A.) you cannot upgrade the CPU any further than 700mhz most likely if its a 500. BUT a 500 WILL work for recording.

You wanna invest in as much RAM as possible and yes a 40GiG HD at minimum (MAKE SURE ITS 7200 RPM!)

PLEASE understand that the RAM being at least 256 (PREFERABLY 512) and the HD being 7200 is SO IMPORTANT to RECORDING!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

with that ram and hd speed...you can get away with 500mhz (ive seen people use less)

with that said...onto the pre-amp and mic

ok...wow...did ya not figure this out yourself dog....$900 mic / $30 preamp...

c'mon now!

thats like taking a lexus and putting a hyundai engine in it!

ok..being that it looks like you have like $900 to spend here

buy this:

Pre-amp / Soundcard :

Digidesign Mbox ($450) or M-audio Omni studio ($430)

Mic:

Rode NT2 ($400) or AKG C4000B ($450)

PLEASE dont plug a $900 mic into a $40 pre-amp

and also

PLEASE dont plug a dope mic and pre-amp into a shitty sound card

this is why i suggest the soundcard/pre-amp all in one solution with the mbox or omni

.pz.

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..ghost...