I think I am the opposite of many who post here. They have a lot of money to spend and they want the latest greatest parts for their pcs. I on the other hand have very little money and want to make a small to moderate jump in performance. Here’s the story:
I have an old PC (PII266, 440bx mobo, 384 pc100, scsi HD,etc.) that I use exclusively for recording and mixing audio (Soundforge, Acid, Logic 4.8). It has been “dying” intermittently for about 6mths now. By dying I mean that it will not power up at all. It will not make a sound except that of me hitting the on/off switch. Even though it has come back to life and even though it more or less gets the job done. I want to upgrade but I am on a very tight budget ($250 dollars or so).
Luckily my goals for the new system are modest.
1) I want moderate compatibility forwards (cpu, etc.) and backwards (for my fireport 40 scsi card, and other PCI parts)
2) Minimal overclocking capabilities would be nice but I am not really into all of that.
3) Firewire and USB are a must (not much to ask)
4) Networking would be nice as well but not mandatory
So far I am thinking about a P4 2.4-ish processor (or maybe athlon xp 2400) and new (faster) ram. I get confused by all of the different bus speeds and the memory types and what is the best price performance ratio.
My hope is that my current system is so dated that ANYTHING will seem great. I want to go with safe choices and stability and ease of setup. Please let me know if you need more info. I appreciate any and all help. I have read so much information on this lately I am a little overwhelmed. I would appreciate any clarity. Thanks in advance.
sean
I have an old PC (PII266, 440bx mobo, 384 pc100, scsi HD,etc.) that I use exclusively for recording and mixing audio (Soundforge, Acid, Logic 4.8). It has been “dying” intermittently for about 6mths now. By dying I mean that it will not power up at all. It will not make a sound except that of me hitting the on/off switch. Even though it has come back to life and even though it more or less gets the job done. I want to upgrade but I am on a very tight budget ($250 dollars or so).
Luckily my goals for the new system are modest.
1) I want moderate compatibility forwards (cpu, etc.) and backwards (for my fireport 40 scsi card, and other PCI parts)
2) Minimal overclocking capabilities would be nice but I am not really into all of that.
3) Firewire and USB are a must (not much to ask)
4) Networking would be nice as well but not mandatory
So far I am thinking about a P4 2.4-ish processor (or maybe athlon xp 2400) and new (faster) ram. I get confused by all of the different bus speeds and the memory types and what is the best price performance ratio.
My hope is that my current system is so dated that ANYTHING will seem great. I want to go with safe choices and stability and ease of setup. Please let me know if you need more info. I appreciate any and all help. I have read so much information on this lately I am a little overwhelmed. I would appreciate any clarity. Thanks in advance.
sean