Guest zee-werp Posted May 27, 2004 Share Posted May 27, 2004 Hey peoples... Well my current computer is totally shit and its hard to make any decent music on it because it usually just maxes out CPU and goes all distorted So anyway I've decided to purchase a new computer. The main things I want to do on the computer is make electronic music, go on the internet, and do the odd spot of desktop publishing (i.e. assignments). I was originally not even considering getting a Mac at all...I've been brought up with PC's and for some reason I always just thought Mac's kind of sucked. This wasn't based on any real info though, I was just thinking that because since I'm used to PC's I find a mac kind of hard to use. But obviously this is something one can get used to... So I told some friends of mine who are into music making that I was thinking of getting a new computer, and they have been trying to convince me to get a Mac. They say that Macs are way better for making music on. So I am confused. I have a pretty low budget - about 1500 NZ (around 1000 US, except computers are more expensive here than there I think). For this much I can JUST affort the cheapest mac - an 'eMac'...are these any good? For 1500 NZ I can get a pretty good hardware setup with a PC, except with no software (would probably load up with pirated). Basically I just want a second opinion on my friends advice. Are macs really that much better for making music? Are they more reliable (i.e. don't crash often), is the PC non-compatability a big issue for you (if you use a mac)? Also, if I was going to go for a PC, what is a good combination of bits and pieces (Sound card, CPU, motherboard etc.) for my needs? This dilemma is getting to me so any advice on this would be appreciated - thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peep Posted May 27, 2004 Share Posted May 27, 2004 uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh getaPC. AthlonXP, nforce2, 400mhz lowlarency mems. no one can know what kind of souncard do you need. geta EMU 1212m its good. Iternal dsp will save your processor. Iguess atleast abit. No sense of getting mac with that budget macs are for chroesuses and are not stabler than pcs if you get good parts that are compatible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peep Posted May 27, 2004 Share Posted May 27, 2004 For soundcard also audiophile and ewx 24/96 are good. Stability may depend much on software too, and there mac might win af course, but if you use quality software too then there should be no problems. WinXP is a must. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest spaceman Posted May 28, 2004 Share Posted May 28, 2004 I kinda agree with these guys but honestly nothing compares to powermac/powerbook but are really expensive, buy a pc with pentium 4/2.8 mhz with 1gb RAM and i assure you you wont have any problem, get a DELL pc, those are designed for hard tasks or if you want to build it yoursel make sure youre motherboard is INTEL.and yes mac are really better but that doesnt mean you cannot make quality music, top acts like skazi or infected mushroom use pc so at the end of the day the best is the one goes good for you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest factor mazorca Posted May 28, 2004 Share Posted May 28, 2004 there was a discution about it in the computer music magazine.. and they realized that the mac USE TO BE better than pc, but right now, they are bought the same as good... if you already have alot of vst's and plug ins in your pc.. go for a pc... peace.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peep Posted May 28, 2004 Share Posted May 28, 2004 Say, are you planning to use your old display in your new pc? 'cause if you have to buy a display too your budget won't be big enough for p4 machine. And DON'T buy Intel motherboard if you get Intel rig, just make sure it gots Intel chipset, preferably i875. Asus are good, MSI also, and Abit. But most likely you are gonna go for AMD, 'cause that's smartest thing to do with your budget. Soundcard is important issue. And fast hard drive. And like said, you want 1gb ram, but if you run out of money, 512 will do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest zee-werp Posted May 28, 2004 Share Posted May 28, 2004 Thanks for the advice guys! I've been looking at some stuff, here is a tentative plan, does this soud ok? This is in no way decided, I'm fully open to any input you guys have as to what is more compatable etc. or if this stuff even is compatable at all.... CPU - Intel Pentium 4 2.8GHz - $300 HD - Samsung 120Gb 7200rpm -$155 MotherBoard- Abit AN7 SATA nForce2 Ultra400 -$215 RAM - PC2100 DDR 1Gb 266MHz ECC SDRAM -$205 SOUNDCARD - Creative Soundblaster live 5.1 platinum -$140 GRAPHICS - GeForce FX 5500 128Mb - $170 CD / DVD - Sony 48x24x48x CDRW + 16x DVDROM -$120 Total: $1,305 So yeah I'm not quite sure if this is a good setup or not , thats why I need your guys advice. As you can see I still have a couple of hundred dollars (NZ) spare so if any of these parts I've selected here are crap maybe suggest an alternative. I already have a screen and a keyboard and a mouse and a modem, so I shouldn't need to buy those things again should I? Also I've got a Voodoo3 graphics card in at the moment will that fit a new motherboard ? Cause I don't do a lot of graphic stuff I don't need the full high tech for that department. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peep Posted May 28, 2004 Share Posted May 28, 2004 Nonononononononono! That's all wrong! If you want Intel try the following: Same processor Mobo - Asus p4c800-e dlx or Abit Max3. Nforces are for Athlon XPs Ram - quality PC3200 (MUST!) 1gb, if you find Kingston HyperX pc3000 (370mhz) then you can overclock them and have 400mhz (pc3200) mem. It's safe, theyre super good mems, but still won't go much over 400mhz I guess. Otherwise consider something like Mushkin special black or Crosair or other brand with low latencies. HD I don't know, I have no knowledge on samsungs. AFAIK WD's are pretty good too. As long as it's SATA 7200 rpm it should be fine. If you fell like it you could build a RAID setup with 2 HD's. Your voodoo3 won't fit 'cause it uses agp at wrong voltage. Your mobo might burn if you get it fit! Think something like Sapphire Radeon 9200 SE, it has DVI output so if you someday want a TFT then you can use it at its full potential. It must also support AGP 8x, which it does, but if you get something else, make sure it does too. Don't buy expensive vid cards, they're for gamers only, and milkdrops might not be worth of money. Forget Soundblaster, they're crap. For that price you get M-Audio Audiophile 24/96 and Terratec EWX 24/96 or other budget hi-end soundcard. Just do the search, must have 24 bits and 96 khz, you wont't believe how much difference it makes. Eats loads of processor time though, if you invest some more you could get a card that makes some processing on it's own and saves processor for doing so much job. There's some input. You do the maths. With $1300 you can get pretty kickass setup. Remeber that case and PSU are also important, cause they can get pretty noisy with all their fans. And get Zalman cooler, they're cuiet and powerful. Or then get thermoelectric (peltier) cooling + waterblocks. But in that I cannot help you . And goto some computer sites and to google and search some info also by yourself. It's always good to know what you're doing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jacob Posted May 29, 2004 Share Posted May 29, 2004 always shop around. if you're willing to purchase the parts for your computer and build it yourself, i recommend buying them online. pricewatch.com usualy has the cheapest prices here in the US... but i'm not sure about your location. check it out anyway. good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest user Posted May 30, 2004 Share Posted May 30, 2004 WIth your budget I'd go for AMD instead. THe FPU's are faster, Even a 1800mhz duron can run more "average dsp calculations" than a p4 2400 (tested 2 pc's) Get a Barton 2500+, u can OC a good sample to ?2200mhz with pretty much default voltage and above average aircooling. Costs alot less and has better mobo choices as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peep Posted May 30, 2004 Share Posted May 30, 2004 I would recommend Barton 3000+ 'cause it has 400mhz fsb, afaik it makes difference compared to 2500+ 333mhz. But the choise is yours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest user Posted May 31, 2004 Share Posted May 31, 2004 For floating point calculations, a cpu running 10x100Mhz is exactly as fast as a 5x200Mhz one. FSB is really not an issue unless u're a gamer orsmt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peep Posted May 31, 2004 Share Posted May 31, 2004 Ok, thank you for info. I'm really not so informed about this FSB hype. Have some links to research? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest IneAx Posted June 27, 2004 Share Posted June 27, 2004 One thing to keep in mind when it comes to producing music.... if you have a very high-end graphics card It will suck up alot of your processing power that could be used for music processing instead of making your display look pretty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest HILLTOP82(When the shit h Posted July 7, 2004 Share Posted July 7, 2004 Im sure by now you got a PC. Ive got a Imac (old 500mgz), I make cool music on it... and its pretty smooth... Although it started to smell funny recentrly.. I think its gonne start to burn or something eventually... (its 5 years old now...) My point is, you dont really need all the fancy schmanzy... I think that is a big hype... I am sure you got 90% of all these guys with Nord lead hardware etc and big speakers that have no sense for the Sweet melody whatsoever...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Matt Lord Posted July 16, 2004 Share Posted July 16, 2004 With That budget, and owning (paid) software for PC ... stick with it. PC's and Mac both allow you to write your masterpiece. Remember, you cant buy talent. However, If you ever in the future you have the money to buy a decent Mac, do it, and only then you will know the difference in the 'journey'. A ex Winblows user. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jono Posted August 5, 2004 Share Posted August 5, 2004 Hi, I think that it is a personal thing as both a PC and a MAC will do what you want and that being even a e-mac. With your budget and you want to use legit software the mac would come with quite a bit of software for the $$$$. But you might already have quite a lot of PC software you want to use and if that is the case it is a no brainer go with a PC. The mac will be built well last a longer time and be easy to use but if you already have aPC you will know how it works and this will also allow you an upgrade bath but of couse this will cost more $$$ down the track. I think that if you do go with a PC go with Win XP as os and go with a Pentium 4 with a mother board with a intel chipset. The Intel CPU's encode music faster then AMD's and this is what you will want for music. Also look at a diffrent Sound card to soundblaster as they are good for games and movies but only average for music production. Look around at music store that sells professional sound equipment as this is were you will be able to find a good sound card. But if all of this sounds like it is getting to much for you just go and buy a mac as it will do all that you need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zee_werp Posted November 13, 2004 Share Posted November 13, 2004 Thanks for all the advice guys. I just got the machine a couple of weeks ago. Here's what I ended up getting: Leadtek Nforce2 Micro-ATX motherboard Athalon XP Barton 3000+ CPU 160Gb 7200.2 IDE Seagate Barracuda HD 1024Mb Adata PC3200 DDR 400 memory Creative Audigy2 Soundcard (24bit advanced HD, 192kHz, 106dB SNR) CD-RW / DVD combo drive Windows XP OS I know that the soundard isn't the best, but I got a good deal on it, and looking at a few reviews on the internet of that versus the M-Audio, it really doesn't seem too bad. I'll upgrade when I have some spare cash. Does anyone have any tips or advice on optimising this machine? I'm about to get Reason and Cubase and a bunch of samples, I'm still just using FLstudio 4 until then. Can anyone reccomend me some good plugins (VSTs) to get? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slyde Posted November 13, 2004 Share Posted November 13, 2004 Mac > PC Linux > Windows (not so much for audio, video tho) I have just used too much other stuff to even consider Windows an option anymore Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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