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| MakeMusic Forum > Public Forums > Finale - Windows - FORUM HAS MOVED! > OT - processor choice | Forum Quick Jump
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korneel.bernolet
out of inspiration
      
Date Joined Jul 2003
Total Posts : 735
| Posted 7/10/2007 2:41 AM (GMT -5) |   | I am about to buy a new machine, and I was wondering if anyone could help me on this one.
So far, I have always been using Intel chips, but AMD looks interesting and is less expensive.
However, some people tell me that AMD can get hotter than Intel, and AMD should work better with graphical calculations, Intel is optimized for desktop work.
Is there anyone who can tell me which one is better (if there is any difference in our musical job branch) or which are the dis/advantages? Thanks a lot in advance!
Korneel
Note: I have posted the specifications of the pc I am about to buy here below, just in case...
Dell Inspiron 531 DT (D07517)
base: AMD Live-technology - Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5600+
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate
RAM: 4.096 MB 667 MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [4 x 1.024]
monitor: Dell 20" UltraSharp digital/analog widescreen flatpanel (2007FPW) - Europe
graphical: 256 MB ATI Radeon X1300 PCI Express
harddisk: 320 GB serial ATA harddisk (7.200 rpm) with 16 MB DataBurst memory
13-in-1 cardreader
optical: 16x DVD+/-RW- & 16x DVD-station
soundcard: 7.1 HD-sound + SoundBlaster Audigy ADVANCED HD-software
keyboard (AZERTY) + mouse included
Korneel Bernolet, keyboard player (piano, harpsichord, organ), singer, conductor, composer, engraver,...
personal website
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Daz
Registered Member
 
Date Joined Feb 2006
Total Posts : 1723
| Posted 7/10/2007 3:45 AM (GMT -5) | | Hi there Korneel
My personal preference has always been with the Intel platform. Technologically speaking, the Core2 Duos outstrip the AMD performance wise.
The pricing of a Core 2 Duo 6400 is now very competitive.
The system you're looking at now (spec wise) look OK, but I'd look to go for higher speed memory (Corsair 2x 800MHz),
and you might want to look at a NVIDIA 6800 GT or GTS, (to take care of the essential gaming side of things :o) )
But which (on a serious side) will give DX10 and has on-board HiDef decode capabilities.
The card will have legs (ie lasting power), not requiring an upgrade within a year or two.
Important consideration
As far as the sound goes, go for the XFi Xtreme Music as opposed to the Audigy.
Seeing as you're going to be running Vista, the Audigy series does not yet support EAX (among other things) under Vista.
***** From the release notes of the latest Audigy 4 drivers from creative
(us.creative.com/support/downloads/download.asp?MainCategory=1&nRegionFK=&nCountryFK=&nLanguageFK=&sOSName=Windows+Vista+32-bit®ion=1&Product_Name=Audigy+4&Product_ID=14103&modelnumber=&driverlang=1033&OS=26&drivertype=0&x=33&y=15
Click on "Show Details next to the latest driver download"
* Applications from the original Sound Blaster Audigy CD will not work with this download.
* Users are advised to use Audio Console included in this download to change speaker configurations.
* This driver does not support the following:
o Decoding of Dolby® Digital and DTS™ signals
o DVD-Audio
o DirectSound®-based EAX games
o Gameports
o 6.1 speaker mode.
* SPDIF passthrough is supported on Vista 32-bit only.
The XFi has 7.1 output capabilities. If you later decide to get the XFi I/O upgrade kit, or go for the X-Fi Platinum Fatal1ty Champion Series,
you will then have an asio capable midi input interface with very low latency.
Cheers...
Daz. :o)
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korneel.bernolet
out of inspiration
Date Joined Jul 2003
Total Posts : 735
| Posted 7/10/2007 12:30 PM (GMT -5) | | Thank you all for the input, which is all greatly appreciated!
Daz:
Thanks a lot for the comments, I'll have a look at the specs you describe. There are, however, only few specification possibilities for Belgian customers, so I guess I'll have to buy e.g. the better soundcard after I bought the other one included with the Dell machine...
Nickie:
Exactly what I am going to do. I won't be sampling, but even then this way is more flexible (and secure)... 10.000 rpm sounds nice, but I guess 7k is an allround solution which is far good enough for my use.
Fritz:
I heard there are far less issues with Vista (Ultimate, not speaking about Basic or Premium) than with XP (even SP2), considering security and driver support. I tested Vista on the machine of a friend of mine, and it really looks great and promising, I'm quite impatient to using Vista... and it looks far better than ugly XP (matter of taste of course)...
Thanks for the input!
If there are others who have experience with AMD processors, please give your opinion, since I am still doubting... 
Korneel Bernolet, keyboard player (piano, harpsichord, organ), singer, conductor, composer, engraver,...
personal website
Finale 2006 - Sibelius 4 - Roland XP 30 master keyboard | | Back to Top | |
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habibbijan
Registered Member
Date Joined Nov 2003
Total Posts : 218
| Posted 7/10/2007 4:10 PM (GMT -5) | | There's nothing wrong with AMD. I still do a lot of work on my trusty AMD Athlon 2400.
Remember that it's just a processor. Don't sweat too much about your choice. Finale won't care at all what name brand of CPU you're using. My personal
preference boils down simply to cost. Personally, I refuse to pay more than $100 (roughly 75 Euros?) for a processor. Anything beyond that is a waste of
money for me, and I'd rather put the extra into RAM and hard disk space.
Since the year 2000, I've owned an AMD Athlon 1700, an Athlon 2400, and (most recently) an Athlon64 3700. All of them cost less than $100 at the time of purchase,
and all are still working well.
Oh, I agree with Fritz on the Vista issue. I used 95, 98, 2000, and XP, but I will probably skip Vista entirely.
Brian Bondari
www.bondari.com
"Writing music with theory in mind is like wearing underwear that's too tight. It's restricting!"
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