Ableton DAW Build

[charliephogg]

Hi, this is my first post

I am researching components for my first custom built DAW computer, and I need help. It seems like there is a lot of change happening towards Dual, X2, and 64bit processors. I have qualified friends to help me with the actual building and troubleshooting.

I have $1,000 to spend on the mobo, processor, case/pwrsupply, and ram.

I use Ableton Live 5 as my DAW/Sequencer. Occasionally I use Reason 2.5 rewired in, and some 3rd party VST synths and Plugins.

None of this software takes advantage of dual processors, or runs on Windows64, or any of that. So the most sensible plan is to stay single processor, and get the best mobo+processor+ram I can afford.

I plan on upgrading my current MaudioOzonic soundcard to an EMU1820M, Mackie 400f, or Terratec EWS8+ PCI.

Any perspective or help you can offer is appreciated. I really need suggestions on combinations of components that work well together, current bargains, etc. My mind gets a bit fried after looking at a bunch of specs I don't understand.

:)

[itsplayed]

My vote would be to go for the ASUS A8V MoBo w/ AMD Athlon64 CPU and 2X1gb sticks of ram. This leaves you with a MoBo that is capable of upgrading to the X2 if the need ever arrives.

ASUS A8V (MoBo)..........................................$ 70.00
AMD Athlon 64 4000+ San Diego (CPU)..............$335.00
CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) (Ram)...................$195.00
Antec Performance I P180 (Case)......................$125.00
SeaSonic S12-430 (PSU).................................$ 97.00
Thermaltake CL-P0257 Blue orb II (CPU cooler).....$ 43.00

Total:............................................ ...............$865.00

* You never mentioned anything about hard drives, so I'm assuming you have that covered. You'll want at least 2. I would suggest using 1 PATA drive for the OS and Apps. on your primary IDE channel, use the secondary IDE channel for your optical drives and use SATA drives for Audio, Samples and system backup.

[charliephogg]

Excellent! Thank you for the breakdown with prices.

I really need a case that will lay on it's side. I know rackmount cases are very expensive, and I don't need to rackmount it. Any suggestions, or considerations with a horizontal case?

I take the computer to gigs, for live looping, and I cram it into an 88 Keyboard Case.

[charliephogg]

I see now that the cases I'm looking for are called Media Center Cases. The Antec Overture II looks good, and comes with a 450w Smartpower PS.

Can I still use that Thermaltake Blue Orb with a case like that?

[itsplayed]

I wouldn't be so quick as to lay a computer on it's side. Hard drives are not meant to spin on their sides and by doing so will most likely shorten it's lifespan. Most optical drives are not meant to spin on there sides as well and by doing so may cause errors with both reading and writing tasks, there are exceptions. There are fairly cheap rackmount cases avaiable....from about $70.00. and up. If this is a mobile setup, I'd suggest a rackmout unit housed in a mobile rack case. As your budget allows you can get rack specific devices that will make life easier, such as this slide out rack drawer that sports both monitor and keyboard....... http://store.yahoo.com/rackmountmart/lcd1u11urac11.html
You can also save yourself about $50.00 by going with mid grade ram package in lieu of the high performance ram. If you don't plan on manually setting ram timings or overclocking, this would make more sense.

[Budokai140]

How about a build for a laptop? Recommendations?

[itsplayed]

How about a build for a laptop? Recommendations?

I would recommend purchasing a notebook from a DAW builder. What's your budget? Do you have a soundcard in mind?
http://www.audioforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13819

[charliephogg]

I would not put a tower on its side, especially for my long term needs. The Antec Overture II media center will keep the drives correctly positioned I believe.

Itsplayed, do you think the included 450w Power supply will be sufficient with the Asus A8V Motherboard? It also has the dual 12V lines, like the SeaSonic.

The Seasonic is rated at 430w, but it seems like a very high quality powersupply Maybe I can afford a Lian Li A800 media center case, and the SeasonicS12-430 (hopefully it will fit!)

I was searching the Ableton board the other day, and there seems to be some consensus that the next version of Ableton Live will support dual processors! My tech saavy buddy is adamant that a single processor system is not a good choice because they will be phased out or not made anymore. Of course he didn't hesistate to reccomend that I buy his 3mo old 3ghz Sony Viao single processor laptop, and that he wants to sell it because he will get a dual processor laptop. It's amazing that the Asus A8V Mobo will support both single and dual processors!

I'm getting really exited out this. I'm still thinking that even though everything is going toward dual processors, that the Asus A8V+AMD 4000+ you suggested will be a killer, stable system that will meet my needs for a few years at least.

[itsplayed]

Yes, although the Antec 450w Smartpower 2.0 supply isn't as efficient or as silent as the Seasonic it is more than capable of running that DAW. The system I recommended would be very strong and stable. If you decided to go for a firewire interface, you will also need to get a 1394 add-in card as well.

[Budokai140]

I would recommend purchasing a notebook from a DAW builder. What's your budget? Do you have a soundcard in mind?
http://www.audioforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13819

Had a gateway picked, forget the actual # of the model.

Basically - 1.83 Pentium M duo core
- 2 gig ram
-intel integrated graphics (no dedicated card :( )
-80 gig HD i think it was only 5400

came to about $1700

thats the basics.

Glad youre a knowledgable one itsplayed :)

[charliephogg]

I know that I need a video card, but video performance is very low on my priorities.

Can the video card affect the performance of my DAW? I'm still researching on how to know if the card will work with the A8V motherboard, and what the cheapest one is.

[itsplayed]

The short answer is yes it can. The best cards to use for that DAW are from Matrox. The cheapest would be something like a GeForce FX5200 that's been proven to be a fairly good performer in a DAW.

[charliephogg]

The short answer is yes it can. The best cards to use for that DAW are from Matrox. .

Does it matter if its AGP or PCI with this system?

[charliephogg]

The short answer is yes it can. The best cards to use for that DAW are from Matrox. .
Does it matter if it's AGP or PCI on this system?

[itsplayed]

Yes AGP is what you want, an AGP port provides a dedicated point-to-point connection from the graphics card to the CPU.

[charliephogg]

great! the AGP options seem cheaper too. I found a Matrox AGP video card for under 90$. I was emailing with a local custom gaming PC builder and he told me that an AGP card would not work on the A8V, and that only a PCI-E card would work. I'm pretty sure thats false, as I read on another thread that the A8V does support the AGP.

thanks again

[itsplayed]

Yes, the A8V uses an AGP port for it's graphics interface...not PCI-E. That's a good price on the Matrox card, do you know which model it is?

[charliephogg]

That's a good price on the Matrox card, do you know which model it is?

matrox G45FMDHA32DB-WB G450 32MB DDR AGP 2X/4X Video Card - Retail
86$ at newegg.com


I found this nice system on Craigslist with an AMD 3500+ venice w/512k L2 cache that I may be able to bargain for $550;

Motherboard: ASUS A8v-Deluxe
CPu: AMD Athlon64 3500+(2.2Ghz), 512k Cache, 939pin (Venice Core)
Ram: 1GB
Case/PS: Raidmax Acriyllic Clear Case or Raidmax X1
DvD-Rw: Sony
Dvd-Rom: Samsung
Video: Brand New in Box, Asus 64MB
Hard drive: Maxtor 250GB
Windows Xp Sp2 / w Office 2003 Professional ($300 Value)

how would the lower 512k cache affect my performance?

[itsplayed]

Looks like a good deal on that system. Here's another for the Matrox G550....
http://www.compuvest.com/Search.jsp?Search=G55+MDHA32DB&advsite=bizrate
However, if you can afford to do so, the P650 is the one to get.

[charliephogg]

You never mentioned anything about hard drives, so I'm assuming you have that covered. You'll want at least 2. I would suggest using 1 PATA drive for the OS and Apps. on your primary IDE channel, use the secondary IDE channel for your optical drives and use SATA drives for Audio, Samples and system backup.

A PATA drive is an IDE drive right? Ableton Live does a lot of direct from disc streaming of large audio files. Would it be worth it to spring for a 10,000 RPM drive? Would it make more sense to put the fastest drive on the primary IDE, or the SATA audio drive?

[itsplayed]

Yes, the PATA drive is an IDE drive. Leave the OS and Apps. on this drive cabled to the Primary IDE controller port. On the Secondary IDE port, cable your optical drives, ie.CD-Rom, CD-RW, DVD-RW, etc. IMHO a 10,000rpm drive will only give you more noise, any performance benefit would be minor.
Use your SATA drives for samples and audio.

[charliephogg]

I've been going over the performance tests for Ableton Live. And although Live does not use Dual Processing, People are getting better results with the X2 processor. They aren't getting significantly higher benchmark scores, but they are able to go up to 90+% of the ableton CPU meter without audio glitches. While a single processor can only get to 70+% without any audio glitches.

I'm wondering if an X2 4400+ Toledo 2.2ghz Dual Core would be worth the $130+ more?

Also,

You can also save yourself about $50.00 by going with mid grade ram package in lieu of the high performance ram. If you don't plan on manually setting ram timings or overclocking, this would make more sense.

Do you reccomend overclocking processor and RAM. I can research how to do it, but is it advisable for audio applications?

[itsplayed]

I certainly believe that the X2 is worth the extra money, even if your App. doesn't yet fully use all the benefits of the dual core processor. Windows itself will certainly like it and everthing will feel snapier.
Overclocking is overated in my opinion and should be avoided unless your comfortable in doing so. There are those that have perfected this into an artform and a very good at getting the most out of their systems while keeping it stable. This does put added stress on those componants, thus you run the risk of shortening their lifespans. Using high performance ram and overclocking is great in gaming machines but I have yet to see any significant benefits by doing so to a DAW, if their are any, I'm not aware of them and have not seen any benchmark results to back up any claim to it.

[charliephogg]

Once again Craigslist taunts me with freshly made custom PC's...

look at this one:

Specs: Processor: Intel Xeon 3.2E Ghz 2mb cashe 800 mhz FSB 64-bit ( "Reliability without compromise" -intel.com.) Mother Board: Tyan S2676UANRF Dual/Single processor compatible Ram: 2 GB Hard Drive: (2) Seagate Cheetah 10K 73GB U320 SCSI Drives ( 146 GB in total these are outlandishly fast ) (1) Maxtor 60 GB IDE Modle 94167H6 Video Card: ATI FireGL V3100 128MB (supports dual monitors) Drives: CD-RW and DVD Case: 4U Rackmount EJ-419 Power Supply: CoolMax CR550B, 550 Watt, w/ adjustable fan speed OS: Windows XP MONITORS: DELL 17" LCD

I've spent a lot of time learning all about AMD systems and I'm only waiting to aquire the Monitor and Soundcard before I buy the system itsplayed reccomended. This Xeon system is a single processer system built specifically for audio/CubaseSX in a nice 4sp Rack case/550w PS, but it can be upgraded to dual Xeon. What is the scoop with Intel, is it just more cost effective than AMD? Would this system be a good bang for the buck against a Toledo 4400+/A8V system?

I know that IDE 10k rpm drives were said to be not worth the dough, but what about these SCSI 10k rpm drives?

my AMD Toledo 4400 system with monitor will cost me $1400

This Xeon 3.2ghz system w/monitor is $1650

[itsplayed]

The Bottom line.......AMD outperforms intel running Cubase.

[Bops2000]

I use the Matrox millenium p650 on 2 syncmaster 17" lcds(samsung- gota deal), I love the monitors as far as eye fatigue, the matrox is only '64 bit'- ?, (no clue what that means in the scheme of things).

I think it's the card though, as I have a samsung at work (day job), and my eyes get tired faster, (perhaps it's all those flash porno sites I visit... kidding folks)

[charliephogg]

I can't find the Matrox P650 anywhere right now

Is the P750 the same deal/quality?

[itsplayed]

The P750 is newer, quality is either the same or better, but I don't believe it's fanless.

[Bops2000]

Yea I would think so, the actually can run 2 monitors and a video out, I think, sheesh I run video, and just realized that....
I think I paid about $180 for the 650, but it looks
like the 750 is around $210, perhaps the gurus can steer you further.
New egg has it here..
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814106154

[charliephogg]

I finally have my money together for this system

My wish lists are all ready roll at Newegg.com

I need help deciding which drives to get though.

I'm leaning towards a 120gig ATA100 for the system, and a 250gig SATA for audio.

I've always used Western Digital Caviar with no trouble, but I'm tempted to go with Seagate. The WD has a lower seek time, and is cheaper... the Seagate has the 5 year warranty, and great reputation.

Any thoughts on Drive Sizes for the System/Audio?

I plan on partitioning the 120gig system drive into a 10g/100g and putting the system on the small inner partition.

[charliephogg]

I purchased the components for this system last night from Newegg and I feel damn good about it.:p

CASE ANTEC | OVERTURE 2 BLK Silent Media Center w/450w Pwr supply
MOBO ASUS A8V K8T800 PRO 939
CPU AMD X2 4400+ 2.2Ghz 2x1MB L2 Cache
RAM 2x1G |ADATA Value
Matrox P650 Dual Head Video Card
Seagate 120G IDE HD
Seagate 200G SATA HD
3 PT FIREWIRE/1394 PCI -
DVD+/-RW NEC ND-3550A
20.1" Sceptre Widescreen LCD Refurb
TRACKBALL KENSINGTON| 64325 !!!
Thermaltake Blue Orb CPU Cooler

Big big big thanks to itsplayed! This thread has gotten some major viewage, and I think there are probably a lot of Ableton users who have used this and even purchased a very similar system.

As far as the audio card. This was originally built around getting either the RME Fireface 800, or if available by mid may, the Fireface 400. I am now back on the fence, and am considering the new Focusrite Saffire 26 I/O which is the non DSP interface using the new DiceII firewire chip.

[itsplayed]

Your very much welcome charliephogg, I'm sure you'll be more than satisfied with your new rig.....cheers!

[87PRS]

just wanted to pipe in and thank itsplayed also for the valuable knowledge here, really opened my eyes to what a real DAW is suppose to compose. my future thoughts of hooking up my present computer are out the window. also, thanks to charliephogg for starting this thread, if you get the new focusrite 24 i/o, please post on it, thanks.

[Reteeks]

I have read plenty of the information presented in the forum and have found it all quite useful. I am in the same boat as charliephogg was in. I am looking to build a DAW, and love the specs that charliephogg went with, however I wanted to know if it's possible to build a rig that could do video editing as well as play the occasional vidoe game such as FEAR. Any suggestions or comments would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks.

[itsplayed]

Yes you can, I would suggest going with a triple boot setup, keeping Audio/Video/Gaming seperated. Have additional dedicated hard drives for both audio and video files.

To 87PRS thanks, I'm glad to hear you find my postings helpful....cheers!

[Reteeks]

Hi It's played
Thanks for the reply! How would a triple boot set-up work? I have limited knowledge of cpu so I don't quite understand what you mean. I also wanted to inquire about the video card. I would like to run a pci-e 256mb card for the gaming aspect yet I am reading that you should go with the Matrox 64mb card for audio. So my question would be what card could you suggest for gaming and audio?
Thanks again...

[itsplayed]

Triple boot: Three seperate partitions on the main drive, each with it's own install of XP. You'll be given the choice as to which OS you want run at boot up. On one will be your DAW, another for video and the next for games.

I would strongly urge you to consider going with an NForce3 board w/AGP interface, if you must go with a PCI-E based mobo, a good choice here seems to be the ASUS A8N-SLI and AMD X2 although you'll need to keep the audio buffer setting higher than you would on a NF3 board. Most users have no issues with this setup, a lot depends on your needs and how hard you'll be pushing the system.

As far as PCI-E graphics cards go, I know of a few running with the GeForce 6800 and the MoBo mentioned above with success.

[Reteeks]

Thanks It's played, I understand now. What soundcard could you recommend? I will be using the following gear...

behringer MX 1604A
Korg M1 (for Midi)
AKG condenser mic
Shure sm58
Various guitars
Marshall Valvestate Amp.

Thanks again

[itsplayed]

A lot will depend on your needs as well as your budget. How many I/O's do you need at once, do you need a Midi interface as well, Mic pres....etc.

[andycraze]

go olong and have a surf on the internet and look for some tests for processors. i remember i had a look at one and the intel pentium D dual core kicked the asses of dual xenons even...not to say amd 64s. 64bit is just in development for now but dual core is very very hot, especially in building a music workstation. i would get a intel pentium D with asus mainboard and corsair ram if it was to build my desktop workstation. but it's your choice. i always had intel and i look at amd as the company that wanted to reach intel's standards, olso a few years ago amd's processors, even admited by amd, are clocked to the maximum that they can support fizically, as with intel you can boost the frequencies a bit and still work fine, i guess that extra bit of boossting that intel didn't choose to do is for extra security. anyway take notice of dual core and hyper threading as they play a very important role even if you think tha applications are not optimised for it they do make a difference. take a look at tests around the net.

ooo...and if you're looking at laptops...get a dell !!! the best built i have ever seen, errr...and get...centrino duo !!! :D

[andycraze]

ooo...just read the components that you bought,

good choice for the dual core amd, may you enjoy it to the maxxxx...:cool:

[Reteeks]

A lot will depend on your needs as well as your budget. How many I/O's do you need at once, do you need a Midi interface as well, Mic pres....etc.

I don't have a huge budget by any means LOL. I will be doing guitar and vocal recording. At most maybe two guitarists playing at the same time. So I don't require a lot of inputs. I have the eurorack sound board which has phantom power for the condenser mic, I was thinking of plugin everything into the mixer than to my cpu. I will also be using midi so I will need a midi hook up. My goal is to use my studio to get new ideas down and record a few demos. I will be programming drum sequences to play along with using Jammer pro or Band in the Box. If I come up with a good song that I like I will then hire pro musicians to lay down the tracks at a pro studio.

So any thoughts on a sound card that might be adequate for my needs...?thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[charliephogg]

My machine is all put together, and I named it "Badger". It's just plain beautiful with the slick black case and the glowing Blue Orb II Cooler. I probably should have gone with a smaller CPU fan because my case is smaller than the Antec P180 that itsplayed originally reccomended. The Blue OrbII is technically simple to instal, but it was very difficult to get bolted down to the motherboard, and took a lot of force! It is so big, that it makes pulling out my removable internal drive/Optical bays very difficult. It is quiet, cool and pretty though. Perhaps the smaller Golden Orb II would have suited me better.

I had no problems with the initial boot up and WindowsXP Pro/Drivers install. I made a 22Gig Partition for the OS, and the rest is just one big 100Gig chunk. I did accidently install the video card before the motherboard+ drivers. I decided to reinstall the video card after the AGP driver - but I can't get it to install the same way. Originally the Matrox software installed the card, but now I can only get it to install with the Found New Hardware Wizard - and it is giving me weird display problems that weren't there at first. I have reinstalled the video card three times - and I'm still working on it and far from losing my patience. The SATA drive is also not being recognized yet, and I have not dealt with that.

I got the Service Pack 2 + critical updates from Microsoft and have begun to optimize the OS for DAW.

Triple boot: Three seperate partitions on the main drive, each with it's own install of XP. You'll be given the choice as to which OS you want run at boot up. On one will be your DAW, another for video and the next for games.


Will a seperate OS install on a different partition also provide security a la browsing through a Virtual PC? Can each install have it's own set of Multiple Service Profiles?

Also - I chose 22Gigs as the size of my DAW OS partition on my 120G seagate IDE drive. Is this an optimal size for the DAW partition? I use only Ableton Live, Protools, Soundforge + 40 or so synths/FX/Utilities.


I may just start over with the install... and take a sick day.:cool:

[Reteeks]

Hey all
After lots and lots of extensive research this is possibly the new DAW system that I am looking to purchase from the Egg. Please review the specs and feel free to comment and add any suggestions you may have. I have decided to forgo the video game aspect of my system and focus primarily on audio and video editing. So I am asking if you all think this system will get the job done! Please share your thoughts on compatibility and whether these components will work well together...
Thanks for taking the time to read this...


1 ASUS A8V Socket 939 VIA K8T800 Pro ATX AMD Motherboard -$66.99

1 Antec LifeStyle SONATA II Piano Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
450Watt SmartPower 2.0 ATX 12V V2.0 for AMD & Intel systems Power Supply - Retail- $94.99

2 Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM $89.99 x 2 = $179.98

2 CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) $79.99 x 2 = $159.98

Viewsonic monitors $235.99 x 2 = $471.98

1 AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Manchester 2000MHz HT Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model ADA3800BVBOX - Retail
Model #:ADA3800BVBOX
$297.00

Video Cards
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price
1 matrox Millennium P650 64MB DDR AGP 4X/8X Video Card - OEM
Model #:P650
REFURBISHED
$99.00

MAudio Audiophile 2496 $100.00

SubTotal: $1,469.92


Thanks all for reviewing.

[charliephogg]

I got my RMA for the P650 Matrox Graphics card - and popped it in. There is still the same exact problem with my display: Weird dark/inverse vertical band on the right side of my monitor. I am rather upset. The monitor is fine, the cable is fine. Is it the motherboard? I will find another computer to put this P650 in and see what happens...

I may need to just take it to a shop or something

bollocks

[bibleboy3]

Hi Charlie,
How close in proximity are you speakers to your monitor?? I guessing that your speakers are not shielded?? Try moving the speakers farther away from the monitor.. I’m just taking a stab in the dark here ;) I hope it helps…LMK


Bill

[charliephogg]

good point!

Actually I have not even brought the computer into my studio yet, so there are no speakers. I'm waiting for ASUS to send me a replacement motherboard since Newegg won't replace motherboards.


At this poing (5 weeks after my order, countless hours tinkering and still no working computer in sight) I wonder if I should have just gotten a Dual INTEL 2.16 Ghz iMac with every option for just a few hundred more.:(

[charliephogg]

Motherboard RMA arrived from ASUS on Tuesday! I ordered some new thermal paste/paste remover as well as some other goodies. I decided to Get a 5.25" removeable drive bay for my IDE drives. I got a Maxtor 80G ATA133 drive to use as my main DAW system drive instead of the 160G Seagate 7200.9 which I will use as a video/general use system drive. I got two drive bay drawers so I can just slide in whichever drive I need. I also got one of the new 320 Gig Seagate 7200.10 perpendicular recording SATA II drives to use as my primary Audio recording drive, and I will use the 200 gig Seagate SATA 7200.9 to backup my audio.

I plan to assemble and test tonight and tomorrow morning...

[Bops2000]

Just a thought
After you build this thing
as you go along, do a system restore point.
The other thing is
pick up a big enough hard drive to ghost the c drive to.
In other words, connect the 'backup hard drive" to the
ide 2 or whatever and ghost the c drive
this may save you the many hours it would take to rebuild
the system, by simply swapping out the hard drive

[charliephogg]

thanks for the tip. I do have a second IDE drive big enought to "ghost" the C: drive to. I'm not exactly sure what that is, but I'm sure I've bookmarked how to do it somewhere.

So I said my prayers and built the machine again with the RMA motherboard. They sent me one with a newer BIOs (0219) which is much better! Unfortunately the display problem is still there. I borrowed a CRT display to test on tonight, and the supplier said that it may be a RAM problem. I tried taking a stick out, and switching sticks, etc but the problem perists. Somehow I do feel close to solving the problem. If the borrowed display has the nasty display, then I will buy/borrow another AGP card and then RMA the RAM if needed.

I am actually getting some grey hair from this - so I'm trying to chill out

I finally figured out how to burn a slipstreamed copy of Windows XP+SP2 with nLite. I coudln't get that to work at all a few weeks ago, but it just worked fine last night.

[charliephogg]

Interesting results with the build...

I found some Bios tweaks on an A8V/AMD thread and made the adjustments, then installed the operating system. I am following the Tweakhound guide to OS installation. I installed the Chipset/AGP drivers and then the Matrox driver. When I shutdown my display did this crazy flashing white/magenta blip and then on reboot the display was at the correct resolution and the display looked PERFECT with no weird lines on the right side!!
I then did the Ethernet drivers and Windows Updates. I tried to run the Matrox display setup, but it said that I did not have .NET framework 1.4xxx installed (I had installed .NET framework 2.0) so I could not run the Matrox setup. I went to the net and got the correct .NET framerwork and installed it which made my display immediately unstable again!!!

I proceeded to reinstall the operating system and proceed exactly as I had done, but this time after installing the Matrox driver the display never did that flashing light thing, and the diplay was never corrected.

I obtained an VGA CRT display and it is stable, I have tested my 20.1 widescreen display on other systems and it is stable. I have replaced the video card and the motherboard. I can only proceed to RMA my RAM now, and perhaps buy some cheap RAM locally so that I can continue to endlessly install XP until the problem reveals itself.

I ordered this system in APRIL. Weeks and months go by, and now AMD announces that as of July 9 they are slashing the price of the X2 processers by as much as %50. My system is going to be outdated before I even get it running?!!?