New DAW setup w/A7N8X, help!

[TeleCarlos]

Hi everyone,

Before getting my parts, anyone tell me if I could do better on some of them.
I'll ask on how to set it up later. Chose these to ensure compatability with my Delta66/Omni.

Asus A7N8X (deluxe version, for the firewire)
Amd 2100 (1.73 ghz...for now)
Crucial ddr 512mb's (more to come later)
Matrox g550 (dualhead)
WD 8mbcahe, 7200 rpm x (2)(80g, 100g)

Vantec Stealth 420 watt PSU
Vantec Aeroflow cpu fan
A case...Skyhawk maybe
M Audio Radium keys controller

Cubase vst 5.0/32
w98 w/98lite probably

My first attempt at a daw was with a kt130 Via...!@#$#@.
Enuff said on that note. I want to ensure it works without my previous hassles.
If you guys find anything I could improve, let me know, I'll really appreciate it.
Has anyone else gotten an nForce2 board? Tell us hows'it performing and with what souncard, OS etc.

I'll have plenty more questions once I get the parts. If had known of this forum before...would've been recording already!
Thanks 2 everyone.

[Triple Lindys]

I've been trying to get the cash to upgrade my PC to an A7N8X based machine.

Still waiting, tho!

The only thing I can suggest is that make sure you buy TWO memory sticks and don't skimp on them, either. To take advantage of the Dual Channel DDR, you need 2 sticks. So if you want 512MB on it, buy 2-256MB sticks, not just 1-512MB stick.

[knowdoubt]

Actually, when using an AGP Vid card instead of the on board there is no need or advantage to using dual channel DDR. As I understand the extra bandwidth of the dual channel can only be absorbed by the onboard vid do to the Athlons frontside buss limitations for handling such bandwidth directly. All benchmarks on this chipset I've seen show performance with single channel DDR & AGP vid card about equal to that of dual channel DDR with on board vid. Only if you are to use the onboard vid, dual channel is almost a must or performance will really suffer from the onboard vid hogging your system memory.

[jmoro]

You may have to get a Nvidia Geforce (mx440 or so) video card to go w/ your Nvidia Nforce2 motherboard. Alot of compatability problems in the past between these two. Nvidia is not into helping it's competition it seems.

[bluehat]

JMoro - do you have any specific info or links to the nForce/Matrox video card conflicts? I have ordered the same motherboard and video card as TeleCarlos and will try to assemble the system over the holidays. Any info about probable conflicts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Pretty Pretty Cyanide]

I have a nVdia sister board A7N266-VM and a Radeon dual monitor card with no issues. The build in video is enough for most games but that could be personal opinion. I haven't heard of these problems yet but then I haven't been to every webpage on the net too :P

[TeleCarlos]

Thanks to all...

I can go ahead and get the 2 sticks of ddr ram, no prob.

So, does dualDDR only benefit gamers requiring hi-res graphics or will it also benefits us, audio nerds and our special needs??

On that note, I've heard of tweaks regarding 512mb+ with W98 in order for it to use it properly, but don't remember exactly what it was so please enlighten me on that one.

The Matrox G550 is for dual monitors capability which has been highly recomended.

If anybody else has their A7N8x up and running, please give us a heads up on this!

Thanks to everyone,
(This really is the best forum)

[Pretty Pretty Cyanide]

98Se will run fine with 512MBR. 98 will have troubles starting after 256MBR. If you have 98se you should be okay. Just hit Windows key and Pause to see what version you have.

[lemonjello420]

I've got a a7n8x running with a xp 1900, 512mb cl2 ram, a matrox 450, with a aardvark DP 24/96. It all runs fine and is super stable. No problems with windows xp pro.