This is the new Sandy Bridge based DAW that I'm thinking of building. I've checked the FW card is TI based, and it is. Everything else is pretty standard to be honest. But what do you think? Am I missing a trick?
DAW build - what you reckon?
- Thread starter drew_drummer
- Start date
This is the new Sandy Bridge based DAW that I'm thinking of building. I've checked the FW card is TI based, and it is. Everything else is pretty standard to be honest. But what do you think? Am I missing a trick?
lolzgreg
Cereal Shipping Sneapster
You're probably going to want one harddrive just for the system, one for just the audio and project files, and one in RAID to mirror the audio drive, like jangoux said.
I gave up on PC for audio. You'd probably be happier with a Mac. I have been a PC user for my entire life, and I'm making the change. There are too many BS incompatibility issues, too many restrictions, and it's just not worth it for me. My 8 core mac pro will be here on Tuesday
I gave up on PC for audio. You'd probably be happier with a Mac. I have been a PC user for my entire life, and I'm making the change. There are too many BS incompatibility issues, too many restrictions, and it's just not worth it for me. My 8 core mac pro will be here on Tuesday
I'm not going to be bothering with RAID, but I do have other hard-drives and a graphic card I'm gonna throw in. From my current quad core machine 
I want to refrain from this becoming a PC vs Mac thread - I just wanted opinions on whether I'd picked the right components. I think it should all be fine. But no wars please
AFAIK, if you mirror the drive using RAID you may speed up your file access, but if one of the drives goes down, you lose everything. Not really willing to take the risk, would rather just make regular backups.
I want to refrain from this becoming a PC vs Mac thread - I just wanted opinions on whether I'd picked the right components. I think it should all be fine. But no wars please
AFAIK, if you mirror the drive using RAID you may speed up your file access, but if one of the drives goes down, you lose everything. Not really willing to take the risk, would rather just make regular backups.
fizzinbizzin
Member
- Jan 28, 2010
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looks pretty good! missing windows 7 disc unless you have one? That power supply might be a bit overkill unless you were going to sli graphic cards, you could save a bit of $ there. The new bulldozer cpu by amd is coming out in a couple months unless you cant wait that long.
Hmm. Good point on the PSU. I'm not going for SLI/Crossfire - just using a Nvidia Geforce 9500GT. So I could probably go lower - what you reckon I need, 650w? 600w?
Ensi
CAT WITH FUKKEN PODS
fizzinbizzin
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- Jan 28, 2010
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corsair has a calculator on what you need and it says 430 to 650 watts. http://www.corsair.com/psufinder/ i would go 500-550 watts which would be plenty if you did get a updated graphics, overclocked cpu or added extra harddrives.
JeffTD
Senhor Testiculo
8 core machines have existed since quad core processors have been available - Mac Pro's can now have 12 cores.
jangoux
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- May 9, 2006
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I'm not going to be bothering with RAID, but I do have other hard-drives and a graphic card I'm gonna throw in. From my current quad core machine
I want to refrain from this becoming a PC vs Mac thread - I just wanted opinions on whether I'd picked the right components. I think it should all be fine. But no wars please
AFAIK, if you mirror the drive using RAID you may speed up your file access, but if one of the drives goes down, you lose everything. Not really willing to take the risk, would rather just make regular backups.
Nah, what you're describing is RAID 1. RAID 0 doesn't speed up anything, it just clones one drive to the other. RAID 1 spans files between the hard disks to speed up file transfers. (it may be RAID 0 that speeds up and RAID that clones...but you got the idea, just google it).
I'd suggest at least giving RAID some thought, man. It may be a HUGE life saver. Hard disks are so cheap, that I see no reason not to do it.
Anyway, I am with Greg. Building PCs is a PITA these days. Too many variables to choose from.
MOSHWITZ
Stunt Guitarist
Sup?
Don't skimp on the power supply,, the one you have listed is good. you will almost always be adding extra hard drives, or fans or RAM later, better to have it and not need it till you need it.
I'd go with IC Diamond
http://www.innovationcooling.com/article1.htm
instead of the the Arctic Silver5 thermal compound. I just helped my bud build a system, and he had a tube of it,, so I thought Ehh,,,what the hell... and I pulled my heat-sink, cleaned it and the tri core I had been running for about a month with A.S.5 and I am running 5ºC cooler now. It might not sound like allot, but that's 41º F and under full load it helps aloooooot.
MOSHON
DAVE
Don't skimp on the power supply,, the one you have listed is good. you will almost always be adding extra hard drives, or fans or RAM later, better to have it and not need it till you need it.
I'd go with IC Diamond
http://www.innovationcooling.com/article1.htm
instead of the the Arctic Silver5 thermal compound. I just helped my bud build a system, and he had a tube of it,, so I thought Ehh,,,what the hell... and I pulled my heat-sink, cleaned it and the tri core I had been running for about a month with A.S.5 and I am running 5ºC cooler now. It might not sound like allot, but that's 41º F and under full load it helps aloooooot.
MOSHON
DAVE
sprack
Thread Killer
Mirroring (raid0) is faster than concatenation for reads, slower on writes. RAID1, you lose one drive you lose the whole stripe and all your data. RAID0 you have a spare disc in case one dies. You could do RAID 10, but you'll need 4 discs.
Unless you're overclocking the thermal compound hunt is a waste of time for you since you're well under the 90C bar on processors. And anyway everyone doing audio work turns off c-states and turbo mode since it fucks with isochronous stuff.
750W is reasonable for modern systems, especially if you put a nice ATI or NV card in there. Are you planning on just running with UMA graphics?
SSD's are still crazy expensive per GB. If you get one don't make it your OS drive, make it your temp or write space for tracking and just move stuff to spindle disc after done recording.
Does that 1394 card have a TI chipset on it?
That mugen heatsink came on one of ODM systems in the lab. Its enormous. Doesn't leave a lot of room in the case to get around it. OEM heatsink works within 5C of it even under Prime95 and other thermal virii. Unless you're just looking for bling, save the cash.
12GB RAM would be better if you can afford it.
Unless you're overclocking the thermal compound hunt is a waste of time for you since you're well under the 90C bar on processors. And anyway everyone doing audio work turns off c-states and turbo mode since it fucks with isochronous stuff.
750W is reasonable for modern systems, especially if you put a nice ATI or NV card in there. Are you planning on just running with UMA graphics?
SSD's are still crazy expensive per GB. If you get one don't make it your OS drive, make it your temp or write space for tracking and just move stuff to spindle disc after done recording.
Does that 1394 card have a TI chipset on it?
That mugen heatsink came on one of ODM systems in the lab. Its enormous. Doesn't leave a lot of room in the case to get around it. OEM heatsink works within 5C of it even under Prime95 and other thermal virii. Unless you're just looking for bling, save the cash.
12GB RAM would be better if you can afford it.
MOSHWITZ
Stunt Guitarist
Tell that to my 8 internal hard drives, RME 96/52, Vid card, 5 fans, DVD , and 8 TB worth of USB Hard drives
MOSHON
DAVE
XnaySaturo
Member
I heard someone say that about a 500gb hard drive about three years ago when I built my old computer.
Specs seem legit. I can vouch in the favor of the i7+Gigabyte+Corsair trio.
Yes, and did you expect PSU manufactures not to sell any more PSUs from then on? Sure, you totally get 750w, else your computer well melt down like the Fukushima reactors!
Nowadays components consume less, it's evolution, so, as someone said already, unless you are building a gaming computer (2 graphic cards, overclocking the shiet out, etc), 550+ is a waste. Go for 600w if you are affraid that your computer might lack wattage from the PSU in the future, but 750 is a total waste.
Audiosprite
ok
i'd suggest getting a 2tb hdd. more space for the cost right now.
and a 750w psu seems perfectly fine to me. more psu headroom is good futureproofing.
and a 750w psu seems perfectly fine to me. more psu headroom is good futureproofing.
I bought the stuff already now. What I got in the end was this:
1 Arctic Silver5 THERMAL PASTE
1 PE-107 PCI-e FireWire 800
1 Scythe MUGEN2 CPU Cooler
1 Corsair 650W 650HXUK 80 PLUS
2 1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX
1 Fractal Design Define R3 Black
1 Intel Core i7 2600K
1 GByte GA-P67A-UD3P-B3
1 8GB 2x4G CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9
650W is more than enough for this machine. I decided to get 2 1TB SATA6gbs. One as OS drive, one as audio recording and project drive. I've got another drive which will serve as BFD data-drive and another drive which will serve as backups. The money I saved on the PSU basically paid for the 2nd HDD too.
1 Arctic Silver5 THERMAL PASTE
1 PE-107 PCI-e FireWire 800
1 Scythe MUGEN2 CPU Cooler
1 Corsair 650W 650HXUK 80 PLUS
2 1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX
1 Fractal Design Define R3 Black
1 Intel Core i7 2600K
1 GByte GA-P67A-UD3P-B3
1 8GB 2x4G CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9
650W is more than enough for this machine. I decided to get 2 1TB SATA6gbs. One as OS drive, one as audio recording and project drive. I've got another drive which will serve as BFD data-drive and another drive which will serve as backups. The money I saved on the PSU basically paid for the 2nd HDD too.
I would definately go RAID 1 (full mirror) if I were you on both your O/S and Music Storage drive - no need for the 1+0, as it just added disks to get a negligible performance increase. My machine running RAID 1 just lost a disk (bloody Caviars...) and it was as easy as pulling the bad disk out of the array and re-mirroring the new one once I got back up and running - If you are relying on this machine to make money definately build redundancy into it to minimize your downtime if it happens.
