Huge DAW Setup & Moving from Mac OSX to Windows.

What do you guys think of this?


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3970X 3.50GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail £799.99
1 x POV-TGT GeForce GTX 670 Charged 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Borderlands 2 & Assassin's Creed III PC Games £259.99
1 x Gigabyte X79-UP4 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £209.99
2 x Patriot Intel Extreme Masters 32GB (4x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Quad Channel Kit (PVI332G160C9QK) £139.98 (£279.96)
1 x XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £94.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H100i High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (Socket /LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/LGA2011/AM2/AM3/FM1/FM2) £91.99
1 x Antec P280 Super Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Black £84.98
1 x TP-Link 450Mbps Wireless N Dual Band PCI Express Adapter (TL-WDN4800) £27.98
1 x Startech 4 Port Internal PCI-Express FireWire Card (PEX13943) £22.99
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-TIM Indigo Xtreme - Intel 2011 £19.99
1 x Samsung SH-224BB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £1,924.36 (includes shipping : £13.75).

 
The one thing thats sticking in my mind is if your overclocking this, you'd probably need custom water to see the benefit of picking the 3970x over a 3930k, and then you'd really need to push it hard, and possibly a different motherboard like the asus rog board to get the most out of it, most 3930k's are happy at 4.6-4.8ghz anyway, when it comes to cubase its going to be seriously capable anyway. anything the 3970x is going to bring will be marginal, for a very high price. I think its a lot of extra money for very little, not that there is anything wrong with wanting the 3970x if you have the money, but its money possibly better spent elsewhere?.
 
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KristopherF said:
What do you guys think of this?


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3970X 3.50GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail £799.99
1 x POV-TGT GeForce GTX 670 Charged 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Borderlands 2 & Assassin's Creed III PC Games £259.99
1 x Gigabyte X79-UP4 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £209.99
2 x Patriot Intel Extreme Masters 32GB (4x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Quad Channel Kit (PVI332G160C9QK) £139.98 (£279.96)
1 x XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £94.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H100i High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (Socket /LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/LGA2011/AM2/AM3/FM1/FM2) £91.99
1 x Antec P280 Super Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Black £84.98
1 x TP-Link 450Mbps Wireless N Dual Band PCI Express Adapter (TL-WDN4800) £27.98
1 x Startech 4 Port Internal PCI-Express FireWire Card (PEX13943) £22.99
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-TIM Indigo Xtreme - Intel 2011 £19.99
1 x Samsung SH-224BB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £1,924.36 (includes shipping : £13.75).

Click to expand...

That will work well, but as above, I dont see the point in the 3970K, I have a 3930K on a UP4 board that took a very short time to get to 4.7Ghz stable.

4.5GHz was ridiculously easy to do.
 
A couple of observations, if I may? Ta :D

Case: take a look at the X-case Studio range, which have been specifically designed for rackmounting in studios. They come in 2U, 3U and 4U sizes - I'd go 4U, as it has a 120mm fan, allows for a PSU with a 120mm fan [the 2U & 3U need 80mm-fanned PSUs, which limits your choices considerably], and full-size cards. £90 for the 4U, apparently, which looks like a very good price for such a specialist bit o' kit.

GFX: I don't know much about the demands of multiple-monitor setups, but all these 670s getting suggested seem like massive overkill to me. Surely a smaller/cheaper/cooler/quieter card would be sufficient for a computer that's only going to see triple-screen 2D usage?

Cooler: Again, the H100 seems like overkill - and isn't it a tad on the noisy side when running at full chat? Also, not sure you'd be able to use this or any other radiator-based cooling if you go rackmount, given that there'd be no space to mount and exhaust. A low-profile Noctua might be a better solution if rackmounted.

Firewire: PCI-e 400/800 cards are readily and cheaply available [thirty quid or so], so even though fewer motherboards are including FW on-board these days, you don't have to limit your motherboard options.

Hope that helps. Sounds like it's going to be a beast :)


e: oops, didn't spot that others had pointed out the easy Firewire win!

e2: Also, you're unlikely to need anywhere near a 750/850W PSU, I'd have thought. A good quality [e.g. Seasonic] PSU 500Wish would be more than enough - and would stay quiet. Though if you go rackmount, I'd avoid fanless PSUs, as the PSU fan will need to double as a case exhaust.
 
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Great thoughts,

OK so I have decided to go with the 3930K, it seems right and will be more that enough, the other £400 is better spent elsewhere.

So here is my next question, everyone seems to love the UP4 MB, however I will be using 2400 RAM, so what is a MB that you would all recommend that would be good with 2400 capability?

And for those who are about to jump on me and say nooooo 2400 is not worth it..... Perhaps not if gaming, however for samples based daws it is vert beneficial, also latency times do not matter hugely while working with large samples.


Really grateful for all your help!
 
Okay,

So this is my refined and updated shopping basket, what do you guys think?


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3930K 3.20GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail £459.95
2 x GeIL EVO Corsa 32GB (4x8GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Quad Channel Kit (GOC332GB2400C11AQC) £279.95 (£559.90)
1 x POV-TGT GeForce GTX 670 Charged 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Borderlands 2 & Assassin's Creed III PC Games £259.99
1 x Gigabyte X79-UD5 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £241.99
1 x XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £94.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H100i High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (Socket /LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/LGA2011/AM2/AM3/FM1/FM2) £91.99
1 x Antec P280 Super Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Black £84.98
1 x Corsair SP120 Quiet Series High Pressure Low Noise - Dual Pack £25.99
1 x Startech 4 Port Internal PCI-Express FireWire Card (PEX13943) £22.99
1 x Asus 24x DVD±RW DRW-24B5ST SATA ReWriter - Black (Retail) £20.99
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-TIM Indigo Xtreme - Intel 2011 £19.99
Total : £1,900.26 (includes shipping : £13.75).

 
Lets refine it some more :)
No real world benefit of 2400Mhz RAM to be honest, the H100i should be fine with just the stock fans. Upgraded the PSU to 80Plus Gold, upgraded motherboard to higher quality + it has onboard wi-fi. No need for aftermarket TIM as the H100i comes with some pre-applied. Oh, and cheaper (but still just as fast) optical drive. Otherwise, looking good ;)

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3930K 3.20GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail £459.95
1 x Gigabyte X79S-UP5-Wifi Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £279.98
1 x POV-TGT GeForce GTX 670 Charged 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Borderlands 2 & Assassin's Creed III PC Games £259.99
1 x Seasonic X-Series 850w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £149.99
2 x Patriot Intel Extreme Masters 32GB (4x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Quad Channel Kit (PVI332G160C9QK) £139.98 (£279.96)
1 x Corsair Hydro H100i High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (Socket /LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/LGA2011/AM2/AM3/FM1/FM2) £91.99
1 x Antec P280 Super Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Black £84.98
1 x Startech 4 Port Internal PCI-Express FireWire Card (PEX13943) £22.99
1 x Samsung SH-224BB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £1,659.83 (includes shipping : £12.50).



Edit: Just noticed a previous post about 2400Mhz being better for sample based DAWS, I suppose I can see where you're coming from with that, but will it be really noticably faster? Or are we talking a less than a second? (Basically I don't know)
 
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Most hard drives can't even max out SATA2, so they'll be fine on SATA2 connectors. Only SSDs will see any real gain from being connected to SATA3

With 2400Mhz ram, most of the 4x8gb kits seem to have gone recently, so if you don't mind the large (and rather bright) heatsinks
YOUR BASKET
1 x GeIL EVO Corsa 32GB (4x8GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Quad Channel Kit (GOC332GB2400C11AQC) £279.95
1 x GeIL EVO Veloce Frost White 32GB (4x8GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Quad Channel Kit (GEW332GB2400C11AQC) £249.95
1 x GeIL EVO Veloce Hot-Rod Red 32GB (4x8GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Quad Channel Kit (GEV332GB2400C11AQC) £249.95
Total : £789.44 (includes shipping : £8.00).


____________________
Or another option would be to buy 4 of these, but it actually comes out more expensive :(
YOUR BASKET
4 x GeIL EVO Leggera 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEL316GB2400C11ADC) £139.99 (£559.96)
Total : £570.77 (includes shipping : £9.00).

 
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Actually I will be using SATA3 SSDs, only one 1TBH HDD will be SATA2.

SATA3 is very important for me due to the read and write times and the amount of data being accessed at the one time.

What are your thoughts on 2133 RAM rather than 2400?
The price of 2133 is much cheaper, but not sure of the performance difference.

Anyway, that aside, I would like a X79 2011 Socket motherboard that will take on 64GB 2400+ RAM and 6 SATA3s, any recomendations? What about the AsRock Extreme 9?
 
Well I have just found out the i7-3930K can only support upto 1600 RAM and a total of 64GB.

Therefor I need to get the best X79 2011 Mobo that will support 64GB 1600 RAM. And the best 8x8 1600 RAM I can get.

What are your thoughts?

As for SSDs I have two just now, and will get another 1 soon and a further 1 in the new year.

My current SSDs are:
Samsung 830 SATA3 256GB
OCZ Agility 3 SATA3 240GB
 
Hey guys,

So after collating all the info and reading specs etc I think I have my final build!

What do you think?


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3930K 3.20GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail £459.95
1 x POV-TGT GeForce GTX 670 Charged 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Borderlands 2 & Assassin's Creed III PC Games £259.99
1 x Gigabyte X79-UD5 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £241.99
1 x NZXT Switch 810 Big Tower Case - Gun Metal £149.99
1 x Seasonic X-Series 850w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £149.99
2 x Patriot Intel Extreme Masters 32GB (4x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Quad Channel Kit (PVI332G160C9QK) £139.98 (£279.96)
1 x Corsair Hydro H100i High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (Socket /LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/LGA2011/AM2/AM3/FM1/FM2) £91.99
1 x TP-Link 450Mbps Wireless N Dual Band PCI Express Adapter (TL-WDN4800) £27.98
1 x Startech 4 Port Internal PCI-Express FireWire Card (PEX13943) £22.99
1 x Asus 24x DVD±RW DRW-24B5ST SATA ReWriter - Black (Retail) £20.99
4 x NZXT FX-140LB Enthusiast Performance Control Fan - 140mm £14.99 (£59.96)
Total : £1,783.48 (includes shipping : £14.75).

 
And here is the refinement!

I'm literally hovering over the "Pay Now" button haha


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3930K 3.20GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail £459.95
1 x POV-TGT GeForce GTX 670 Charged 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Borderlands 2 & Assassin's Creed III PC Games £259.99
1 x Gigabyte X79-UD5 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £241.99
2 x Patriot Intel Extreme Masters 32GB (4x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Quad Channel Kit (PVI332G160C9QK) £139.98 (£279.96)
1 x Antec High Current Pro 850W Modular '80 Plus Gold' Power Supply £129.98
1 x Corsair Hydro H100i High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (Socket /LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/LGA2011/AM2/AM3/FM1/FM2) £91.99
1 x Antec P280 Super Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Black £84.98
1 x Asus 24x DVD±RW DRW-24B5ST SATA ReWriter - Black (Retail) £20.99
4 x Antec TwoCool™120 2 speed 120mm Case Fan £9.98 (£39.92)
1 x Akasa FLEXA P8 40cm CPU power extension (AK-CBPW08-40BK) £5.99
Total : £1,630.76 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
Hey guys,
Just wanted to say thanks for all your help. I have now ordered all my parts and they should be here on Tuesday!

Added an extra 128GB SSD in too, already have 2 240/256 SSDs and a range of 7200rpm HDDs.

Final Build

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3930K 3.20GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail £459.95
1 x POV-TGT GeForce GTX 670 Charged 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Borderlands 2 & Assassin's Creed III PC Games £259.99
1 x Gigabyte X79-UD5 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £241.99
2 x Patriot Intel Extreme Masters 32GB (4x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Quad Channel Kit (PVI332G160C9QK) £139.98 (£279.96)
1 x Antec High Current Pro 850W Modular '80 Plus Gold' Power Supply £129.98
1 x Corsair Hydro H100i High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (Socket /LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/LGA2011/AM2/AM3/FM1/FM2) £91.99
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 830 Series SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive - (MZ-7PC128B/WW) £89.99
1 x Antec P280 Super Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Black £84.98
1 x Samsung SH-S222BB/RSMS 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black/Silver/Biege) - Retail £19.99
4 x Antec TwoCool™120 2 speed 120mm Case Fan £9.98 (£39.92)
1 x OcUK Value 3m Male - Male Gold Plated v1.4 Oxygen Free HDMI Cable - 3D READY £8.39
2 x OcUK Value 3m DVI to HDMI Gold Plated Cable (CDLDV-303) £7.99 (£15.98)
1 x Akasa FLEXA P8 40cm CPU power extension (AK-CBPW08-40BK) £5.99
Total : £1,745.63 (includes shipping : £13.75).

 
I'm glad to hear that you have got on with it :) looks like that will see you great!

Your sig is WAY too big. 4 lines of normal text. See the FAQ.

Edit: just noticed the 64GB of RAM :o overkill much? :p

edit 2: we want pics when this is built ;)
 
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