PC Upgrade Questions

[danimal]

I am thinking of upgrading my audio pc over time, incrementally, to save money. I am currently using an 850 t-bird with A7v mobo (with dreaded via kt133...but it actually works fine), and an echo mia on XP pro with 5200 drives. I wonder if I can get a nice new mobo and still use the old proc and ram for a while. then later get new proc and ram, then still later some faster drives, etc. I can currently get 16 tracks and a half dozen plugs or so, and with some creative session versioning and bouncing I get along OK. If I get a new mobo now and the other items later, but cannot get the very latest because my "new" mobo isn't new anymore, I probably won't care too much.

But if the answer is that this is asking for trouble, mixing old and new stuff, I won't be too surprised. Just thought it was worth asking. Hell, the kt 133 worked!

Thanks,

d

[Tripecac]

Similar situation... Currently using Via 1GHz KT133, thinking about upgrading.

After spending a couple days scouring the net (and music mags) for info/advice I came to the following conclusions:

1) in order to make installing a new mobo worth the time/stress/risk, we should probably upgrade at least the CPU, and possibly the RAM

2) unless we get a really old mobo (which means not much of an upgrade), we're probably gonna end up having to upgrade to the newer ram (DDR instead of SDRAM)

3) if we install a new mobo, cpu, and ram, we're probably gonna have to re-install our OS (for maximum reliability)... which means XP, if we want to save time/headache in the long run...

4) if we have to install a new mobo, cpu, ram and os, we're almost to the point (in terms of time and money) of being better off getting a new "bare-bones" system (add a case and psu) into which we can plug our current disks/cards/etc.

5) do we *really* want the old mobo, cpu, ram, case, and psu to sit there collecting dust? why not turn them into a file server? which means we need to let the old pc keep its hard drives, network card, graphics card (and keyboard/mouse/monitor unless we get a KVM)...

6) which means new hard drives, network card, graphics card, etc. for the new pc...

7) ...which only leaves the sound card... If we buy a new sound card (for the new PC), we can keep our old pc intact; it can act as a backup music pc in addition to being a file server (or general pc or whatever)...


See how quickly it turns from getting "just a mobo" to getting a new PC? Yikes! I always seem to reason like this when it comes to upgrades, which is why I have too many computers as it is... http://www.audioforums.com/forums/frown.gif

I'm curious whether your own investigations take you down the same mental route.

Travis

[dawboxpro]

I totaly hear you on that. I had a Dual AMD rig that was f---ing up on me and I tried everything to get it to not run flakey. I knew there was nothing wrong with the chips "Dual MP 1800's"

I sold the chips on E-bay and just out of curiosity I dropped an XP-1800 in it and it has worked fine for the last year.

My guess is it was a voltage issue between the two chips and the strain that running them puts on the power supply.

I had the ram voltage set to 1.6V (Default) before and I lowered it to 1.5V to lessen the stress on peripherals.

It is working fine now and my guess is the power supply could not handle the two chips and or the motherobard was having issues keeping them in sync.

I have had these parts lying around for close to a year and it was allways the same result.

Hard reboot in the middle of a audio or video task.

I tried a better PSU, different ram, reseating the MB, different case, everything.

I was ready to just chalk it up as a bad board and just turn it into a file server.

So last night I popped in the XP-1800+ and booted her up. After a couple of crashes I sat there going what WHAT WHAT is it????

Thats when I set the ram voltage down and now not a single problem thus far.

Now I am tempted to stick another XP-1800+ in the other socket and run two XP-1800+ chips.

Funny because this board says only two MP chips but my guess is that XP-chips will work fine. For $45 bucks you can really F--up that bad.

The issue you have is the A7V133 only supports SDRAM. If I had onlt 512 or 256 megs of ram PC133 I would just get a new board and ram and pop the old chip in that.

When I got more money I would just buy an AMD 2400+ or better. This way you have a new board and new ram and that is the base foundation of any good system.

If you go the other route your going to be stuck with PC133 ram that will not fit on a newer board.
www.dawbox.com (http://www.dawbox.com)

[danimal]

Originally posted by Tripecac:
Yikes! I always seem to reason like this when it comes to upgrades, which is why I have too many computers as it is... http://www.audioforums.com/forums/frown.gif

I'm curious whether your own investigations take you down the same mental route.

Travis

Absolutely identical. But I thought that perhaps since the system gets the job done I could maybe get the new board now, and even though it would not improve things by itself, it would be out of the way, and in a couple of months I could have saved up enough to get the new proc and ram. This is the only alternate path I could come up with to avoid the chain of reasoning you denoted. But I think maybe it would just be a headache.

I keep an old wooden box in a drawer in my closet, and in it I put ones, fives, tens and twenties once every few days. Sometimes when the Kroger clerk asks me if I want cash back i get twenty and take it home to the box. My wife thinks its refreshingly responsible and sort of cute that I do this. But she doesn't realize how much I do it. After a few months I count it. It always amazes me how much there is. Last time I emptied it I bought an FMR RNP/RNC. Before that was the Mia. And so on for mics and stands, cables, etc. But getting a whole new PC will either require me to break from my pattern or save for just too damn long.

BTW, one other good trick to get purchases past the wife is my bass guitar; I rent it for ten bucks a month. She has forgotten about it. 60% of the rental goes toward purchase. In another few months it will be paid for and she will never know that I bought it. This is stupid, but not the stupidest thing that I do, so...see, I can rationalize a nice chain, too! The worst part is that I already have 4 PCs, none of which are up to the DAW I want.

d

[knowdoubt]

In short, any MOBO worth upgrading to doesn't support SDRAM & so will require new RAM & good RAM is nearly the most expensive part of the puter these days.

Well there is one MOBO I can think of that's a bit dated that support's both SDRAM & DDRAM & would allow a significant CPU upgrade to 1800+ or so - the ECS K7S5A. It only supports frontside buss up to 266MHz & is no longer quite on par with the latest/greatest chipset performance but it's significantly better than your current & is so cheap (under $45) & yet pretty reliable & compatible that it might suit you as an interim MOBO upgrade, with which you could incrementally upgrade to DDRAM then eventually better MOBO later.

[This message has been edited by knowdoubt (edited 09-12-2003).]

[maggotcontrol]

I wouldn't exactly call the K7S5A reliable...when it works, it's a good board though. Just gotta make sure you have a decent PSU, memory and luck...but yea, it's the only board with the features that'll let you do both SDRAM and DDR..although not at the same time.

Yoshi
www.studiokobari.com (http://www.studiokobari.com)

[danimal]

Thanks, if i try this then this is exactly the info I need. I probably won't do it, as the potential for problems will likely outweigh the currently problematic yet useful system I now have. But thanks for the detailed answers.

d

[bubba freaktree]

i wouldn't do that. the processor, mobo and ram work best when they are a "matched set" of similar performance characteristics.

the things you can save on are cd-roms, cases, power supplies, hard drives, monitors, mice.

check out www.newegg.com (http://www.newegg.com)

you can get a nice mother board, nice amd processor and nice ram for about $250 all in one shot.

[danimal]

Thanks, Bubba. Any particular combo that you or anyone else could specify?

Thanks a million,

d