What is wise and what is not... new PC !

[Big_Bang]

Guys!

Need your help once more. It is just sooooo hard to keep up these day...

I'd like to build a modest PC to have at home. My workhorse laptop is dying on me - been so brave for so long... will have its proper burrial

Dual booting for light gaming, websurfing, forum diving, etc - The other boot for songwriting + taking work home with me, all things audio.

I'd like to invest on something modest with loads of ram for those heavy drum samples. A good upgrade route, but I dont know if I am ready to cash out for i7.

Its the whole line of C2D, C2Q etc that is confusing me ALOT.

From what i have gathered, if I choose a mobo for any C2, I will not be able to upgrade to core i7, right?

is Ci7 really worth it ?

Final question. How do I go abouts knowing if any give mobo has Texas Instrument FW chipset and Oxford USB chipsets... this is quite important right? Running a Fireface 800.

Will be using XP SP3, budget around 500€, but in a year's time, I'd like it to be worth 3x that in parts (from RAM to UAD, to newer processor, etc)

thank you !!!

[euphoria89]

The 775 platform is limited in terms of upgrades now that i7 is out, and i5 around the corner. However, in terms of performance, a 775 Quad is pretty damn fast by most standards, and should last you at least another couple of years, if not more.

i7 is expensive, but top of the range always has been. Thankfully there are a few more motherboards around with varied prices, so you can get yourself a decent i7 setup for a relatively modest price.

In all honestly, you'd be better going i7 if you can afford it, simply because the price of the platform is dropping and will be the standard platform for many years to come. For the moment and for most people, an i7 is a little overkill, but at least you know you have a good upgrade path for many years to come.

[KEYBEEETSSS]

Hello Sir

So as far as loads of ram goes, of course a 32bit system will only see 4gig & although some are running it, most DAWS aren't supported when it comes to 64bit as of yet but I'm sure that will change soon...

Core2 duo is 2 processors & quad of course is 4 processors so that will play a part in CPU power... A Core2 dou with the right mobo can really get u going but in honestly with the being so cheap now I'd @least start with a quad if u aren't ready to go i7 yet(I have a Core 2duo & i7 & while my Core2 is great @ handling things there's not much of anything that can compete with the i7)...

U definitely can not just upgrade to an i7 from anything; it takes a mobo that runs DDR3 only an can withhold the CPU so if u decide i7 later then u'd pretty much have to start again with the exception of PCI cards & things like that... Even the drives should be 32m cache drives which u probably wouldn't have now so that would be another thing...

is the i7 worth it?... if ur running PT, does an average of 400+ dverbs in a dverb test(& this is the new PT8 dverb) which is more than an HD8 rig can run being that an HD Accel card will do 38 TDM Dverbs per card & an HD Core card will do 28 TDM Dverbs per card using the same benchmark. So the answer is YESSS its worth it...

[Big_Bang]

well... (first off, thanks for answering!)

Actually I dont think so. From what I gathered, is it prety certain that i7 (or i5 which is the first time I have heard of it) will be the new standard...?

If so, then I'd be better off spending 500€ now, and in 1-2 year period seriously invest in a good PC to last me years to come.

I am not a huge gamer, nor will I be mixing the next feature film blockbuster. I need good, efficient ram and processor and good mobo to be stable (FW, USB) so I can sit down and create ... or take work home (editing, pre-production stages, light recording, etc).

Ok, so if I assume correct, what is bang for buck right now?

(and how do I know the FW chipsets etc?)

[jcschild]

depends on your work flow.
Core i7 is by far faster than anything n(other than dual core i7 Xeon)
core i5 (cheaper slower main stream) not yet out and who cares anyway.

the price point is nominal bewtween Quad core like Q9550 and a Core i7 920.
less than $200
foolish to not unless on that tight of budget.

Scott
ADK

[KEYBEEETSSS]

Originally Posted by jcschild

foolish to not unless on that tight of budget.

Scott
ADK

& to me if its that tight then ur risking the spend either way so u may as well do it

[Big_Bang]

Good point.

Thanks gents.

Will crunch some numbers to see what's rockin'...

[KEYBEEETSSS]

Koolz...