# General > Technical Support >  The computer shop...

## Jeid

In Scrabster... does anyone have the phone number?

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## Kingetter

Is this the one?

http://www.caithness-business.co.uk/...ss.php?id=1275

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## Jeid

Thats seems to be the one, thank you very much.

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## Kingetter

Amazing what you find on the org eh? :Smile:

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## Jeid

Yeah, but I can hardly read just now, my eyes are barely open!

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## henry20

nothing new there then  ::

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## Jeid

> nothing new there then


The cheek... at least I'm not having dreams about the org!!

I could have a right rant just now. I feel like it.

Ok, so the reason I needed the number for the computer shop was to get a power supply. You see, I'm in the middle of upgrading a computer for Murkle Bay Sound. The computer was built to be "compatible" with the recording software that we will be using.

In all fairness, it was a bit of a lame job. The Processor was slow, there was half the amount of memory needed to run the applications well and finally... this really annoyed me, the computer required a firewire port(basically a faster USB port) to connect to the recording hardware. The computer "built for Pro Tools" didn't even have that.

A local businessman built this and if it were my computer, I'd be dumping it on his doorstep and asking for a full refund!!

Rant over. Should be all setup by tonight hopefully  :Grin:

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## henry20

OK, thats the last time I tell you about my dreams!!  ::

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## Jeid

> OK, thats the last time I tell you about my dreams!!


Wise move...

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## Jeid

I should point out, that Jektec didn't build the computer, it was built by RomArt computers.

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## Kaishowing

It's amazing just how many purpose-built systems forget to make allowances for updates....Especially considering just how fast equipment can become obsolete in the computer industry.
Firewire at one time was the 'top' option for data transfer at 400/MBps, with SCSI (Skuzzy) being the 'medium' at 80/MBps.
Luckily nowadays with USB 2.0 with 480/MBps things have moved on, and things are far less complicated.

I would have thought though that anyone who builds a system would keep an eye to the future, and would make ease of upgrade a major consideration in the design.  :Grin:  

Someone dreaming about The Org??? I'm sure thats a sign of something...but what, I wouldn't dare to hazzard a guess! ::  LOL

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## Bobinovich

Whoooa there Jeid and get your facts right before 'naming and shaming' my business.

Firstly the PC was not built from scratch - the base unit was donated by a musician well known in the local scene (MBS will confirm this) and all I was asked to do was install some memory (the base unit had none when I got it, I added 512Mb), a CD-RW Drive, and re-install the operating system (which had become corrupted).

Other than that I did nothing else to the system.

I did say to MBS that the system was not ideal - I know how much thought and effort Deemac put in when specifying and ordering his audio PC - but, like pretty much everything thesedays, budget was one of the major concerns.

With regards to the firewire situation, I am not 'into' Pro-Tools and did not even see what equipment it was going to be connected to. However, at little over £7 for a PCI Firewire card, I hardly think that is a major expense to be worried about.

Now, once you have confirmed the above with MBS, I feel a public retraction and apology would be in order.

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## changilass

Rom-art have always dealt with my computers and laptops, I would recommend them to anyone and have done so on a number of occassions.

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## golach

Whats your problem Jeid....I have dealt with Rom-art electronicly....Bob  is great, so I say again ....whats up?

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## Jeid

> Whoooa there Jeid and get your facts right before 'naming and shaming' my business.
> 
> Firstly the PC was not built from scratch - the base unit was donated by a musician well known in the local scene (MBS will confirm this) and all I was asked to do was install some memory (the base unit had none when I got it, I added 512Mb), a CD-RW Drive, and re-install the operating system (which had become corrupted).
> 
> Other than that I did nothing else to the system.
> 
> I did say to MBS that the system was not ideal - I know how much thought and effort Deemac put in when specifying and ordering his audio PC - but, like pretty much everything thesedays, budget was one of the major concerns.
> 
> With regards to the firewire situation, I am not 'into' Pro-Tools and did not even see what equipment it was going to be connected to. However, at little over £7 for a PCI Firewire card, I hardly think that is a major expense to be worried about.
> ...


I publicly apologise. I was going on what little information I had from MBS. From what I was told, it was implied that it had been built by RomArt. Sorry about that.

I've actually ended up upgrading the PC(more parts arriving tomorrow) and installed a new motherboard, processor and memory. I did buy a firewire card as a quick fix, but the memory situation made the PC in its current situation, a touch on the bad side.

Again, really sorry, it was implied that it was built by yourself.

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## Jeid

> Whats your problem Jeid....I have dealt with Rom-art electronicly....Bob  is great, so I say again ....whats up?


Hold your horses here eh? Bob pointed out that a mistake had been made, no need for the cavalry to get in on the act too!

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## Bobinovich

Apology accepted Jeid, and I'm sure you will pass on the sentiments (and my thanks  :: ) to MBS for not giving you/distorting the full picture too.

Stretching the brain cells back a bit I remember that 512Mb was all I had in stock at the time and, having just received an order from my main supplier, I wasn't planning on placing another for a wee while.  Hence we agreed both 'financially' and time-wise that it should be sufficient.

As for ProTools I've just found their site with their recommended systems on.  Sheesh a minimum of 1.5Gb memory and some serious CPUs, etc!!.  OK I'll hold my hands up and admit I *should* have taken the time to look and see what was required, but I can guarantee that MBS would have baulked at the prices, and I'm pretty certain that the underpowered base unit would not even have held that much RAM anyway.

You say that you've put a new motherboard etc. into the case and are awaiting other bits.  Well I happen to have an empty full tower case which I have been trying to get rid of.  If you don't mind the extra work would you like to take it off my hands and use it instead?  You could then put the old bits back in their original case for someone else to use - unless you've got a new resting home for them elsewhere.  You could treat it as an olive branch for all the extra work you've had to do!!  PM me if interested.

As for the cavalry, it's nice to know they'll rally round when required, eh!  :Grin:

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## Jeid

Hey Bob, thanks very much, and again I do apologise. I'm going out to see the MBS posse in a little while so I'll speak to them then.

A full tower case might do a world of good actually. This little case is a nightmare.

As for the components which were in it, the board would take 2gb ram, which we admittedly can't afford.

We've gone for the sturdy but realtively cheap option. Asus motherboard, AMD Sempron 2800 754 pin and a gig of ram... the motherboard even has Firewire  :Wink: 

Haha... cheers

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## Deemac

Jeid,
Just picked up on this post. (My name was mentioned and I was speaking to Bob).

See link: http://www.carillondirect.com/clnweb/index.jsp

I recommend one of these. Expensive but worth every penny. THE quietest PC I've every owned. I suggest that your going to have hassles with old cobbled together machines like the one described in this thread.

Protools is a fairly demanding software/hardware system for a computer to cope with. If budget was a limiting factor I would not recommend going down the Protools route at all. Something like Sonar, logic or Cubase SX would be a far more sensible option.

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## Jeid

Hey Deemac,

I'm quite familiar with computers and know my way around them. The computer has been re-built and is very similar spec to my home(high performance gaming) machine. I used my own computer for recording on Sunday without any problems and I'm highly certain that the system I've built will work for Pro Tools without too much bother.

Thanks very much for the link though.

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## Deemac

Jeid,
Great to hear you've solved all your initial problems and that you have a  stable machine for your protool sessions. I had a few firewire issues when I first started with the Carillon machine a few years ago. A software update solved all my problems.

Just out of curiosity but what Digidesign hardware are you using? I assume this is the Murkle Bays kit at Iain was stalking about getting.

As you mention high end games are also very demanding and tend to stretch PC hardware.

Just got into HD video/DVD production (Dont talk to me about file sizes!!) - Off to order x2 400Gb external drives. ::  

Another usful link: www.ebuyer.com

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