Ultimate DAW PC. Cheap, quiet, stable, robust.

[billv]

Thanks for this thread Reminor!

It convinced me to try the 400SC. Ended up getting 2 (2.8 GHZ, 40GB drive) for $300 apiece. Used one for an upgraded family machine and outfitted the other as a DAW.

I ended up putting 1GB RAM, CD-RW, an existing 80GB Maxtor drive and a used Matrox G450 in the DAW. I found 2 Dell 19" monitors for cheap @ overstock.com, used my m-Audio Delta 44 and installed Windows XP with latest drivers.

The thing runs great. Very fast, very quiet. The loudest component is the Maxtor. Has a faint whine. I am going to upgrade it soon to a SATA drive, probably the WD Raptor as you suggest.

All in all, I have just a little over $900 invested for a really nice dual monitor DAW.

Thanks again!

Bill V.

[Reminor]

You are very welcome my friend. I am glad I could help.

I am writing this on my third 400sc at my house and those babies never put me down.

The sad news I hear from people is that buyback days are over. But keeping in mind that new Intel chipsets are out (and PCI-X architecture just around the corner) I think there will be some brief time when Dell will be offloading the remaining stock of 2.8/800FSB PowerEdges 400sc for a reasonable price. They are still very well designed and powerfull PCs for today's apps.

And I think I do need a couple more machines for my house Am I going insane? LOL

[big_czar]

PowerEdge 400sc for $300

This sounds like a great deal. But how do you get this price? It says $650 for the p4 2.8g 800mhz bus on the Dell site.

[billv]

PowerEdge 400sc for $300

This sounds like a great deal. But how do you get this price? It says $650 for the p4 2.8g 800mhz bus on the Dell site.

If you go to this URL:

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/product ... l=en&s=bsd

You will see the 400SC starting @ $249. A configuration like the 2 I got is now $348 (2.8GHZ, 40GB disk, and 128MB memory). Not bad...

Bill

[big_czar]

When I hit the webpage it said $249 for 2.4ghz Cely

When I tried to upgrade to 2.8ghz P4 the price went up to $448?!?!

Am I supposed to subtract another rebate?


So Dell must have made a mistake to sell it for $300 including shipping. But it's possible they could sell it that low in the future.

I might give Dell a call and give them an offer. Do we need tax ID's?




Thanks for the tips guys!!

[Mr. Dipity]

When I hit the webpage it said $249 for 2.4ghz Cely

When I tried to upgrade to 2.8ghz P4 the price went up to $448?!?!

I'd take 2 for $450! Does that include shipping?

Thanks for the tips guys!!

Don't get celerons.

And wait for the price to drop at the end of the quarter, when you can get two deals stacked together.

[big_czar]

now I'm looking again and it says $349 -price does not include mail in rebate-

ship date 7/20/04

[billv]

now I'm looking again and it says $349 -price does not include mail in rebate-

ship date 7/20/04

Right. Sorry about that, I forgot ot mention the $100 mail-in rebate.

And the other thing is that the deal seems to change every few weeks. When I got mine, there was a free processor upgrade (to the 2.8GHz), money off, a mail-in rebate and free shipping.

And no, you do not need a tax id.

Bill V.

[big_czar]

cool- I'm going to keep my eye on it.

Should I format with NTFS or Fat?

I'm going to be [finally] switching to Win XP when I get the new machine.

Concerning partitioning drives- as I understood it does not slow you down as long as you use outer most partition for streaming the audio. Use the inner partition for storage.

[billv]

cool- I'm going to keep my eye on it.

Should I format with NTFS or Fat?

I'm going to be [finally] switching to Win XP when I get the new machine.

Concerning partitioning drives- as I understood it does not slow you down as long as you use outer most partition for streaming the audio. Use the inner partition for storage.

1. NTFS, no doubt.

2. I would not partition the drive. I would (and have) 2 seperate drives, one for each purpose.

Bill V.

[big_czar]

Code: Select all

And wait for the price to drop at the end of the quarter, when you can get two deals stacked together.
[quote]

Called Dell today.  They said $249 was for the Cely.  Extra $100 for the p4. 

When is the end of the quater?  Sept?


[/quote]

[big_czar]

Called Dell and they said $349 for the p4.

Still sounds like a good deal. I've been shopping. Can anyone find a better deal?

[Vince Maskeeper]

Watch Gotapex.com for deals on these machines.

-V

[exit2studios]

How does this machine compare cost and performance wise to the Dimension 2400 desktop?

[b3groover]

For what it's worth, the quietest, most reliable drives I've come across so far are Seagates.