Building a PC for PT HD. Please critique.

[bionicears]

Time for a new PC! I've listed my proposed components (comments?). Also, what hard drives have proved most reliable? Seagates? Which model?

PROCESSOR: Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core

MOTHERBOARD: ASUS P6T LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard

MEMORY: OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2000 (PC3 16000) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

VIDEO CARD: ASUS EAH3450 SILENT/DI/512MD2 Radeon HD 3450 512MB 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Ready

POWER SUPPLY: ENERMAX Liberty ELT620AWT-ECO 620W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC

DVD/CD: Pioneer Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 40X CD-R 32X CD-RW 40X CD-ROM 2MB Cache IDE 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe

COOLER: ZALMAN CNPS9900LED 120mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler

Rackmount case/fans

HARD DRIVES ?

[mark.james]

I would make sure all of the parts you are using are certified by Digidesign, than I would post this thread on the Digidesign User Conference (duc.digidesign.com). But if I were you, I would look at the pre-built computers on Digi's compatibility list and buy one. I went through a few months of trying different parts and new motherboards, etc. before I caved and bought a Dell. I installed the cards and software and was up and running in 20 minutes with no issues.

Mark

[mattafact]

Get a Digi certified Dell or HP workstation and be done with it. You can get a Dell Precision from their refurbished site for under $1000 and not have to worry about compatibility. My Precision T5400 is dead silent and has more power than I know what to do with.

[space2012]

i have ordered Lian Li C32B rack mount case,
but i think protools HD cards are too long.
you should check Lian Li A77A or A77B, has a nice long pci card holder.
A17A or A17B is an smaller version.
Virtual-Hideout | Lian-Li PC-C32 ATX Case Review
Lian Li Industrial Co., Ltd.
Lian-Li PC-A77 - Review - Clunk's Forums.

also i have ordered MSI X58 Eclipse,
i like the server components that give less heat.
see the MSI thermal videos.
i had the Asus P5W DH Deluxe, and was amazing board full with thermaltake parts but now...
i dont like heat in pc components & the fan noise requierd to cool them.



yes, theres a dual head, ATI video card HD something that in idle "2D", "no 3D" gives the lowest temperature ever, less than 40° with stock cooler!
maybe ill order a zalman or thermalright cooler for the video card.
i want 30° or less, so i dont have to move so much air = less noise.

i ordered Cooler Master silent pro m700,
#1. becouse its silent upto 50% load, 350w is enough for what i do.
and cools good from 50% load to 100% load. reading all reviews i could find about psu, have noticed that all PSU power eficiency curves are always best at around 50% load, even the worst PSUs.
#2. has the lowest ripple & noise i could find in all the internet reviews, less than 10mV in all Rails 12v, 5v 3.3v
#3. has a single 12V rail.
#4. modular. #5. cheap.


i have found when testing with passmark.com performance test 6.1 in a verry old PC, p4 1.6mhz, liteon psu, compaq 4700.
that if i plug it directly to AC wall, gives diferent performance if i plug it to clean power from my furman ar-15 ][.
it improoves >10% in all tests exept reading CD speed.
clean power is verry important, Cooler master M700 has the cleanest power i could find searching the web reviews.
the ultra x3 1000w also had great numbers in one website, and horrible ripple & noise numbers in other website, Strange.
pc power cooler turbo cool 1200w has clean power, but too noisy, also the 840w version.
clean stable power is so important.

sadly my 4U rack mount case dont allow thermalright hr-01,
but thers a new version hr-01 4U rack mount, but it wont cool as good as the original, maybe ill buy the hr-01x and cut the case pannel.
thers thermalright Ultra-120 xtreme, and it cools more than hr-01x with fast speed fans, but at lower speed fan, the hr-01x wins.
i like low noise pc.

ocz freeze, its the second best thermal compound, thers only one better out of 40, but hard to buy/get, some strange esoteric company.
in my old pc i had antec formula5 "not the best tested against ocz freeze", and improovement in temperature was so big, thermal compound its so important.

for fans: the most silent 12cm/120mm fan is sharkoon 2000 120 "golf ball", and the second best is sythe s.flex,
the diference sythe its 50% less price, and has twice the life, but more noise. out of 100 fans.
there are much more powerfull 12cm fans, but way noisyer.
i like low noise pc.

what i like about my C32B case is that has 2x 120mm fans blowing directly to the motherboard.
the old pc i had, had an antec superlan boy case, similar to lian li a17a,
and i had all fans blowing to the inside, and was cooler and less noise also, but i had to vacum clean the pc when temperature readings started to change from normal. the pc inside was soo dirty "good for my lungs" & so cool.

verry cool pc components are a must if you work near 100% several hours a day. like i do.

i have samsung hd103uj spinpoint f1 HDD and works ok, but not enough.
i decided to buy Intel X25-E 32GB/64GB "not X25-M"
i want true Sata II speeds, 250Mb/s Read&Write speeds without RAID that slows down the boot and its hard to install, measured with HDTach3.0.4 from simply software. X25-E to install the windows xp sp2 and the most important softwares & drivers,
and others additional to the system boot drive: a bunch of western digital 2TB drives for storage or seagate 1.5TB a bit faster but 500GB less humm.
theres a youtube video about i-ram vs. ssd, but that ssd drive is not intel x25-E, intel x25-E is as fast as IRam


X58 boards have triple channel memory, you need 4x1GB to work OK in 32-Bit OS, minium 3x1Gb, or 3x2GB but dont know how the windows will handle the extra undetected memory over 3800MB, could create some weird stuff, or could work even better or as good as 4x1Gb, who knows.

i had a samsung t260 lcd, the 1900x1200 was nice, but blacks were not black enough for my taste, i decided to buy Nec lcd2690wuxi2, much better blacks. but i keep thinking i should buy the version that comes with smaller dot pitch. i like the smaller dot pitch, over the traditional size.
the video title HP vs. NEC., NEC is Left. see the other videos.


soundcards i have Lynx AES16 & RME Hdsp9632 + Drawmer M-clock, verry hi quality cables & other stuff.