Guide to configuring pc

retrograde · 27th July 2005

Can anyone recommend a decent article or website with suggestions to optimize a pc for use as a daw. A friend who is a mac user is setting up his first studio pc.

Thanks
Geoff

hammerfall · 27th July 2005

The mac guy is setting up a windows pc, right? it's so confusing using the generic term "PC".

I think this is quite a useful resource for the windows pc:
http://www.musicxp.net/tuning_tips.php

theblue1 · 28th July 2005

MusicXP is a good source. Another, more generalized source is: http://www.tweakxp.com

And, of course, Google is an utterly invaluable tool for tracking down the function of mystery processes. (Although some of the "What is this driver/file?" sites are notorious for hosting those hideous "Your computer is infected!" pop-ups. You've been forewarned. And forewarned is forearmed. And in this world, you can't have too many arms... )

If he buys an off the shelf PC from a major vendor the chances are it will have an enormous mountain of crapware bogging it down right out of the box. (Everything from blatant local machine adware to completely unnecessary wizards and helpers that are typically far more confusing and hard to use than Windows itself. And then, all too often, all kinds of drivers and processes that are loaded into the boot profile just in case they might be needed someday.)

It's not uncommon to find Joe Sixpack's computer with 45 or 50 processes up and running... sort of. Depending on your system, 5-25 processes is a far more desirable target range for a general use computer. And if you're ruthless, you can get the number of processes loaded at bootup down to as little as 3 or 4 [or even one or two if you can forgo things like, you know, the GUI], depending on your setup -- although that's fairly extreme.

Zarathustra · 28th July 2005

Do your friend a favor and throw the PC out a 3rd story window onto his car.
With the money he'll get from insurance he can buy another Mac!

Z

manning1 · 29th July 2005

retrograde...
to save me retyping read thru' my back posts over past year. lots of tips.
remember to overspec the power supply for future expansion.
a common mistake is bad cheap power supplies.
and preferably keep pci slots free except for the sound card if your using a pci sound card. where people go wrong is they put a slew of devices in slots which can tend to lock out the sound card.
look carefully at an amd 64 with 512 (preferably 1 gig)....ram minimum, and two hard drives on their own channels. preferably with 8 mb cache.... watch out for rogue power supplies. i'm also impressed with intel centrinos.

retrograde · 29th July 2005

Thanks for all the responses; I've passed all recommendations on to my buddy.

Geoff

retrograde · 29th July 2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by hammerfall

The mac guy is setting up a windows pc, right? it's so confusing using the generic term "PC".

I think this is quite a useful resource for the windows pc:
http://www.musicxp.net/tuning_tips.php

Yes, it will be a windows pc. (xp pro I believe)

Geoff

entropy · 29th July 2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zarathustra

Do your friend a favor and throw the PC out a 3rd story window onto his car.
With the money he'll get from insurance he can buy another Mac!

Z

osci · 30th July 2005

I just have to say that what is with the pc bashing in this thread ? I use both mac and pc and for some things the PC DAW kicks my Powermac's ass all over my house.

Ack!

Sorry one to many "My mac is better than your Pc" threads today.

DeadPoet · 30th July 2005

Blackviper's site is excellent for explaining what winslows' services do.

http://www.blackviper.com (actually down for the moment, mirror on: http://dhost.info/kyeu/mirror/blackviper/ )

Herwig

27th July 2005	#1
retrograde Gear maniac Joined: Jun 2003 Location: Northern Virginia Posts: 183 Thread Starter	Guide to configuring pc Can anyone recommend a decent article or website with suggestions to optimize a pc for use as a daw. A friend who is a mac user is setting up his first studio pc. Thanks Geoff

29th July 2005	#6
retrograde Gear maniac Joined: Jun 2003 Location: Northern Virginia Posts: 183 Thread Starter	thanks to all Thanks for all the responses; I've passed all recommendations on to my buddy. Geoff

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27th July 2005	#2
hammerfall Gear Head Joined: Jun 2005 Location: Ohio Posts: 57	The mac guy is setting up a windows pc, right? it's so confusing using the generic term "PC". I think this is quite a useful resource for the windows pc: http://www.musicxp.net/tuning_tips.php

28th July 2005	#3
theblue1 Gear Guru Joined: Mar 2005 Location: Long Beach, CA Posts: 15,095	MusicXP is a good source. Another, more generalized source is: http://www.tweakxp.com And, of course, Google is an utterly invaluable tool for tracking down the function of mystery processes. (Although some of the "What is this driver/file?" sites are notorious for hosting those hideous "Your computer is infected!" pop-ups. You've been forewarned. And forewarned is forearmed. And in this world, you can't have too many arms... ) If he buys an off the shelf PC from a major vendor the chances are it will have an enormous mountain of crapware bogging it down right out of the box. (Everything from blatant local machine adware to completely unnecessary wizards and helpers that are typically far more confusing and hard to use than Windows itself. And then, all too often, all kinds of drivers and processes that are loaded into the boot profile just in case they might be needed someday.) It's not uncommon to find Joe Sixpack's computer with 45 or 50 processes up and running... sort of. Depending on your system, 5-25 processes is a far more desirable target range for a general use computer. And if you're ruthless, you can get the number of processes loaded at bootup down to as little as 3 or 4 [or even one or two if you can forgo things like, you know, the GUI], depending on your setup -- although that's fairly extreme.

28th July 2005	#4
Zarathustra 3 + infractions, forum membership suspended. Joined: Dec 2004 Posts: 367	Do your friend a favor and throw the PC out a 3rd story window onto his car. With the money he'll get from insurance he can buy another Mac! Z

29th July 2005	#5
manning1 Lives for gear Joined: May 2004 Location: canada Posts: 3,998	retrograde... to save me retyping read thru' my back posts over past year. lots of tips. remember to overspec the power supply for future expansion. a common mistake is bad cheap power supplies. and preferably keep pci slots free except for the sound card if your using a pci sound card. where people go wrong is they put a slew of devices in slots which can tend to lock out the sound card. look carefully at an amd 64 with 512 (preferably 1 gig)....ram minimum, and two hard drives on their own channels. preferably with 8 mb cache.... watch out for rogue power supplies. i'm also impressed with intel centrinos.

30th July 2005	#9
osci Gear nut Joined: Mar 2005 Posts: 91	I just have to say that what is with the pc bashing in this thread ? I use both mac and pc and for some things the PC DAW kicks my Powermac's ass all over my house. Ack! Sorry one to many "My mac is better than your Pc" threads today.

30th July 2005	#10
DeadPoet Lives for gear Joined: Apr 2003 Location: Belgium Posts: 1,285	Blackviper's site is excellent for explaining what winslows' services do. http://www.blackviper.com (actually down for the moment, mirror on: http://dhost.info/kyeu/mirror/blackviper/ ) Herwig