Which processor?

[muzeman]

Hi,

I am looking at a computer for audio,and trying to decide which processor to go with.

It is either an AMD Duo 4600+,4800+,or an Intel duo E4400.

Any advice on which one would be best for me would be really appreciated.
Also any suggestions on a motherboard would be great.

Thanks,
Pete

 

[Ika]

computer for audio

That's a pretty vague description. Audio creation, audio playback, audio editing?

And the E4400 will probably perform better for the money, especially if you overclock.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: muzeman
Hi,

I am looking at a computer for audio,and trying to decide which processor to go with.

It is either an AMD Duo 4600+,4800+,or an Intel duo E4400.

Any advice on which one would be best for me would be really appreciated.
Also any suggestions on a motherboard would be great.

Thanks,
Pete

C2D > A64.

Are you overclocking or not? What board / combo are you getting?

Too many missing parameters. But if your using it for audio, do you mean itunes? or audio creation?

If encoding is your main thing, the E4400 will be a better buy. If you want to just use it to go on the web, do some office work, and view porn, Id look for a the chip which gives the Least TDP. Which would be an AMD.

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: aigomorla

Originally posted by: muzeman
Hi,

I am looking at a computer for audio,and trying to decide which processor to go with.

It is either an AMD Duo 4600+,4800+,or an Intel duo E4400.

Any advice on which one would be best for me would be really appreciated.
Also any suggestions on a motherboard would be great.

Thanks,
Pete

C2D > A64.

Are you overclocking or not? What board / combo are you getting?

Too many missing parameters. But if your using it for audio, do you mean itunes? or audio creation?

If encoding is your main thing, the E4400 will be a better buy. If you want to just use it to go on the web, do some office work, and view porn, Id look for a the chip which gives the Least TDP. Which would be an AMD.

Noes! For teh internets and teh prons, you need the Core 2 Quad!

 

[muzeman]

Sorry,I should have been more specific about the audio.(I was running out the door.)

I'll be using Cubase for sequencing and editors for a keyboard.
Eventually I will set up for Firewire audio recording.

Not sure which board/combo to get,I was hoping for some suggestions.
Don't think I will be overclocking.

My budget is around $250 for a CPU,and board.

Thanks,
Pete

 

[Farmer]

For dirt cheap stuff, i.e., processors sub $100, A64 remains competitive.

But for a $250, you can get an E4400 and a low-end DS3, which would be a good to go overclocking setup; you should get incredible overclocks even with stock cooling.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

E4x00...$100 (+3GHz overclock)
Abit IP35-E @ MWAVE...$108 (cool and quiet passive heat sink capable of +488MHz FSB)
2GB DDR2 667 HP RAM...$40 (in hot deals forum)

None of your proposed AMD CPUs will come close to the E4x00 @ 2.8 to 3.0GHz. My E4300/IP35-E combo is stable at 3.46GHz (slightly faster than C2D 6800). 1M Super Pi time of 16.359 sec.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuch...howdoc.aspx?i=2903&p=3

 

[Ika]

Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal
E4x00...$100 (+3GHz overclock)
Abit IP35-E @ MWAVE...$108 (cool and quiet passive heat sink capable of +488MHz FSB)
2GB DDR2 667 HP RAM...$40 (in hot deals forum)

None of your proposed AMD CPUs will come close to the E4x00 @ 2.8 to 3.0GHz. My E4300/IP35-E combo is stable at 3.46GHz (slightly faster than C2D 6800). 1M Super Pi time of 16.359 sec.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuch...howdoc.aspx?i=2903&p=3

That's a really nice OC on your E4300, but keep in mind that most E4x00s won't be able to do this kind of OC... from reports on various forums, it seems that the E4300 usually hits an FSB wall around 3.0-3.2.

 

[bryanW1995]

he said that he wasn't going to be overclocking, so he will probably be able to get more bang/buck with an A64. You can get an A64 5600+ and a nice am2 mobo for less than $250. That should easily outperform an e4400 at stock.

 

[NXIL]

Hi Muzeman,

looks like Cubase is a well written application that can take advantage of multiple cores:

http://www.steinberg.net/filea...ocessing_Tech_Info.pdf

Given your not unlimited budget, best to get a motherboard now that can be upgraded to a quad core system when those CPUs drop in price--they are already falling rapidly, but, the lowest priced quad core, the Q6600 is still more than your total budget.

The current Intel processors are pretty amazingly great--to fit in your $250 budget:

One of these: the Conroe version is best

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...5014%2CN82E16819115031

and a P35 chipset motherboard, as this gives you an upgrade path to a quad core later:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...5014%2CN82E16819115031

I personally like Abit, Gigabyte, and Intel boards best of these choices:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...ue=717%3a28997&bop=And

For AMD: they do advertise as music friendly,

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Proce...88_13263_13279,00.html

and they do support some musicians.....

Low power, 65 watts or less AMD CPUs:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...3068%2CN82E16819103767

Higher wattage, but, still pretty good, and these are getting pretty fast:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...3765%2CN82E16819103768

Lots of good AM2 socket motherboards at good prices:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...6020%2CN82E16813138081

Amd *will* have a quad core out soon--price wise it is going to have to be competitive with Intel, so while it may not be the absolute fastest out there, it should be pretty good--Cubase looks like one of the few apps that will take advantage of all four cores.

HTH

NXIL

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Originally posted by: bryanW1995
he said that he wasn't going to be overclocking, so he will probably be able to get more bang/buck with an A64. You can get an A64 5600+ and a nice am2 mobo for less than $250. That should easily outperform an e4400 at stock.

OP said "may not OC". Anyone can crank the FSB from 200MHz to 250MHz without affecting system stability. No need to run any stability testing at this level of overclock. Heck, with 1:1 memory divider, the RAM will only be clocked at 250MHz. Even at 2.5GHz, this C2D rig will rape most AMD CPUs. Finally, the cost of a P35 MB and E4x00 combo is only $210 to $220. The Intel rig provide much greater potential headroom for speed.

 

[muzeman]

Thanks to everyone for the great help,especially NXIL for taking the time to give me all those links.
This will really help me make my decision,much appreciated.

Best regards,
Pete