Building my DAW: Help me choose between these 3 Mobos plz!

[john c]

BEWARE: SUPER NERD TALK

I am going to build a DAW with AMD Athlon 64 3500+ CPU.
So I did tons and TONS of research (despite being an uber noob with hardware)
and found out that the latest Mobos for for AMD 64 chipsets are terrible for audio cause PCI-e has big bottlenecks and the Nvidia Nforce4 chips are meant for gamers. As a result, I have come up with 3 options for Mobos (utilizing VIA or Nforce3):

1. ABIT AV8
2. GIGABYTE K8NSNXP
3. MSI K8N NEO2 PLATINUM

Advantage of Abit AV8 is that its super stable and easy to install. Its supposedly a super solid board. Disadvantage is that I don't really see many examples of this as a proven DAW mobo. Also, I heard that theres issues with VIA and that NForce3 is definitely preferable for audio production. Now, many swear by Nvidia NForce3 for audio and so my choices are among MSI NEO2 and GIGA's K8NSNXP. Seems MANY people are using these are their DAWs on the Cubase/Sonar forums. But reading the reviews on newegg, they seem super unreliable. So PLEASE help me. Which Mobo should I go with? Many thanks in advance. OH and price isnt a factor amongst these.

[john c]

cmon tech-geeks. chime in :D

[Milkman John]

BEWARE: SUPER NERD TALK

I am going to build a DAW with AMD Athlon 64 3500+ CPU.
So I did tons and TONS of research (despite being an uber noob with hardware)
and found out that the latest Mobos for for AMD 64 chipsets are terrible for audio cause PCI-e has big bottlenecks and the Nvidia Nforce4 chips are meant for gamers. As a result, I have come up with 3 options for Mobos (utilizing VIA or Nforce3):

1. ABIT AV8
2. GIGABYTE K8NSNXP
3. MSI K8N NEO2 PLATINUM

Advantage of Abit AV8 is that its super stable and easy to install. Its supposedly a super solid board. Disadvantage is that I don't really see many examples of this as a proven DAW mobo. Also, I heard that theres issues with VIA and that NForce3 is definitely preferable for audio production. Now, many swear by Nvidia NForce3 for audio and so my choices are among MSI NEO2 and GIGA's K8NSNXP. Seems MANY people are using these are their DAWs on the Cubase/Sonar forums. But reading the reviews on newegg, they seem super unreliable. So PLEASE help me. Which Mobo should I go with? Many thanks in advance. OH and price isnt a factor amongst these.

to be honest, what you wanna look at is not chipset, but bus speed, the amount of ram it can handle(and what type), and whether or not it can handle serial ata...

i run a via chipset on the board i have now and have no problems with audio...and actaully, nvidia is notorious for updating their drivers way too much and keeping other manufacturers out of the loop, or keeping them out of the loop completely, so i'd go with via

implicity is what you wanna work with...do you wanna produce or do you wanna sit around and tweak your system every 2-3 weeks

[JOEYd hates you]

let me ask you this...

why do you need to have the sound built into the mother board?

Why not get a basic motherboard and then seperately add a Sound Blaster Audigy card or whatever high end sound card you want?

[Milkman John]

let me ask you this...

why do you need to have the sound built into the mother board?

Why not get a basic motherboard and then seperately add a Sound Blaster Audigy card or whatever high end sound card you want?
actually, you want to avoid it like the plague

you want the a/d converters seperate from the mobo

[JOEYd hates you]

actually, you want to avoid it like the plague

you want the a/d converters seperate from the mobo
that's my point.

[john c]

im NOT getting these mobos because of the onboard sound at all. they have the highest FSB speeds without using Nvidia NForce4. What other options do I have?

[Milkman John]

im NOT getting these mobos because of the onboard sound at all. they have the highest FSB speeds without using Nvidia NForce4. What other options do I have?
im lazy, could you post specs of each...

that would help me :)

[john c]

actually, you want to avoid it like the plague

you want the a/d converters seperate from the mobo

Dont plan on using real Synths anytime soon, just VSTs so I dont care about that (I dotn think ).

[JOEYd hates you]

SPECS:


http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/products.php?categories=1&model=175

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_detail.php?UID=607

http://www.giga-byte.com/MotherBoard/Products/Products_GA-K8NSNXP-939.htm

[john c]

ABIT:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813127181

NEO2:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130468

Giga:
http://www.short-media.com/review.php?r=248

[Milkman John]

Dont plan on using real Synths anytime soon, just VSTs so I dont care about that (I dotn think ).

actually, for monitoring purposes, you will...

especially with the more complicated synths like reaktor or the arturia line

[john c]

in this forum, these guys are all over the Neo2. But i dunno from Newegg it sounds like a scary board that might have many problems

http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.asp?m=444312

[Milkman John]

ABIT:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813127181

NEO2:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130468

Giga:
http://www.short-media.com/review.php?r=248

i would go with the last two, HOWEVER...i would suggest going with a p4 chip due to alot of soft synths being made specificly for use on a p4 machine...they will work with it, but you'll get better quality from them on a p4 machine

but out of all of em, i would go with the giga

[Milkman John]

in this forum, these guys are all over the Neo2. But i dunno from Newegg it sounds like a scary board that might have many problems

http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.asp?m=444312

check out steinbergs forums, not cakewalks...

sonar was made for the computer illiterate...

great program, but not as powerfull as cubase

and not used in as many studios

also, might wanna check out computer music magazine...they do a parts review every so often, and mobo's are in it

[JOEYd hates you]

i would go with the last two, HOWEVER...i would suggest going with a p4 chip due to alot of soft synths being made specificly for use on a p4 machine...they will work with it, but you'll get better quality from them on a p4 machine

but out of all of em, i would go with the giga
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH INTEL AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

[john c]

I use Cubase but figured VST implementations dont really differ in the 2 programs and you could compare. About the Pentiums, from what I've read, AMD 64 is unanomyously beating out Intel in audio.

[john c]

JoeyD which mobo would u get?

[Milkman John]

I use Cubase but figured VST implementations dont really differ in the 2 programs and you could compare. About the Pentiums, from what I've read, AMD 64 is unanomyously beating out Intel in audio.
maybe so...been awhile since i read up on it...

thing being tho, NI write all of their stuff to run inline with the p4 chips, then port it over, and just from my ears alone, it sounds better(same sound card, same monitors, different comp)

and i LOVE me some NI

the need to make a modular synth in the style of reaktor and reason...easy to assemble, easy patching and routing....

god i'd nut

[JOEYd hates you]

I would trust any computer that I would build to Abit. I don't even shop for other brands when it comes to mobos.

They are the only mobo manufacturer that I have not had major issues with.

[john c]

NI is quality but my main boys right now are Z3ta+, Albino2, and Vanguard.

[Milkman John]

NI is quality but my main boys right now are Z3ta+, Albino2, and Vanguard.

i like both of the first 2, haven't played with vanguard yet...will have to play with it

[john c]

BTW, on Cubase's website they highly recommend AMD.

[Milkman John]

BTW, on Cubase's website they highly recommend AMD.
really?

imma have to read up on it

i still like my new p4 tho :)

have 12 instances of reaktor running, all going nuts with automation, and it barely flinches and sounds AMAZING

so much better than my old p3

[john c]

can you plz give full specs of ur pc

[Matt Sanborn]

Cubase SX with lots of VSTs work great on my p4

[Milkman John]

can you plz give full specs of ur pc

p4 3.2 ghz, 800mhz frontside bus, via chipset, 1 gig of pc3200 ram, 2 maudio delta 44 cards, radeon 7000 series dual video card with 64mb of onboard ram, about 400 gigs of HD space, partitioned out into all sorts of shit...has on board audio, but thats been disabled...also running win 2k

oh, and it has on board spidf i/o, but i never use it

picked it all up for 400 bucks(minus the drives and cards)

run cubase sx 2 with reaktor, kontakt and a ton of other NI plugs(yay for Komplete), the korg legacy collection, arturia minimoog and cs80v, a ton of free soft synth plugins and a ton of effect plugins

i can EASILY run 12 instances of reaktor, 4 of kontakt, about 45 effects, 8 channels of audio and still be at like 50% of total system usage

that ain't shit :)

[robp]

newegg.com is the shit. i buy all my computer stuff on there. they are fast, cheap, have an awesome return policy, and they are so close i usually get my order in a couple days, even with regular shipping.

go with the M-Audio soundcards. by far the best bang for your buck as far as quality and features go. whether the audiophile or the delta's, they are badass...

i have had nothing gut good experiences with both abit and asus motherboards.

[Elektronkind]

The board's chipset IS a big factor when it comes to audio, especially if you're going to be using a PCI-based sound interface. Brute force speed of the buss won't get you by alone.

John, I recommend that you pick your sound interface first, then check with the maker and other users as to what mobo combos work best with it. Before I moved to a Mac-based DAW, I had terrible times with incompatibilities causing pops and clicks in my audio because of a odd interaction between my PCI audio card (at the time, a Echo Gina24) and the board's chipset (some VIA model)

/dale

[john c]

thanks dale. ill be using for now, an Audiophile 2496

[john c]

I called M-audio and they refused to give me a preference or some kind of advice on what to go for :(

[Elektronkind]

I guess they dont want to be perceived as endorsing a certain company or product. Weird. I've talked to card makers (not MAudio) and never got a response like that.

I guess you may just have to hit the boards and ask around if you still want to do that.

/dale

[john c]

they said older via chipsets had problems with crackles but todays via with the latest updates shouldnt be a problem. but on the msgboards, theres so many people saying to stay away from nforce 4 boards at all costs?

[Elektronkind]

I pretty much agree with that. I now remember the last PC I had that had the problem. It was a Athlon 1800+ with a Gigabyte mobo that had a KT266A VIA chipset (hey, c'mon.. this was 2001.) Those old VIA chipsets did suck, as they were snap crackle pop all over the place when it came to recording off my Echo Gina24. Only remedy was to set the buffer up to 2048 samples which made it essentially useless.

If M-Audio said the newer ones are up to snuff, I'd believe them. Since they mentioned how sucky the old VIAs were, it's a good indication they're on top of things and are not BS'ing you.

Although I've never used a mobo with a Nvidia chipset on it, I often see bitching and moaning about those mobos on various audio hardware forums.

/dale

[Elektronkind]

i would go with the last two, HOWEVER...i would suggest going with a p4 chip due to alot of soft synths being made specificly for use on a p4 machine...they will work with it, but you'll get better quality from them on a p4 machine

HUH?

Think you're mistaken. The plugins likely utilize SSE2 extensions on the P4 CPU to do some functions in hardware rather than software, making the synth consume fewer CPU cycles overall. This doesn't have a bearing on outputted sound quality or dynamics.

If a plugin sounded different on different types of CPUs, I'd call that a bug.

/dale

[Milkman John]

HUH?

Think you're mistaken. The plugins likely utilize SSE2 extensions on the P4 CPU to do some functions in hardware rather than software, making the synth consume fewer CPU cycles overall. This doesn't have a bearing on outputted sound quality or dynamics.

If a plugin sounded different on different types of CPUs, I'd call that a bug.

/dale

actually, it's just reaktor that sounds different....but i use that in 90% of my tracks....

[john c]

OK I finally found the board I think I want. Since the latest VIA's seem to be OK now and I should stay away from NForce, and I want a reliable Mobo, Im going for this guy:
ASUS A8V DELUXE Socket 939 VIA K8T800

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131510

Thanks everybody for your time.