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Yes. RAM is rarely in active use, i.e. it's not usually used in processor-intensive calculations but simply to store program data that might be called upon at any second (where the hard drive would be too slow). You should however check whether your old motherboards can support 3 GB RAM.

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Yes. Windows 7 "requires" 1 GB RAM and a 1 GHz processor. A 1 GHz PIII often shipped with 128 MB RAM. You should however check whether your old motherboards can support that much RAM.

]]> /g/res/9545.html#9566>>9562 Are you sure? The reason for this thread is that I seem to remember being told at some point that the amount of ram used is limited by how much the processor is doing, therefore throwing ram at an old system doesn't achieve very much. The same with GPU.

Am I wrong?

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Peltier devices do not work that way.
They're woefully inefficient heat pumps. Where are you planning to pump the heat to?

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I assume that these CPUs are 32 bit. In that case, Windows limits you to using ~3 GB RAM (as the rest of the address space is reserved for shared memory and the like and therefore is virtual). RAM isn't really expensive, so buy 3 GB and be done with it.

]]> /g/res/9545.html#9561>>9560 Yes.

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Single core CPUs?

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Most studios will do the obvious and put the computer at the back of a control room where it doesn't matter, but I have been in live rooms with computers too, often when they are recording a full setup live in one take, which is always fun. Anyway, the best solution to that I have seen is putting the computers in an isolation chamber, or in English, a sealed or mostly sealed wooden box. They work wonders for keeping the noise out. With something small like a laptop it's often enough to just keep the mic far enough away or keep the computer in the mic's blind spot, but you're still going to get a bit of noise there.

In my own experiments though, I have found a BIG fan (10, 12 inches) is almost silent because it doesn't have to spin as fast, and does a better job of airflow because of the size. You can spend a lot these days on peltier cooling or similar too.

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Op here, i've bought components from various online retailers as finding local decently priced computer shops near me is impossible.

Some of the online places i have used are: www.ebuyer.com , www.scan.co.uk , www.aria.co.uk , www.overclock.co.uk : There's no real newegg for us englishman, sadly.

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Have you had a look at PCs submerged in mineral oil? brings it's own set of problems but I imagine that would be dead silent.

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My solution was to shift all the machines out of the quiet room. Screw all this quiet stuff, just stick the machines in (a silenced cupboard in) another room. Long cables exist for USB, monitors, MIDI, audio, blah.
It's an option, and,if you're trying to quieten more than one machine (and, let's face it, who ever only has one machine), there's a good chance it'll come out easier, cheaper and substantially less of a pain in the arse. As an added benefit, you can stick a big filter on the air inlet to the cupboard, and your machines will run nice & clean forever.

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Pretty much that - stop the vibration, get monstrous heatsinks and have few large but low rpm fans

For OS, I think you have a wide range of valid choices from windows 7 x64 to xp x64, or even server 2003 in microsoft. I think win7 is decent personally, and should be better with new hardware.

Where'd you get the parts?

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Kind of unrelated to the thread, but seems as good a place as any to post this. We're heading more in a "PC building general" direction here anyway.

Currently building a rack-mount PC to be used in a recording studio. My overall design goal is whisper quiet operation, without sacrificing performance. All I'm missing right now is the CPU cooler, which UPS keep failing to deliver me. The overall plan is to use as few fans as possible, while maintaining steady airflow. There are also a LOT of sound dampening and anti-vibration measures, such as the suspended HDD cages.

You chaps have any suggestions regarding the choice of OS? I currently only own a copy of 32 bit XP, and as such have stuck with 4gb of memory. Which 64 bit OS will give me the least amount of hassle? I would like to make use of much more memory, but the OS thing is holding me back.

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