Time to Upgrade, Where do i Start?

[Bloodz]

This is what i have to date:

1.3 ghz Amd Athlon 1800 1 gig ram, 2 hard drives (80 gig, 120 gig), Uad-1 ver 3.4, windows XP, Roland Vm3100 studio pack with RPC-1, Cubase sx 2.2, reason 2.5. Basically, it is time to upgrade my VM3100 pro mixer and soundcard to individual components and also give my pc a facelift.

Should i make my first move by upgrading to a decent soundcard (looks like RME or Lynx2) or start with the computer? I heard you should pick your card and then find what chip will work best with that particular soundcard. I also have the noisiest computer on the planet, i think it could compete with a 747 at times, I thaught a new antec case might help? I have changed all the fans to quiet "whisper" fans if there is such a thing but they seem to be shouting just as loud as the old fans. I will be upgrading from this online store http://www.memoryexpress.com/

Bloodz

[chadly]

#1-

Quietpc.com. That should be your first step to getting a quieter machine. You might have the same fans as what they sell, but check their power supplies and quiet drive systems. I sprung for their for their graphics card fanless heat sink. If it moves in a PC, it makes noise. (Quiet PC usually has DB ratings on their products, too!)


Secondly- Start with your preferred sound card, what I've found time and time again that the MOTU and Digi stuff always plays well with Intel chipsets and processors. (Not for sure about RME and others. . . ) I'm not knocking the AMD world at all, I've just found that almost every install/help me I'm going to shoot myself call seems to have the AMD word in it. Make sure before you pull the trigger and get your mobo that the interface manufacturer supports it!
(It sucks because I'm an AMD believer for about everything else . . .)

[Blinddot]

IMHO these are points you should bear in mind:

Intel CPU + Intel Chipset = No problems with any audio interface

Asus P4C800 E-deluxe (motherboard) rocks

Matrox Millenium P650 (silent graphics card) rocks (especially with cubase/nuendo if you do sound to picture)

Zalman CNPS7000A AlCu (silent CPU cooler) rocks! (the copper one weights too much for moving the PC around)

Yesico fanless powersuplies rock

SILENT-DRIVES (From QuietPC.com) rock

RME HDSP 9652 Rocks!


paz

[Bloodz]

you rock!

Thanks man, thats the kind of posts i was hoping to receive. I appreciate it and will check out your recomendations.