Can you recommend a dual quad core PC

[peeder]

Price them compared to the Mac Pro. Just do it. You might be surprised... (And yes, you can run Windoze on the Mac Pro)

[ten]

Here is the main components of mine...


Tyan i5000xt s2696 motherboard
2x Intel 5320 cpus (overlocked from 1.8ghz to 2.55ghz)
8GB Kingston 667 FB-DIMM (4x2GB)
PC Power and Cooling Silencer 750 PSU
XFX 7300GS Passive graphics card (silent but can do 2560x1600 for 30inch monitor)

Hds, soundcard and case are more personal choices but mine are...

2x Maxtor 15k SAS 73GB drives
4x WD 500GB Sata drives
Lian Li v2000 plus2 B case
Lynx AES/Aurora 16
SSL Duende

tom

[Mr. Green]

The Dell Precision 690 is approved by Digi - basically, it's Dell's version of a Mac Pro.

Dell Precision 690 Product Details

[jcschild]

do a googlesearch for "quad core Xeon digital audio workstation"

Scott
ADK

[Tibbon]

Originally Posted by Mr. Green

The Dell Precision 690 is approved by Digi - basically, it's Dell's version of a Mac Pro.

Dell Precision 690 Product Details

With a massive downside that you can't run OS X on it

On the Mac Pro, you've got Xp or OS X

[BackHand]

Check this one out:

Frost ACM

[Mr. Green]

Originally Posted by Tibbon

With a massive downside that you can't run OS X on it

On the Mac Pro, you've got Xp or OS X

Yah - that's true.

...which is why we just ordered a new Mac Pro instead.

From what I understand, though, you're limited to 2G RAM because of a Bootcamp limitation in XP, which doesn't thrill me much. Does anyone know if this still holds true?

...and yes - there are many valid reasons I still have to work in the XP environment.

[tamasdragon]

Are macs are really better honestly or for example an adk pc might beat the mac?
TD

[tamasdragon]

I really interested to see a real benchmark between mac and pc.
Scott do you know something about them?
TD

[CWsounds]

Originally Posted by peeder

Price them compared to the Mac Pro. Just do it. You might be surprised... (And yes, you can run Windoze on the Mac Pro)

Wow.. I just did and for almost exactly the same spec'd computer the Mac was $400 less, the Mac even had a few things that were better... Very surprising

[Tibbon]

Originally Posted by Mr. Green

Yah - that's true.

...which is why we just ordered a new Mac Pro instead.

From what I understand, though, you're limited to 2G RAM because of a Bootcamp limitation in XP, which doesn't thrill me much. Does anyone know if this still holds true?

...and yes - there are many valid reasons I still have to work in the XP environment.

Bootcamp is still being updated. This might be a limitation at the moment, but 10.5 apparently will see some major bootcamp revisions (perhaps OS X virtualization overall)

[soundslikejoe]

Originally Posted by Tibbon

With a massive downside that you can't run OS X on it

On the Mac Pro, you've got Xp or OS X

Not really as big a downside as you might think. Many professionals are moving away from Mac platforms because of OSx; Hans Zimmerman, Harry G., William Orbit, etc.

What advantage is there to using OSx? I used it everyday since its release and still find more value in running my personal setup on a PC platform.

With OSx I've had issues with drive permissions, keys, loss of USB communication to hubs with iLoks, Intel-Mac (u-binary) update hell, etc.

Price them compared to the Mac Pro. Just do it. You might be surprised... (And yes, you can run Windoze on the Mac Pro)

$11,000 for an 8-core... that's twice as much as a PC build with the same HD, RAM, and processor specs.

Not starting the debate just adding the unbaised viewpoint of a cross-platform user. Both are good... neither is better.

[madcowvt]

Go here: DUC: Allenstein OctaPC and Quadzilla Machine *update*

Thanks to Shan on the DUC


========================================================


***New update at the bottom of this first post***<!--color-->

Thought I'd start this thread for all the Quad builders who have emailed me to help them with their Quad systems. We now have a ton of happy Quad owners with more on the way. These Quads rock!

At the time of this posting, a Quad can be built for the $1500 and under mark.

Please Note: I have been bombarded with emails regarding quad systems. It's awesome to see alot of you guys get into these Quads! These Quads are amazing! My purpose of this post is to help the first couple guys out, and then they can pass their knowledge on to future Quad builders. If you want to build a stable working system then stick with what is on the list below. If you want to deviate, then you will be on your own and I wont have the time to trouble shoot your system for you. My day job is in the studio 12-14 hours a day, 7 days a week.

A few of us have went through the teething process already and made some very costly mistakes. I myself even destroyed a 002 and firewire drive during the whole process. Myself and Matt P spent hours trouble shooting and testing to get these things going. If we could all do this again it would be very different indeed. The Quad road has been painfully paved and is now smooth.

Do not send me an email with an altered list asking me if it will work or if your altered parts are ok. I dont know. If that is the route you want to take, then build it and try it and let us know. You just might end up with the killer quad system of all time.

Here is the spec of the Quad I have that is working and stable:

The Tyan Quadzilla:

-Tyan Tiger K8WE (S2877ANRF) Motherboard - Detailed specs here.

(Purchased from Antares Digital)

-Two Opteron 265 Dual-Core CPUs

-4G of Corsair CM72SD1024RLP-3200 (1024MB Registered DDR400, 2 Ranks)

-Two ASUS EN6600/TD/256 Video card(I needed two for some post work but currently only use one in my system)

-Western Digital SATA 36G Raptor hard drive

-Western Digital SATA 74G Raptor hard drive

-Lite-On DVDRW SHW-1635S

-OCZ Powerstream 520W Power supply

-A very well ventilated generic case(I have a machine room so noise is not a problem) *Update*-The Tsunami VA3000SWA is now my current case.

-Digi 002 Rack with PT LE 7.1cs6. Very stable with no issues other than the odd plug-in when PT LE 7 was first released.

Dverb test gives me 134 Dverbs with the ability to play/stop and record on all 32 tracks in a 24bit/48K session and a hardware buffer of 1024.

My choice for the Tyan motherboard was because it is loaded with PCI slots which I plan to use for HD-1, UAD-1 and Powercore cards(I have yet to do this so I cannot confirm if these cards will work without problems yet) There are two PCIe slots and 4 PCI slots. **Update** We have been unable to get the UAD-1 card going on this Quad. Resident Quad user and UAD-1 guru Alek Lakis along with a few others have been unsuccessful getting the UAD-1 cards working. The TC Powercore has yet to be tested. HD-1 works amazing and has been tested by myself and a few others.

**How to attach the firewire connector on this board** If you do not attach this correctly, you WILL fry your 002 motherboard and any other firewire devices attached. Triple check this connection. This connection has been fixed on the newer revision boards.

Further tests have shown that more ram will give you a higher Dverb count. My Tyan system does 128 Dverbs with 2G of ram and 134 Dverbs with 4G of ram.


The Tyan Quadzilla with HD 1 core card:

Dverb test gives this system 135 RTAS Dverbs with the ability to play/stop and record on all 32 tracks in a 24bit/48K session, a hardware buffer of 1024 and CPU limit to 95%.


One HD Accel PCI card: Dverb test gives this 38 TDM Dverbs in a 32 track 24bit/48K session.


Another thing to keep in mind is that you can build a Quad system and start out with only one CPU(The Quadzuki). The second can be added as your budget allows.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------<!--color-->

How to build the Tyan Quadzilla:

Since my system has been rock solid stable, I thought I would share with everyone how I set it up including the minor tweaks I did. I wont go into exact detail such as how to get into the BIOS or how to partition a drive etc, so you will still need some basic computer knowledge as some of my steps will be general.

Part 1: Setting up the mother board.

The obvious I wont include here. Just the common email questions I get.

- Put your 4G of ram into CPU1 DIMM0, CPU1 DIMM1 and CPU2 DIMM0, CPU2 DIMM1.

- Graphics card goes into PCI Express x16 (SLOT 5)

- System drive into SATAII 0 and Audio drive into SATAII 1.

- **Attach the firewire connector like this** This is VERY important. Triple check this connection. I have done tests using the onboard firewire and my FireWire 800 PCI-32T. There was no difference in performance. I have been using the onboard firewire for months with no issues.

- No jumper settings changed.

- Attach all other items such as CPUs, Front panel USB connectors, fans, PSU etc

Part 2: BIOS(V1.03) Settings.

These are the BIOS(Version 1.03) settings I did:

In the BIOS go to:

Main > Installed O/S > [WinXP Prof]

Advanced > Integrated Devices > Audio Codec: [Disabled]

Advanced > NV RAID Configuration > [Disabled]

Advanced > PCI Configuration > Onboard Device Control > IEEE1394 control > [Enabled] (This one doesnt seem to matter too much if you are using a PCI Firewire card. If you leave it enabled you will have access to both. I have used both the onboard Firewire and my PCI SIIG Firewire and both get the same Dverb test)

Advanced > IDE Configuration > (This is where you will have to set up what is used on your IDE cables. It should make sense)

Advanced > Floppy Configuration > Legacy Diskette A: [Disabled]

Advanced > Floppy Configuration > Legacy Diskette B: [Disabled]

Advanced > I/O Device Configuration > Serial port A: [Disabled]

Advanced > I/O Device Configuration > Serial port B: [Disabled]

Advanced > I/O Device Configuration > Parallel port: [Disabled]

Advanced > I/O Device Configuration > Floppy disk controller: [Disabled]

Advanced > IntruderSupport [Disabled]

Boot > QuickBoot Mode: [Enabled]

Boot > POST errors: [Enabled] (Keep this on for now just in case)

Boot > Boot Device Priority > (This should make sense. You'll have to arrange all this.)

Power > AMD PowerNow [Disabled]

F10(Save and Exit)

Part 3: XP Pro Settings.

- Install XP Pro with Service Pack 2 only and nothing else. When installing XP, make sure that only your system drive is plugged into the mother board. Do not have any other drives connected to the board when you are installing XP Pro.

- Partition your C drive. 15-20G will be fine for XP, PT LE and plug-ins etc. The remainder will be used for storage such as drive images, install apps, Everest, san2005 etc. On my system I made the C drive 15G and the rest is for storage in which I called the drive partition "Storage".

- Install True Image.

- Using True Image, immediately make a disk image of your C drive and store it on your Storage partition in a folder called 'Restoration Images'. Call the restoration file "XP Only" or something similar. You now have a drive image of XP without any drivers or other software. This will save you many hours and even days if you ever have to trouble shoot. Trust me. Been there, done that.

Next we will tweak a few things in XP...Stay tuned.

Under Construction

Until then, here is a rough outline for the next steps.

- And if needed, here are some steps on how to quiet your Quadzilla. By resident Quad user Alex Lakis.


That's all for now. Keep the Quads coming boys!

Shane


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------<!--color-->

***update***<!--color-->

Well, It's that time again to jump into something new. The 8-core Octa PC's have started. Our Quads aren't even a year old and for the past few months, myself and Matt P have been getting the next gen Quadzilla and 8-Core OctaPC organized.

Our goal for this system is for a user to be able to start out with just a dual-core(Quadzuki), if one has a small budget, and upgrade to a 4-core(Quadzilla) or even a massive 8-core (OctaPC) monster if needed, all on the same system. The only upgrading needed will be the CPU's and more RAM and that is all. At the same time, I would also like to see current Quad owners jump into the next gen rigs with minimal upgrading. That being only a new mother board, ram and CPU's while keeping everything else. Hopefully, this will be an amazing upgradable system for all.

First, the disclaimer<!--color-->. This system has not been tested by myself or Matt P yet. We are still making critical decisions over the current spec. I dont recommend anyone jumping in on this yet unless you can afford a few possible costly setbacks etc and have the money to experiment.

Also, even though a few on this thread have already started building Quads based on the new AMD Opteron 2000 CPU's and Tyan Thunder n3600B(way to go Polf for getting started on the cutting edge. You need to get an email in your profile so I can contact you), I absolutely will not post a system unless I have personally bult, tested, tortured, and made sure it is rock solid myself. The original Tyan Quad above is the one to build if you are new to the Quadzilla world. Many of us now have solid stable systems with the original.

Here is our current and untested spec for the future OctaPC(8-core), Next Gen Quadzilla(4-core) and Next Gen Quadzuki(Dual-core):

-Tyan Thunder n3600B (S2927A2NRF) motherboard.

-Two AMD Opteron 2000 Series processors which can be replaced with the yet unreleased AMD Barcelona Quad-core CPU's for a total of 8-cores.

-4G x Corsair Memory, Inc. CORSAIR 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM ECC Registered DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Server Memory.

- ASUS EN7600GT/2DHT/256M GeForce 7600GT 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card.

-Western Digital SATA 36G Raptor hard drive or a regular WD 7200 SATA drive.

-Western Digital SATA 74G Raptor hard drive or a regular WD 7200 SATA drive.

-Lite-On DVDRW SHW-1635S

-OCZ Powerstream 520W Power supply

-Tsunami VA3000SWA case

The above will be our next gen system with the main purpose being expansion on one system only. We want this to be rock solid from a simple dual core all the way up to an 8-core. At this point it is an untested vapor system with some of the new parts on order and on the way. It's time to pave a new Quadzilla/OctaPC road.

16-core rigs, here we come!! (I'll need a new name for that one boys. Because this time next year...)

Stay tuned.

(Speaking of 8-core rigs. Current Intel Quad users can now upgrade to 8-core OctaPC's just by swapping the CPU's. For anyone who has done this, do a Dverb test for me. Nikki perhaps??)


And thanks for the sticky Digidesign!! This new multi-core technology has been amazing with PT HD and LE.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------<!--color-->



Edited by Shan (04/19/07 01:25 AM)

[soundslikejoe]

8-cores? Is that all.... you guys are behind the cutting edge! Check this out....

Tyan's 40 CPU Core Personal Supercomputer -- now shipping - Engadget

How about 40-cores!?!? There comes a point when you don't need TDM or DSP cards.

Yes.... 40-cores. Good luck affording it but this is the fastest machine availabel in the personal computer class. I think you could buy 2 new MacPro dual Quad-cores for this. Lets see two dual-Quads or one 40-core?

[madcowvt]

Originally Posted by joenovice

8-cores? Is that all.... you guys are behind the cutting edge! Check this out....

Tyan's 40 CPU Core Personal Supercomputer -- now shipping - Engadget

How about 40-cores!?!? There comes a point when you don't need TDM or DSP cards.

Yes.... 40-cores. Good luck affording it but this is the fastest machine availabel in the personal computer class. I think you could buy 2 new MacPro dual Quad-cores for this. Lets see two dual-Quads or one 40-core?

Holy sh!t!!

As bad as this is..... I want one

[soundslikejoe]

I want one too

I hate to poop on this party but something must be said.....

We are in the middle of a hardware revolution. The musical software apps we have used for the past decade are not built to take advantage of this. There are problems across the board for poorly threaded apps; Cuabse, Sonar, Logic, PT, etc. Everything is in the process of being retooled and there is no clear point where this dust will settle.

Be careful when updating. i've read to many post of people with problems after making the multicore switch. Plugins, DAWs, DSP cards, driver issues....

On a less serious note... I still want one.

[Tibbon]

I'm personally just going to go with the 4-core machine when i get a new one really soon.

i had been telling myself that i'd go for the 8core machines when they were released, but the programs I use just don't need them. I'd rather spend the money on a better video card, more memory, a better harddrive array, etc... I feel that i'd have a much faster system this way overall for my needs (Logic Pro and Aperture mainly are the things that kill my current machine). Damn, I mean even if I wanted to play a videogame someday (which asides from Nethack on occasion I never do really), the 8cores don't do jack for it. My 1700USD is better spent currently on other parts of the system.

Maybe 10.5 will offer far better multicore usage, but right now I just don't see the need really. Yes, of course in time, but not now.

[Loa]

i am experiencing some difficulties with Intel Core2 quad 2.4ghz with Asus P5B-DeLuxe and Nuendo 3.2 (XP SP.2)
On some projects from earlier computer, it crackles and a kind of losing sync with the card on some tracks..
I haven't quite tweaked BIOS or XP so any instant help?

[soundslikejoe]

Originally Posted by Loa

i am experiencing some difficulties with Intel Core2 quad 2.4ghz with Asus P5B-DeLuxe and Nuendo 3.2 (XP SP.2)
On some projects from earlier computer, it crackles and a kind of losing sync with the card on some tracks.
I haven't quite tweaked BIOS or XP so any instant help?

You shouldn't have any problems as many use that same setup without issue.

Tweak the BIOS and XP; turn off hardware that's unused via bios, turn off XP graphics acceleration and adjust XP performance settings, disable antivirus when working with audio, check for audio driver updates and ensure that you are set for a reasonable buffer setting.

Personally if I were to guess, your audio card settings could be the problem. Make sure you have the correct ASIO driver selected in Nuendo.

Good Luck

[tamasdragon]

It's a pita, but nuendo has the nasty multicore bug, which is basicly that it can't correctly handle multicore tasks.
Hopefully n4 will be able to do this in a better way.
TD