Harder faster CPU

[Chimera1to1]

Hi,

break out the "kid gloves" Your gonna need to explain your answers in words of one sylable

After years of being stitched by my beloved B-I-L, I went to PC World and bought a PC to run Band-In-A-Box software in my music room. I didn't really know what I would be hoping to use it for in 6 months time.

I bought a Packard Bell iMedia S3810. It has a Core i3 540 3.07 GHz CPU in it with 3G DDR RAM. I have ordered extra RAM to take it up to 8G as I figure you can't ever have too much

I want to use the PC as a DAW for synth and guitar with MIDI control for the synth.

I would like to use software to run modelled software amps and effects both for recording and live play at home.

I've looked at EMU PCIe soundcards which run DSP effects but am a bit worried as E-MU don't seem to be releasing reliable non-Beta drivers for Windows 7 64-bit and there is a bit of chatter about the future for E-MU.

SOS magazine seems to be recommending i7 CPU's for running effects so I wondered if I could upgrade.

What Motherboard is in the PB S3810?

Can I just swap in a new i7 in the current Motherboard?

Do I need to upgrade Motherboard too? If so what?

Is a new PCIe soundcard/CPU/Motherboard going to require a PSU upgrade too?

I was looking to spend below £400 on a soundcard but ideally need help on connecting the soundcard to an interface for stereo synth and stereo guitar with monitor output and headphone output. I don't want to use a USB interface as I want to avoid latency issues as much as possible.

Anyone that can answer questions or point me in the right direction for links please.

Thanks

 

[Trotter]

Couldn't help it.

Audiophile stuff is nowhere near my forte so I will pass on offering advice on it, leaving it for those more knowledgeable in that realm.

Good luck finding any info about the innards of your computer outside of opening it up and looking for part numbers. Packard Bell, well, sucks as far as that goes. They really sucked hard when they sold in the US so I hope they have improved since they pulled out from here.

As long as you mobo is not proprietary you could replace it with a different mATX board that would allow a more powerful CPU. A pic would help us see if it is a standard mATX or not.

 

[Chimera1to1]

You chose a blocked Youtube vid!!! Shame lol

Take a pic of the motherboard??? I'll have to play some mood music and light some scented candles......I'm about to lose my "taking a PC apart" virginity

 

[jasonalwaysready]

holy crap
packard bell is still around? i had one of those with a pentium 66mhz
did they always suck? i thought they had a reputation as work horse back in the day

 

[Chimera1to1]

Yeah they certainly suck now. I asked them for upgrade advice and they just told me I had to speak to Tech Guys at PC World for warranty issues WTF??

I'm still waiting for a response to my sarcastic/disappointed reply. They made the PC. They should know "what" they put in it.

 

[Slaymate]

Your almost guaranteed to have a very limited number of options. It's fairly new so you may get most of your money back if you sell it on ebay or craigslist. Then I would recommend building your own.

 

[patonb]

You could run something like cpuz CPUID - System & hardware benchmark, monitoring, reporting and it'll give yoiu more info on your mobo.

 

[Chimera1to1]

I've taken some photos and will upload them when I manage to remember my password for photobucket.

There is a barcode on the MB with"M/B MBU5H0900102100EB0EK00"

 

[MindoverMaster]

use tinypic. We need your model number. Should be on front of your case.

 

[Chimera1to1]

CPUID gave this

Processor 1 ID = 0
Number of cores 2 (max 8)
Number of threads 4 (max 16)
Name Intel Core i3 540
Codename Clarkdale
Specification Intel(R) Core(TM) i3 CPU 540 @ 3.07GHz
Package (platform ID) Socket 1156 LGA (0x1)
CPUID 6.5.2
Extended CPUID 6.25
Core Stepping C2
Technology 32 nm
TDP Limit 73 Watts
Core Speed 1330.1 MHz
Multiplier x FSB 10.0 x 133.0 MHz
Rated Bus speed 2926.2 MHz
Stock frequency 3066 MHz
Instructions sets MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, EM64T, VT-x
L1 Data cache 2 x 32 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L1 Instruction cache 2 x 32 KBytes, 4-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L2 cache 2 x 256 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L3 cache 4 MBytes, 16-way set associative, 64-byte line size
FID/VID Control yes

Turbo Mode not supported
Max turbo frequency 3066 MHz
Max non-turbo ratio 23x
Max turbo ratio 23x
Max efficiency ratio 9x
TDC Limit 53 Amps
Core TDP 53 Watts
Uncore TDP 20 Watts
Power @ 9x 23 Watts
Power @ 10x 24 Watts
Power @ 11x 25 Watts
Power @ 12x 27 Watts
Power @ 13x 29 Watts
Power @ 14x 31 Watts
Power @ 15x 34 Watts
Power @ 16x 37 Watts
Power @ 17x 41 Watts
Power @ 18x 45 Watts
Power @ 19x 49 Watts
Power @ 20x 54 Watts
Power @ 21x 60 Watts
Power @ 22x 66 Watts
Power @ 23x 73 Watts
Max bus number 255
Attached device PCI device at bus 255, device 2, function 1
Chipset
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Northbridge Intel Havendale/Clarkdale Host Bridge rev. 12
Southbridge Intel H57 rev. 06
Memory Type DDR3
Memory Size 3072 MBytes
Channels Single
Memory Frequency 665.0 MHz (4:20)
CAS# latency (CL) 9.0
RAS# to CAS# delay (tRCD) 9
RAS# Precharge (tRP) 9
Cycle Time (tRAS) 24
Row Refresh Cycle Time (tRFC) 74
Command Rate (CR) 2T
Uncore Frequency 2128.1 MHz
MCHBAR I/O Base address 0x0FED14000
MCHBAR I/O Size 4096

Mainboard Model imedia S3810 (0x000003A8 - 0xAF5A2800)

LPCIO
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

LPCIO Vendor ITE
LPCIO Model IT8721
LPCIO Vendor ID 0x90
LPCIO Chip ID 0x8721
LPCIO Revision ID 0x2
Config Mode I/O address 0x2E
Config Mode LDN 0x4