Members Sarms58 Posted March 30, 2008 Members Share Posted March 30, 2008 I'll piggy back on this thread...I'm looking to have a new PC built and I think that I "need" and ASUS P5K mother board...I only think that because Sweetwater uses that board on it's high end recording PCs... Any and all comments will be appreciated...using that board, I've found a builder who will put it together for ~ $900.... Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Lee Flier Posted March 30, 2008 Author Members Share Posted March 30, 2008 It's kinda hard to go wrong with an ASUS mobo... that's what's in my old system and it's been great. And at that price, if you can build a good system around it then go for it. It's my understanding that some of the other, cheaper mobos nowadays (like the Gigabyte I got which has an Intel chipset, or the Intel mobos themselves) are just as good, and I guess I'm about to find out. Like I say, I'm super happy with it so far, and the only downside would be if it died on me prematurely. But for 89 bucks I was willing to take that chance, and it got good reviews from the newegg crowd, so we'll see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members joel Oporto Posted March 30, 2008 Members Share Posted March 30, 2008 yehehey great move lee!!! Once you go quad,you never want to go baad!! SArms, if you can, get the P5k3 deluxe version. The P5K series is a very solid choice for the q6600. I have the P5K-SE, friend of mine has the P5K3 and we both have no problems whatsoever. With the thermalright 120 we get it to 3.2-3.4ghz easy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author MikeRivers Posted March 31, 2008 CMS Author Share Posted March 31, 2008 I'll piggy back on this thread...I'm looking to have a new PC built and I think that I "need" and ASUS P5K mother board... In my last round of looking, I was pretty sold on an Asus P5K motherboard except for one thing - it has only one PS/2 port. That's trivial as far as the computer is concerned - I have plenty of PS/2 mice and keyboards, and adapters from PS/2 to USB work pretty well. However, I share the mouse, keyboard, and monitor with my Mackie hard disk recorders through a PS/2 switch, and the switch doesn't seem to like USB hardware. I could see myself getting into one of those spirals - get new keyboard and mouse, then get new switch, then get new keyboard and mouse, then the recorder doesn't see the mouse, get a new mouse . . . I ended up doing nothing, but I'm happy to have Lee's shopping list as a guide for at least one heap of stuff that seems to play well together. As someone who doesn't have a shop full of computer parts to swap out when things aren't working right, I want to have it work right when I start it up the first time. Or say "what the hell, I'll get a Dell" and be done with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Lee Flier Posted March 31, 2008 Author Members Share Posted March 31, 2008 Yeah, my new mobo does have 2 PS2 ports. And the whole thing really was painless to put together and worked the first time I booted up. The mobo also lets you choose which drive to boot from prior to starting the boot, in case your OS doesn't recognize the boot drive. My original XP disk probably wouldn't have recognized the SATA DVD burner as a bootable device and I was worried about that, but I needn't have been. Really the most painful thing to install was the Zalman CPU cooler. I'd already fastened the motherboard to the case when I realized I'd have to unscrew it again to put the backplate for the cooler on. Then I had a bit of a time getting the screws into the clip that holds it down, given the huge size of the cooler and the small space between it and one side of the case. But it was all worth it cuz, as mentioned, it rocks. And really we're talking about maybe 15 minutes of aggravation getting it installed - maybe 10 if you remember to put the backplate and clip support on before attaching the mobo. Everything else was a breeze. I suppose you could mount the cooler entirely before putting the mobo in at all, and eliminate the tight space problem as well... but the manual said not to do that, so I didn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author MikeRivers Posted March 31, 2008 CMS Author Share Posted March 31, 2008 Really the most painful thing to install was the Zalman CPU cooler. I'd already fastened the motherboard to the case when I realized I'd have to unscrew it again to put the backplate for the cooler on. Then I had a bit of a time getting the screws into the clip that holds it down, given the huge size of the cooler and the small space between it and one side of the case. I expect that people who have assembled a few computers have their own tricks for that and know the most efficient assembly sequence. The last computer I assembled from parts was a PC-XT and the only cooling was from the power supply fan. But I needed to replace the fan on CPU on my Mackie recorder and nearly punched a hole in the motherboard trying to get the old fan off. I suppose you could mount the cooler entirely before putting the mobo in at all, and eliminate the tight space problem as well... but the manual said not to do that, so I didn't. That's probably what I'd try to do, but once I saw all the parts in front of me, I might figure out why the manual suggests a different procedure. For me, the first thing I have to do is modify my computer desk to accommodate a wider case, which they all seem to be nowadays. The compartment for the computer is 1/4" too narrow. I've figured out how to modify it, but I'm not sure I can remove all the pieces I'd need to remove without the whole desk collapsing on me :-( And before that, I need to find a place to put all the stuff that I'd have to remove from the hutch to get that off in order to make the desk less dangerous. Nothing is simple. I'd probably choose a less powerful graphics board than you did because I don't think I'll ever be working with video enough to care. Maybe a step down with the CPU, too, for the same reason. I remember when Gigabyte used to have a reputation kind of like Behringer - it's cheap and it works pretty well, but we're not sure why. I was killing some time at a Fry's in LA recently and asked a salesman why I should pick one brand of motherboard over another, and hinted that I had been leaning toward Asus or Intel because of their long standing reputation for reliability and compatibility. He steered me toward Gigabyte saying that they worked fine, had Intel support chips, and they were the first of the budget board manufacturers who addressed what was apparently a common problem with capacitors. It's not clear whether this simply was a result of cost saving by buying bogus versions of what should have been good capacitor types, or a change to a different type of capacitor. In any case, "the well known motherboard capacitor problem" seems to have come and gone without me knowing about it. It's all part of either keeping my head in the sand, I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members deanmass Posted March 31, 2008 Members Share Posted March 31, 2008 Lee, have you ever tried any of the VM ware virtual machine Ubuntu builds? I am starting to play around with Fusion on my mac, and was looking at the Drupal appliance...Fusion is pretty amazing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dylan Walters Posted March 31, 2008 Members Share Posted March 31, 2008 I'm glad to hear that the build went smoothly for ya, Lee! FWIW, I always mount my CPU/Fan and RAM before installing the mobo in the case. And yes, the Antec cases are fantastic to work on and are very quiet for the most part. I won't build a system for anyone unless they are willing to pony up the cash for a quality case like Antec. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members joel Oporto Posted April 1, 2008 Members Share Posted April 1, 2008 yup like Dylan, the best way is to mount everything except the vidcard on the mobo before putting it into the case, then install everything including OS before finally fastening hard the mobo. The really cool thing about my Antec case,http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129021is that the psu is situated below the mobo and not on top, so the cpu cooler is the only one next to the huge 200mm exhaust fan on top. Most P35 chipset mobo will only initially detect sata devices and no ide devices except the purely atapi cd-roms, so if you plan to build one, make sure you have a sata cd-rom or the old atapi ones(no ide cd/dvd writers). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Lee Flier Posted April 1, 2008 Author Members Share Posted April 1, 2008 I'm glad to hear that the build went smoothly for ya, Lee! FWIW, I always mount my CPU/Fan and RAM before installing the mobo in the case.Yeah, this seems like the obvious thing to do and I did mount the RAM and the CPU itself. But since Zalman deemed it necessary to tell me I shouldn't mount the cooler first, I didn't. Maybe with some tight cases it's hard to get the mobo in without damaging the heatsink fins, I don't know. But next time I'll ignore the manual if it says that! And yes, the Antec cases are fantastic to work on and are very quiet for the most part. I won't build a system for anyone unless they are willing to pony up the cash for a quality case like Antec.Yeah, it really is a fantastic case. There's only one thing about it that is puzzling to me: I can't seem to figure out how one is supposed to mount the DVD drive in this thing! Right now it's just sitting on top of the floppy drive tray, without any screws holding it in, because I can't for the life of me see where one would put screws in so they would line up properly and the drive still line up with the bay slots. Very weird. It's usually real obvious but I must be missing something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Lee Flier Posted April 1, 2008 Author Members Share Posted April 1, 2008 Lee, have you ever tried any of the VM ware virtual machine Ubuntu builds? I am starting to play around with Fusion on my mac, and was looking at the Drupal appliance...Fusion is pretty amazing... No, I haven't messed with it at all... it's the old story of being too busy doing actual work to have time to mess with my development environment... as it is I've lost the better part of 2 days getting the new puter set up and everything transferred off my old system, re-networked, etc. And I'm kinda stressing now. Maybe one of these days... I tried VMWare a long time ago and it did look really cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author MikeRivers Posted April 1, 2008 CMS Author Share Posted April 1, 2008 I can't seem to figure out how one is supposed to mount the DVD drive in this thing! Right now it's just sitting on top of the floppy drive tray, without any screws holding it in, because I can't for the life of me see where one would put screws in so they would line up properly and the drive still line up with the bay slots. Seems like I remember reading something about the Sonata case having vibration isolation mounts for the disk drives. Maybe you don't have all the parts? Or does it come with instructions that show the isolation mounts and you DO have all the parts? I bought a USB/Firewire drive case at a hamfest Sunday. Supposedly brand new, OEM packaged, It only cost $15, but it was missing two screws that hold the cover on, and both screws that secure the power connector to the case, with no evidence that there had ever been screws there. The screw holes for the power connector were smaller than #2, so I drilled them out for #4 screws. The case screws were metric, flat head, and smaller than anything I or the local good hardware store had, so I re-tapped them for 4-40. All is well, but it seems that sometimes you just gotta have a machine shop to fix computer equipment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members spokenward Posted April 1, 2008 Members Share Posted April 1, 2008 try googling an IMAGE search for: sonata case mount dvd drive rails and see if you have something like that. I have a Sonata II, so they might have changed it. I mounted the drive rails and popped it in from the front of the case. It snaps into place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sarms58 Posted April 1, 2008 Members Share Posted April 1, 2008 SO how difficult is it to build one from parts? I'm thinking of ordering the parts but have never fooled with PC hardware much...let's see, I can use a fuzz pedal and have changed out pickups...have changed out bridges and set intonation...and my friend at work is a computer geek who enjoys building...hummm...I think I have a success path (or at least the 911 call if I get lost)... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members deanmass Posted April 2, 2008 Members Share Posted April 2, 2008 Not hard....especially if you have someone close by who can bail you out if you make a boo boo. No time like now...! Do it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author MikeRivers Posted April 2, 2008 CMS Author Share Posted April 2, 2008 What the hell, I'm tempted by a Dell. I was at Micro Center today and they had a big pile of Dell Inspiron 530s on the floor for $400. Now I know I can build a much more powerful computer for twice that price, and can probably build about the equivalent for about that price, but taking home a carton, opening it up, plugging it in and de-lousing it all in an afternoon is tempting. It has a Dual Core E2140, which is at the bottom of the heap - 1.6 GB, 800 MHz FSB, but given that I've been working with a 266 MHz Pentium 2 I suspect this will be a significant upgrade. I'll probably still mostly use it for 2-track editing and "mastering" of sorts, as well as use it to play with review hardware. For $400 it comes with 1GB RAM, a DVD writer, 250 GB hard drive, a multi-slot media card reader, and Windows XP. I'll have to remove the modem card to make room to install the Lynx L22 and a Firewire card, but I haven't used a modem in years. I doubt I'll miss it. It doesn't have PS/2 ports so I'll have to make do adapting the KVM switch outputs to USB, but that usually works. And it's narrow enough so that I won't have to rebuild my computer desk. It seems mighty quiet, too. It sure is tempting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Lee Flier Posted April 2, 2008 Author Members Share Posted April 2, 2008 Seems like I remember reading something about the Sonata case having vibration isolation mounts for the disk drives. Maybe you don't have all the parts? Yeah, that must be it. The manual says there are supposed to be 6 plastic drive rails in the case and there aren't. I'll see what I can do about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Lee Flier Posted April 2, 2008 Author Members Share Posted April 2, 2008 SO how difficult is it to build one from parts? I'm thinking of ordering the parts but have never fooled with PC hardware much...let's see, I can use a fuzz pedal and have changed out pickups...have changed out bridges and set intonation...and my friend at work is a computer geek who enjoys building...hummm...I think I have a success path (or at least the 911 call if I get lost)...Hehe... well if you can do those other things, you can put a computer together. It's really easy nowadays... most times there's only one place you can plug anything in and only one way it'll let you. So it's kind of hard to screw up. It only takes a couple of hours. It used to be that you had to spend a lot of time messing with IRQ's and other arcane crap to keep things from conflicting and make everything work, but that's really rare now. Most times you can just stick everything together and boot it up and it works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members spokenward Posted April 3, 2008 Members Share Posted April 3, 2008 Yeah, that must be it. The manual says there are supposed to be 6 plastic drive rails in the case and there aren't.I'll see what I can do about that. They have this note in their online FAQ (it sounds like a common complaint): http://www.antec.com/us/support_roductInfo_FAQ.php?Qnumber=1&FAQno=29 Why did my case only come with three optical rails?The enclosure is packaged with 6 optical rails. The other 3 rails are located under the bottom hard drive tray. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sarms58 Posted April 3, 2008 Members Share Posted April 3, 2008 Hehe... well if you can do those other things, you can put a computer together. It's really easy nowadays... most times there's only one place you can plug anything in and only one way it'll let you. So it's kind of hard to screw up. It only takes a couple of hours. It used to be that you had to spend a lot of time messing with IRQ's and other arcane crap to keep things from conflicting and make everything work, but that's really rare now. Most times you can just stick everything together and boot it up and it works. My neighbor's kids (nowin their mid twenties with families) were some of the first computer generation kids...their dad was an I&C tech who worked on all kinds of electronics...they were building PCs and such as teenagers and both now work in industry...I'm gonna order my stuff and I know who to call (and it ain't Ghostbusters!)... I think I'm going to just copy your machine (with any changes you might have thought about after completion) I read a lot of good reviews for that Gigabyte board and someone else suggested going with the 6600... I'm be busy until May but will get something put together then... Thanks Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members spokenward Posted April 3, 2008 Members Share Posted April 3, 2008 excerptedWhat the hell, I'm tempted by a Dell. I was at Micro Center today and they had a big pile of Dell Inspiron 530s on the floor for $400. Mike, it's not at retail and it's more money, but I'd feel better about this... [DELL link] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author MikeRivers Posted April 3, 2008 CMS Author Share Posted April 3, 2008 excerptedMike, it's not at retail and it's more money, but I'd feel better about this... Why? Because it has a faster CPU, more memory, and a larger hard drive? And Vista? Apparently you can get XP with any Dell if you ask, but not all of their "configure it yourself" options include it as a choice. Since they offer this model with a pretty wide range of CPUs, there's only one motherboard. I suspect that if I outgrow the speed before I outgrow everything, I can swap in a faster CPU of the same family. Adding more memory is simple, and I don't like putting all my eggs in one (hard disk) basket. I figure I'll be using external Firewire or USB drives for projects that I want to keep, and I can't imagine filling a drive with more than 250 GB of applications. Remember, I'm still using a 266 MHz computer and the main reason why I want to upgrade is that I don't want to put XP on it, and I want to be able to use some Firewire audio I/O devices in the studio. I have no problem recording 16 tracks on my 1.6 GHz Pentium laptop. And I still plan to keep using my Mackie hard disk recorder for most projects that don't involve a lot of messing around, which is the kind I like best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members joel Oporto Posted April 3, 2008 Members Share Posted April 3, 2008 Hey mike, it doesn't say which mobo it uses or which chipset, the 945 or the p35. Did you know that the geeks OC the E2140 and E2160 to about 3.6 to 4 ghz from its native 1.6ghz by using water cooling kits? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members spokenward Posted April 3, 2008 Members Share Posted April 3, 2008 Why? Because it has a faster CPU, more memory, and a larger hard drive? yup. that's it. It was posted on a deal site. Don't buy anything from DELL unless you check it out on a deal site. There are many coupons and codes and an organized pattern of discounting behavior. Since they offer this model with a pretty wide range of CPUs, there's only one motherboard. That's a conclusion that you can't confirm. They are large enough to slipstream new parts and revisions... They aren't under the impression that they have to check it out with you. Down the line you may find that you have a machine with a bios that is incompatible with an upgrade. There is nothing wrong with the 21x0 series that you saw. That part goes for $60. But that part is a poor cousin to the Q6600. This is a pretty good deal.Intel seems to have moved a large quantity of 6600 parts sideways at a deep discount. I believe this is what you are seeing here. Fry's had them for 180, but distribution has them for 250. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author MikeRivers Posted April 4, 2008 CMS Author Share Posted April 4, 2008 Hey mike, it doesn't say which mobo it uses or which chipset, the 945 or the p35. Even if it did, I wouldn't know what that means to me. Do you know if your mixer uses 5532 or TL072 chips? Did you know that the geeks OC the E2140 and E2160 to about 3.6 to 4 ghz from its native 1.6ghz by using water cooling kits? Actually, I sort of did know that, not necessarily about the water cooling but I read an article comparing benchmarks (few of which mean beans when it comes to audio work) among that family of processors and it did mention the potential for overclocking the low end CPUs. I don't know if the Dell motherboard provides all the controls necessary to experiment with overclocking, but it's not something I'd do anyway. What I was wondering, and I suspect there's not easy and reliable way to learn this, was whether the whole Dell 530 line uses the same motherboard. If it does, then if I wanted a screamer CPU, I could put one in (though I might want to replace the 600 MHz memory with 800 MHz or faster memory to get the full benefit). That might increase the life cycle (see the Behringer thread) should I decide to upgrade rather than replace, but I'm not inclined to do that. The only thing I've done to upgrade the 12 year old Pentium 2 was to replace the original 4 GB disk drive with a 30 GB one, and add another 64MB of RAM. Do you have any reason to believe that the CPU or support chipset wouldn't work for stereo recording and editing of 24/96 audio, with a couple of processing plug-ins? I'm a simple man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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