Final check on revised build for music production, compatibility etc

hexagonsun

hexagonsun

hexagonsun

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24 Dec 2010
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Ok, so I think I have settled on a build to be used for music production, may add more RAM and an SSD at a later date, and I have an OK sound card which I may also upgrade in future, but I think this will do for now. Are there any potential incompatibilities or things you would change?

Case - May just use my old Antec PlusView 1000AMG (Any reason why not?)
PSU - Corsair CX 600W ATX Power Supply (Enough power?)
CPU - Intel Core i7 870 2.93Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1156) (Worth getting over the 860?)
Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-P55-USB3 Intel P55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Motherboard (Seems to be good?)
RAM - Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (May increase to 8GB in future.)
Graphics - Gainward GeForce 8400GS "SILENT" 512MB DDR2 PCI-Express Graphics Card (Don't need anything particularly great for graphics, it's not for gaming.)
Hard Drive - Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache
Cooling - Akasa AK-CCX-4002HP Venom CPU Cooler (OCUK seem to be using this in many of their bundles so I assume it's good?)
Optical Drive - Samsung SH-S223L 22x DVD±RW DL & RAM with LightScribe SATA Optical Drive
 
Funnily enough, on the first revision of this build which I posted up on the 28th of Dec, I was going to use an AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition, but nearly everyone told me to go for an i7 instead. Now that SandyBridge is out, two weeks later 1156 is suddenly a "dead socket", gotta love technology. :p

I don't think I'm going to bother with SandyBridge due to cost, and most people seemed to recommend an i7 even over the 1090T for music production. I think about three people suggested an i7 instead, one person suggested an i5 760, but obviously the i7 is better, and one person stuck up for the AMD.

The only benefit I can see is the fact that AMD will probably continue to release socket AM3 CPU's, which will allow me to upgrade to an 8 core or something in the future but I don't tend to upgrade often, my current laptop is about 5 years old as it is. :p
 
Actually you're right, on closer inspection a SandyBridge build might be affordable:

Intel Core i7-2600 3.40GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - £233.99
Gigabyte P67A-UD3 Intel P67 Chipset (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - £103.99 (This week anyway)

That is with a 2600 though, not a 2600K, it says "The K series edition processors are unlocked on the multiplier allowing overclocking", does that mean I won't be able to overclock on the 2600?

As you can probably tell I am partial to getting a Gigabyte motherboard, had an Asus before that died on me so I am reluctant to buy another.
 
Intel Core i7 870 2.93Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1156)

£227.99

Gigabyte GA-P55-USB3 Intel P55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Motherboard

£83.99

Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit

£41.99

Shipping : £9.50

Total : £365.36

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Intel Core i7-2600 3.40GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor

£233.99

Gigabyte P67A-UD3 Intel P67 Chipset (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge)

£103.99

Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit

£41.99

Shipping : £9.50

Total : £391.37

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

£26.01 extra for a SandyBridge build, not too bad I guess. I assume the XMS3 RAM is still compatible?

I'm not sure I'm willing to fork out nearly an extra £100 over the original build for the K-series CPU, but the performance benefits of the 2600 over the 860 for just £26 do seem worthwhile.
 
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To be honest I probably won't even need to overclock it, I'm not an overclocking enthusiast, nor am I a gamer, I would probably do a small overclock if possible for the right price, but I'd rather save the money.
 
Oh I forgot to mention I have two monitors that I want to use with it, so I assume the H motherboards don't have both a VGA and a DVI output? I do have an M-Audio PCI card in a tower, will that work in this motherboard? It's not PCI Express.
 
stulid said:
Now this depends on the motherboard,

some have a HDMI and older D-SUB, some have DVI and D-SUB,

and most boards will have at least one pci slot for older cards.

what inputs do your monitors have?
Click to expand...

Good to know about the PCI slot, guess I'll just have to look at each individual board, for that and the monitor outputs they have. Both monitors have VGA connections but I have one VGA to DVI converter.
 
Nice one thanks for the effort. :) I think I may choose the Gigabyte GA-H67A-UD3H from that list, as it also has PCI slots whereas the UD2H only has PCI-Express ones. That means I can use my old M-Audio PCI card.

So even if I decided to put a 2600K in a H67 board I wouldn't be able to overclock it, right? Is that the benefit a P67 has over an H67?
 
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