Few question regarding Music PC

[thevortex]

Hi Vortex,
I have tried with Poweriso it doesn't work. I have downlaoded audacity it looks preety cool and I can identify the three songs in the wav file. The file is actually Edouard_Lalo_Cello_Concerto_in_D_Minor. Rings any bell???

Btw I have my pc fianlly up and running with a new mobo Asus M2N68-AMPLUS Motherboard ( The guy couldn't get Asus M3N78-EM 8GB DDR2 told me not available in Calcutta) and AMD Athlon II X2 240 2.8GHz processor 3 gb of ram. I thought if I go for a dedicated sound card and a graphics card this mother board should do the job. Otherwise my pc would have been delayed by another week.Another problem is ITDEPOT doesn't have any stock of Asus xonar essence STX sound card. Have to look for a new vendor to get them. Can you please suggest me a decent video card which can bring microsoft flight simulator delux edition to full glory.Today I played some music from my pc onboard sound card using foobar the music sounded ok not too bad but nothing special either. I hope asus will improve things considerably.
Thanks.

Mahiruha - I guess then that you have figured out a solution to your problem .

About the motherboard, I would have waited and gone for the 780G chipset. That has a decent onboard graphics chip and you might want to try and see how far you got with the Flight simulator game.

I wont recommend using a dedicated graphics card for a Music PC. It increases heat and noise and does not improve the music performance. But if you absolutely need to play games on it, why not try and see if the onboad graphics chip with the 780G chipset board will allow you to do that? If not, then we can look at other options.

 

[spirovious]

I wont recommend using a dedicated graphics card for a Music PC. It increases heat and noise and does not improve the music performance. .

So if I use PC,without GC,how much can be improvement in SQ?
I dont have onbrd dual graphic option.

 

[mahiruha]

Mahiruha - I guess then that you have figured out a solution to your problem .

About the motherboard, I would have waited and gone for the 780G chipset. That has a decent onboard graphics chip and you might want to try and see how far you got with the Flight simulator game.

I wont recommend using a dedicated graphics card for a Music PC. It increases heat and noise and does not improve the music performance. But if you absolutely need to play games on it, why not try and see if the onboad graphics chip with the 780G chipset board will allow you to do that? If not, then we can look at other options.

Hi vortex,
I have played microsft flight simulator in my main computer in the house.Which is HP a6125in desktop model. It has intel core 2 duo processor with 2Ghz and 3.5 GB Ram. It used to have a Nvidia Ge force 8600 GT graphics card which doesn't work anymore. In this configuration the flight simulator worked ok but there was considerable scope for improvment.At that point of time 8800 GT was the coveted graphics card but too expensive. so i have the option of keeping the music pc untouched and put a decent graphics card in this pc. But at the same time the music pc has better mother board and processor specs so the same graphics card there will perform better. MS flight simulator is such a game more you throw at it the better.Also the fact is if I want to go for full HD monitor the M3N78 doesn't offer full HD support so I will need a graphics card any way.Just my thought.
Thanks.

 

[mahiruha]

Hi Cranky,
thanks for th suggestion regarding graphics card and in general microsoft flight simulator. I have done some reading and it seems that after the patches Flight Simulator X is taking full advantage of other cores.
As a die hard fan of this game for last 10 years I really want to build a good pc that can do full justice to this game. I thought there is no point just to put a graphics card but I need to upgrade the motherboard , processor and the graphics card as well. After some research I have choosen the following. The mobo and the processor is available with supreme technologies only I need to order them the graphics Card

Motherboard: Asus M4A78-EM 1394 16GB DDR2 5K
Processor : AMD Athlon II X4 630 2.8GHz 7k
Graphics card : XFX ATI RADEON HD4850 1GB DDR3 PCI-E 11K
I want to play the game in a 22 inch full hd monitor in ultra high settings

I gues I will be able to use the 3.5 Gb Ram, power supply unit , hard disk, cabinet of my existing HP computer.

Do you think in 23K is it the optimum mix of components to maximize performence and duarability or there are better choices available.

Thanks.

 

[mahiruha]

Hi,
thanks for the suggestions. I was reading another thread and it refers to a good configuration for this particular game.

Who can run Flight Sim X on MAX graphics? I need your help!!!! - PC-Gaming - General

One guy mentions here "I am running FSX smoothly with maxed settings on 1680x1050. I have 4gbs ram, q6600 oced to 3.0ghz, and a gtx 260."

Hence I think the final choice would be

Motherboard: Asus M4A78-EM 1394 16GB DDR2 5K
Processor :AMD Phenom X4 945 3.0GHz 7.7K
Graphics card : XFX GTX 260 10.8 K
eBay India: XFX GeForce Nvidia GTX260 896MB DDR3 - GTX 260 - 3YR (item 280457614970 end time 27-Feb-2010 07:42:20 IST)
or

ATI radeon 5770 1 Gb 10.1 K
Graphic Cards - ATI Radeon HD 5000 - ATI Radeon HD 5770

I don't want to do over clocking since I have no idea about it I mean to say not sure about the probability of things going horribly wrong. Also between XFX and MSI which one to go for. My previous xfx geforce 8600 GT card didn't survive more than a year.

I also want to keep the possibility open to add another 22 inch monitor to this computer not for game but for my work purpose. In that case I might also play it in two monitors. Will this graphics card able to handle the same level of performence in two monitors or I need to put more fire power.

Another issue is since I will be adding more than 3GB of RAM is it better to use a 64 bit operating system or my current vista home basic will do fine.Some people are claiming that windows 7 offerrs more optimized performence for this game do you agree to it. So far I am very happy with my home basic no complains.
Sorry to bother you with so many questions.
Thanks.

 

[mahiruha]

Re: Few questions regarding Music PC and Gaming PC

Hi Cranky,
thanks for the input. Yes you are right i5 offers better gaming performence as comapred to phenom actually I have always used pentium so far pc gaming goes and I am happy with it. The deatiled comaprison can be found at Core i5 vs. Phenom II X4 CPU Review | Hardware Secrets
We can see that core i5 on avearge is 23% faster than the phenom when it comes to gaming .It will be bit expensive but I think it is worth it since I am hoping a newest version of Microsoft flight simulator is long due. So the final components are

Motherboard : Intel Desktop Board DH55TC 5.6K
Processor : Pentium core i5 750 (2.66 GHz Turbo Boost To 3.2 GHz, 8MB Cache) 10K
Graphics Card: Ati Radeon 4890 1 GB ( XFX 11.8 K and MSI 14.3K) not sure why such a huge price difference. Given my pathetic experience with Rashi which coincides with yours I will still go with MSI but I will reconfirm the price with them.
Now to handle all these beasts is 32 bit operating system ok or I need to go for a 64 bit operating system?
Thanks.

 

[mahiruha]

Hi,
no this is not the music pc. The music pc is in the library where the Lyrita system is. I have decided not to touch it after the motherboard and RAM and processor upgrade. I will just attach the Asus xonar essence STX card and its done. All the suggestions you gave will be applied to the HP a6125in pc which is in my bedroom and I use most of the time. It is almost 2 year old now and it is time it needs a upgrade specially to play microsoft flight simulator. I don't normally play games on PC just use my xbox 360 but this one game cannot be played in Xbox 360 since it doesn't have enough controls. I must admit as a game flight simulator is in a different league. The joy it gives to make a succesful landing of a boeing 747 or Airbus 380 is something totally different. I never had to study so much for the sake of playing a game. Since I lost my last graphics card I couldn't play any more. Now other areas of entertainment like movies and music are more or less addressed so I decided to beef up my bedroom pc so that I can relive my passion of flying in computer. Do you also have interests in flight simulators?
Thanks.

 

[thevortex]

Hi vortex,
I have played microsft flight simulator in my main computer in the house.Which is HP a6125in desktop model. It has intel core 2 duo processor with 2Ghz and 3.5 GB Ram. It used to have a Nvidia Ge force 8600 GT graphics card which doesn't work anymore. In this configuration the flight simulator worked ok but there was considerable scope for improvment.At that point of time 8800 GT was the coveted graphics card but too expensive. so i have the option of keeping the music pc untouched and put a decent graphics card in this pc. But at the same time the music pc has better mother board and processor specs so the same graphics card there will perform better. MS flight simulator is such a game more you throw at it the better.Also the fact is if I want to go for full HD monitor the M3N78 doesn't offer full HD support so I will need a graphics card any way.Just my thought.
Thanks.

I guess you have got a wealth of information from Cranky on this. I would personally suggest going with nVidia cards rather than ATI. The latter have horrible drivers along with horrendous support with open source operating systems such as Linux. nVidia is far better in these respects.

But all said and done, with all these additions your PC will not be a Music PC, per se.

So if I use PC,without GC,how much can be improvement in SQ?
I dont have onbrd dual graphic option.

Significant, I guess, Spirovious. I dont know that I can actually put a number or quantify the difference.

 

[thevortex]

Cranky - I only said what my experience reflects. I really dont care how frequently ATI releases drivers. They have caused me numerous headaches. And I have been with ATI a long time now. These problems have made sure that I preferred a notebook which had an nVidia card in it!

About getting it to work in Linux - I dont know for sure about Flight simulator, but we can try running it through WINE. But more importantly it is about getting your card recognized in Linux. I am sure you know that it is about a kazillion times easier to get your nVidia card recognized than an ATI.

About pricing, yes ATI has hit the right spot. But considering the difference is only a few hundreds when it comes to the mid range graphics cards, I am OK with it. I am seriously looking at getting something like a 9800 GT for my desktop now.

Oh and one other thing. On an average I have found nVidia cards to run much cooler than ATI cards. I still have with me a Powercolor ATI x1800 512 MB card with a custom heatsink and all. It still smokes things within the PC - literally.

A cool and quiet graphics card is very very essential. It may just be an issue with this model but one can never be sure.

 

[thevortex]

But Cranky you are right about the rebadging thing. It is only that I have no need for DX10 cards and all that. All I need is for the card to power up RPGs. My current favourite is Dragon Age. And it is one amazing game. So much game for the money, really!

 

[mahiruha]

Hi Vortex,
thanks for your inputs. Actually while researching about cards I found another worthy competitor for MSI ATI Radeon 1 GB at 14.3 K is MSI GTX 275 896 MB at 14.2K. Here is very detailed shoot out between the two.
ATI Radeon HD 4890 vs. Nvidia GeForce GTX 275 - TechSpot
This guys have their vote in favour of GTX 275 although it has lesser horse power.I need to survey some more literature to find out for Microsoft Flight simulator which one is better.Its a tough choice none the less. The goal function has very vague definition and no possibility of testing before purchase.
Thanks.

 

[mahiruha]

Hi Cranky,
finally could able to locate a page which does shootout of graphics cards for flight simulator X.
Microsoft Flight Simulator X SP2 - Review Tom's Hardware : Radeon HD 4870 X2: Four Cards Compared

Here we can see that in both 1680 by 1050 ( Below full HD) and 1920 by 1200 (Above full HD) cases the GEforce GTX 260 tops the chart. These guys are using a overclocked quad core processor of 3.67 GHz. Now in my case my monitor resolution is limited to 1920 by 1080 the core i5 with turbo boost can give me quad core 3.2 Ghz .If I go for GTX 260 will it be ok or to make up the defficiency in the processing power I need to go for either GTX 275 or Radeon 4890.It seems from the general opinion that microsoft flight simulator perofrms better with nvidia processors. I couldn't able to locate any meaningful review that has tried mfsx with ATI raadeon 4890.
After all these discussions it seems other than mouse , keyboard I won't be able to use anything from my old PC in my new pc. it is better to put them in a new cabinet instead.What can be a good cabinet for this setup? Chip is suggesting something called Thermaltake Matrix VD2000BNS at 2.8K. Is it a good option or better things are available in terms of cooling facility. Looks of the cabinet is not that important.
Thanks.

 

[thevortex]

What sort of games do you play, Cranky? Trust this is not too much of a diversion given that the thread has taken a big step towards gaming systems.

 

[mahiruha]

Hi Cranky,
thanks for that web link. It has some very encouraging results. for the time being I will just just collect all the things , put it inside a cabinet and make thing ready. I have done some reading regarding overclocking for the time being it is going way above my head. I saw some videos in you tube.
YouTube - Intel Core i5 Overclocking Tutorial Part 2 (NCIX Tech Tips #48.5)
It looks quite complicated I can see in an inexperienced hand the chances of things going wrong are quite high. I won't attemp it for the time being if I see the results are not satisfactory then I will go for it. I just want to keep the options open. Please tell me if I use the mother board Intel DP55WB with core i5 can I still do overclocking at a later stage. I understood that it is an optimization exercise between different parameters like clock speed , voltage , temparture and the processors strength to withstand these things. also the fact is if I overclock the i5 at a later stage with this mobo do I need to add a separate cooling device.

I am also thinking since I am adding some fire power to this machine I will probably use it with 40 inch samsung HD ready LCD tv in my room via HDMI cable.I think it should work fine since the TV wiill be 1280 by 720 resolution but on 40inch and this guys have tried it in 5760 by 1200 resolution in 3 dell 24 inch monitors. so the TV is smaller and the resolution will be less.Also this thing can act as a wireless media player if I can add a suitable wirelss dongle to it. Also If I add a blu ray drive it can act as my blu ray player.This thing is really coming out as a good all rounder for my needs.Only glitch is the overclocking issue I just have to know how to do it but only apply it if the situation demands. Thanks for your truck load of good advise backed with serious logic.
Thanks.

 

[spirovious]

Gigabyte are more reliable in OC & stable too.

 

[thevortex]

Ah, Deus Ex - a truly ground breaking game. No wonder it has so many admirers.

Oblivion too was a path breaking game in more ways than one. However I somehow did not quite get into it that much. What did you make of Neverwinter Nights?

If you are a fan of RPGs, Dragon Age is really good. Worth a go. However it is not as open a RPG as Oblivion.

 

[mahiruha]

Aha it feels a little bit easy after hearing names like Deus Ex and oblivion. Was bit stressed with all this overclocking issue. Well I am a fan of deus ex too when my gaming was pc based. Played the version 1 in 1999 and version 2 in 2003 then lost touch with it. Brilliant game. Would love to play again if a newer version comes in. Oblivion is also excellent played it in Xbox 360. Hoping to get the delux edition or something like that when it will be available here. Truly amazing game. Few days ago went to the shop to look for something else but suddenly noticed this Assassin's Creed 2 game. I picked it hoping to relive the good time I had with oblivion. I have played it a bit but although the graphics is excellent the game play is bit weak. The plot and missions are not very good. Perhaps I need to spend a bit more time with it.Let's see.
Thanks.

 

[mahiruha]

coming back to music pc. It looks like finally it is taking shape. Today could able to locate this asus xonar essence STX sound card and ordered it from
Computers, Peripherals, Cameras, Laptops, Gaming Equipment Tech Heaven .It has been despatched. God willing it will be with me on friday and I need to put it inside the cabinet and I am good to go.

 

[venkatcr]

Mahiruha, this thread that you have given a link to has Trojan horse virus. Please be careful when surfing that site.

Cheers

 

[mahiruha]

Hi Venkat,
can you please tell me which link is the culprit. I didn't get any warning. Which anti virus your are using?
Thanks.