the "today we build our studio pc"-thread

[ceddd]

hi gearslutz, this is my first post on here. im french and don't speak perfect english so my apologies for that.

i plan to build a new computer but i don't really know much about it.
i've been reading a lot of information in the last 3 weeks about which parts to choose and now i need some help to find out if i didn't make any mistake, if some things not compatible with each other or not appropriate for music producing.
iwill be doing mostly rap music inspired by outkast and ugk and other greats like curtis mayfield and others and surely will use a good amount of virtual instruments.

so here's what my custom pc should look like:

i7 intel 2600k
asrock p67 pro 3 rev. b
sapphire radeon hd5450 512 mo
2 x 4 go g.skill ripjaws ddr3 1600 cl9
1 x samsung spinpoint f3 500 go (for os, apps and misc)
2 x samsung spinpoint f3 1to ( for samples and projects)
samsung sh-223
corsair vs450 watts
scythe mugen ii rev. b
fractal design r3
iiyama e2473hds
windows 7 x64 home-premium

for the graphic card, should i choose gddr2 or gddr3? they are almost exactly the same price. should i be looking into 512 mo or 1 go or does it doesn't matter?

for the hard-drives do you will consider overkill 1 to hard drives for sample libraries and projects?

450 watts psu should be enough for my use, right?

[Finnish]

Originally Posted by Downsound

That doesn't tell me it's a TI chipset.

GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket 1155 - GA-H67A-UD3H-B3 (rev. 1.1)

[Finnish]

Hi, I've been checking these components (checking previous posts):

GA-H67A-UD3H (REV. B3) - SOCKET 1155 - CHIPSET H67 - ATX vertaa hintoja ja osta halvimmat tuotteet

PC-VIRTALHDE CMPSU-650TXEU - 650 W vertaa hintoja ja osta halvimmat tuotteet

CORE I7 2600K - 3,4 GHZ - CACHE L3 8 MT - SOCKET LGA 1155 (BOXED) vertaa hintoja ja osta halvimmat tuotteet

PC-MUISTI HYPERX BLU 2 X 4 GT DDR3-1333 PC3-10600 CL9 (KHX1333C9D3B1K2/8G) vertaa hintoja ja osta halvimmat tuotteet

PC-KOTELO CM 690 II - VALKOINEN vertaa hintoja ja osta halvimmat tuotteet

Mobo is H67 so OC'ing is a no-go? But it has built-in video card and that's a plus for me.

Is that power supply enough? Will it take care of cooling also or do you need another for CPU?

Is that Kingston memory compatible and is it "optimal" for that architecture, I mean do you need 2 or 3 sticks? 8gb memory is quite enough for me, I don't use that much samples. (But Nebula yeah).

All that without hard drives is about 675€ plus I'd get those without VAT 'cause I'm buying for my company.

Any opinions are welcome!

[Finnish]

Just ordered these:

GA-H67A-UD3H (REV. B3) - SOCKET 1155 - CHIPSET H67 - ATX vertaa hintoja ja osta halvimmat tuotteet

CORE I7 2600K - 3,4 GHZ - CACHE L3 8 MT - SOCKET LGA 1155 (BOXED) vertaa hintoja ja osta halvimmat tuotteet

PC-MUISTI HYPERX BLU 2 X 4 GT DDR3-1333 PC3-10600 CL9 (KHX1333C9D3B1K2/8G) vertaa hintoja ja osta halvimmat tuotteet

KOVALEVY 3,5 CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX - 1 TT - 7200 RPM - 64 MT - SATA-600 vertaa hintoja ja osta halvimmat tuotteet

BLU-RAY -SOITIN JA POLTTAVA DVD-ASEMA SH-B123L (BULK) vertaa hintoja ja osta halvimmat tuotteet

PC-VIRTALHDE TOUGHPOWER GRAND 650W (TPG650MPCEU) vertaa hintoja ja osta halvimmat tuotteet

PC-KOTELO CM 690 II ADVANCED vertaa hintoja ja osta halvimmat tuotteet

My first DIY PC...

[Jorock]

Originally Posted by Finnish

Just ordered these:

GA-H67A-UD3H (REV. B3) - SOCKET 1155 - CHIPSET H67 - ATX vertaa hintoja ja osta halvimmat tuotteet

CORE I7 2600K - 3,4 GHZ - CACHE L3 8 MT - SOCKET LGA 1155 (BOXED) vertaa hintoja ja osta halvimmat tuotteet

My first DIY PC...

Just noticed you have ordered an H67 motherboard, yet you ordered the 2600k cpu. I think only the standard 2600 processor goes with the H67 motherboards, whereas the 2600k is for the P67 motherboards. At least that's what each cpu is meant for, whether they are cross-compatible im not too sure...

[George Necola]

besides no overclocking possibilites with the H-type motherboards, yuo loose 6G ports, and PCIslots.. the internal grafics are a joke. buy a dual passive or silent cooled Nvidia card. (GT-420)

[Finnish]

Originally Posted by Jorock

Just noticed you have ordered an H67 motherboard, yet you ordered the 2600k cpu. I thini only the standard 2600 processor goes with the H67 motherboards, whereas the 2600k is for the P67 motherboards. At least that's)what each cpu is meant for, whether they are cross-compatible im not too sure...

There are a lot of pages on the net that describe 2600k and H67 working together.

[Finnish]

Originally Posted by George Necola

besides no overclocking possibilites with the H-type motherboards, yuo loose 6G ports, and PCIslots.. the internal grafics are a joke. buy a dual passive or silent cooled Nvidia card. (GT-420)

I have zero plans to overclock so I'm ok with that.

Why do I lose 6G ports? According to the MB specs there are 2 x SATA 6G ports.

And PCI slots? Specs says: 1 PCI Express 2.0 x16 ¦ 1 PCI Express 2.0 x16 ( x4 tila ) ¦ 2 PCI Express 2.0 x1 ¦ 3 PCI ?

EDIT: Plus this board has TI-chipset FW in it, that's a big thing for me. Yeah I could've bought P67 MB, 100€ graphic card and TI-chipset FW-controller but that would have been about 150€ more... I had to stop at some point, I'm flat broke.

[perple]

Originally Posted by George Necola

the internal grafics are a joke. buy a dual passive or silent cooled Nvidia card. (GT-420)

This is not my understanding. I've researched a bunch, looked at tests on numorous sites, and the intergrated graphics HD 3000 on the 2600k are fine for DAW work. Easily equivalent, more or less, to a radeon HD 5450. Why are they a joke?

I ask this, not to argue, but out of real interest. My plan is to buy a board (very soon...within days or even hours...) and use the integrated HD 3000 on the 2600k. I've done more research all day (wrote the first part of this earlier today, now editing...) and find most reports that it should be fine for DAWs. However, I also read hints that there are issues, tho not many and not well-documented on forums.

So I sincerely ask and want to know: How or why are the integrated graphics in the 2600k a joke, in your opinion, George? Or anyone?

Or are folks using the integrated graphics with no problem?

[Finnish]

Originally Posted by perple

So I sincerely ask and want to know: How or why are the integrated graphics in the 2600k a joke, in your opinion, George? Or anyone?

Or are folks using the integrated graphics with no problem?

Yeah, I'd like to know this too. If there are NO problems with integrated graphics (works with two displays at time, ok, no prob for me) and it doesn't interfere with audio work, what's the problem?

[AldenW]

Originally Posted by George Necola

besides no overclocking possibilites with the H-type motherboards, yuo loose 6G ports, and PCIslots.. the internal grafics are a joke. buy a dual passive or silent cooled Nvidia card. (GT-420)

Yeah, that's ridiculous. Internal graphics with SB are actually pretty good.

Originally Posted by Finnish

Yeah, I'd like to know this too. If there are NO problems with integrated graphics (works with two displays at time, ok, no prob for me) and it doesn't interfere with audio work, what's the problem?

I don't use integrated graphics myself, but everything I've read has indicated that that should work fine.

[Finnish]

GA-H67A-UD3H-B3 mobo owners, please tell me this is not true about XMP:

Pros: Board has been stable, many options and video connections. Works great with my i5 2400 CPU, but have a performance issue with my Corsair DDR3 1333 RAM and described below.

Cons: My first board was a B2 that was recalled. The B3 version has disabled XMP memory support. Without XMP, now my Corsair 8 Gig 1333 DDR3 will only run at 1066, even if I try to manually change the memory speed in BIOS. Previously with XMP it ran fine at 1333. So, this B3 version has reduced my RAM performance.

Other Thoughts: If you are reading this, Gigabyte support, why did you remove XMP from BIOS in the B3 version? Will you restore XMP in future BIOS upgrades? Other than that, I love the board.


This is a user review from Newegg, Newegg.ca - GIGABYTE GA-H67A-UD3H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel H67 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

This can't be true..

[perple]

So here's my planned build (purchases in-progress):

I have already bought:

• Intel i7 2600k CPU
• G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8gb (2x4gb) DDR3 1600 F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL RAM
• Corsair TX650 V2 650W Power Supply
• WD 500GB Caviar black WD5002AALX (OS & Programs, or...see below)
• Silverstone Fortress FT02B (!!Friggin LOVE this case!! Based on reviews and having it now in hand--Wow! fortress indeed...)
• Windows 7 pro 64 bit

I'm thinking about, laboring over, obsessing about these other components:

• Motherboard: Much deliberation, and leaning today toward ASRock Z689 Pro3. I can use the onboard graphics of the CPU, and I'd get a firewire card with TI chipset. Looking at...
• LaCie 3 Port firewire 400 PCI card model 130820 (TI chipset confirmed. Cheap.) (I run an Echo Audiofire 8 firewire interface)
• Asus DVD/CD burner. (the highest rated one at Newegg)

And here's my biggest dilemma (today):

• OCZ Agility 3 120GB SSD for OS & Programs and use the WD500 as storage.(???)
• Or use the the WD500 for OS & Programs (that's what I was planning when I bought it) and use a couple year old Samsung Spinpoint f3 1T HD for storage.

Any thoughts or feedback on the motherboard? Still looking for any real-experience feedback on using the integrated graphics of the 2600k processor. Real-world experience I've heard is that it's fine, but I hear others warn against it.

Firewire 1394 card, PCI vs PCI express? My understanding is PCI is fine for firewire. Any experiences with this card?

the SSD question I guess just comes down to $$$. A good idea if I can afford it, but not necessary if I can't. Could always add later (in 6-8 months) when the price drops and do a new OS install...

Thanks for any input.

[George Necola]

Originally Posted by AldenW

Yeah, that's ridiculous. Internal graphics with SB are actually pretty good.

I don't use integrated graphics myself, but everything I've read has indicated that that should work fine.

my understanding is (and this might be wrong), that the 2D capabilities are not enough to display the amount of "colors, real-time 2D coloring/re-rendering of waveforms"...
second thing: seems like the second "output" is just a slave to the first one (as it is with cheap graphics-card with 2 display ports but only "one CPU".
third and maybe most important: driver/compatibility issues. most companies use Nvidia graphics-chips testing their software.

yes I am beeing ridicoulous here.

as with the ports, I was confused with the Q67. sorry about that. the H67 is fine.



btw.. still no issues with my machine.

[AldenW]

Originally Posted by George Necola

my understanding is (and this might be wrong), that the 2D capabilities are not enough to display the amount of "colors, real-time 2D coloring/re-rendering of waveforms"...
second thing: seems like the second "output" is just a slave to the first one (as it is with cheap graphics-card with 2 display ports but only "one CPU".
third and maybe most important: driver/compatibility issues. most companies use Nvidia graphics-chips testing their software.

yes I am beeing ridicoulous here.

btw.. still no issues with my machine.

Sorry for the harsh wording. I do believe you are wrong though. I've gathered that SB's onboards graphics are capable of low-end modern gaming, let alone the simple 2d-rendering of a DAW. Still, I'm not an expert.

[Finnish]

Pixmania had no Gigabyte mobo that I was looking, instead I got this:
ASUSTeK Computer Inc. - Motherboards- ASUS P8H67-M EVO

Fewer PCI-slots and firewire is VIA-based, bummer. But I don't need PCI-slots, maybe for thunderbolt in the future. My laptop has jMicron firewire and has been working 100%, so I hope VIA-based could work too...

[Finnish]

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8H67M_EVO/#Awards

CORE I7 2600K - 3,4 GHZ - CACHE L3 8 MT - SOCKET LGA 1155 (BOXED) vertaa hintoja ja osta halvimmat tuotteet

2x http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/9716...pc3-10600.html

KOVALEVY 3,5 CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX - 1 TT - 7200 RPM - 64 MT - SATA-600 vertaa hintoja ja osta halvimmat tuotteet

BLU-RAY -SOITIN JA POLTTAVA DVD-ASEMA SH-B123L (BULK) vertaa hintoja ja osta halvimmat tuotteet

PC-VIRTALHDE TOUGHPOWER GRAND 650W (TPG650MPCEU) vertaa hintoja ja osta halvimmat tuotteet

PC-KOTELO CM 690 II ADVANCED vertaa hintoja ja osta halvimmat tuotteet

Mobo changed (out of stock) and memory too, but it's same memory only not in a double pack. I'll receive all parts in 7 days (some earlier) so it's tickling days ahead...

[Finnish]

Ok, I received my parts, except mobo and RAM...

But, here's my machine at the moment. Gotta love that power supply, it's modular, first modular for me. Yeah!


More pictures coming next week!

[Aof]

I agree with @spice house. You will find far more insight in NewEgg pages.

However, there is one thing that caught my attention from the specs that have been posted here. A lot of people are using Raid 0 for their HD's. If that's for a working computer, where you put valuable files in those HD's, then RAID 0 IS A BIG NO NO tutt.
The reason for this is that data is striped amongst 2 or more drives, but with no redundancy, so any small failure, in ANY of the drives, means your whole array will fail, and you will most certainly loss all your data.
MTTF (group)= MTTF (disk)/number of drives, so the failure probability of the array INCREASES with the number of disks in Raid 0 configuration.
So, unless you use another type of Raid array, or do backups regularly, or something similar, I suggest you not use Raid 0.

[spice house]

Yup! Operating drives in raid 0 significantly reduces their individual lifespan, which is multiplied across multiple drives... your asking them to fail! If you use raid 0 or 01 id reccomend replacing your discs every year or two depending on use

Also the performance boost is minimal and not suited to the recording process

Sent from my Droid using Gearslutz.com App

[Finnish]

Received my RAM today, mobo comes tomorrow... Aaaargh, this waiting is killing me!!!

[DeadPoet]

Just wanted to add my perfect working build:

- i7 2600k
- Asus P8P67 mobo
- Corsair DDR3 1600 16Gb kit
- OCZ Vtx2 120Gb SSD (os)
- Samsung Spinpoint f3 1Tb (audio, samples)
- Asus EAH5450 Silent graphics
- Samsung dvd-r drive
- BeQuiet Dark Power pro 750W PSU
- Antec ThreeHundred case

Cards/software I put in this thing: 2x UAD-1 pci, UAD-2 Solo, UAD-2 Duo, SSL MadiXtreme64, Win7 Ult 64bit, Cubase 6.0 64bit.


Came out a little over €1000 including taxes. Handles 50-60% asio load at lowest buffer size without spiking.



Herwig

[Finnish]

DeadPoet,

Are you using onboard firewire? Does it work ok?

[Finnish]

Just got my mobo!


Now, it's Bob the builder -time, machine up and running

[Finnish]

System up and running!







Later today I'll test my M-Audio fw1814, we'll see how VIA-chipset behaves...

[Finnish]

144 reaxcomps with 64 samples dawbench test without any BIOS-tweaks, I'm quite happy with this! I took off any virus etc programs, adjusted priority for background sercives, nothing else. Running the test from internal HD via M-Audio fw1814, built-in VIA firewire.

[Finnish]

All working snappy and clear (well, old monitors) with built-in HD3000 GPU

[Finnish]

Ok, getting there...


I heard one click when I added the last 8 plugs, but that's the only click that I've heard with this setup. YEAH!

[Finnish]

Ok, this is enough, no need to hazzle anymore, I'm happy now. I got no click/pops during last test so I guess there's no need to tweak anymore. I removed everything that's non-DAW thing, UAC, defender, network etc. Quite basic stuff, no registry tweaks or BIOS changes. CPU went down to 1600 after the test (closed Reaper) but that doesn't seem to be a problem. But if I get clicks/pops during "normal" sessions or during recording then I'm back to this tweaking topic, right now I'm just happy about performance.

[DeadPoet]

Originally Posted by Finnish

DeadPoet,

Are you using onboard firewire? Does it work ok?

Sorry, late reply.

Yes and no: I've used the onboard firewire a short while with my M-Audio Lightbridge (couldn't get my Madixtreme64 to work at first and I had projects to work on) and that worked flawlessly. The lightbridge has a history of being an unreliable piece of equipment but that is not my experience, I've gotten it to work on at least 3 different PC's, each using it's onboard 1394 port.


Herwig