8 Apr
2006
8 Apr
'06
6:17 p.m.
Is integrated graphics still bad ? Will I run into
driver availability
problems if I'm stuck with O/B graphics ? Will memory bandwidth be a problem
not really. in fact, the VIA Unichrome in a $250 (total) Sempron64 shuttle i just built
for someone actually runs faster than my ATI. due to ATI sucking so bad and only being
able to use it via software rendering since their fglrx driver causes a kernel panic when
running GLXgears...
Do I want to pay extra for SATA 2 ?
everything has SATA by now, unles your vendor is pawning off discontinued crap..
Is AMD still better for Audio ?
well its faster, cheaper, and 64bit. you decide..
I'll be using loads of LADSPA effects. Is
there a value for AMD's advantage with the De-Norm problems ?
im pretty sure Intel fixed this a few steppings ago..
Is processor cache size an issue for digital audio ?
Do I need to go for the
processors with larger cache's ?
i would say this Sempron feels a touch slower than my Turion and A64 desktop chip, all of
which are 2.0ghz. probably due to the slower cache, and the fact that i put some old
266DDR RAM i had sitting around in it..
since everything except the high end FX series are pretty close in price, id go for the
ones with larger cache..
Is NFORCE4 chipset OK now ? It seems to be on alot of the cheap
motherboards.
anything should be fine. id be dictating my choice based on the case (eg something small
and with a heatpipe instead of a fan for the CPU, and a passively-cooled video card) if
noise is a concern, and if you want to 'vote with your dollars', go with Nvidia,
or preferaby someone like SiS or VIA, who are much more open about hardware specs than
either Nvidia or ATI..