all a hobby for me and low on the priorities list. I'm going to be running Sonar 6 Studio (with an eye toward a possible upgrade to one of the Sonar 7 editions) with Windows XP Pro.

Here's what I have to start with (in other words, I don't want to have to upgrade these):

Echo Gina 2496
Midisport USB midi port
70 GB HD- not sure offhand what type. Maybe EIDE. Not that old. I figure I can use this for the OS and Sonar.
I got a great deal on an Antec Sonata 3 case so I grabbed one.

I don't have any Firewire hardware.

My recordings are a pretty even split of MIDI and audio.

So, I'm looking at the Core 2 Duo E7300 or 7200 as my processor. They look like a good deal these days.

I don't want to limit myself too much (more) with my mobo selection but I see no need to overdo it either. A popular choice seems to be the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L. I see that for around $100 online. My brother, who is the real PC builder in the family but not specifically DAW's, says there are cheaper alternatives locally. He asks me what makes a certain board more preferable for a DAW. There's so much info and opinion out there, I don't have a solid answer for him.

Can someone give me the gist of what to look for and what to avoid in mobo selection?
And any other suggestions for a more economical choice?

Thanks,
Doug
#1

26 Replies Related Threads

    Jose7822
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    RE: Frugal DAW Build- MOBO? 2008/12/08 10:41:34 (permalink)
    Why not go Quad Core? The Q6600 is about the same price as the E7300 and you get 2 extra cores:

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017

    People OC this baby up to 3.0 GHz no problem (if you want to get a bit more).
    #2
    DougCPilot
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    RE: Frugal DAW Build- MOBO? 2008/12/08 11:14:38 (permalink)
    I see the E7300 going for around $120 shipped. That's $60 less than the Q6600. Maybe not significant in the big picture, but that's a 500GB HD to me. As I said, I'm trying to be frugal.

    Doug
    #3
    batsbrew
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    RE: Frugal DAW Build- MOBO? 2008/12/08 14:32:48 (permalink)
    here's a list of my 'frugal' build:

    Antec Solo Black/Silver Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $99.99

    LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model $25.99

    Intel BOXDP35DPM LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard (Ouad Core capable) Price: $102.99

    ASUS EN8400GS SILENT/HTP/256M GeForce 8400 GS 256MB 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready Video Card $32.99

    Thermaltake TR2 RX W0134RU 550W ATX12V Ver2.2 SLI Ready Modular Passive PFC PFC Power Supply $94.99

    Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8400 (reliably overclock to 3.8Ghz ) $169.99

    CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400 $37.99

    (2) Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3400620AS 400GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive $64.99 (X2)

    Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition SP3 $89.99


    working great so far.....
    sonar 6 PE

    Bats Brew music Streaming
    Bats Brew albums:
    "Trouble"
    "Stay"
    "The Time is Magic"
    --
    Sonar 6 PE>Bandlab Cakewalk>Studio One 3.5>RME BFP>i7-7700 3.6GHz>MSI B250M>G.Skill Ripjaws 4 series 16GB>Samsung 960 EVO m.2ssd>W 10 Pro
     
    #4
    jcschild
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    RE: Frugal DAW Build- MOBO? 2008/12/08 15:06:48 (permalink)
    HI,

    gigabyte GA-73PVM-S2H

    E 8200 or Q8200 and overclock it

    Scott
    ADK
    Home of the Kentucky Fried DAW!
    #5
    InstrEd
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    RE: Frugal DAW Build- MOBO? 2008/12/08 15:09:21 (permalink)
    Wow Scott, you actually recommended a MB

    Ed
    #6
    Jose7822
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    RE: Frugal DAW Build- MOBO? 2008/12/08 15:10:31 (permalink)

    ORIGINAL: DougCPilot

    I see the E7300 going for around $120 shipped. That's $60 less than the Q6600. Maybe not significant in the big picture, but that's a 500GB HD to me. As I said, I'm trying to be frugal.

    Doug



    "Wow! You are so cheap" (from Transformers movie) .
    #7
    Jose7822
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    RE: Frugal DAW Build- MOBO? 2008/12/08 15:12:53 (permalink)

    ORIGINAL: InstrEd

    Wow Scott, you actually recommended a MB

    Ed



    I know right :-) That's good though.
    #8
    DougCPilot
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    RE: Frugal DAW Build- MOBO? 2008/12/08 16:34:02 (permalink)
    Hey now, I'm not cheap. And I don't really want to get into a "times are tight" discussion.

    It's more an issue of (not) wanting to spend an amount of money that's (not) justifiable for the amount of time I will be spending at this. So let's cut out this "cheap" talk once and for all.

    I think, at least I'm hoping, that there are bargains to be found by staying far behind the pack and keeping a sharp eye out. (I picked up Sonar 6 Studio new in the box for $12 by looking around. I'd say that's pretty frugal.) I'm also hoping that prices will drop a bit after the holidays so I'm mostly in the planning phase right now.

    So I've got a decent processor/mobo combination that looks to cost around $225. I'm just wondering if I can do better? I'm open to suggestions or advice on making my own decision.

    Scott, I'll have to check out that board. Thanks. That's the kind of suggestion I'm looking for.

    Peace,
    Doug

    Check out my music at http://Soundclick.com/DougMcClure
    post edited by DougCPilot - 2008/12/08 16:41:57
    #9
    acidrock
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    RE: Frugal DAW Build- MOBO? 2008/12/08 16:50:34 (permalink)

    ORIGINAL: DougCPilot

    It's more an issue of (not) wanting to spend an amount of money that's (not) justifiable for the amount of time I will be spending at this. So let's cut out this "cheap" talk once and for all.



    Not to mention having more computer than you need.When it comes to computer power there is definitely a "mines bigger than yours" mentality around here.



    I'll now run and hide from the flames.
    #10
    Jeffw5555
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    RE: Frugal DAW Build- MOBO? 2008/12/08 17:04:23 (permalink)
    I just finished my new DAW last weekend, & upgraded to PE 8. I went "kinda frugal", as the motherboard was the only "new tech" item. I bought the Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R after a bunch of reviews & such, and couldn't be happier. Not much more than the board Scott recommends; just over $100 at Newegg. (Plus I needed 3 PCI slots; not many boards available these days with 3 legacy PCI slots) I had been a Asus fan for years; now Giga in my opinion has them beat hands down. Was the least painful new build I've ever done. Just basically plugged it all in and it ran great from the start.

    I was running Sonar 2.2 previously, and now that I've upgraded to 8 Producer, I have a really steep learning curve ahead of me!
    #11
    jcschild
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    RE: Frugal DAW Build- MOBO? 2008/12/08 17:35:17 (permalink)
    ORIGINAL: acidrock



    Not to mention having more computer than you need.When it comes to computer power there is definitely a "mines bigger than yours" mentality around here.



    I'll now run and hide from the flames.


    OH YEAH mine is bigger Core i7 3.2GHz baby, what u got?

    actually i chose NOT to upgrade my system with the Core i7's we got from Intel
    Why? i already have more computer than i need. and upgrading is such a PITA.




    post edited by jcschild - 2008/12/08 17:41:22

    Scott
    ADK
    Home of the Kentucky Fried DAW!
    #12
    jcschild
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    RE: Frugal DAW Build- MOBO? 2008/12/08 17:37:25 (permalink)

    ORIGINAL: InstrEd

    Wow Scott, you actually recommended a MB

    Ed

    its the board we use in our "Qube" system cheap but rocks! and it overclocks and has TI chipset firewire!

    i wish i had used it to build my HTPC rather than the Intel board i have in there (which does not overclock) but hey it was free..

    Scott
    ADK
    Home of the Kentucky Fried DAW!
    #13
    acidrock
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    RE: Frugal DAW Build- MOBO? 2008/12/08 18:56:59 (permalink)

    ORIGINAL: jcschild

    ORIGINAL: acidrock



    Not to mention having more computer than you need.When it comes to computer power there is definitely a "mines bigger than yours" mentality around here.



    I'll now run and hide from the flames.


    OH YEAH mine is bigger Core i7 3.2GHz baby, what u got?


    A computer I bought from you!
    #14
    DougCPilot
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    RE: Frugal DAW Build- MOBO? 2008/12/08 21:05:53 (permalink)

    ORIGINAL: acidrock


    ORIGINAL: DougCPilot

    It's more an issue of (not) wanting to spend an amount of money that's (not) justifiable for the amount of time I will be spending at this. So let's cut out this "cheap" talk once and for all.



    Not to mention having more computer than you need.When it comes to computer power there is definitely a "mines bigger than yours" mentality around here.



    I'll now run and hide from the flames.


    It certainly never hurts to have "more computer than you need". It's like having storage space in your house; in time you will find that it's not enough. If you have the cash or if it's bringing cash in, more power to you.

    But I'll settle for small but very friendly (on my wallet).
    #15
    DougCPilot
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    RE: Frugal DAW Build- MOBO? 2008/12/08 21:10:16 (permalink)

    ORIGINAL: Jeffw5555

    I just finished my new DAW last weekend, & upgraded to PE 8. I went "kinda frugal", as the motherboard was the only "new tech" item. I bought the Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R after a bunch of reviews & such, and couldn't be happier. Not much more than the board Scott recommends; just over $100 at Newegg. (Plus I needed 3 PCI slots; not many boards available these days with 3 legacy PCI slots) I had been a Asus fan for years; now Giga in my opinion has them beat hands down. Was the least painful new build I've ever done. Just basically plugged it all in and it ran great from the start.

    I was running Sonar 2.2 previously, and now that I've upgraded to 8 Producer, I have a really steep learning curve ahead of me!


    Which processor did you go with?

    #16
    Jeffw5555
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    RE: Frugal DAW Build- MOBO? 2008/12/08 22:51:32 (permalink)

    ORIGINAL: DougCPilot


    ORIGINAL: Jeffw5555

    I just finished my new DAW last weekend, & upgraded to PE 8. I went "kinda frugal", as the motherboard was the only "new tech" item. I bought the Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R after a bunch of reviews & such, and couldn't be happier. Not much more than the board Scott recommends; just over $100 at Newegg. (Plus I needed 3 PCI slots; not many boards available these days with 3 legacy PCI slots) I had been a Asus fan for years; now Giga in my opinion has them beat hands down. Was the least painful new build I've ever done. Just basically plugged it all in and it ran great from the start.

    I was running Sonar 2.2 previously, and now that I've upgraded to 8 Producer, I have a really steep learning curve ahead of me!


    Which processor did you go with?





    I'm a big procrastinator (I've been meaning to "get around" to upgrading Sonar since 2.2 :) ) I bought a E6850 Core 2 Duo about a year ago when I thought about upgrading, so that's what I have in my system. With the new Giga board, I can easily upgrade to a quad core processor when they drop in price once the i7's start flooding the market.
    #17
    jcschild
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    RE: Frugal DAW Build- MOBO? 2008/12/09 08:19:11 (permalink)

    ORIGINAL: acidrock


    ORIGINAL: jcschild

    ORIGINAL: acidrock



    Not to mention having more computer than you need.When it comes to computer power there is definitely a "mines bigger than yours" mentality around here.



    I'll now run and hide from the flames.


    OH YEAH mine is bigger Core i7 3.2GHz baby, what u got?


    A computer I bought from you!



    LOL ok you win, as i built mine where yours was never touched by me! and thats a good thing!


    Scott
    ADK
    Home of the Kentucky Fried DAW!
    #18
    leapinlizard
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    RE: Frugal DAW Build- MOBO? 2008/12/09 10:54:14 (permalink)
    I just finished a dual-core build using a $99 ASUS P5Q motherboard that seems to work very well. I have always used Gigabyte mb's in the past, but I thought I would try ASUS for a change, and so far it is working well. A basic board, for sure, but it does the job nicely.

    "Surf music will never die." -- LeapinLizard, 1963
    "We may never hear surf music again." -- Jimi Hendrix, 1967. 
    #19
    DougCPilot
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    RE: Frugal DAW Build- MOBO? 2008/12/10 07:40:28 (permalink)

    ORIGINAL: jcschild

    HI,

    gigabyte GA-73PVM-S2H

    E 8200 or Q8200 and overclock it


    Scott,
    I was looking at that board. Compared to the other Gig bards I've been looking at that's a serious bargain basement board (and I'm not saying that in a bad way). $70 from Newegg. You really think that'll work well, eh?

    It looks like it has what i need without extras. The E8200 that you suggest, though, jumps up in price a bit from the E7300 or 7200. The board should work fine with the 7300, though, yes?

    I might try a modest overclock but that's completely new territory for me. Scares me a bit.

    Limitations? DDR2- 4GB only 800mhz- which is fine. I was planning on using 2GB Corsair 800 anyways. With the money I save on the board, I could jump up to 4 GB and still spend less.

    The 2 PCI slots should be fine. I know I need one for the sound card. I don't know details on the graphics card my bro's going to give me but he says its a good one. So that would be either PCI or PCIe.

    I see it's a micro-ATX size. I already bought an Antec mid-tower but it says smaller boards will fit. Do you think there'll be any issues there?

    Any other limitations that I should know up front?

    Would there be any advantage to spending the extra money and sticking with something around $100 like the GA-P35-DS3L or the GA-E45-UD3R or an Asus P5 that others have mentioned?

    I think I'm starting to get a little clearer understanding of motherboarding.

    Thanks,
    Doug



    #20
    aj
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    RE: Frugal DAW Build- MOBO? 2008/12/10 08:15:54 (permalink)
    Ok, there's two solutions

    1. The 'cheap(ish) but nice' solution

    I would definitely suggest the E8400 Core 2 Duo as the processor. This gives you a very fast pair of cores, right at the sweet spot of bang for the buck, and in most cases I think this will perform better than a quad core solution at a very good price point (SharkeyExtreme lists at $165 this week). I think using the 7200/7300/7400 is false economy; you're not really saving much and you are definitely compromising performance. ($40 saved to go all the way back to the 7200. 30% less clock speed and 30% lower memory bandwidth. I wouldn't!)

    Where you can save money and not compromise performance is memory and the motherboard. You do not need high-end memory; it will give you a tiny improvement at best. And you do not need an expensive motherboard either, the difference in performance will be almost unmeasurable. The more expensive mobos are giving you a whole lot of gamer features you simply don't need or want.

    There is no reason a $70 mobo will compromise you in any way and this is a very good area to cut costs.

    ALTERNATIVELY

    2. The 'really cheap and surprisingly fast' solution (every dollar counts)

    If you really want to keep cost WAY down (I'm thinking about your $12 copy of Sonar)... but still have a respectable but not cutting-edge solution, you COULD go with the AMD processors, in which case the budget Athlon 5600 X 2 at $86 is actually a pretty capable platform. It'll be only maybe 60% of the grunt power of the E8400 but the total platform cost will be very low because now you can go with a budget socket AM2 mobo and cheap memory and I'd be surprised if the total saving didn't amount to $150 for the whole platform. There's no point thinking about Phenoms. If you're going to spend that money, go with solution 1. But at the low end those Athlons are extremely capable, they have very good memory performance which to some extent compensates for raw grunt. And its $89 vs $165. Plus the cheaper memory and mobo etc.

    One advantage of plan B here is that this is a decent enough machine to press into service elsewhere if you ever upgrade again. It's good to have a separate box for web surfing, testing plugins, etc.... so if you outgrow this, it's not wasted money. I mean, 3 years ago this would have been a serious cutting-edge platform (about the time S6 came out, in fact).





    PS:

    Brands of mobo

    Pick ASUS or Gigabyte and you won't go wrong. At the very low end FoxConn make surprisingly good boards (they make the iPod for Apple, so they should know how to make a mobo).
    #21
    DougCPilot
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    RE: Frugal DAW Build- MOBO? 2008/12/10 09:47:41 (permalink)
    AJ,
    It does seem like there's alot more mention of the 8000 series around the DAW boards. If I can save money on the board, I suppose I should consider the upgrade on the processor. I guess I just got my brain wrapped around the $100 processor. I'll unwrap that and consider the overall combo price.

    I started out looking at AMDs, but then switched to Intel. No particular reason, though. I'll take another look at that option also.

    Thanks for the input

    Doug
    #22
    DarinBad
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    RE: Frugal DAW Build- MOBO? 2008/12/10 09:49:40 (permalink)

    ORIGINAL: Jeffw5555

    I just finished my new DAW last weekend, & upgraded to PE 8. I went "kinda frugal", as the motherboard was the only "new tech" item. I bought the Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R after a bunch of reviews & such, and couldn't be happier. Not much more than the board Scott recommends; just over $100 at Newegg. (Plus I needed 3 PCI slots; not many boards available these days with 3 legacy PCI slots) I had been a Asus fan for years; now Giga in my opinion has them beat hands down. Was the least painful new build I've ever done. Just basically plugged it all in and it ran great from the start.

    I was running Sonar 2.2 previously, and now that I've upgraded to 8 Producer, I have a really steep learning curve ahead of me!


    Very nice motherboard. Plenty of SATA connectors. Texas Instruments firewire chipset. Will except all socket LGA775 CPUs as far as I know. I slapped an E2220 in mine for now but will be replacing with one of the quad-cores or a very fast dual-core when the prices come down. Sonar 8.02 runs very niceley with an EMU1212 and one UAD-1. It's not my main machine but it is definitley more than capable. If you really want to go 'frugal' though, and want to build a machine that you won't be upgrading, then I agree with aj. Go the AMD route.

    AsRock Z77 Extreme4
    CPU INTEL CORE I7 3770K
    32 GB RAM
    RME Fireface 800
    Windows 10 Pro x64
    #23
    jcschild
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    RE: Frugal DAW Build- MOBO? 2008/12/10 10:03:31 (permalink)

    ORIGINAL: DougCPilot


    ORIGINAL: jcschild

    HI,

    gigabyte GA-73PVM-S2H

    E 8200 or Q8200 and overclock it


    Scott,
    I was looking at that board. Compared to the other Gig bards I've been looking at that's a serious bargain basement board (and I'm not saying that in a bad way). $70 from Newegg. You really think that'll work well, eh?

    It looks like it has what i need without extras. The E8200 that you suggest, though, jumps up in price a bit from the E7300 or 7200. The board should work fine with the 7300, though, yes?

    I might try a modest overclock but that's completely new territory for me. Scares me a bit.

    Limitations? DDR2- 4GB only 800mhz- which is fine. I was planning on using 2GB Corsair 800 anyways. With the money I save on the board, I could jump up to 4 GB and still spend less.

    The 2 PCI slots should be fine. I know I need one for the sound card. I don't know details on the graphics card my bro's going to give me but he says its a good one. So that would be either PCI or PCIe.

    I see it's a micro-ATX size. I already bought an Antec mid-tower but it says smaller boards will fit. Do you think there'll be any issues there?

    Any other limitations that I should know up front?

    Would there be any advantage to spending the extra money and sticking with something around $100 like the GA-P35-DS3L or the GA-E45-UD3R or an Asus P5 that others have mentioned?

    I think I'm starting to get a little clearer understanding of motherboarding.

    Thanks,
    Doug






    it would not be on my website if it was not a stellar product.
    you are better of going with a better processor than a more expensive board. you gain nothing other than expandability
    as a budget shopper i dont see you adding 3UADs in the near future.

    that system is my answer to Dell's sub $1000 yet known compatibility, TI firewire and a better performer than the P35 chipset.


    Scott
    ADK
    Home of the Kentucky Fried DAW!
    #24
    DougCPilot
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    RE: Frugal DAW Build- MOBO? 2008/12/13 13:27:48 (permalink)
    Thanks Scott and all for the advice.

    I think I should be able to spring for the Intel based using the cheaper mobo. Since I don't know when I'm going to upgrade again, I might as well aim a little higher. Even if the AMD route might be a bit more frugal.

    Doug
    #25
    cryptexmarble
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    RE: Frugal DAW Build- MOBO? 2008/12/13 13:46:44 (permalink)
    Get an new Intel i7 System built on a Intel DX 58SO motherboard for ultra best latencys and Audioperformance!

    Such a system offers you more USB connections then other motherboards and a very good TI firewire chipset on the board.

    Compared to Intels and AMDs systems , the i7 tops em all in Performance and is future stable because of the awesome new i7 CPUs.

    #26
    cryptexmarble
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    RE: Frugal DAW Build- MOBO? 2008/12/13 19:51:33 (permalink)
    Get an Intel or a Gygabite Motherboard. They have what you need to run AUdio smooth----- Asus not so recommended these days for audio
    ORIGINAL: DougCPilot

    Hi folks,
    I'm looking to build a DAW with a close eye on the $$ by staying way back from the bleeding edge. At this point it's all a hobby for me and low on the priorities list. I'm going to be running Sonar 6 Studio (with an eye toward a possible upgrade to one of the Sonar 7 editions) with Windows XP Pro.

    Here's what I have to start with (in other words, I don't want to have to upgrade these):

    Echo Gina 2496
    Midisport USB midi port
    70 GB HD- not sure offhand what type. Maybe EIDE. Not that old. I figure I can use this for the OS and Sonar.
    I got a great deal on an Antec Sonata 3 case so I grabbed one.

    I don't have any Firewire hardware.

    My recordings are a pretty even split of MIDI and audio.

    So, I'm looking at the Core 2 Duo E7300 or 7200 as my processor. They look like a good deal these days.

    I don't want to limit myself too much (more) with my mobo selection but I see no need to overdo it either. A popular choice seems to be the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L. I see that for around $100 online. My brother, who is the real PC builder in the family but not specifically DAW's, says there are cheaper alternatives locally. He asks me what makes a certain board more preferable for a DAW. There's so much info and opinion out there, I don't have a solid answer for him.

    Can someone give me the gist of what to look for and what to avoid in mobo selection?
    And any other suggestions for a more economical choice?

    Thanks,
    Doug

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