Core 2 Duo DAW ?

[lukejs]

Hi..Can you please recomnend a Motherboard and Ram for a Core 2 Duo based DAW ? I´d like the fastest memory possible, and SATA2 hard drives.... Anyone recommend something that will be stable, and fast ? I figure that since the core 2 duo operates with a system bus of 1066 mhz, then I should get 1066 mhz DDR2 ?? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks !! LUke

[George Necola]

http://gearslutz.com/board/showthread.php?t=115477

[lukejs]

Originally Posted by George Necola

DESCRIBE YOUR COMPUTERSYSTEM HERE! - Gearslutz.com

Thanks for the thread !!

[George Necola]

no prob

[Ashofapheonix]

For Core 2's I am recommending mostly the D975XBX2KR. Industry quality is at an all time low, and I have found this motherboard has had the best reliability as far as performance goes. The motherboard Raid Controller is not that great, and I would not use it, this is not a issue if your not using RAID. The board has integrated Texas Instruments fire (ONLY THE RETAIL BOX Version Serial is BOXD975XBX2KR avoid the LADD975...).




For powersupply, I like higherend Antec True Power Trios, and Neopowers, these are manufatured by Seasonics, so I'd look into those. Enermax and PC Power Cooling are good. For Core 2 setups your looking at 430watt PSU at a minimum, I'd highly recommend 550watt. The average Core 2 System uses about 400watts of power this is with out extras like UAD Cards or Power Core. Power Supply is a big source of instability.

Memory wise price to performance DDR-2 667 is the choice for Core 2. You gain little performance by 800 and many motherboards don't support 1066. Most DDR-2 800 memory sticks are overclocked DDR-2 667 chips to begin with. 1.8V and Cas 5 is the standard DDR-2 spec, and should be supported by all motherboards. The performance benifit from higher memory on Core 2 is little and not worth while investment.

As far as the rest goes you may want too look into the Antec Solo/P180/P150 Series of Cases. The P150 comes with a Neo Power 430watt. These cases have internal acoustic dampening, and are designed for silence. The stock fan is quite loud, so I'd trash it, for a Vantec Stealth fan or Zalman Case fan.

Best of luck to you. Do research though, make sure you understand fundamentals of how computer components work together and not buy parts blindly.

Also Windows Vista is not ready for prime time, I highly recommend sticking with XP until there are more vista drivers and software compatible with vista this should occur with in the next 6 months. But till then stay XP.