Computer recording guys, lend me your brains...

[Newc]

Re: Computer recording guys, lend me your brains...

I'd say load it up with RAM and a couple of high-speed drives and a SoundBlaster Live 5.1 with a lot of RAM on it.

However, I was under the impression that Compaqs were not upgrade-friendly due to the MOBO design (i.e. you have to buy the replacment parts from Compaq/HP that are designed for that model, otherwise they crash due to the BIOS checks that look for the "you didn't buy it from us!?" signatures).

Anyhoo, if it can be upgraded without going into meltdown, I'd say go for it - one can never have too many headaches in life [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Tekky]

Re: Computer recording guys, lend me your brains...

Thanks.

I actually have the 160GB hard drive already. (from an abandoned home-built computer attempt) RAM, not sure about super cheap, but I've already got a 256 chip in it and I'll only be able to throw another one of 'em in there.

So, potentially, I have a Celeron Processor with 512MB of RAM, and a 160GB hard drive.


**in case it's not that clear... I'm not all that savvy about computer hardware. My field is pretty much databases and such...

[GregM]

Re: Computer recording guys, lend me your brains...

Do you know the processor speed?

[Tekky]

Re: Computer recording guys, lend me your brains...

[ QUOTE ]
<font color="aqua">What is the actual processor speed, Todd? Since it's a celeron, I'm thinking anything under 600-800 would be too slow to run GTpro comfortably. </font>

[/ QUOTE ]

From the Comcrapq site - Intel (r) Celeron TM -566, 600 MHz

[GregM]

Re: Computer recording guys, lend me your brains...

Also what operating system

[Budman68]

Re: Computer recording guys, lend me your brains...

<font color="aqua">Personally I'd send it off to the relatives as you'll only get headaches working with it, seriously. </font>

[Tekky]

Re: Computer recording guys, lend me your brains...

well, I had a melt-down with the old hard drive, which had Windows ME on it. I was able to take the hard drive out of my wife's old computer and get it running, it has Windows 98.

But after figuring out what I can do with this hardware, I'll look to you guys to help me determine what the best OS would be to run on it.

[GregM]

Re: Computer recording guys, lend me your brains...

Well I was thinking guitar port riff tracker but you need at least 1 ghz processor speed. I wonder if the motherboard will take a celeron 1ghz. You can get them cheap on ebay.

[Soap]

Re: Computer recording guys, lend me your brains..

Go here everything under the sun and reasonable.
http://www.newegg.com

[Tekky]

Re: Computer recording guys, lend me your brains...

Something tells me the answer is no.

Here's the spec page from Comcrapq.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/docum...cname=c00008661

[GregM]

Re: Computer recording guys, lend me your brains...

you would need to up the ram to 512 as well...

OR

it is really easy to use, portable and will most likely be great with your new pc.

Scrap the old one, maybe get a little cash for it and put tht into the gp $200 for everything you need.

[GregM]

Re: Computer recording guys, lend me your brains...

yeah, by the page I would scrap or donate it to someone. I agree with Budman68.

[Newc]

Re: Computer recording guys, lend me your brains...

A Celeron only has 256 Megs of L2 cache (processor RAM) on the chip itself, so you can pretty much say that it's only going to run at half or two-thirds the rated speed. Adding more RAM to the system does help, but not much.

Still, for simple home-recording, it should work (assuming the Compaq will accept any non-factory add-ons like a better soundcard).
Another thing to check for is the system requirements for whatever you're adding in - if the card requires a 1GHz processor, for example, it ain't gonna happen.

[Budman68]

Re: Computer recording guys, lend me your brains...

<font color="aqua">ya know, if you're able to put a P3 800mhz chip in there, it would probably work for you. I'm sure you could get that chip cheap if you watch places like computergeeks.com I still don't think it'd be comfortable for you though... </font>

[Tekky]

Re: Computer recording guys, lend me your brains...

OK guys. I'm convinced... The nephews get a new computer. I'll have to install "Chicken Invaders" for my youngest. He digs that one..

Thanks for your advice/help.