CPU/MOBO Combo +/- $200--Help me choose

[imported_bcbcbc]

Below are some options I've found--all at NewEgg.

Which is best for me?

I don't overclock. No games. Don't need onboard sound--have an Emu sound card. I want to use 768 MB PC 2100 RAM from current system--probably upgrade RAM later.

I have a large music collection--7,000 tracks +/- 60GB on IBM/Hitachi 120 GB HDDs--one Ghosted to the other for backup. As the music grows I'll probably use the current two HDDs as storage and a large Serial drive for backup--some variation on that theme.

While I'm playing music I multi-task on the web, email, Word Processing, printing, some light photo/graphics. I'm upgrading from a P4 @ 1.7Ghz Willamette. I've been bumping up on the CPU ceiling there and it hoses my tunes.

So here are some options I'm looking at:

1. AMD Athlon XP 3200+ Barton @2.2Ghz FSB 400Mhz 512K L2 Skt A-Retail $146
EPOX EP-8KRAI-X VIA KT600 FSB to 400Mhz Skt A-Retail $45.50 TOTAL = $192

2. AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Winchester @1.8Ghz FSB on chip 512K L2 Skt 939-Retail $140
Chaintech S 1689-ULi M1689 Hyper Bus Skt 939 Retail $69. TOTAL = $209

3. AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Newcastle @2.0Ghz FSB on chip 512 L2 Skt 754-Retail $146
EpOX EP-8KDA3J nForce3 250Gb FSB 800Mhz Skt 754 Retail $69.75 TOTAL = $216

4. AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Winchester@1.8G FSB on chip 512KB L2 Skt 939-Retail $152
Chaintech S 1689-ULi M1689 Chipset Hyper Bus Skt 939 Retail $69. TOTAL = $221

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bc

 

[KF]

>I've been bumping up on the CPU ceiling...
No you haven't. But maybe you can't be persuaded otherwise.

Link to your other thread about sound.

>The Performance tab on the Task Manager shows the playback application (J. River Media Center)
> uses negligible CPU.
That's because even a 200MHz Pentium plain doesn't have any problem decoding MP3's, so a 1.7G P4 is incredible overkill. The other stuff you mention is even easier. You don't need more processing power.

I checked Task Manager to compare with your observations. I could get 80-90% spikes, but it never glitched MP3s playing at all. What that means is that YOU have a hardware problem or conflict. It may be that starting fresh with a total new system may fix your problem, but OTOH you might fix it with what you've got instead.

> But even if no applications are running the CPU regularly spikes to 40-50%.
You've got something running in the background. Some service.? Maybe a HD backup program? However, XP does spike at 100% on its own occasionally.

> Opening programs--even opening the Task Manager itself--generates a huge spike near MAX.

Normal. I can get it to go to 90% by dragging a window around countinuously. But
it doesn't glitch the mp3s playing in the slightest.

For the heck of it, I put my new mobo down to 800NHz in the BIOS; ran a program that puts the CPU utilization at 100% continuously according to Task Manager; played an mp3; dragged a window around continuiosly while the mp3 was playing. Result: perfect playback with the on-board sound.

Some reviews by owners of this sound (recording) card that testify it is malfunction junction. For instance: "...i described the problem with the sound quitting when streaming audio,... or listening to music when surfing."
and "This is an audio card? They should sell it as a breakfast cereal because I've never had an audio card with so much "snap, crackle and pop"."

OTOH, a minority loved this card; it seems mostly for recording. Its possible there is a conflict with different motherboard chipsets, and a different mobo might act differently. Who knows? Buying a different sound card is far cheaper. IAC it isn't CPU umph which is the difficultly. Ordinary sound cards or on-board sound do the job just fine even with pathetic CPUs while the CPU utilization is 100%.

There are quite a few audiophiles on this forum that recommend for the highest quality sound to just use the digital (S/PDIF) output of an ordinary sound card with an external amp that has a really great DAC.

 

[imported_Kensai]

I'd take either of the 939s. As socket A is almost phased out except in the budget area where the Semprons reside and S754 doesn't leave too much room for upgrading, S939 is continually evolving and AMD claims that their dual-core chips will just pop into place and voila!

 

[imported_bcbcbc]

Sorry about this--a little premature hit on the trigger--story of my life...

 

[imported_bcbcbc]

Thanks again for the replies.

I think I've solved the problems.

I found deep in my Boookmarks a web site I had visited a while back. This is: musicxp.net/. They have a list of 28 well-explained recommendations for XP settings that enhance all things musical in XP. This unfortunately includes visual changes that make XP look like Windows 98 all over again. But I can deal with that--just close my eyes and listen to the music.

Since making their recommended changes I haven't heard a single pop, click or hiccup in MC playback even taking actions that max out the CPU into a plateau peak at the top of the Performance graph in TM.

Someone over at MC recommended a freeware program called CodeStuff Starter. I downloaded and installed that. Very helpful. I immediately found a few unnecessary doodads that were launching on startup and turned them off.

Someone else suggested raising the priority of MC a notch in the Task Manager Processes tab. I did that too.

KF--you can definitely include me in the "minority" that loves the Emu 0404. I learned about the Emu cards at head-fi.org. The forum there is populated by headphone freaks--many of whom have very expensive audiophile gear including headphones and dedicated amplifiers that can run into many thousands of dollars.

The current consensus there is that the Emu cards 0404 & 1212 are the sound card of choice in the consumer category--say under $500. Both cards offer analog and several flavors of digital output. I think that some people may react negatively to the Emu cards because they are so detailed and revealing. You hear stuff in your music you probably never heard before including whatever defects/artifacts may be on the file or otherwise induced.

I would agree with you that the ultimate is to output a bit-perfect digital signal to a top-shelf dedicated DAC, then pass that analog signal to a world-class amplifier--audiophile tube or SS. Ideally one would have both a high-end dedicated headphone amp and a conventional integrated or pre/power setup driving high-end headphones and high-end audiophile speakers.

Alas I don't have that kind of money. I do have good mid-fi speakers--Meadowlark Swifts that I bartered for about a year ago. Before that I had Paradigm Atoms, which are decent inexpensive speakers.

My amp is a generic HK stereo receiver of recent vintage--two channel. That has a decent headphone jack which I use to drive modestly priced Grado and Audio-Technica headphones.

The HK also has connects for two sets of speakers.

Anyway, I am thrilled to hear my music again without extraneous artifacts. Thanks for helping me slay the dragon...

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bc