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Building a recording desktop, how does it look?


mparsons

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CodeBlue and Herald Of Light, you guys both seem to know a lot about putting machines together. I have a stupid question: do all the components go together easily? What about USB and firewire ports, mouse and keyboard plugs etc?

 

 

You can figure everything out pretty fast using the motherboard's manual. The motherboard usually has all of those ports (USB, Firewire) right on it and they don't need to be connected. Some cases have extra ports up front, sometimes there will be issues with those connectors not having a spot for them to plug in on the motherboard, but having four USB ports instead of six isn't too big of a deal.

 

If there are four memory slots the motherboard manual will say use slot one and three if you are using two sticks blah blah blah you will have the info you need.

 

The harder things would be connecting power, and the heatsink/fan for the processor. You may need to look at diagrams and use adapters to connect the power supply to everything correctly. And the processor will need a very thin even layer of thermal paste put directly on it, the stuff is stickier than tar and can ruin the processor if you put too much on it and it spills over the edge. The four prongs that hold the heatsink down also need to be pressed in securely, but in a way that won't disturb the thermal paste.

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Faster RAM is dumb. Don't fall for that trap. They increase the price, but give you nothing for it. Almost all DDR2 is pretty much the same thing. If you REALLY want to run the clock speed higher, then just do it manually. But in reality, it doesn't mean jack crap. I'd just save the money and get this:



 

 

At the risk of sounding like a noob, how do you do that?

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  • 2 weeks later...
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After a lot of deal hunting and price bouncing.. This is the final configuration I've decided on ( pending input from the wise ):


Intel DG35EC mobo:

Intel E5200 CPU:


Everything look solid?

 

 

That motherboard is a little pricey...Get this instead:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130127R

 

And the CPU is VERY underpowered, you want a Core 2 Duo at least. Get this:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115206

 

Don't worry about only two memory slots on the motherboard, 2GB x2 should work fine. I can't stress how important the CPU is, it is number one on your list of important parts, even my grandpa has a Core 2 Duo 3.0GHz lol.

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They are cheap, but they're retarded huge. For me, the edges sit in my peripheral vision, which drives me nuts.


What I would get for a higher resolution is a newer 22" or 21.5" that is 16:9 and 1920x1080. There are a lot of those coming out.


But he's using integrated graphics in this case, so that resolution could be hard on the motherboard's GPU if he ends up using it for anything remotely demanding. Of course, you can just turn it down, but why spend more for a higher native resolution that you aren't going to be able to use?

 

 

Even my friend's Macbook's Intel GMA X3100 worked just fine with my 1920x1200 resolution monitor and that graphics chip is considered to be pretty crap.

 

1920x1080 makes no sense for a monitor because there's less vertical resolution. Most programs need more space vertically than horizontally so the 1920x1200 resolution has its place. 1920x1080 has no benefits over 1920x1200.

 

When it comes to monitors, there's no such thing as too big unless the resolution and size are out of balance (I feel for example 26" is too much for 1920x1200 resolution whereas 24" is just perfect and 22" is just slightly small). At the moment I've got a 21" 1600x1200 res monitor, a 22" 1920x1200 monitor and a 40" 1920x1080 HDTV on my table and already I'm contemplating moving to a 30" 2560x1600 monitor.

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That motherboard is a little pricey...Get this instead:




And the CPU is VERY underpowered, you want a Core 2 Duo at least. Get this:




Don't worry about only two memory slots on the motherboard, 2GB x2 should work fine. I can't stress how important the CPU is, it is number one on your list of important parts, even my grandpa has a Core 2 Duo 3.0GHz lol.

 

 

Thanks for the advice! Is there anything different from the Core 2 Duo processors and the Pentium dual core that makes it that much more expensive?

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