BuBulle
After years of good service, my old Tecra M5 running XP is dying, This serie had an issue with CPU cooling gel and fan, so was very hot and noisy. CPU as often in red. MP3s were always in separate HD and OS was on an 120GB SSD, with the ability to reboot in 30secs, but it did almost never crash. So overall I was happy.
I bought a second hand ACER with Celeron 550, Windows 7 with went fine for some time. After an event with lots of dust, it crashes/shutdowns frequently. After a fresh start in a cool place it runs OK for some time. If temperature rises (ambient or usage) it goes of. Even if I clean it I will not trust it anymore. Not hapy here...
So I am looking for replacement. Of course I will apply OS tuning recommendations from forum, have latest upgrades. I will keep on storing songs on an external drive (and its beloved backup).
At first I thought that since VDJ went fine on my old Tecra (OK, V6 and below), a cheap Celeron 900 or 925 type would do the job. Then, reading across this forum and compares on various sites, I started to realize that this type of processor may not be the best fit, will peak and therefore overheat and I may experience same issues in a few months.
But more powerful processors should heat more, and more more with a 7200rpm drive, etc... No ? I hear Celeron is mono-core, AMD not very stable. So I thing that reason must be between these discounted Celeron-based laptops and most expensive ones.
I would like to get some experienced feedback/advice for a reasonable configuration (i.e. in 500€ range) for a dedicated VDJ setup. Most importantly the "don't buy" in terms of processor.
Many thanks,
Pat
P.S. Just cleaned the ACER, won't even stay awake more than 30secs...
I bought a second hand ACER with Celeron 550, Windows 7 with went fine for some time. After an event with lots of dust, it crashes/shutdowns frequently. After a fresh start in a cool place it runs OK for some time. If temperature rises (ambient or usage) it goes of. Even if I clean it I will not trust it anymore. Not hapy here...
So I am looking for replacement. Of course I will apply OS tuning recommendations from forum, have latest upgrades. I will keep on storing songs on an external drive (and its beloved backup).
At first I thought that since VDJ went fine on my old Tecra (OK, V6 and below), a cheap Celeron 900 or 925 type would do the job. Then, reading across this forum and compares on various sites, I started to realize that this type of processor may not be the best fit, will peak and therefore overheat and I may experience same issues in a few months.
But more powerful processors should heat more, and more more with a 7200rpm drive, etc... No ? I hear Celeron is mono-core, AMD not very stable. So I thing that reason must be between these discounted Celeron-based laptops and most expensive ones.
I would like to get some experienced feedback/advice for a reasonable configuration (i.e. in 500€ range) for a dedicated VDJ setup. Most importantly the "don't buy" in terms of processor.
Many thanks,
Pat
P.S. Just cleaned the ACER, won't even stay awake more than 30secs...
Posté Fri 15 Jul 11 @ 8:26 am
synthet1c
i just got an asus eeepc 1005pe, notebook, which will be my primary vdj machine for audio... I have overclocked it from 1.66 ghz to 2.10ghz, had it running for 5 hours yesterday testing it and the core heat did not rise above 38 degrees, so I think it should be pretty stable in a live environment. the cpu when tracks were loaded with 7 effects running was about 40% which is actually better than my normal laptop, however the cpu jumped to 90% when tracks were loading, but there were no audio dropouts.
If you consider the notebook route I suggest getting one that is compatable with osx86 as unfortunately the 1005pe is not which is the only drawback, apart from the video output, which should be fixable with an OS update.
If you consider the notebook route I suggest getting one that is compatable with osx86 as unfortunately the 1005pe is not which is the only drawback, apart from the video output, which should be fixable with an OS update.
Posté Fri 15 Jul 11 @ 9:05 am
BuBulle
Thanks Synthet1c, with my bad eyes I feel like looking at 15-17-inch screen. But that's exactly the kind of feedback I am looking for in terms of level of testing, tricks, config.
Patrick
Patrick
Posté Fri 15 Jul 11 @ 9:38 am
BuBulle
Hello,
Two questions here:
1. I am trying to find a post originating from Atomix (I think) about suggested HW configs, not the ones in user manual but more detailed (talks about Win7 pro, 32bit, etc..). Does anyone has a bookmark ?
2. I would like to know if 32bit is till the recommended architecture and why 64bit is not recommended, as most off-the-shelf laptops are now 64bit. I would suggest that the "best results today" config appears in wiki so it eases finding.
I am not aiming at a netbook as it is too small.
Thanks,
Pat
Two questions here:
1. I am trying to find a post originating from Atomix (I think) about suggested HW configs, not the ones in user manual but more detailed (talks about Win7 pro, 32bit, etc..). Does anyone has a bookmark ?
2. I would like to know if 32bit is till the recommended architecture and why 64bit is not recommended, as most off-the-shelf laptops are now 64bit. I would suggest that the "best results today" config appears in wiki so it eases finding.
I am not aiming at a netbook as it is too small.
Thanks,
Pat
Posté Mon 15 Aug 11 @ 4:27 am
Support staff
The recommended specifications can be found at the bottom of the following page: http://www.virtualdj.com/products/virtualdj/index.html
Ideally your computer should exceed these.
VirtualDJ itself will work fine with 64-bit, although it is currently a 32-bit application.
However, some older hardware (External DJ sound cards and/or MIDI controllers) may not be compatible with 64-bit. Please check the manufacturer's website of any hardware that you intend to use for compatibility information.
Ideally your computer should exceed these.
VirtualDJ itself will work fine with 64-bit, although it is currently a 32-bit application.
However, some older hardware (External DJ sound cards and/or MIDI controllers) may not be compatible with 64-bit. Please check the manufacturer's website of any hardware that you intend to use for compatibility information.
Posté Mon 15 Aug 11 @ 5:03 am
BuBulle
Thanks for extra fast response support team.
I had that HW list (I started with it) but the one in my mind was far more detailed. E.g. sounds like there are some video cards to avoid, conflicts with dual video cards, and as far as I remember that list went through such info.
As I am going to order a custom laptop, I just want to avoid ordering something that will case problems.
Pat
I had that HW list (I started with it) but the one in my mind was far more detailed. E.g. sounds like there are some video cards to avoid, conflicts with dual video cards, and as far as I remember that list went through such info.
As I am going to order a custom laptop, I just want to avoid ordering something that will case problems.
Pat
Posté Mon 15 Aug 11 @ 5:26 am
Support staff
Presently some of the recent ATI-based video cards have problems due to a bug in their drivers.
For some systems, updates that resolve this are available and/or older versions of the driver that does not have this bug.
If purchasing a laptop from a store, then maybe you could try it first before purchasing.
For some systems, updates that resolve this are available and/or older versions of the driver that does not have this bug.
If purchasing a laptop from a store, then maybe you could try it first before purchasing.
Posté Mon 15 Aug 11 @ 8:11 am
BuBulle
It will be custom built so the guy is asking me for specs and hence no testing before. I will aim at I5, Win7 pro, 7200rpm drive or more, 4G mem, and some graphic card. The idea is to have a dedicated machine with no extra stuff like retail configs provide but you don't need.
As soon as I have a basic setup I will do an image backup.
Per your inputs I will simply avoid ATI. I tried again to look at the post I was looking for with no results. Too bad I did not bookmark it, it takes ages to find it with no results so far.
Any suggestion for cards that do not cause problems is more than welcome.
Pat
As soon as I have a basic setup I will do an image backup.
Per your inputs I will simply avoid ATI. I tried again to look at the post I was looking for with no results. Too bad I did not bookmark it, it takes ages to find it with no results so far.
Any suggestion for cards that do not cause problems is more than welcome.
Pat
Posté Mon 15 Aug 11 @ 9:03 am
BuBulle
Back on this, seems like my supplier does only have ATI chipsets available. I tried to find resolutions of issues related with ATI cards, but did not. Can I still use ATI with acceptable workarounds and still paly video ? Are there ATI card + driver combinations that to not seem to have the problem ? CPU will be i3.
Pat
Pat
Posté Wed 31 Aug 11 @ 2:54 am