Project: i7 Monster DAW

KristopherF

KristopherF

KristopherF

Associate
Joined
14 Nov 2012
Posts
152
Location
Greenock, UK
Hi guys,

Welcome to Project: i7 Monster DAW

So after about a week or so doing research and talking to others on another forum section (general hardware) on OCs, I have finalised and ordered my parts which should be here on Tuesday (20th Nov).

A little behind the project:
I am an avid Mac OSX user, due to using Apples Logic Pro as my main software which I use for writing music to film etc.

Now to put a quick end to this (I know most of you are the Anti Apple) I like the machines Apple build, the software is also great, however the price tag is ridiculous and the whole stability thing is becoming more and more of a myth with the media sector.

There was also talk of Apple making their own CPUs which means new architecture, and that is just not a road I want to go down.

ANYWAY! Its all about Windows 7 and Cubase now!

So my line of work requires me to write music to film, I do this with huge sample libraries which sound very close to the real thing (orchestra).
This means I put a huge tax on my RAM, my hard drives and my CPU.

If you are interested in what magical software can really tax RAM this much take a look at:

LA Scoring Strings
Cine Brass
Requiem Pro Choirs
Vienna Suite

Just to name a few....

So this project is all about creating a machine which is full of RAM, a decent CPU, good storage read times and overall a good solid build to be used for some quite large workloads.

Spec's are as followed:

CPU:
Intel Core i7-3930K 3.20GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail

MOTHERBOARD:
Gigabyte X79-UD5 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard

RAM:
Patriot Intel Extreme Masters 32GB (4x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Quad Channel Kit (PVI332G160C9QK) x2 (64GB)

GRAPHICS:
POV-TGT GeForce GTX 670 Charged 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card

CPU COOLING:
Corsair Hydro H100i High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (Socket /LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/LGA2011/AM2/AM3/FM1/FM2)

PSU:
Antec High Current Pro 850W Modular '80 Plus Gold' Power Supply

CASE:
Antec P280 Super Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Black

OPTICAL:
Samsung SH-S222BB/RSMS 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black/Silver/Biege) - Retail

STORAGE
SSD1: Samsung 830 256GB SATA3
SSD2: OCZ Agility 3 240GB SATA3
SSD3: Samsung 830 128GB SATA3
HDD1: Samsung HD103 1TB SATA2
EX1: Lacie 1TB eSATA/FW/USB

ADDED COOLING:
Antec TwoCool™120 2 speed 120mm Case Fan (x4)

EXTRAS:
Akasa FLEXA P8 40cm CPU power extension (AK-CBPW08-40BK)
OcUK Value 3m DVI to HDMI Gold Plated Cable (CDLDV-303) (x2)
OcUK Value 3m Male - Male Gold Plated v1.4 Oxygen Free HDMI Cable - 3D READY

Now it has been quite a while since I built a PC, so be pre-paired for a slow start. However once the build is underway I will be documenting it and taking photos and video of the tasks.

I will also collate all the info into a short video showing the build from start to finish and include benchmark results of the new rig.



Expect updates on Tuesday!
 
Last edited:
Mr. May said:
Its easy to overclock you might aswell for the extra performance. Also would be better to see now if it will work overclocked then a year down the line and find out it does not, when you cant DSR it.
Click to expand...

You are right there, I will give it a small OC, I am not sure what OCing it is capable of, I think I heard 4.5 from 3.2? If so I think I would go no higher than 4 just to be safe.

- Kris
 
Hello,

Sorry for the delay, I have been off sick with that damn vomitting bug haha!
Anyway I have built the machine and have taken photos of the stages etc so will get a log sorted shortly.

A few pointers.

1. DPD delivered the goods to the wrong address, and decided to leave it with neighbour even though when they asked 24 hours before delivery if I would like it left with a neighbour I said no. (order taken on finance so I think finance company over ruled the address).

2. The neighbour they left it with was a junkie and I was very lucky I managed to stop being sick for an hour to drive over to their house and grab it off of them before they pulled the boxes apart and took it all to cash converters!

3. I was sent the wrong RAM, I ordered 64GB (2x 4x8GB) but they sent me 2x 4x4 strips).

4. After phoning and saying they had messed up the order I was told I had to send the RAM back and then wait for them to check it all, and then send me back the right stuff, after asking if they could not send me the correct stuff and pick the stuff they had originally sent me at the same time they just said no as it was not a big order..... First time customer and £1750 aparrently was not valued enough to them... A little miffed to say the least.

5. One of the extra fans I bought was damaged in delivery so I am having send that back aswell.


So the start of the project was a bit of a disaster, and I dont want to bad mouth OC as the only real issue was who ever had picked the goods in the warehouse had made a simple error, I just hope it gets sorted soon.

Anyway the machine is up and running with no overclocking and was tested and got a GeekBench score of 22,152 which is double that of my Mac Pro.

Once I have the correct RAM I will get it all fitted and post up the build log for you all.

Also one last thing, the fans which come with the H100i are a bit noisey so I have replaced them with the TrueCool fans, temp are the same and the noise has gone so thats something to think about when getting the H100i.

- Kris
 
Hi guys,

Sorry for the delay in any update.

I will be posting photos up tomorrow for you all with the log.

A quick update:
OC have now recived my RMA for the wrong RAM they sent, and my full 64GB should be here tomorrow.

Current Geekbench testing pushed a score of 22,000, and 35,000 under load when stress testing. I am hoping to get this up a little more when the full 64GB RAM goes in!

Windows is registering s 7.8 our of 7.9 on the system, everything was awarded top marks at 7.9 except one of my SATA2 HDD, not that the windows system score is anything to go by.

Here is a rough break down of the build.

1. Case - Antec P280 in gun metal.
2. Gigabyte UD5 Mobo
3. Intel i7-3930K 6 Core with basic overclocking to 3.8GHz via the Mobo defaults.
4. Corsair H100i liquid cooler with the fans removed and replaced by Antec True Cool (same as case). By the way, for those wondering what makes the noise on the H100i, it is the fans, not the pump!
5. 64GB 1600 DDR3 Quad Patriot RAM (8x8GB) - As of tomorrow.
6. Point of View GF GTX 670 in PCI 3.0 port.
7. Two True Cool Fans added into the interior bulkhead at the front of the case.
8. Bay 1 - OS (Windows 7 64Bit Pro) on SSD SATA 3 OCZ Agility 3 240GB
9. Bay 2 - Session Data (Cubase) on SSD SATA 3 Samsung 830 128GB
10. Bay 3 - Sample Data (Audio) on SSD DATA 3 Samsung 830 256GB
11. Bay 4 - Empty on HDD SATA 2 Samsung 1TB 7200rpm
12. Bay 5 - Empty on HDD SATA 2 Samsung 1TB 7200rpm
13. Bay 6 - Empty on HDD SATA 2 Western Digital 320GB 7200rpm
14. eSATA via Mobo with External 1TB Lacie 7200rpm.

Thats the basics of it at the moment.
 
Hey guys, so after some trouble with RMA'ing stuff, I think I finally have it sorted!

Also I decided to order in some more fans with better airflow and noise reduction.
Here is a sneaky picture of what the guys at OCUK just sent me!

332rocw.jpg
 
Hi guys,

Today I did a big swap-out on my case fans.

My original setup was:

2x 120mm fans - Antec TrueCool (intake) on the front of the case.
2x 120mm fans - Corsair H100i Stock SP120L (intake/exhaust) on the H100i Rad attached to top of case.
1x 120mm fan - Antec TruCool (exhaust) on the back of the case.

I was getting average temps of 35-37 degrees on the CPU when running idle and temps of 63-65 degrees when running on full load for 20mins.

What I have now done is removed all of the fans, and changed to the following setup:

2x 120mm fans - Xigmatek XAF-F1251 (intake) on the front of the case.
2x 120mm fans - Xigmatek XAF-F1251 (intake) on the front of the case after the HDD bay.
2x 120mm fans - Xigmatek XAF-F1251 (intake/exhaust) on the H100i Rad attached to top of case.
1x 120mm fan - Xigmatek XAF-F1251 (exhaust) on the back of the case.

All of the fans are now ran off a Lamptron FC5 V2 4 channel fan controller, including the H100i fans.

The H100i fans had a Y-Splitter cable which went from the pump to both the fans, this is what Corsair Link uses to control the fans speeds etc.

What I am getting at, is I have completely removed this cable and now have the fans on the H100i running via the fan controller - is this safe?

I mean as long as I don't keep my fan controller set to '0' or a ridiculously low temp the CPU wont over heat.

Whats your thoughts?

Oh and just for info for people....
Xigmatek XAF-F1251 are super quiet and push tons of air! These are an amazing replacement to the H100i stock fans. I can push them harder and they are still nearly half as loud, so if you want some fans to replace the stock H100i fans, I would recommend these!

Temps with old fans - Idle: 37
Temps with new fans - Idle: 29

Temps with old fans - Full Load: 65
Temps with new fans - Full Load: 59

Noise with old fans: 40.5dB
Noise with new fans: 32.5

So to conclude: 8dB Drop in noise, and 6-8 degrees drop in temps.

I should also note this is with a i7 3930K 3.2GHz OC to 4.0GHz.

Like I said, I really recommend these fans! I would get these over the GT's any day with this performance.
 
You should also note the the idle temps are a little higher than previously quoted. This is due to me upping the Vcore as me and 8Pack are running some BIOS tests, hopefully I will get the voltage down some more and keep it stable.

- Kris
 
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