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Keybeeetsss
11-29-2009, 06:27 PM
Does anyone here use www.tigerdirect.com (http://www.tigerdirect.com) for their PC purchases, or does everyone use NewEgg for some particular reason? I always used tigerdirect in the past and have been pretty happy with them... but any reason why I should switch over?

Very lookin forward to buildin my new PC. has there been an ULTIMATE build spec that anyone came up with so far? I'm not too worried about cash (if it's under like $1500 at least). Thanks -
Tigerdirect/Newegg... Same thing pretty much... As for an Ultimate build, there's really not such a thing; all the builds u see on the 1st page are great &/or Maybe even close to perfect builds...

jmac146
11-30-2009, 07:46 AM
Cool thanks Keybeats, I'll just shop in between the 2.
I was reading through about 60 or so pages of the post and was planning on getting through all 225 pages... till my eyes started bleeding. I'm assuming just reading the first post should provide enough quality information to get me going? I've done a few computer builds in the past... but some of the discussions I read were quite detailed about bios, RAID drives, and a bunch of other random computer talk that I didn't understand. Is most of this stuff described in those first page articles?

You guys are awesome for posting so much helpful stuff too btw.

jpoprock
11-30-2009, 07:51 AM
Boy... I've been asked by my BFF to build him a budget friendly DAW PC, and someone suggested I check out this i7 thread. It's exhausting! I'm a Mac guy... but have built many PC's over the years. If PTLE compatibility wasn't an issue, I'd have no questions! But I guess what I'm taking from the i7 is that it's a great CPU to get, but you've got to get super geeky with it to make it work? Is that the general idea here?

Thanks!

mano111
11-30-2009, 09:37 AM
Boy... I've been asked by my BFF to build him a budget friendly DAW PC, and someone suggested I check out this i7 thread. It's exhausting! I'm a Mac guy... but have built many PC's over the years. If PTLE compatibility wasn't an issue, I'd have no questions! But I guess what I'm taking from the i7 is that it's a great CPU to get, but you've got to get super geeky with it to make it work? Is that the general idea here?

Thanks!

Not sure I agree.
Check out page one for working builds and BIOS settings.

i7 machines for PTLE may not as easy to build as an office or gaming machine but defiantly easier than it used to be in the P4 or core2 days IMO.

mykhal c
11-30-2009, 11:00 AM
Boy... I've been asked by my BFF to build him a budget friendly DAW PC, and someone suggested I check out this i7 thread. It's exhausting! I'm a Mac guy... but have built many PC's over the years. If PTLE compatibility wasn't an issue, I'd have no questions! But I guess what I'm taking from the i7 is that it's a great CPU to get, but you've got to get super geeky with it to make it work? Is that the general idea here?

Thanks!

bein' an experienced builder you should have no 'real' problems. go with workin' components and set ram freq/timings properly and all should be good to go. good luck:-)

a7bull
11-30-2009, 03:06 PM
Boy... I've been asked by my BFF to build him a budget friendly DAW PC, and someone suggested I check out this i7 thread. It's exhausting! I'm a Mac guy... but have built many PC's over the years. If PTLE compatibility wasn't an issue, I'd have no questions! But I guess what I'm taking from the i7 is that it's a great CPU to get, but you've got to get super geeky with it to make it work? Is that the general idea here?

Thanks!
I thought it was really easy and I'm way ungeeky. It took me an hour and a half. This thread is a great resource and if you follow the suggestions on the opening page it's close to a no brainer, if you've ever put a PC together before. PTLE LOVES the i7!
Andy B

jmac146
12-01-2009, 06:06 AM
Very Stable, handles everything I throw at it.

The machine does not even notice PT8.

I do video work in addition to music. Video files that would take an hour or more to format on my AMD Phenom 9850 machine now only take 9 minutes.

This thing is a number cruncher.


Hey philip, I would also be doing video/photoshop work on my computer on top of using it for PTLE8. Is there anything special in your build over the others that made it better for your video work?

Other random question - I use a USB MBOX2... since it's usb will I see some performance hits on reverb tests and such compared to firewire?

Norm Mix
12-01-2009, 04:00 PM
[
*************************************************

IMPORTANT NOTE!!!!!!

i7 and ram freq/settings/timings...


'AUTO' settings with ram will 'almost always' cause issues...9xxx errors to be specific!!! you should 'always' set your ram to its' correct settings...OC or not. right now if you are runnin' your ram timings outta sync with the ram freq you will probably encounter the 9xxx errors. make sure your ram dimms are in the same colored slots (triple channel mode). read up on how to set your ram freq and timings when usin' triple channel mode. use either the 'MANUAL' or 'PROFILE' settings to select the proper frequency and timings for your installed ram.;)

How do you check or change this? Thanks!

cwsand
12-01-2009, 07:14 PM
How do you check or change this? Thanks!

Look at my similar question on the previous page from 11-26-09 where Guitardom answers.

Norm Mix
12-02-2009, 11:16 AM
Look at my similar question on the previous page from 11-26-09 where Guitardom answers.

I looked ... but how do you get to those RAM settings? Thanks!

cwsand
12-02-2009, 02:04 PM
I looked ... but how do you get to those RAM settings? Thanks!

For the memory on mine I went into MB Intelligent Tweaker and set the System Memory Multiplier to 8.0 which I believe then sets your Memory Frequency to 1600. Then I set the DRAM Timing Selectable to Expert. Then for each channel (A B & C) I set the CAS Latency Time, tRCD, & tRAS each to 8 and the tRAS to 24 per my RAM specs. The Command Rate is set to Auto. My motherboard & RAM models are listed in my signature and I found the RAM specs on Newegg's page where I bought the RAM, which had it listed at 8-8-8-24 and 1600. Now that being said, most of what I changed after Guitardom's advice was a guessing game so if anyone sees anything suspect please let me know! My system is running flawlessly though.

delgado
12-02-2009, 07:25 PM
Hey could you guys point me to a sound card for this beast?
Thanks!

cwsand
12-02-2009, 09:54 PM
Hey could you guys point me to a sound card for this beast?
Thanks!

The Gigabyte boards have onboard audio - are you just looking for something to play Windows media from?

Norm Mix
12-03-2009, 07:48 PM
For the memory on mine I went into MB Intelligent Tweaker and set the System Memory Multiplier to 8.0 which I believe then sets your Memory Frequency to 1600. Then I set the DRAM Timing Selectable to Expert. Then for each channel (A B & C) I set the CAS Latency Time, tRCD, & tRAS each to 8 and the tRAS to 24 per my RAM specs. The Command Rate is set to Auto. My motherboard & RAM models are listed in my signature and I found the RAM specs on Newegg's page where I bought the RAM, which had it listed at 8-8-8-24 and 1600. Now that being said, most of what I changed after Guitardom's advice was a guessing game so if anyone sees anything suspect please let me know! My system is running flawlessly though.

Thanks cwsand !!!
How do you get into MB Intelligent Tweaker?

cwsand
12-03-2009, 10:06 PM
Thanks cwsand !!!
How do you get into MB Intelligent Tweaker?

No problem! The Intelligent Tweaker is in the BIOS. You should read the articles listed on page 1 of this thread as well as your manual before you go making changes to the BIOS though - wrong voltages can fry components!

Lapis
12-04-2009, 11:19 PM
Has anyone tried a dual i7 yet?

Ludia
12-05-2009, 08:16 AM
Hi all,

A few weeks back I ordered in my parts for the i7 rig. Last week I got everything complete and I just finnished installing everything and did the dverb2.0 test. First I had not enough tracks to get it stuttering because I forgot to install mptk2 ( mind you, i'm running M-Powered ). After install ran again and came out onto 279 without tunning Windows for optimum PT support or OCing. I'm even running Ultimate 7 64bit for that matter.

Sys details in my signature.

nikki-k
12-05-2009, 07:49 PM
Has anyone tried a dual i7 yet?
No such beast. But, dual Nehalem based Xeon...
More headaches than it is worth, unless you are doing Uber-Post.

With little to average sample based VI use, an i5 based machine would be plenty. Go average to heavy, and an i7 with triple channel memory should be plenty. Right now, PT will choke on the available VI power before using it well. Leave the Xeons to servers and uber-Post.

madcow
12-07-2009, 10:30 AM
Guys.... long story short, my 6 year old system has just gave up and died (mobo). In the middle tracking....of course.

I need a new system and was always an AMD fan but now looking at the i7 systems you all are using. My problem is this.... I have been out of the loop so long that I am over whelmed with this new info.

I keep reading that the a i7 setup can be built for under 1k but I seem to keep going over and am not even sure I am choosing the right items.

This thread is helpful but my eyes and brain are shot. Can a few of you please post your complete setup so I can basically go to Newegg and just buy this stuff :o

Not sure if everything can be had for under 1k but I need......

-New tower
-Power supply
-CPU (Cooling fan comes with the i7?)
-Mobo (Asus or Gigabyte (never heard of gigabyte but Shane and few are using them right?)
-2 hard drives (Small system drive and 200-500gb audio drive)
-CD/DVD player/writer
-Memory (For my purposes probably 4 gb should be fine. Thoughts?)


A few questions.
Do the newer mobo's have IDE? I need to plug in an internal IDE drive to move the session files over to the new drive.

I feel lazy by posting this but my head hurts and am just out of the technology loop... go easy on me ;)

mblanton66
12-07-2009, 11:16 AM
I bought a new 920 D0 off Craigslist for $240.
Intel DX58SO MB for $150 off ebay
Corsair 650w ps $100, Lian-Li K7-B case $80, Corsair XMS TR3X6G1600C7 mem (6GB) $200 from Newegg.

That's $770. I reused all my old drives, can you do that too?
My Intel board has no legacy ports (ps/2 or floppy/ide), others do.

The only piece I'm seeking is a SSD for a system drive, but that's just gravy. This machine is FAST. My typical 20-24 track sessions with Drumagog, Oxford Reverb, Autotune Evo, lots of Smack compressors (all of these are cpu hogs) now putt around at 25-28% cpu utilization or so. My old dual Xeon Precision 670 ran at 80-95%.

guitardom
12-07-2009, 01:11 PM
Guys.... long story short, my 6 year old system has just gave up and died (mobo). In the middle tracking....of course.

I need a new system and was always an AMD fan but now looking at the i7 systems you all are using. My problem is this.... I have been out of the loop so long that I am over whelmed with this new info.

I keep reading that the a i7 setup can be built for under 1k but I seem to keep going over and am not even sure I am choosing the right items.

This thread is helpful but my eyes and brain are shot. Can a few of you please post your complete setup so I can basically go to Newegg and just buy this stuff :o

Not sure if everything can be had for under 1k but I need......

-New tower
-Power supply
-CPU (Cooling fan comes with the i7?)
-Mobo (Asus or Gigabyte (never heard of gigabyte but Shane and few are using them right?)
-2 hard drives (Small system drive and 200-500gb audio drive)
-CD/DVD player/writer
-Memory (For my purposes probably 4 gb should be fine. Thoughts?)


A few questions.
Do the newer mobo's have IDE? I need to plug in an internal IDE drive to move the session files over to the new drive.

I feel lazy by posting this but my head hurts and am just out of the technology loop... go easy on me ;)

go to the first page. many working builds with links for parts. shane is not using an i7 or a gigabyte motherboard. check out mine, keybeets, albee, are all good systems. but

i7 x58 chipset (920 is the best bang for the buck)
triple channel ddr 3 ram 1.5-1.65 volts max. by in sets of 3, so 6gb is good
psu i7 compatible 1333-1800 is fine.
hard drives with 32mb cache. wd black are the most popular
cooler i have listed is still available bought one for someone last week.
tower your preference. atx size.
any cd/dvd should be fine.
i have gone all sata for hd/dvd drives and all is well.

Danny Hays
12-07-2009, 02:22 PM
Has anyone been to Best Buy Or Walmart this week? All they sell now are Windows 7 64 bit machines. The Walmart sales person said all XP and Vista computers have been recalled. Avid/Digidesign clearly states Pro Tools LE is not compatible with any 64 bit Windows operating systems. So if you already have a LE interface and running XP or Vista, your OK, untill your XP/Vista machine dies.
How can Avid/Digidesign still continue to sell 003,002 or Mboxes when you cannot even buy a new Windows computer that will run Pro Tools???? Avid/Digidesign wont even respond to emails on this problem.
I personally don't care for Pro Tools except for the fact I can get the latency low enough to use it as a live processor, 2 tracks.
I would look at Cakewalk Sonar or Steinberg Nuendo, as I have never seen a Pc that wont run them.
Just a warning for people looking at getting into Pro Tools LE and a Windows computer.

Keybeeetsss
12-07-2009, 02:34 PM
troll

guitardom
12-07-2009, 04:02 PM
Has anyone been to Best Buy Or Walmart this week? All they sell now are Windows 7 64 bit machines. The Walmart sales person said all XP and Vista computers have been recalled. Avid/Digidesign clearly states Pro Tools LE is not compatible with any 64 bit Windows operating systems. So if you already have a LE interface and running XP or Vista, your OK, untill your XP/Vista machine dies.
How can Avid/Digidesign still continue to sell 003,002 or Mboxes when you cannot even buy a new Windows computer that will run Pro Tools???? Avid/Digidesign wont even respond to emails on this problem.
I personally don't care for Pro Tools except for the fact I can get the latency low enough to use it as a live processor, 2 tracks.
I would look at Cakewalk Sonar or Steinberg Nuendo, as I have never seen a Pc that wont run them.
Just a warning for people looking at getting into Pro Tools LE and a Windows computer.

understand what you are trying to say, but this is the complete wrong place to post this. we build our own computers on this thread and they all seem to work! i have never gone to walmart to buy a computer though myself, prefer not to go there at all if truth be known!

Keybeeetsss
12-07-2009, 04:05 PM
understand what you are trying to say, but this is the complete wrong place to post this.

troll
Just in case u didn't see my post;)

cwsand
12-07-2009, 05:03 PM
Just in case u didn't see my post;)

They have a cave troll!

madcow
12-09-2009, 07:49 AM
go to the first page. many working builds with links for parts. shane is not using an i7 or a gigabyte motherboard. check out mine, keybeets, albee, are all good systems. but

i7 x58 chipset (920 is the best bang for the buck)
triple channel ddr 3 ram 1.5-1.65 volts max. by in sets of 3, so 6gb is good
psu i7 compatible 1333-1800 is fine.
hard drives with 32mb cache. wd black are the most popular
cooler i have listed is still available bought one for someone last week.
tower your preference. atx size.
any cd/dvd should be fine.
i have gone all sata for hd/dvd drives and all is well.


Thank you for the response. Very helpful.

I cannot reuse my drives or cd burner as they are IDE. That why I asked if the newer mobos have ide so I can at least transfer the last session over to the new rig as I did not back it up like I normally do. Everything is SATA now right?

I could reuse my atx case but its always nice to start from scratch.

Keybeeetsss
12-09-2009, 08:15 AM
I cannot reuse my drives or cd burner as they are IDE. That why I asked if the newer mobos have ide so I can at least transfer the last session over to the new rig as I did not back it up like I normally do. Everything is SATA now right?


Yes the mobo has an IDE port so u can transfer ur sessions: if u want, depending on how many drives u have, u can stick it in the case for a backup...I too am all Sata(5 32mb drives) in the case; smallest size is 640g WD black(2 of them in there)...

madcow
12-09-2009, 10:21 AM
Yes the mobo has an IDE port so u can transfer ur sessions: if u want, depending on how many drives u have, u can stick it in the case for a backup...I too am all Sata(5 32mb drives) in the case; smallest size is 640g WD black(2 of them in there)...


Perfect!! Thanks!


Also. is there any reason this PSU will not work?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817152033

Keybeeetsss
12-09-2009, 02:28 PM
Perfect!! Thanks!


Also. is there any reason this PSU will not work?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817152033
Well spec-wise it looks fine but me myself, I don't like things that I feel are priced a bit cheap/low or something I don't know &/or hadn't heard much about but thatz just me so u can take that with a grain of salt;)

guitardom
12-09-2009, 06:55 PM
Perfect!! Thanks!


Also. is there any reason this PSU will not work?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817152033

looks fine to me spec wise as well, but i have only been using corsair psu's for awhile now and they have been flawless in the last 7 computers at least i have put them in. so i cant really vouch for this.

madcow
12-10-2009, 08:19 AM
looks fine to me spec wise as well, but i have only been using corsair psu's for awhile now and they have been flawless in the last 7 computers at least i have put them in. so i cant really vouch for this.


Thanks.. I ended up with a corsair psu.

Appreciate all the help folks....

jmac146
12-10-2009, 11:25 AM
just made my order!

I've been researchin for WEEKS now on all of this crap, so I hope this works out well for me. I spent a little over $1200, but its a 100% new build, not reusing anything at all. Here are the items I got along with the prices I got (mostly new egg, but got the hard drives for free shipping and $5 cheaper each at tigerdirect.com & the same CPU cooler as guitardom was only $29.99 on tiger & was $45 on newegg).

($89.99) CASE - ANTEC SONATA ELITE BK
($268.99) MOTHERBOARD - GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD5 X58
($109.99) PSU - CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W
($288.99) PROCESSOR - INTEL CORE I7 920 2.66G 45N
($149.99) VIDEO CARD - VGA SAPPHIRE|100284VXL HD5750
($174.99) RAM - 2Gx3 CORSAIR TR3X6G1600C8 G
($64.99 X2) HARD DRIVES - WESTERN DIGITAL CAVIAR BLACK WD5001AALS 500GB
($29.99) CPU COOLER - COOLER MASTER HYPER N520 RR-920-N520-GP

Should be getting it in the next couple of days... very excited to set it up. Hopefully no problems, and hopefully all goes well with the advice from all you guys. Thanks!

mindcube
12-10-2009, 12:23 PM
Finally have the funds together to build my dream DAW. :D Thanks to the great input and activity on this forum, I ordered the following:

Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz LGA 1366 Socket 8MB Cache CPU, 4.8GT/Sec, Soket LGA 1366, D0 Stepping (http://www.antaresdigital.com/customer/product.php?productid=16135&cat=108)

GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128375)

CORSAIR DOMINATOR 3GB ( 3 x 1GB ) PC3-12800 1600MHz 240-Pin DDR3 Tri-Channel Core i7 Triple Memory Kit

Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS 300GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136322) - System Drive (OS/PT)

2x Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drives -Bare Drive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284) - Audio and Sample drive

EVGA 512-P3-N871-AR GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130339)

CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX 620W ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Compatible ... - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139002)

COOLER MASTER Intel Core i7 compatible Hyper N 520 RR-920-N520-GP 92mm Sleeve CPU Cooler - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103057)

2x SAPPHIRE DVI to VGA adapter for Twin-View video cards Model DVI-2-VGA - OEM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814999201) (for the dual monitors)

COOLER MASTER COSMOS 1000 RC-1000-KSN1-GP Black/ Silver Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119138)

Total cost = $1758.02

I'm looking forward to having non-stop creativity with this beastie...

madcow
12-10-2009, 05:55 PM
edit

Keybeeetsss
12-10-2009, 06:02 PM
edit

Do u need that 1? no.. Do u need 1? Not really... Do u want 1? YEAHPPP...

Keybeeetsss
12-10-2009, 06:05 PM
Finally have the funds together to build my dream DAW. :D Thanks to the great input and activity on this forum, I ordered the following:

Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz LGA 1366 Socket 8MB Cache CPU, 4.8GT/Sec, Soket LGA 1366, D0 Stepping (http://www.antaresdigital.com/customer/product.php?productid=16135&cat=108)

GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128375)

CORSAIR DOMINATOR 3GB ( 3 x 1GB ) PC3-12800 1600MHz 240-Pin DDR3 Tri-Channel Core i7 Triple Memory Kit

Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS 300GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136322) - System Drive (OS/PT)

2x Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drives -Bare Drive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284) - Audio and Sample drive

EVGA 512-P3-N871-AR GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130339)

CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX 620W ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Compatible ... - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139002)

COOLER MASTER Intel Core i7 compatible Hyper N 520 RR-920-N520-GP 92mm Sleeve CPU Cooler - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103057)

2x SAPPHIRE DVI to VGA adapter for Twin-View video cards Model DVI-2-VGA - OEM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814999201) (for the dual monitors)

COOLER MASTER COSMOS 1000 RC-1000-KSN1-GP Black/ Silver Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119138)

Total cost = $1758.02

I'm looking forward to having non-stop creativity with this beastie...
I hadn't looked @ ur individual prices, but I don't know why its coming to that much.. But heyyy, if it works for ya, koolz...

guitardom
12-10-2009, 06:32 PM
Finally have the funds together to build my dream DAW. :D Thanks to the great input and activity on this forum, I ordered the following:

Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz LGA 1366 Socket 8MB Cache CPU, 4.8GT/Sec, Soket LGA 1366, D0 Stepping (http://www.antaresdigital.com/customer/product.php?productid=16135&cat=108)

GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128375)

CORSAIR DOMINATOR 3GB ( 3 x 1GB ) PC3-12800 1600MHz 240-Pin DDR3 Tri-Channel Core i7 Triple Memory Kit

Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS 300GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136322) - System Drive (OS/PT)

2x Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drives -Bare Drive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284) - Audio and Sample drive

EVGA 512-P3-N871-AR GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130339)

CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX 620W ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Compatible ... - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139002)

COOLER MASTER Intel Core i7 compatible Hyper N 520 RR-920-N520-GP 92mm Sleeve CPU Cooler - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103057)

2x SAPPHIRE DVI to VGA adapter for Twin-View video cards Model DVI-2-VGA - OEM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814999201) (for the dual monitors)

COOLER MASTER COSMOS 1000 RC-1000-KSN1-GP Black/ Silver Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119138)

Total cost = $1758.02

I'm looking forward to having non-stop creativity with this beastie...

there are MUCH cheaper vid cards that work, mine was under 50$ i am using now, has 1 dvi, 1 vga output.

the veloraptor while seems nice, is a waste of money really. we tested them a while back and gained nothing from them. plus they are 16mb of cache. i would just get another500-600gb black and save another 100$+ and possibly have better performance :-)

there are also very nice cheaper cases, but if that is what you want, by all means looks like a nice case.

as a thought, you have no dvd drive listed.

Keybeeetsss
12-10-2009, 06:52 PM
Yeah Mindcube, spending that much makes me think ur Mind is a Cube:eek::D (jus messin with ya man)

Seriously, thatz twice the money most of us spent on our builds man...

vinchenzOH
12-10-2009, 07:56 PM
Hey guys awesome thread, very helpful.

I am having an issue with my set up.

Example: I have my guitar DI into my digi 002 and while playing there is no sound coming out of my monitors, except for random, short snippets of sound. With low latency monitoring turned on I get a fairly consistent signal, but it is choppy and warped. This, clearly, makes it so I can't really do anything. Any help would be appreciated.

My parts:

MB: Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD6
VGA: Gigabyte Radeon HD 5770
PSU: Corsair 620HX
CPU: Intel Core i7 860 2.8G
MEM: OCZ 2Gx2 Gold 1600
HD: 2x 640G WD Caviar Black

vinchenzOH
12-10-2009, 08:12 PM
Also, if this is any help: when I try to record I get an H/W buffer size error as well. Toggling buffer settings does not help.

Keybeeetsss
12-10-2009, 08:21 PM
Also, if this is any help: when I try to record I get an H/W buffer size error as well. Toggling buffer settings does not help.
Hi Vin; WELCOME to the DUCZ; sorry to say but this isn't where u want to post this... read around a bit & then maybe u wanna start ur own thread if after searching u can't seem to find similar problems ur having...

jmac146
12-10-2009, 09:39 PM
just made my order!

I've been researchin for WEEKS now on all of this crap, so I hope this works out well for me. I spent a little over $1200, but its a 100% new build, not reusing anything at all. Here are the items I got along with the prices I got (mostly new egg, but got the hard drives for free shipping and $5 cheaper each at tigerdirect.com & the same CPU cooler as guitardom was only $29.99 on tiger & was $45 on newegg).

($89.99) CASE - ANTEC SONATA ELITE BK
($268.99) MOTHERBOARD - GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD5 X58
($109.99) PSU - CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W
($288.99) PROCESSOR - INTEL CORE I7 920 2.66G 45N
($149.99) VIDEO CARD - VGA SAPPHIRE|100284VXL HD5750
($174.99) RAM - 2Gx3 CORSAIR TR3X6G1600C8 G
($64.99 X2) HARD DRIVES - WESTERN DIGITAL CAVIAR BLACK WD5001AALS 500GB
($29.99) CPU COOLER - COOLER MASTER HYPER N520 RR-920-N520-GP

Should be getting it in the next couple of days... very excited to set it up. Hopefully no problems, and hopefully all goes well with the advice from all you guys. Thanks!


Did anyone have any thoughts on my setup? Seem legit and for the prices? I got the higher end vid card for photoshop/video-editing/adobe-flash-website-creating stuff.

And guitardom FYI i did also purchase a DVD drive, just didn't think it was really necessary to include towards the specs (noticed it in your note to mindcube) :cool:

guitardom
12-10-2009, 09:49 PM
Did anyone have any thoughts on my setup? Seem legit and for the prices? I got the higher end vid card for photoshop/video-editing/adobe-flash-website-creating stuff.

And guitardom FYI i did also purchase a DVD drive, just didn't think it was really necessary to include towards the specs (noticed it in your note to mindcube) :cool:

the ram seems overpriced quite a bit, and do not need that powerful of a psu.
get me a link to the ram if you would.
the psu on cubes build is great and more than enough.
also any special reason for the ud5?? if not the ud4 has most of the same options, i use the ud3 and is more than enough. might think about what you need and if its worth it to cut back on it some.

Keybeeetsss
12-10-2009, 09:56 PM
to add to what guitardom said, that video card is a bit much as well...

jmac146
12-10-2009, 10:06 PM
the ram seems overpriced quite a bit, and do not need that powerful of a psu.
get me a link to the ram if you would.
the psu on cubes build is great and more than enough.
also any special reason for the ud5?? if not the ud4 has most of the same options, i use the ud3 and is more than enough. might think about what you need and if its worth it to cut back on it some.

RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145236
got it cuz i kept readin about the CORSAIR XMS3 being badass... couldn't find it cheaper anywhere else. Got it in 8-8-8-24 timing. You have a better reference to find it? It actually cost more for the XMS3 at 1333 7-7-7-20 than the 1600 8-8-8-24

PSU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006&Tpk=TX750W
got it cuz i think someone else had the same one on the front page. also read somewhere from you guys that the PSU was extremely important so you dont fry yo' rig :eek:

as for the UD3 or UD4 - only had 4 slots, and thought if I had this thing for more than 3 or 4 years the 64 bit PT would come out and id have room for 6 more gbs in there so I went with the UD5.

what are your thoughts with that being said, sir guitardom master? (not being sarcastic with that, i actually consider you quite amazing for how many hours of testing you must have gone through and all of ur advice):cool:

to be honest i feel like the same things you guys were buyin in february have gone UP in price over the 10 months they've been out. lame.

Keybeeetsss
12-10-2009, 10:08 PM
the UD4 has 6 slots...

jmac146
12-10-2009, 10:11 PM
the UD4 has 6 slots...

really??

this is the only UD4 I could find on newegg, tigerdirect only has the UD3. and, this UD4 says socket 1156
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128400&cm_re=gigabyte_UD4-_-13-128-400-_-Product

you guys have a link to this UD4 I could check out? maybe i'm just a fool.

Keybeeetsss
12-10-2009, 10:36 PM
really??

this is the only UD4 I could find on newegg, tigerdirect only has the UD3. and, this UD4 says socket 1156
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128400&cm_re=gigabyte_UD4-_-13-128-400-_-Product

you guys have a link to this UD4 I could check out? maybe i'm just a fool.
Thatz an 8series board, not a 9series as we all have...

jmac146
12-10-2009, 10:50 PM
Thatz an 8series board, not a 9series as we all have...

link??? i cant find this board you're talking about anywhere

Keybeeetsss
12-10-2009, 10:59 PM
Newegg doesn't have the EX-58 Ud4p; (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128374)the UD5 is now the price that the Ud3's were/actually cheaper...

jmac146
12-10-2009, 11:10 PM
Newegg doesn't have the EX-58 Ud4p; (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128374)the UD5 is now the price that the Ud3's were/actually cheaper...

k... well if that's the case, i feel like i don't have much to worry about. ram might have been a little expensive, but seemed like the best one for the price.

I think I'll be cool stickin with what i got it seems. lookin forward to settin the beast up...

guitardom
12-11-2009, 07:00 AM
k... well if that's the case, i feel like i don't have much to worry about. ram might have been a little expensive, but seemed like the best one for the price.

I think I'll be cool stickin with what i got it seems. lookin forward to settin the beast up...

if you are cool with the ram, then you should be good to go. only a couple ud5's i know of going here. should not be an issue though. they are all the same chipset and such.

nikki-k
12-11-2009, 02:54 PM
jmac146: I have that board, absolutely love it. It is triple channel, whereas the UD3 is dual (saw another poster buying the UD3 & triple channel ram pack...oops..). I have same PSU. For RAM tho.. I went OCZ Plat 1600 for timings, heat spreader type, and price; well, price was a bonus. Gigabyte has a unique RAM slot positioning thing going on, and taller heat spreader RAM types (like Corsair) can be a physical obstacle when considering CPU heat sinks. I grabbed a CoGage heat sink w/ ThermalRight mounting kit (CoGage is ThermalRight, just slightly cheaper... but great!), and it did not interfere with having all 6 RAM slots filled with the OCZ Plat 1600 RAM. I LOVE my i7 build!!! For a little extra money, I have a system that should be good for 5+ years. Plus, I should be able to i9 CPU in a few years if I want.

For those building an i7 920 rig.. dual channel board is simply a waste; IMO, better off with a dual channel setup all around, as you save even more money. Grab an i5 (no HT) or 1156 type i7 (800 series, has HT), a dual channel P55 board, and save.

Dual chan vs triple chan? Simple! If you are doing projects/songs with lots of sample/RAM streaming, go with triple, and go with at least 2G sticks for 12G total. 4G sticks are too expensive unless you have use and demand + paycheck. Only running one or two VI's that do not have big sample demands? Dual all around should be just fine.

mykhal c
12-11-2009, 03:09 PM
the UD3R mobo is triple channel as long as the 4th dimm slot is not used. if one uses the 4th dimm then the channels go into a mode in-between dual and triple. thru-put is MORE than dual but LESS than triple;)

guitardom
12-11-2009, 04:02 PM
the UD3R mobo is triple channel as long as the 4th dimm slot is not used. if one uses the 4th dimm then the channels go into a mode in-between dual and triple. thru-put is MORE than dual but LESS than triple;)

and the ud3 will support 4gb sticks of ram as well so could still get 12gb of ram at triple channel w/o an issue.

mykhal c
12-11-2009, 04:19 PM
and the ud3 will support 4gb sticks of ram as well so could still get 12gb of ram at triple channel w/o an issue.

yep...what steve said!!:D

nikki-k
12-11-2009, 05:15 PM
Ahh.. my bad. But, currently, I can populate my UD5 with 12G and spend less overall than you could with your UD3.. so there! :p (plus the UD5 can currently host up to 24G)

mykhal c
12-11-2009, 05:44 PM
:D:D UD4 or UD5 would be my choice too!!;):p

jmac146
12-11-2009, 05:49 PM
jmac146: I have that board, absolutely love it. It is triple channel, whereas the UD3 is dual (saw another poster buying the UD3 & triple channel ram pack...oops..). I have same PSU. For RAM tho.. I went OCZ Plat 1600 for timings, heat spreader type, and price; well, price was a bonus. Gigabyte has a unique RAM slot positioning thing going on, and taller heat spreader RAM types (like Corsair) can be a physical obstacle when considering CPU heat sinks. I grabbed a CoGage heat sink w/ ThermalRight mounting kit (CoGage is ThermalRight, just slightly cheaper... but great!), and it did not interfere with having all 6 RAM slots filled with the OCZ Plat 1600 RAM. I LOVE my i7 build!!! For a little extra money, I have a system that should be good for 5+ years. Plus, I should be able to i9 CPU in a few years if I want.

For those building an i7 920 rig.. dual channel board is simply a waste; IMO, better off with a dual channel setup all around, as you save even more money. Grab an i5 (no HT) or 1156 type i7 (800 series, has HT), a dual channel P55 board, and save.

Dual chan vs triple chan? Simple! If you are doing projects/songs with lots of sample/RAM streaming, go with triple, and go with at least 2G sticks for 12G total. 4G sticks are too expensive unless you have use and demand + paycheck. Only running one or two VI's that do not have big sample demands? Dual all around should be just fine.

Damn nikki-k you're right, would have saved myself $25 bucks and gotten 7-7-7-24 timing
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227381&Tpk=OCZ%20Platinum%201600

oh well... thanks for your input though :cool: hopefully everything fits haha

mykhal c
12-11-2009, 06:03 PM
here is a good 'need-to-know' on the UD5. i think Key ran into this on his UD5. this is from SOS mag/DEC issue. i'll post it on page 1 also...


PC Snippets


Gigabyte UD5 Squeal: Various professional DAW builders and DIY PC builders alike have been suffering from an annoying problem with certain Gigabyte motherboards, in particular their GA EX58 UD5P model, so here’s the lowdown. When audio software is being run, you hear low-level but nevertheless unpleasant whining/squealing noises not dissimilar to those that result from digital ground-loop issues. Sometimes the noises can be heard acoustically from vibrating PSU components, but for most musicians the problem is audible as background noises in the output of their audio interface (particularly so with Firewire models). There’s even a YouTube video illustrating the problem... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUk7NJDT9vM

If you hear such noises from your Firewire audio interface, unplug other audio gear from it and listen to the headphone output in isolation. If the noises have gone, you’re suffering from a ground loop, and can resort to the usual cures, such as balanced cabling or a line-level DI box. If the noises remain, you might be another victim of the dreaded ‘UD5 squeal’. If so, the cure seems to be to disable the ‘C1E CPU Enhanced Halt state’ in the Advanced CPU Features section of the BIOS, which should also cure any PSU noises. This parameter is normally used to reduce power consumption but, due to an unfortunate design flaw, can produce a noisy side-effect with this motherboard model.

Published in SOS December 2009

this setting was noted by sunburst waaaayyyy back in the C2D/C2Q thread. hopefully most already know that a lot of the things/tunings/settings should be carried over from those builds to the i7s.;)

Keybeeetsss
12-11-2009, 09:10 PM
here is a good 'need-to-know' on the UD5. i think Key ran into this on his UD5. this is from SOS mag/DEC issue. i'll post it on page 1 also...


PC Snippets


Gigabyte UD5 Squeal:
yeahppp I did with the UD4... overclocking ceased it for me...

Rocky hi def
12-12-2009, 12:02 AM
i have a question

i have upgraded my bombfactory to my windows vista and pro tools le

now my auto tune 5 is saying that it can not operate because it is not in the plug-ins folder

wtf is goin of?????????????????????????????/

Keybeeetsss
12-12-2009, 12:09 AM
wtf is goin of?????????????????????????????/
Same thing we're wondering:eek:

nikki-k
12-12-2009, 01:05 AM
here is a good 'need-to-know' on the UD5. i think Key ran into this on his UD5. this is from SOS mag/DEC issue. i'll post it on page 1 also...


PC Snippets


Gigabyte UD5 Squeal:
If so, the cure seems to be to disable the ‘C1E CPU Enhanced Halt state’ in the Advanced CPU Features section of the BIOS, which should also cure any PSU noises. This parameter is normally used to reduce power consumption but, due to an unfortunate design flaw, can produce a noisy side-effect with this motherboard model.

Published in SOS December 2009

this setting was noted by sunburst waaaayyyy back in the C2D/C2Q thread. hopefully most already know that a lot of the things/tunings/settings should be carried over from those builds to the i7s.;)
Never had this. BUT! I always turn that crap off. It is bad, regardless of issues or whatnot. EIST, C1, C4/C5, etc.. whatever they are, cannot recall offhand. All DISABLED. They interfere with audio production systems.

As a side note: it is actually the BIOS tweaks for audio production that may be a source of low latency buggery with Apple units. Fanbois will disagree (of course), but I could care less what OS or hardware I have.. so long as it WORKS, and works PROPERLY and WELL!

guitardom
12-12-2009, 08:01 AM
Ahh.. my bad. But, currently, I can populate my UD5 with 12G and spend less overall than you could with your UD3.. so there! :p (plus the UD5 can currently host up to 24G)

but i spent less on the mb!!! so maybe total overall mine is cheaper!!:p:D


i feel ya. i built mine about a year ago and the price difference was pretty steep between the 3-5. plus as fast as ram prices plummet they will be down to 150$ for 12 gb here in no time. and i pray i never actually need 12gb of ram!!!!!:D the only ram intensive app i use is bfd 2, so i have plenty. i think you use quite a bit more vi's if i am not mistaken?

my other issue is now the d0 steppings are out so i would have to replace my mb and cpu to get a d0 stepping sytem so would have to replace it anyway. but really i just do not see a need for that either anytime soon.

nikki-k
12-12-2009, 04:38 PM
but i spent less on the mb!!! so maybe total overall mine is cheaper!!:p:D


i feel ya. i built mine about a year ago and the price difference was pretty steep between the 3-5. plus as fast as ram prices plummet they will be down to 150$ for 12 gb here in no time. and i pray i never actually need 12gb of ram!!!!!:D the only ram intensive app i use is bfd 2, so i have plenty. i think you use quite a bit more vi's if i am not mistaken?

my other issue is now the d0 steppings are out so i would have to replace my mb and cpu to get a d0 stepping sytem so would have to replace it anyway. but really i just do not see a need for that either anytime soon.
D0 stepping here. Waited for them actually. And yeah- price diff between the two boards when I was ready was less than $100. 12G RAM via 3 sticks vs 6 sticks at the time was about $600 or so I think. So, wanting (at least) 12G... ;)

Superior 2 (waiting for 64-bit version.. will use about 5G ram for my kit, fully loaded/bleeds+), Ivory, plus stuff like Mellotron, EP's, etc. I use anywhere from 5-9G for VI's, convo's, etc and then leave (less than) 1G for OS, and 1-3G for the DAWquencer. Once a song is written tho... 4G is plenty. When composing, the more RAM/less HD streaming the better IMO. I prefer to go with highest quality while composing, as it will help me to immerse myself into "the art." If the means are available, why not strive to have and utilize it?

danander11
12-12-2009, 06:21 PM
Steve, (and everyone else here of course), thanks for the tips. I'll post my results when I get it all together and working... I'll try for 3.5 and see how that goes. It looks to be a pretty warm summer here so I may have to back off a bit.

guitardom
12-12-2009, 07:03 PM
Steve, (and everyone else here of course), thanks for the tips. I'll post my results when I get it all together and working... I'll try for 3.5 and see how that goes. It looks to be a pretty warm summer here so I may have to back off a bit.

must be nice, it is in the single digits here and 2 feet of snow half hour north of me. ITS COLD!!!! but winter in the mountains;)

danander11
12-12-2009, 10:26 PM
must be nice, it is in the single digits here and 2 feet of snow half hour north of me. ITS COLD!!!! but winter in the mountains;)

LOL... I was born in Tucson and spent most of my adult life living in Texas.. I do like it warm. :D

jmac146
12-13-2009, 06:46 AM
D0 stepping here. Waited for them actually. And yeah- price diff between the two boards when I was ready was less than $100. 12G RAM via 3 sticks vs 6 sticks at the time was about $600 or so I think. So, wanting (at least) 12G... ;)


I didn't even know what DO stepping was till I googled it after reading your posts just now. whoops. So I'm assuming that if I got my i7 920 off of newegg it won't have D0 stepping? I don't really plan to overclock over 3 ghz if at all though, so it sounds like I should be fine from what I read on other articles.

jmac146
12-13-2009, 07:00 AM
here is a good 'need-to-know' on the UD5. i think Key ran into this on his UD5. this is from SOS mag/DEC issue. i'll post it on page 1 also...



I thought this PDF may be worthy to show you guys or maybe add to the links on the first page... a noob overclocking guide (perfect for me) up to 4 ghz with a GIGABYTE motherboard, written by GIGABYTE themselves. Most people can skip right to page 12 since the intro just talks about what all the crap is, but page 12 actually shows pics of the BIOS and exactly what to do to tweak it.

http://images.tweaktown.com/imagebank/Core%20i7%20920%20oc%204G%202008.12.12_%28ENG%29.p df

which came from this site
http://www.tweaktown.com/news/10827/gigabyte_shows_how_to_overclock_i7_920_cpu_to_4ghz/index.html

funny how all my friends think im awesome with computers, then i come to this site and get put to shame haha :cool:

Rocky hi def
12-13-2009, 11:00 AM
i cant find my auto tune 5 in my audiosuite on my pro tools le after i installed it????

Can someone help

Keybeeetsss
12-13-2009, 12:09 PM
i cant find my auto tune 5 in my audiosuite on my pro tools le after i installed it????

Can someone help

Hey man this is ur 2nd post on the DUC, both here about the same thing... this is a "Help for building computers" thread, more specifically the i7... Tamara does not reside here so try searching for the issue or start a thread butt AFTER SEARCHING 1ST please or u still may find it hard to get an answer...

nikki-k
12-13-2009, 02:37 PM
I didn't even know what DO stepping was till I googled it after reading your posts just now. whoops. So I'm assuming that if I got my i7 920 off of newegg it won't have D0 stepping? I don't really plan to overclock over 3 ghz if at all though, so it sounds like I should be fine from what I read on other articles.
Check numbers on the box (well, letters: SLBEJ; SLBCH is C0.. IIRC). NewEgg should be all D0 i7 920, likely has been since July or Aug IIRC. Run CPU-Z, Core Temp, etc... it will show stepping, no matter what stamp on chip says ;)

jmac146
12-13-2009, 04:37 PM
Check numbers on the box (well, letters: SLBEJ; SLBCH is C0.. IIRC). NewEgg should be all D0 i7 920, likely has been since July or Aug IIRC. Run CPU-Z, Core Temp, etc... it will show stepping, no matter what stamp on chip says ;)

I'll find out on Tuesday! :D:D:D man i hope it works.

did anyone check out that PDF i posted to see if it was legit or not? seemed to make sense to me, but it was a year ago and with a Gigabyte extreme motherboard

jonnn
12-14-2009, 12:35 AM
According to my sandra report (http://duc.digidesign.com/showpost.php?p=1421484&postcount=1312) I'm running 16 on my os drive and 32 on my audio drive. And since I upgraded my BIOS, I haven't had any problems. (16 and 32mb cache's)

Forgive me if this has been touched upon, I haven't been on here for a while and didn't see anything in the search.

I wrote the above quote in July and it's been nothing but smooth sailing on my i7, until recently. I worked on a video for the first time on my i7 and only the 3rd or 4th time overall. I was recording some original music over a 5 minute video. I only had a couple eq plugs running while tracking, but after a few tracks had been laid down I started getting buffer errors. "Weird," I thought. I'd been running at 64 buffer just cause I could with regular audio only sessions, so I bumped it up thinking it just needed more for video. Then I had to do it again, and again. But when I'd hide the video window all was well again. But I needed the video for visual cues. I was able to get through the session but had to disable some tracks at times while tracking. It was fine while editing/mixing though, I just had to use the higher buffer settings.

That's no way to work on an i7:D! Do you guys think this was a HD issue re: my above quote or is it something else?

Thanks!

jmac146
12-14-2009, 08:03 AM
jonnn your post reminded me of something...

How do you create a sandra report??

mano111
12-14-2009, 08:21 AM
(16 and 32mb cache's)

Forgive me if this has been touched upon, I haven't been on here for a while and didn't see anything in the search.

I wrote the above quote in July and it's been nothing but smooth sailing on my i7, until recently. I worked on a video for the first time on my i7 and only the 3rd or 4th time overall. I was recording some original music over a 5 minute video. I only had a couple eq plugs running while tracking, but after a few tracks had been laid down I started getting buffer errors. "Weird," I thought. I'd been running at 64 buffer just cause I could with regular audio only sessions, so I bumped it up thinking it just needed more for video. Then I had to do it again, and again. But when I'd hide the video window all was well again. But I needed the video for visual cues. I was able to get through the session but had to disable some tracks at times while tracking. It was fine while editing/mixing though, I just had to use the higher buffer settings.

That's no way to work on an i7:D! Do you guys think this was a HD issue re: my above quote or is it something else?

Thanks!

I've seen this on many PT rigs including on an i7 975 extreme. There seems to be some issues with running 64 buffer and video at the same time on loaded session.
It happened on both nVidia and ATI so I think its not driver related. I'm guessing it has to do with quicktime software, but who knows.

One way to override this issue is to check the 'Ignore RTAS errors during record playback' checkbox in the playback engine dialog. This will help with MIDI recording but might be a bad idea when recording audio.

mykhal c
12-14-2009, 09:03 AM
(16 and 32mb cache's)

Forgive me if this has been touched upon, I haven't been on here for a while and didn't see anything in the search.

I wrote the above quote in July and it's been nothing but smooth sailing on my i7, until recently. I worked on a video for the first time on my i7 and only the 3rd or 4th time overall. I was recording some original music over a 5 minute video. I only had a couple eq plugs running while tracking, but after a few tracks had been laid down I started getting buffer errors. "Weird," I thought. I'd been running at 64 buffer just cause I could with regular audio only sessions, so I bumped it up thinking it just needed more for video. Then I had to do it again, and again. But when I'd hide the video window all was well again. But I needed the video for visual cues. I was able to get through the session but had to disable some tracks at times while tracking. It was fine while editing/mixing though, I just had to use the higher buffer settings.

That's no way to work on an i7:D! Do you guys think this was a HD issue re: my above quote or is it something else?

Thanks!

I've seen this on many PT rigs including on an i7 975 extreme. There seems to be some issues with running 64 buffer and video at the same time on loaded session.
It happened on both nVidia and ATI so I think its not driver related. I'm guessing it has to do with quicktime software, but who knows.

One way to override this issue is to check the 'Ignore RTAS errors during record playback' checkbox in the playback engine dialog. This will help with MIDI recording but might be a bad idea when recording audio.

i could see this especially if one is streamin' the audio and video from the same disk. HDDs will still be your bottle-neck even on the i7s. i would move the video to a different drive and test;)

jonnn
12-14-2009, 12:00 PM
Thanks for the replies mano111 and mykhal c (double thanks to mykhal for this entire thread, my computer problems are nothing now compared to the past!)

I'm always afraid to check the "ignore errors" box. Especially since I rarely use midi. But I will keep this in mind if I can't figure out something else.

Now I can't remember right now where the video was. It was on the system drive initially, but when I imported it into Pro Tools I don't know if it makes a copy in the session folder or if it links to the original file (like I said, I don't do video all that often). I'll check it later tonight and test having the video on a different drive. I've got 3 firewire drives I can test as well as the two internals.

I'll post what I find. But I still kinda worry that the 16mb cache OS drive might cause some problems.

Thanks again!

guitardom
12-14-2009, 01:58 PM
Thanks for the replies mano111 and mykhal c (double thanks to mykhal for this entire thread, my computer problems are nothing now compared to the past!)

I'm always afraid to check the "ignore errors" box. Especially since I rarely use midi. But I will keep this in mind if I can't figure out something else.

Now I can't remember right now where the video was. It was on the system drive initially, but when I imported it into Pro Tools I don't know if it makes a copy in the session folder or if it links to the original file (like I said, I don't do video all that often). I'll check it later tonight and test having the video on a different drive. I've got 3 firewire drives I can test as well as the two internals.

I'll post what I find. But I still kinda worry that the 16mb cache OS drive might cause some problems.

Thanks again!

heavy sample hd streaming sample banks like bfd and ivory the 32mb cache improves performance quite a bit and are supposed to be on their own drive seperate from the os and pro tools. would assume video would be in the same boat.

jcolagross
12-14-2009, 02:29 PM
Where do I find the most current recommended i7 build for ProTools LE?

mykhal c
12-14-2009, 02:38 PM
Where do I find the most current recommended i7 build for ProTools LE?

page 1 or go thru the last 30 pages or so of this thread. some later builds are not posted simply because most of the major components are the same...ie proc and mobo choices.

danander11
12-14-2009, 02:59 PM
heavy sample hd streaming sample banks like bfd and ivory the 32mb cache improves performance quite a bit and are supposed to be on their own drive seperate from the os and pro tools. would assume video would be in the same boat.


I actually did this with Trilian. Not bcause I thought it would work better, but because I knew that occasionally I like to go back to a clean install of everything and doing this would save me 3-4 hours of load time for the sample libraries..

Sometimes being lazy makes me look smart.. :D

guitardom
12-14-2009, 03:45 PM
I actually did this with Trilian. Not bcause I thought it would work better, but because I knew that occasionally I like to go back to a clean install of everything and doing this would save me 3-4 hours of load time for the sample libraries..

Sometimes being lazy makes me look smart.. :D

trillian seems like it is an amazing v.i.!!!!!

yea i would go insane if i had to deal with my v.i. librarys like that!! i do keep them backed up with another cloned drive just in case though.

mblanton66
12-14-2009, 06:02 PM
Thought I'd post my experience with my recent build.
Hardware: Intel DX58SO Smackover, i7 920 D0 stepping, Lian-Li PC-K7 case, Corsair TX-650PSU, Corsair XMS TR3X6G1600C7 memory (3 sticks, 6 gigs), and reusing all my old sata hard drives. Installed a pair of Lite-On iHas122 dvd drives, and an ATI Radeon 3450 256meg video card.
Onboard network and sound are disabled.
OS is XP Pro SP3 with no other updates. Only software besides PT8.01 is Acronis Home 11, of which another copy was included with the motherboard (as is typical with Intel), Nero, and a couple of utilities like coretemp and Prime95, along with Intel's Desktop Manager. I have the MPTK2 option. My interface is the 003 rack+. I also have an ISA428 connected via adat.

This all went together without incident. I wish I had sprung the extra money for a modular power supply but I figured the $90 I was spending was enough. It has a lot of long cable sets. One convenient thing about this ps is that all the 12v leads are off a single rail, so that doesn't have to be dealt with during build. But that's my only do-over wish.
The case integrates nicely with this board. It has a very convenient hinged usb and firewire port on the top (the cover is aluminum to match the case, not plastic). The case has three nice 120mm fans and I have an Arctic cooler Freezer 7 on the cpu.
Out of the box at stock speeds it all booted up without a hitch. This is my first experience with major overclocking and there was a lot of trial and error. I ended up at 3.3Ghz on the cpu. I'll just list the settings:

CPU clock at 150Mhz with voltage at 1.2
Memory is the XMP setting but I changed the multiplier from 12 to 10 and Command Rate from 2 to 1, so it's running 1500Mhz, 7-7-7-20, Uncore mult of 24, and command rate of 1 at 1.66 volts.
IOH voltage is 1.1 and QPI voltage is 1.35.

I can run Prime95 all night at this setting so I quit pushing it further. Protools seems to run fine there as well--my old Dell Precision 670 (dual hyperthreaded 3Ghz Xeons) was at about 80-90% utilization with my typical session. In addition, loading the big plugins (Oxford reverb, Drumagog, Autotune Evo) took a while, sometimes 15 seconds if the session was getting full of plugins. And changing samples in Drumagog would take like 8 seconds for the list to refresh. This new machine runs these same sessions at 18-26% utilization, and there has yet to be any wait time for any plugin to load or change.
Over the weekend I ran the Dverb test (using the PT8 version of Dverb at 1024 buffers). I started with the one tone track, and then 63 audio tracks with 5 Dverbs each (315). I quickly got the "reduce rtas plugins" error at around 320. If I start increasing the clock, I found I get about two more Dverbs per tick, say going from 150 to 151 (the Intel Desktop Manager lets you do this on the fly). I quit at 346 Dverbs (at 160Mhz/3.52Ghz). Yes, it would play the whole 5 minutes with no error or audible glitch. If I had time to kill, I would see just how far I could go--but I certainly satisfied my curiosity with these tests. This is a great Protools rig.

A buddy of mine works for Intel and got me a sweet deal on an 80gig SSD, which at some point will be the boot drive. I've already moved the swapfile and all temp variables to a third internal drive, my goal is to have the SSD be rather static and minimize writes to it. I'll keep you all posted as that unfolds.

Like others have said, thanks to all who have spent so much time being the guinea pigs with their own hardware and money to make it SO much easier for people like me.

jcolagross
12-15-2009, 06:25 PM
Okay, before I place the order, how does this look?
Acousticase Soundmaster Case
Thermalright 1366RT 1000rpm Fan Cooler
120mm Acoustifans (x2)
Seasonic Modular Quiet PC 650W Gold Power Supply
Intel i7 920 Bloomfield 2.66 1366
Gigabyte GAEX58 UD5 Mainboard
1 - 500 GB 32mb SATA WD Caviar Black
1 - 750 GB 32mb SATA WD Caviar Black
1 - 750 GB 32mb SATA WD Caviar Black
8GB Corsair Dominator XMS DDR3 1600
24x Plextor DVDRW/CDRW w/ Lightscribe
Sparkle Nvidia 9600GT 512mb Video Card
XP Pro SP3
Professionally built- $1350 tax and shipping included.

mblanton66
12-16-2009, 03:52 AM
Make sure you're getting triple channel memory. Usually that means 3, 6, or 12 gig, but I've never heard of 8 gigs of triple channel.

jcolagross
12-16-2009, 05:28 AM
Yeah, thanks. I meant 6. Everything else looks good? I'm considering doing ASUS instead, on recommendation of another forum member.

danander11
12-16-2009, 06:16 AM
I actually did this with Trilian. Not bcause I thought it would work better, but because I knew that occasionally I like to go back to a clean install of everything and doing this would save me 3-4 hours of load time for the sample libraries..

Sometimes being lazy makes me look smart.. :D


And sometimes it makes me look... well, lazy. I put my i7 system together today... all new install of everything as well. When I tried to have Trilian use the samples library already installed to a samples drive, I got 7041 errors. I installed the entire first DVD (45 minutes) only to get missing instrument errors when it instantiated. So now I'm bored to death in the middle of another 3.5+ hour install.... There has to be a better way.

On the bright side.. I have a lean-mean i7 setup now. :D

Keybeeetsss
12-16-2009, 06:43 AM
And sometimes it makes me look... well, lazy. I put my i7 system together today... all new install of everything as well. When I tried to have Trilian use the samples library already installed to a samples drive, I got 7041 errors. I installed the entire first DVD (45 minutes) only to get missing instrument errors when it instantiated. So now I'm bored to death in the middle of another 3.5+ hour install.... There has to be a better way.

On the bright side.. I have a lean-mean i7 setup now. :D
Kool Danny; but yeah u definitely shouldn't have had to go thru that again; that error in most cases means a location prob but u should have been able to just create a shortcut to it; but oh well, ur bored anyway;)

danander11
12-16-2009, 07:27 AM
Kool Danny; but yeah u definitely shouldn't have had to go thru that again; that error in most cases means a location prob but u should have been able to just create a shortcut to it; but oh well, ur bored anyway;)


It's cool. It's been the day for it. I was sitting here doing some reading whilst listening to a new song I'm working on, started smelling burning electrical something-or-other and my rig just shut straight off.. :eek:

After about 30 minutes of looking and digging I tracked the issue to a bad fan on the graphics card that stopped and allowed the GPU to overheat.. (to a point of no return I might add). So it was off to the computer store for a video card and a VERY large cooler for the CPU. Then home to perform the upgrade I was holding off on.

Aside from re-installing everything, it's been a pretty painless upgrade. I'll finish my tweaks and profiles in the morning, create some images, test a bit, then push it up to 3.5 or so for grins.. :D

I'm lovin it!

Keybeeetsss
12-16-2009, 07:56 AM
Aside from re-installing everything, it's been a pretty painless upgrade. I'll finish my tweaks and profiles in the morning, create some images, test a bit, then push it up to 3.5 or so for grins.. :D

I'm lovin it!
Nicse... myself & a couple others have it locked in @ 3.4;)

jcolagross
12-16-2009, 09:17 AM
Should I go with ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 LGA 1366 X58 or ASUS P6X58D Premium 1366? I use DIGI002R with a Command 8 and PT version 8

nikki-k
12-16-2009, 04:16 PM
instead of the Giga UD5? Why?
IMO, ASUS screwed up with their new boards... less copper, non-Japanese caps (Korean i believe?). I chose the more expensive UD5 for a reason, and would do the same today. Plus, TI firewire (tho the ASUS boards seem to be fine for many). Just my 3 cents...

danander11
12-16-2009, 05:32 PM
Kool Danny; but yeah u definitely shouldn't have had to go thru that again; that error in most cases means a location prob but u should have been able to just create a shortcut to it; but oh well, ur bored anyway;)

Akkkk............. even after all that I still had problems.. then whilst I was looking for something else, I noticed that the shortcut to my Steam directory had the wrong target in it, fixed it and now it works a treat again! :D

Strike is installing then I should be, (I think), done. I'll make images and take a nap. ( I didn't realize how much stuff I've accumulated over the last year).

I need to try a few things though because I opened a relatively simple project last night and checked usage, the RTAS processor was at about 45% :eek: I still have to tweak the settings and such but that seemed awful high.. I never got over 35% or so with my Q6600.

danander11
12-16-2009, 05:36 PM
instead of the Giga UD5? Why?
IMO, ASUS screwed up with their new boards... less copper, non-Japanese caps (Korean i believe?). I chose the more expensive UD5 for a reason, and would do the same today. Plus, TI firewire (tho the ASUS boards seem to be fine for many). Just my 3 cents...


I went with the UD3R and am please so far... I was curious about the onboard firewire. It is a TI chipped mainboard and I wondered if anyone is using the onboard chip as opposed to a card..... anyone?

Keybeeetsss
12-16-2009, 05:39 PM
I went with the UD3R and am please so far... I was curious about the onboard firewire. It is a TI chipped mainboard and I wondered if anyone is using the onboard chip as opposed to a card..... anyone?
Onboard is fine; most to all of us(on the 1st page use it)

Keybeeetsss
12-16-2009, 05:42 PM
I need to try a few things though because I opened a relatively simple project last night and checked usage, the RTAS processor was at about 45% :eek: I still have to tweak the settings and such but that seemed awful high.. I never got over 35% or so with my Q6600.
Yeah something is up; thatz not what u should see unless u have a massive session; trash ur databases & too, do u have a Sata CD/DVD drive? that can do it sometimes but again after deleting the databases u should be ok...

guitardom
12-16-2009, 06:58 PM
I went with the UD3R and am please so far... I was curious about the onboard firewire. It is a TI chipped mainboard and I wondered if anyone is using the onboard chip as opposed to a card..... anyone?

the onboard is fine with the ud3. i use it and a card. i have a fireface 800 and the 002.

here is a link to my app called trasher (http://drop.io/TRASHERappSKUNKWORKS#thumbnail/sort_by_name/order_by_asc/201) you need the 32bit version and go through the readme first. will take care of all your databases, prefs, appdata, and some extras.

danander11
12-16-2009, 07:56 PM
Thanks Key and Steve. I had the Digi utility and used that and dropped back to about 20%.

I've pulled yours down Steve and will give that a go...

I've bumped up to 3GHz so far on stock voltages and it's been running a treat! :D another few hours and I'll move up to 3.2 or so then start trying to stress it a bit and see how it holds up. 3.4 to 3.5 would be beautiful!

I see guys taking the D0's all the way to 4... :eek:

The i9's will be interesting..

Keybeeetsss
12-16-2009, 08:09 PM
TI'll move up to 3.2 or so then start trying to stress it a bit and see how it holds up. 3.4 to 3.5 would be beautiful!

I see guys taking the D0's all the way to 4... :eek:

The i9's will be interesting..
Well like I said, I kno Steve & I are locked @ 3.4... that(as Steve calls it) seems to be the sweetspot or I'll say A sweetspot to not take anything from those running constantly above that;)

danander11
12-18-2009, 08:27 AM
Well like I said, I kno Steve & I are locked @ 3.4... that(as Steve calls it) seems to be the sweetspot or I'll say A sweetspot to not take anything from those running constantly above that;)


I held off pushing farther because I hit a 6088 snag.. a lot of them in fact. :eek:


After losing quite a bit of sleep and preparing for the worst.. (installing all of that stuff again)... I sat and watched the latency checker.. spiking like the dickens... went to device manager and started shutting things down..

It ended up being a faulty IDE CD burner.. bought a new combo burner and did away with both IDE optical drives. Now it's rock solid and just nice to look at as well :D

Everything is at 64 samples now and brilliant!

Thanks again Everyone here for posting their systems..

Mine: i7 920 (D0 stepped), Gigabyte UD3R Rev 1.6 mainboard, 6GB OCZ Platinum, WD Black Caviar HD's, 500GB, 1TB.. (and a green 650gb for storage), Antech Truepower 650W PSU, 512mb 9500GT... O/C 3GHz on stock voltage.. temps do not exceed 50C! (I am very pleased with this system).

Keybeeetsss
12-18-2009, 08:29 AM
Good on ya Danny;)

guitardom
12-18-2009, 09:43 AM
I held off pushing farther because I hit a 6088 snag.. a lot of them in fact. :eek:


After losing quite a bit of sleep and preparing for the worst.. (installing all of that stuff again)... I sat and watched the latency checker.. spiking like the dickens... went to device manager and started shutting things down..

It ended up being a faulty IDE CD burner.. bought a new combo burner and did away with both IDE optical drives. Now it's rock solid and just nice to look at as well :D

Everything is at 64 samples now and brilliant!

Thanks again Everyone here for posting their systems..

Mine: i7 920 (D0 stepped), Gigabyte UD3R Rev 1.6 mainboard, 6GB OCZ Platinum, WD Black Caviar HD's, 500GB, 1TB.. (and a green 650gb for storage), Antech Truepower 650W PSU, 512mb 9500GT... O/C 3GHz on stock voltage.. temps do not exceed 50C! (I am very pleased with this system).

cool glad you got it going. let me know if you got any more questions. sounds like you are in good shape though.

mhuang
12-18-2009, 06:56 PM
hey, all,

I am looking into building a new i7/i9 PT rig next year, has anyone had any experience with gigabyte's UD motherboard series that has USB 3.0 and SATA III?

jmac146
12-20-2009, 09:08 PM
Alright - got my rig build, PT installed, and is workin great, for the most part...

PT opens and runs all my huge sessions with no problem and I've never seen my CPU usage above about 30%... however, I'm getting buffer errors (at ANY buffer 64 thru 2048 samples) when I try to scroll or zoom around during playback. If i just sit back and chill and watch it play it goes thru without any problems.

I haven't touched a thing in the BIOS yet... Is this a similar error that others may have been havin? my old rig never did this in sessions even though it would lag like the dickins when trying to zoom and scroll. I know its got the power to be pullin it off.

Any thoughts? THanks guys -

nikki-k
12-20-2009, 09:19 PM
Alright - got my rig build, PT installed, and is workin great, for the most part...

PT opens and runs all my huge sessions with no problem and I've never seen my CPU usage above about 30%... however, I'm getting buffer errors (at ANY buffer 64 thru 2048 samples) when I try to scroll or zoom around during playback. If i just sit back and chill and watch it play it goes thru without any problems.

I haven't touched a thing in the BIOS yet... Is this a similar error that others may have been havin? my old rig never did this in sessions even though it would lag like the dickins when trying to zoom and scroll. I know its got the power to be pullin it off.

Any thoughts? THanks guys -
Final build choices?

Also, IMO, in BIOS.. disable EIST and C1/Cx type halt states and all. Evil, evil, evil. This is where, once again IMO (and others'), Mac comes up Epic Fail in scaling wars; inability to do BIOS tweaks that are vital for audio production due to EFI vs BIOS.

With PT, RTAS will spike, and spikes = errors. Typically, one will need to scale their cores. IOW.. if you have a *simple* single CPU/4 core system, allow one core to handle the spikes.. set usage in PT to 3 cores. For a 2 cpu/8core monster, it might start with 7 cores PT/1 core OS, but as the session grows, and/or VI usage grows, one might need to go 6 cores PT/2cores OS, or more. Unless I missed something major changing in PT Land ;)

mykhal c
12-20-2009, 09:27 PM
Alright - got my rig build, PT installed, and is workin great, for the most part...

PT opens and runs all my huge sessions with no problem and I've never seen my CPU usage above about 30%... however, I'm getting buffer errors (at ANY buffer 64 thru 2048 samples) when I try to scroll or zoom around during playback. If i just sit back and chill and watch it play it goes thru without any problems.

I haven't touched a thing in the BIOS yet... Is this a similar error that others may have been havin? my old rig never did this in sessions even though it would lag like the dickins when trying to zoom and scroll. I know its got the power to be pullin it off.

Any thoughts? THanks guys -

see page 1 my friend. ram freq/timings are your problem...99.9% sure. especially since you said you have not touched the BIOS yet.;)

Final build choices?

Also, IMO, in BIOS.. disable EIST and C1/Cx type halt states and all. Evil, evil, evil. This is where, once again IMO (and others'), Mac comes up Epic Fail in scaling wars; inability to do BIOS tweaks that are vital for audio production due to EFI vs BIOS.

With PT, RTAS will spike, and spikes = errors. Typically, one will need to scale their cores. IOW.. if you have a *simple* single CPU/4 core system, allow one core to handle the spikes.. set usage in PT to 3 cores. For a 2 cpu/8core monster, it might start with 7 cores PT/1 core OS, but as the session grows, and/or VI usage grows, one might need to go 6 cores PT/2cores OS, or more. Unless I missed something major changing in PT Land ;)

most cats are runnin' with HT on with the i7. so 'most' are settin' the cores to 7 RTAS, 1 OS.

jmac146
12-20-2009, 09:34 PM
Thanks for the quick responses guys, I'll give some of those things a try. Clicking the "ignore errors during playback" box fixed it for now...

philip888
12-20-2009, 10:27 PM
Final build choices?

Also, IMO, in BIOS.. disable EIST and C1/Cx type halt states and all. Evil, evil, evil. This is where, once again IMO (and others'), Mac comes up Epic Fail in scaling wars; inability to do BIOS tweaks that are vital for audio production due to EFI vs BIOS.

With PT, RTAS will spike, and spikes = errors. Typically, one will need to scale their cores. IOW.. if you have a *simple* single CPU/4 core system, allow one core to handle the spikes.. set usage in PT to 3 cores. For a 2 cpu/8core monster, it might start with 7 cores PT/1 core OS, but as the session grows, and/or VI usage grows, one might need to go 6 cores PT/2cores OS, or more. Unless I missed something major changing in PT Land ;)

Hey guys.

I wanted to ask you about some BIOS settings and what you have for these instances.

1. Bi-Directional PROCHOT= Enabled or Disabled
2.Visualization Technology=Enabled or Disabled
3.Isochronous Support= Enabled or disabled
4.C. I. A. 2 = Enabled or Disabled
5.Performance Enhance "Standard" or "Turbo" or "Extreme"

Thanks

Philip

jmac146
12-21-2009, 10:07 AM
I wouldn't mind knowin that either.

K I'm definitely finding out how noobish I am at overclocking... been readin tons of articles and stuff. I'm still getting some H/W buffer size (-9092) errors when scrolling/zooming/moving windows around, otherwise runs fine.

So far, the only real thing I did was change my RAM to the PROFILE1 setting, which changed it to 1600mhz, 8-8-8-24 timing instead of being at 1066 and 8-8-8-20. Looking at CPU-Z, it increased my memory as follows:

NB Freq - from 2159 to 3198 MHz
DRAM Freq - from 539.7 to 799.4 MHZ
FSB: DRAM - from 2:8 to 2:12

I don't know what any of those numbers mean towards my cpu speed :( and after doing that, still getting the same buffer errors when moving windows around. HOWEVER, it actually runs way better when i have it at a 64 samples over like 128 or 256... so not sure what that means. I felt like I read someone else having that same thing earlier in this thread.

I also disabled the C1E, C3/C6/C7 stuff too, along with turbo mode.

Any thoughts? I'd post one of those things that tells you guys my sandra report or whatever... but I dont know how to do that :rolleyes:

This is the mem i'm usin:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145236
on a Gigabyte UD5 motherboard.

danander11
12-21-2009, 03:06 PM
Philip...

I have a i7 920 o/c'ed to 3GHz. I am at stock voltage and have only changed the BLCK frequency to 150. I have not changed the multiplier nor the RAM speed. (RAM is OCZ Platinum 1366).

1. Disabled
2. (Did you mean virtualization?) Disabled
3. Enabled
4. Disabled
5. Standard

Hope this helps in some way.

philip888
12-21-2009, 04:13 PM
Philip...

I have a i7 920 o/c'ed to 3GHz. I am at stock voltage and have only changed the BLCK frequency to 150. I have not changed the multiplier nor the RAM speed. (RAM is OCZ Platinum 1366).

1. Disabled
2. (Did you mean virtualization?) Disabled
3. Enabled
4. Disabled
5. Standard

Hope this helps in some way.

Thanks "virtualization" yes.

Royale
12-21-2009, 04:32 PM
I am planning on building a mobile recording HD1 PCIe rig. This will be my first DAW build so I thought I'd throw up what I'm planning on putting together and asking for some advice to see if I'm doing something "wrong".

MOBO: ASUS P6X58D Premium LGA 1366 Intel X58

CPU: Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz Quad-Core Processor

RAM: OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600

HD Sys:Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb

HD AUDIO:Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb

VIDEO:ASUS EN9600GT SILENT/2D/512MD3 GeForce 9600 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16

CASE:Antec Take 3 + 650 3U Rackmount Server Case w/ 650W Power Supply

OS: I haven't decided yet. I do have a few copies of XP in the closet though...

Thanks, any info/advice is greatly appreciated.:-)

maunaloa
12-21-2009, 05:09 PM
I would seriously consider an SSD for your boot/PT drive.

Third Eye Studios
12-21-2009, 07:55 PM
I am planning on building a mobile recording HD1 PCIe rig. This will be my first DAW build so I thought I'd throw up what I'm planning on putting together and asking for some advice to see if I'm doing something "wrong".

MOBO: ASUS P6X58D Premium LGA 1366 Intel X58

CPU: Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz Quad-Core Processor

RAM: OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600

HD Sys:Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb

HD AUDIO:Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb

VIDEO:ASUS EN9600GT SILENT/2D/512MD3 GeForce 9600 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16

CASE:Antec Take 3 + 650 3U Rackmount Server Case w/ 650W Power Supply

OS: I haven't decided yet. I do have a few copies of XP in the closet though...

Thanks, any info/advice is greatly appreciated.:-)If you ever want to expand your HD rig, you will not be able to with this MB. You'll want PCIe slots that are right next to each other.

cwsand
12-21-2009, 09:59 PM
most cats are runnin' with HT on with the i7. so 'most' are settin' the cores to 7 RTAS, 1 OS.

So do you just set RTAS to use 7 cores in LE which automatically leaves 1 for everything else, or is there something in Windows you have to change as well?? What's the advantage to running LE this way? I've always set LE to use 8 with no real problems but I'm always interested in alternatives. :o

jmac146
12-21-2009, 10:03 PM
whoooo first overclock! got it running at 3.36 ghz w/ multiplier of 21x at 160 MHZ bus speed... core voltage of 1.312 V

Does that seem decent? maybe too high of a core voltage? I'm pretty new to this... currently running Prime 95, no errors yet... showing temps around 81 C, not sure if that is too high or not. What do you guys think?

Keybeeetsss
12-21-2009, 10:05 PM
showing temps around 81 C, not sure if that is too high or not. What do you guys think?
:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek: :eek::eek::eek::eek:

jmac146
12-21-2009, 10:10 PM
:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek: :eek::eek::eek::eek:

let me guess... thats not good?

I'm not using the stock cooler... using this guy:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103057

Normal temps using Real Temp 3.4 are around 40-50 C... i dont know if I installed it wrong?

I have the side panel off right now and the air doesnt even feel hot though either.

Keybeeetsss
12-21-2009, 10:16 PM
let me guess... thats not good?

I'm not using the stock cooler... using this guy:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103057

Normal temps using Real Temp 3.4 are around 40-50 C... i dont know if I installed it wrong?

I have the side panel off right now and the air doesnt even feel hot though either.
Yeah but if it keeps goin its gonna shut off; yeah u definitely didn't install it correctly or put enough heat gel/grease on'eim... thatz reallly high especially being that ur not using the stock fan...

jmac146
12-21-2009, 10:22 PM
Yeah but if it keeps goin its gonna shut off; yeah u definitely didn't install it correctly or put enough heat gel/grease on'eim... thatz reallly high especially being that ur not using the stock fan...

thanks for the heads up... what does yours run at when idle? I'm in my BIOS right now... shows a system temp of 37 C and CPU temp of 39 C. That doesnt seem bad...

Keybeeetsss
12-21-2009, 10:25 PM
Thatz about where my rig sits...

jmac146
12-21-2009, 10:27 PM
yeah i wonder if something is just wack with the temp program i downloaded... it doesn't feel hot at all in there. Ill keep an eye out on it though

Keybeeetsss
12-21-2009, 10:29 PM
yeah i wonder if something is just wack with the temp program i downloaded... it doesn't feel hot at all in there. Ill keep an eye out on it though
just look @ur LED's on the MOBO...that tells all.. read up on'eim if ur not sure what they mean...

jmac146
12-21-2009, 10:49 PM
Good point... I did read that when putting it together, thanks for reminding me :cool:

So, now overclocked to 3.4 ghz, and set my RAM to the correct setting of 8-8-8-24 and 1600mhz in bios...

STILL having Buffer Size errors (-9094) when i scroll/zoom/etc. in sessions unless I'm at 2048 samples. I'm at about 25% CPU (RTAS) usage in the session I'm currently having this problem with. Is this normal... or is anyone else having this issue?

cwsand
12-21-2009, 11:02 PM
STILL having Buffer Size errors (-9094) when i scroll/zoom/etc. in sessions unless I'm at 2048 samples. I'm at about 25% CPU (RTAS) usage in the session I'm currently having this problem with. Is this normal... or is anyone else having this issue?

Not normal! Or maybe so if your sessions are really huge. What kind of video card are you using? Sounds like a possible driver issue to me, especially if it only happens when you scroll/zoom.

jmac146
12-21-2009, 11:05 PM
Not normal! Or maybe so if your sessions are really huge. What kind of video card are you using? Sounds like a possible driver issue to me, especially if it only happens when you scroll/zoom.

I'm usin an ATI Radeon HD 5700 series vid card... should be the latest drivers. think theres something I need to configure with that?

This one, to be precise...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102865

cwsand
12-21-2009, 11:27 PM
I'm usin an ATI Radeon HD 5700 series vid card... should be the latest drivers. think theres something I need to configure with that?

This one, to be precise...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102865

There could be some settings that might be changed - I don't know other than the normal LE optimizations in Windows. I see it has 1GB memory - that may be an issue just because I've read that the smaller the onboard memory on your video card the better for LE. Have you checked ATI's website to make sure you have the latest drivers?

mykhal c
12-21-2009, 11:31 PM
So do you just set RTAS to use 7 cores in LE which automatically leaves 1 for everything else, or is there something in Windows you have to change as well?? What's the advantage to running LE this way? I've always set LE to use 8 with no real problems but I'm always interested in alternatives. :o

yes that's correct...settin' it to 7 leaves 1 core for OS. i 'think' the thinkin' is that you are assured that there are enough horses for the OS too with that settin'. and with the i7's thru-put 7 logical cores is probably plenty. settin' it to 8 should not present any problem IMHO either...as you have found out for yourself. when steve and i started this thread i told him i was of the mind set that one could get more horses by NOT usin' HT. my thinkin' is that there is overhead that the BIOS and OS have to maintain to manage the logical threads/cores which might impede top performance. i know the i7 can be OC'ed higher with HT off. but i won't know this for sure about my guess-ta-mations until i build my own i7 or i9 in the 1st qtr of next year.:o

mykhal c
12-21-2009, 11:40 PM
yeah i wonder if something is just wack with the temp program i downloaded... it doesn't feel hot at all in there. Ill keep an eye out on it though

grab CoreTemp for monitorin' your rig. make sure you grab the one that is for the i7 too and 32 or 64bit dependin' on your OS.

also look at your playback settings...DISK and CACHE. if you have all SATA drives then change your disk settin' to LEVEL 1 and CACHE to LARGE.

jmac146
12-22-2009, 06:17 AM
There could be some settings that might be changed - I don't know other than the normal LE optimizations in Windows. I see it has 1GB memory - that may be an issue just because I've read that the smaller the onboard memory on your video card the better for LE. Have you checked ATI's website to make sure you have the latest drivers?

the smaller your onboard memory the better protools will run huh.... you just can't win with this program can you :confused::confused:

I'll check on some of that stuff and see if it helps, thanks for the tips...

Just downloaded LE 8.0.3, I'll see if that will help with anything. When i just sit back and watch it play I can do my huge sessions at 64 samples no problemo. which is lovely. not so lovely when I try to zoom in at a certain location while playing thou. blast.

Royale
12-22-2009, 07:18 AM
If you ever want to expand your HD rig, you will not be able to with this MB. You'll want PCIe slots that are right next to each other.

I'm sorry if this seems like an idiotic question, but I am assuming I want them close together because of the length of the TDM Flex Cable?

guitardom
12-22-2009, 04:16 PM
I'm sorry if this seems like an idiotic question, but I am assuming I want them close together because of the length of the TDM Flex Cable?

exactly. there is a supermicro board that thirdeye is using that will handle up to an hd3 system. he is running an hd2 in it and went together and everything fit like a charm. either me or him can get you the model of it if your interested.

Third Eye Studios
12-22-2009, 07:50 PM
exactly. there is a supermicro board that thirdeye is using that will handle up to an hd3 system. he is running an hd2 in it and went together and everything fit like a charm. either me or him can get you the model of it if your interested.Right, it's the Supermicro X8SAX, but it works with the older PCIX cards not PCIe cards. :cool: The board has been flawless for me btw. Another HD3 user has had problems getting the 3rd card going though. He's trying to work through it with Supermicro.

danander11
12-24-2009, 02:29 PM
Just a heads-up for you i7 builders..

I put mine together and it worked well in PT except for a couple of times I got the crackle-pop thing whilst using a VI (Trilian in my case). I also had an issue where every 4th or 5th time of booting up I would lose control over my graphics adapter and it would default to a generic setting. The only fix would be to re-boot, change the graphics initial boot mode to something else, save, exit, reboot, go back into the BIOS and reset the graphics to where it had been. Annoying.

In searching for the answer to solve this I kept seeing that the 'fix' for this was for people to go into their BIOS and make sure that 'enable VGA IRQ' was ticked.. which was not an option on my mainboard. I swapped to an ATI card and I have not had this problem since.

I don't know if this was/is a mainboard issue with Nvidia cards in general or just that particular one.

The mainboard I am using is the Gigabyte UD3R rev 1.6 with current BIOS update. The Nvidia card was a 512MB 9500GT.

If you want any more info let me know.

Merry Christmas!

Albert VS
12-27-2009, 03:27 AM
Hello i7 builders, I want to use the EastWest orchestral plug ins that recommend up to 8G of RAM for PC. Anyone out there tried building beyond 6G of memory yet? EastWest believes that 64-bit architecture and 128G of RAM will be available at some point, anyone agree?

Ludia
12-27-2009, 03:39 AM
Hello i7 builders, I want to use the EastWest orchestral plug ins that recommend up to 8G of RAM for PC. Anyone out there tried building beyond 6G of memory yet? EastWest believes that 64-bit architecture and 128G of RAM will be available at some point, anyone agree?


Hi Albert,

Take a short look at my thread from earlyer today....
http://duc.digidesign.com/showthread.php?t=262496

I also found some disturbing sounds on the forums of ewql regarding using Play in PT8. To be honnest I'm not sure what to do at the moment :(

danander11
12-27-2009, 05:39 AM
Hi Albert,

Take a short look at my thread from earlyer today....
http://duc.digidesign.com/showthread.php?t=262496

I also found some disturbing sounds on the forums of ewql regarding using Play in PT8. To be honnest I'm not sure what to do at the moment :(

I too had the problem where I installed Play Free and only got the GUI and no operation. I uninstalled and reinstalled twice and now it works like a charm. Not sure why, but it does.

I'm thinking of upgrading to Silver because I like the sounds but I also read quite a few derogatory things written about Play and PT. However, since Free is working, (and well I might add), I may just go the upgrade one level.

jmac146
12-27-2009, 09:33 PM
the smaller your onboard memory the better protools will run huh.... you just can't win with this program can you :confused::confused:

I'll check on some of that stuff and see if it helps, thanks for the tips...

Just downloaded LE 8.0.3, I'll see if that will help with anything. When i just sit back and watch it play I can do my huge sessions at 64 samples no problemo. which is lovely. not so lovely when I try to zoom in at a certain location while playing thou. blast.

Updated to the latest graphics driver... no luck. Changed every setting possible in protools... no luck. Emailed Digi about the problem... and they tell me that I have an incompatible PC (really???)

still getting those stupid H/W buffer sizes errors when scrolling and zooming. so frusterating. Anyone have a CLUE?

Albert VS
12-27-2009, 11:10 PM
Please critique this insane idea:
Twin Computer Method of recording a non-PT software sample:

a) Could EastWest orchestral 64-bit files be written and mixed, then played back on a non-PT compatible 64-bit machine running Vista or 7, then brought into PT8 as a stereo file in some manner?

b) Alternately, if you owned a KILLER monitoring system, with a pair of $90,000 far field monitors, you could "re-record" the sonic output of the speaker system and then bring that recording into PT 8, right? Other than the degradation that would occur in multiple ADA conversions and the slight distortion created by the monitor system and recording mics, would this be a plausible (but insanely expensive) way to bring the dense orchestral files into a PT8 recording?

At some point, PT will support 64 bit architecture and the EastWest "PLAY" engine (or vice versa), but until then, are there any other methods that anyone here can think of to achieve amazing orchestral samples without having to hire an orchestra or choir? EastWest pianos and choir VI's are the best I've heard, but are there any other brands of VI's that will work by default in PT8?

joelfarr
12-28-2009, 08:54 AM
Hey Guys,

I'm brand new around here, and I'll be quite honest and say I have little experience building computers, but from the wealth of knowledge that guitardom, kris75 and mykhal and shane have brought to the table I'm going to attempt a build. I could sure use help in matching my ram with my system since i know next to nothing about that, but first I'll start by seeing if you guys agree with my parts list as follows or see any potential problems before I order:

Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail

COOLER MASTER Intel Core i7 compatible Hyper N 520 RR-920-N520-GP 92mm Sleeve CPU Cooler - Retail

OCZ XMP Ready Series 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model OCZ3X1600LV6GK - Retail

CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX 620W ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Compatible ... - Retail

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive (x3)

HIS H465QS512P Radeon HD 4650 512MB 128-bit DDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - Retail

SAMSUNG Blu-ray Combo SATA Model SH-B083L/RSBP LightScribe Support - Retail

This is basically "THE BUILD" with only a few changes, but I just wanted to get some confirmation that this will work before going ahead with it....also I've noticed a whole ton of complaints on newegg about this motherboard? seems like its defective half the time...anyone had problems with it? From what I gather you take that risk with any motherboard though? sorry i'm such a noob, and sorry if you guys have already answered this question a hundred times. Thanks guys, a reply would be appreciated!

pianosound
12-28-2009, 01:23 PM
a) Could EastWest orchestral 64-bit files be written and mixed, then played back on a non-PT compatible 64-bit machine running Vista or 7, then brought into PT8 as a stereo file in some manner?

Hi Albert,,,,,,,, Have you looked at the new Veinna Ensemble Pro? It now has code for PT's RTAS, and will run 32 bit and 64 bit instruments, plug-ins, etc... in PT's XP, Vista, or W7!!!!!!!! Not sure about E/W products, there are a few that they are still working on compatability,,,,,, GREAT PROGRAM! (And the Vienna instruments are out of this world real,,, I'm sure you are probably familiar with them)
(But the RTAS compatabilty is very new!)

Mike

pianosound
12-28-2009, 01:31 PM
joelfarr, Hi, looks real good! I think you'll have a great machine with those components! Have not had any experience with your video choice, but if someone here is using it with no probs, then you should be fine. (Looks like you've done your homework, reading through this thread!!!)
Mike

mykhal c
12-28-2009, 01:41 PM
Hey Guys,

I'm brand new around here, and I'll be quite honest and say I have little experience building computers, but from the wealth of knowledge that guitardom, kris75 and mykhal and shane have brought to the table I'm going to attempt a build. I could sure use help in matching my ram with my system since i know next to nothing about that, but first I'll start by seeing if you guys agree with my parts list as follows or see any potential problems before I order:

Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail

COOLER MASTER Intel Core i7 compatible Hyper N 520 RR-920-N520-GP 92mm Sleeve CPU Cooler - Retail

OCZ XMP Ready Series 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model OCZ3X1600LV6GK - Retail

CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX 620W ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Compatible ... - Retail

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive (x3)

HIS H465QS512P Radeon HD 4650 512MB 128-bit DDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - Retail

SAMSUNG Blu-ray Combo SATA Model SH-B083L/RSBP LightScribe Support - Retail

This is basically "THE BUILD" with only a few changes, but I just wanted to get some confirmation that this will work before going ahead with it....also I've noticed a whole ton of complaints on newegg about this motherboard? seems like its defective half the time...anyone had problems with it? From what I gather you take that risk with any motherboard though? sorry i'm such a noob, and sorry if you guys have already answered this question a hundred times. Thanks guys, a reply would be appreciated!

+1 on your build. looks real good!! kinda like a lotta the workin' ones!!!:eek::D;) good luck and keep us posted:cool:

joelfarr
12-28-2009, 02:17 PM
cool thanks for the feedback guys, I'm gonna go ahead and pull the trigga on it! I'm excited to let my creativity out of the prison its been in with my macbook. As for the rest of you starting from scratch and spending $1700 + on your machines, you should reconsider and take a look at my list...I'm starting from scratch and only spending $1300 after mail in rebates, thanks to the rest of you for being the guinea pigs!

danander11
12-28-2009, 03:39 PM
Hey Guys,

I'm brand new around here, and I'll be quite honest and say I have little experience building computers, but from the wealth of knowledge that guitardom, kris75 and mykhal and shane have brought to the table I'm going to attempt a build. I could sure use help in matching my ram with my system since i know next to nothing about that, but first I'll start by seeing if you guys agree with my parts list as follows or see any potential problems before I order:

Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail

COOLER MASTER Intel Core i7 compatible Hyper N 520 RR-920-N520-GP 92mm Sleeve CPU Cooler - Retail

OCZ XMP Ready Series 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model OCZ3X1600LV6GK - Retail

CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX 620W ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Compatible ... - Retail

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive (x3)

HIS H465QS512P Radeon HD 4650 512MB 128-bit DDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - Retail

SAMSUNG Blu-ray Combo SATA Model SH-B083L/RSBP LightScribe Support - Retail

This is basically "THE BUILD" with only a few changes, but I just wanted to get some confirmation that this will work before going ahead with it....also I've noticed a whole ton of complaints on newegg about this motherboard? seems like its defective half the time...anyone had problems with it? From what I gather you take that risk with any motherboard though? sorry i'm such a noob, and sorry if you guys have already answered this question a hundred times. Thanks guys, a reply would be appreciated!

Joel, This is essentially the setup I use. Differences are that I am using the Platinum RAM, a 4660HD video card (same 512mb), and no blue-ray.

It works beautifully at playback buffer of 64.

HDK_Ent
12-29-2009, 04:07 PM
My build if confirmed ready,

Let me know if anything isnt compatible or what i should change out.

HD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284

Video
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161303

PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182188
*Need bigger PSU because i have ALOT of fans in my cooler master

RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145220


MoBo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128375

Proc
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202

Let me know if everything is functional so i can place my order.

guitardom
12-29-2009, 04:34 PM
My build if confirmed ready,

Let me know if anything isnt compatible or what i should change out.

HD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284

Video
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161303

PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182188
*Need bigger PSU because i have ALOT of fans in my cooler master

RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145220


MoBo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128375

Proc
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202

Let me know if everything is functional so i can place my order.

if you are looking for top pt performance and not gaming and such, i would go w this vid card (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131144&cm_re=ati_4350-_-14-131-144-_-Product)

fans do not use that much power. i had 6-7 case fans on my opteron with a 520w power supply w 4 hard drives, 2 dvd drives, 2 cpu's and 2 cpu coolers and never an issue. i would say a 700 or so is more than enough. plus i can recomend ocz or corsair over most other psu's. never had an issue with them and have used them in LOTS of computers. would recomend from this line of corsairs (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139010&cm_re=corsair_psu-_-17-139-010-_-Product) the most.

faster ram similar price 1 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145222) 2 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145258)

HDK_Ent
12-29-2009, 04:39 PM
Thanks so much guitardom, just selected everything you told me, took out all the old stuff i had, and picked out ur better corsair ram, PSU, and vid card....

is it safe to say, that i can place the order now?

total comes out to $1,047.49

guitardom
12-29-2009, 04:41 PM
Thanks so much guitardom, just selected everything you told me, took out all the old stuff i had, and picked out ur better corsair ram, PSU, and vid card....

is it safe to say, that i can place the order now?

total comes out to $1,047.49

imo everything looks good. you are getting at least 2 hard drives though?? one for os and one for tracking????

HDK_Ent
12-29-2009, 04:46 PM
the harddrive i have listed is the one being used for tracking, i have another mediocre 750gb harddrive, mainly used for reason sounds/refills, and my OS.

Also have a 500gb drive used for backups.

guitardom
12-29-2009, 05:07 PM
the harddrive i have listed is the one being used for tracking, i have another mediocre 750gb harddrive, mainly used for reason sounds/refills, and my OS.

Also have a 500gb drive used for backups.

get 32mb cache drives for your os and tracking drive. if you have any hd streaming sample banks like bfd or ivory or something, you also get a performance boost by 32mb cache drives. reason is ram based though so would not matter.

Keybeeetsss
12-29-2009, 05:12 PM
^^^^he said it all^^^^

Albert VS
12-30-2009, 12:31 AM
Hi Pianosound, thanks for the tip on the Vienna orchestral software, had forgotten about that company - I'll try it out and get back to you. Happy New Year!

Keybeeetsss
12-30-2009, 07:51 AM
Hi Pianosound, thanks for the tip on the Vienna orchestral software, had forgotten about that company -
:eek: How could you forget about the best string program & too real orchestra out there :eek:

;)

nikki-k
12-30-2009, 11:29 AM
ok, trying to grasp why everyone continues to go UD3R over UD5 when the price diff is only $20?

mykhal c
12-30-2009, 11:34 AM
ok, trying to grasp why everyone continues to go UD3R over UD5 when the price diff is only $20?

good point;)

Keybeeetsss
12-30-2009, 11:45 AM
ok, trying to grasp why everyone continues to go UD3R over UD5 when the price diff is only $20?
Me too:confused: I even went for the UDP when they had the big price ticket on'eim...

philip888
12-30-2009, 11:46 AM
ok, trying to grasp why everyone continues to go UD3R over UD5 when the price diff is only $20?

I wish I had gone UD5 now.

I am stuck with only 4 Slots for RAM.

The UD5 gives you 6.

If I want to go 12gb of RAM on the UD3R the cost is from 800 to 1200 dollars for three 3X4gb sticks.

I should have done a better job with my long term planning when I decided on my build.:mad:

mykhal c
12-30-2009, 11:51 AM
I should have done a better job with my long term planning when I decided on my build.:mad:

we all have been there in one way or another!!:(;)

guitardom
12-30-2009, 12:32 PM
The price difference when I built almost a year ago now was about 100 from the 3 to the 4. But for me i am not concerned in the least I don't use that many vi's to utilize that much ram. 4 gb w pro tools is plenty to load up bfd2 and and a few synths if needed. I would bet most users are in the same boat. At this point though w the prices so close though it would make sense to do it. I did not know they were that close in price though. But for me I will upgrade to a new machine before I think I will be worried about that much more ram.

guitardom
12-30-2009, 12:49 PM
ok, trying to grasp why everyone continues to go UD3R over UD5 when the price diff is only $20?

I just checked newegg and it is 120 dollar difference between the ud3 and ud5 and now they have a ud7 out for some more cash, so still quite a difference if you don't need it

joelfarr
12-30-2009, 01:17 PM
The main reason I went with the ud3r over the ud5 is because I read some stuff (not sure if it was this thread or not) that said that the ud5 has a squeal and you have to fix it in the bios by disableing stuff....i know nothing about that and I just didn't want to deal with that period. Also the 100 dollar difference just firmed my decision...not to mention guitardom got his amazing dverb results with the ud3 and I didn't want to gamble on any other board...

That being said, however, I think digi is definitely working on a 64 bit version of pro tools (it seems they are smart enough to know 32 bit software is on its way out). When that comes out we will most likely see a big difference with pro tools performance being able to utilize much more ram with say windows 7. But when and IF they successfully do this might be a long time down the road, and by then 4gb sticks of ram will most likely be a whole bunch cheaper, allowing us ud3r owners to upgrade. Until then however, there's no need for all that ram, unless you're a VI lover... and you can always bus your VI stuff to an audio track....

There's no doubt though, that when you buy the latest and greatest technology, you're always gonna be kickin yourself about six months later! I plan on that happening to me, but hey we bring this upon ourselves!

steel_st
12-30-2009, 01:33 PM
Hi all - First and foremost, thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread...it's been so helpful!!! I just got the ud3 from Microcenter (same price as newegg) with the i7 920 ($199 :D ) and 2x3gb of 1600mhz OCZ Gold Edition Ram ($149) .

Will load Komplete 6, Structure, and some other VI’s on the system with PT(m-powered). Thought about the ud5 but they didn’t sell it. Am I really gonna miss those extra 2 dimms on the ud5????

I figured with the new sata and usb 3.0 motherboards comin, I would be forced to eventually upgrade the motherboard to a ud7 or something similar, which will probably have 6 dimms on it. Haven’t opened the ud3 yet, but I will be building the new rig within the next few days. Should I reconsider my ud3 decision??? Some of you seem to be displeased with only having 4 dimms on this board...

mykhal c
12-30-2009, 01:41 PM
Hi all - First and foremost, thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread...it's been so helpful!!! I just got the ud3 from Microcenter (same price as newegg) with the i7 920 ($199 :D ) and 2x3gb of 1600mhz OCZ Gold Edition Ram ($149) .

Will load Komplete 6, Structure, and some other VI’s on the system with PT(m-powered). Thought about the ud5 but they didn’t sell it. Am I really gonna miss those extra 2 dimms on the ud5????

I figured with the new sata and usb 3.0 motherboards comin, I would be forced to eventually upgrade the motherboard to a ud7 or something similar, which will probably have 6 dimms on it. Haven’t opened the ud3 yet, but I will be building the new rig within the next few days. Should I reconsider my ud3 decision??? Some of you seem to be displeased with only having 4 dimms on this board...

here's is copy-n-paste that i emailed to another DUCer...

3 of those slots will put you in triple channel mode. usin' the 4th will take you out of triple channel mode. so your thru-put will be better than dual but LESS than triple. so now the question becomes...'does comin' outta triple channel mode by addin' another 2gb of ram serve you better or worse?

IMHO...if your budget allows go with a 6 slot dimm mobo. it lets you maximize your ram while stayin' in triple channel mode;)

steel_st
12-30-2009, 04:30 PM
here's is copy-n-paste that i emailed to another DUCer...

3 of those slots will put you in triple channel mode. usin' the 4th will take you out of triple channel mode. so your thru-put will be better than dual but LESS than triple. so now the question becomes...'does comin' outta triple channel mode by addin' another 2gb of ram serve you better or worse?

IMHO...if your budget allows go with a 6 slot dimm mobo. it lets you maximize your ram while stayin' in triple channel mode;)

Thanks for the feedback - that’s what I was thinkin initially, which is why I thought to go with the Asus P6T at first (only about $45 difference from ud3). But after I read various reviews on the P6T (it supposedly has problems recognizing memory in all 6 Dimm slots) and read all the good things here about the ud3, I went with Gigabyte. I do love my VI's, but I just don’t think I can justify dropin the extra $120 for two more Dimm slots...I just hope I'm not quoting philip888 in 6 months:


I wish I had gone UD5 now.

I am stuck with only 4 Slots for RAM.

The UD5 gives you 6.

I should have done a better job with my long term planning when I decided on my build.:mad: :eek::eek::eek:

Oh the joys of building systems....

philip888
12-30-2009, 04:41 PM
Thanks for the feedback - that’s what I was thinkin initially, which is why I thought to go with the Asus P6T at first (only about $45 difference from ud3). But after I read various reviews on the P6T (it supposedly has problems recognizing memory in all 6 Dimm slots) and read all the good things here about the ud3, I went with Gigabyte. I do love my VI's, but I just don’t think I can justify dropin the extra $120 for two more Dimm slots...I just hope I'm not quoting philip888 in 6 months:


:eek::eek::eek:

Oh the joys of building systems....

If you stay away from this site you should be ok.

http://vsl.co.at/en/65/71/84/1349.vsl

joelfarr
12-30-2009, 06:19 PM
If you stay away from this site you should be ok.

http://vsl.co.at/en/65/71/84/1349.vsl

I'm confused.... is this a bad plug-in or what? is vienna ensemble pro no good with pt8? sorry, way off topic, just had to ask cuz I was checkin it out today.

Keybeeetsss
12-30-2009, 06:46 PM
is this a bad plug-in or what? is vienna ensemble pro no good with pt8? sorry,
:eek: u will be cursed until ur 98th birthday for sayin that :eek:

philip888
12-30-2009, 06:47 PM
I'm confused.... is this a bad plug-in or what? is vienna ensemble pro no good with pt8? sorry, way off topic, just had to ask cuz I was checkin it out today.

It is an incredible piece of software.

I just wish I had gotten the UD5 which would have enabled me to get more RAM at a cheaper price.

To let VEP run wild you want all the RAM you can get.

steel_st
12-30-2009, 06:58 PM
It is an incredible piece of software.

I just wish I had gotten the UD5 which would have enabled me to get more RAM at a cheaper price.

To let VEP run wild you want all the RAM you can get.

Ah, I figured you were hinting at a "lack of ram" issue. Note taken...stay away from ram hungry VI's that want more than 6gb and will make you have "ud3r regret" :-)


:eek: u will be cursed until ur 98th birthday for sayin that :eek:

Rotf!

joelfarr
12-30-2009, 08:05 PM
haha ok i get it.... man, my ud3r is in the mail on its way... i'm already feeling a little "ud3r" regret..... I do love those VI's....how big of a hog is the VEP? anyone got any specs?

question though, since XP only sees 3 GB anyway, does this bicker over the ud3r and ud5 even apply without a 64-bit system?

Philip888, are you already having issues with VEP overloading your system?

philip888
12-30-2009, 08:20 PM
haha ok i get it.... man, my ud3r is in the mail on its way... i'm already feeling a little "ud3r" regret..... I do love those VI's....how big of a hog is the VEP? anyone got any specs?

question though, since XP only sees 3 GB anyway, does this bicker over the ud3r and ud5 even apply without a 64-bit system?

Philip888, are you already having issues with VEP overloading your system?


No I do not have the program yet.

But watching the videos of their products makes me drool.

The software allows you to connect a lan cable with a gigabyte connector to run their products from a slave computer. This special networking capability lets you run as many instances on the slave as it will handle without affect performance on the host computer.

Keybeeetsss
12-30-2009, 08:37 PM
Thatz the thing... VEPro isn't a hog;Ur reading into it wrong...
U can run pretty much as many instances as ur ram lets u run meaning whatever HOGS u wanna put into VEPro like all the Spectrasonics stuff(which are some of the greatest BTW) , or EW or Massive or whatever else, u can run as much as u want... Get that???

guitardom
12-30-2009, 08:52 PM
haha ok i get it.... man, my ud3r is in the mail on its way... i'm already feeling a little "ud3r" regret..... I do love those VI's....how big of a hog is the VEP? anyone got any specs?

question though, since XP only sees 3 GB anyway, does this bicker over the ud3r and ud5 even apply without a 64-bit system?

Philip888, are you already having issues with VEP overloading your system?

Sure you could get the vep specs pretty easy online. Interesting about being able to link the samples via LAN and another machine. Guess you gotta build 2 I7 s then !!

But yes the ram issue is null unless your in a 64 bit system and then the results are dependant if your software is 64 or 32 bit. 4gb per app cap if 32bit which pt will be. But anything running rewire beside or rewiring into pt will recieve it's own ram allocation!

Ludia
12-31-2009, 12:44 AM
Hi all,

While I'm not having issues with my build really because things run like a charm, I'm still frustrated I can't get my RAM running at 1866Mhz on a 9-9-9-24 base, what they should be able to. I can't get it higher then 1333Mhz without the system booting 3 times and faling back to 1066.

I was searching and searching for answers(nothing found yet though:() and then I was looking at the Windows performance index and got even more confused there. The scores I have are ...

Processor : 7.5
Memory : 7.7
Graphics : 7.4
HDD : only 5.9
I was a bit stunded by the disk index and looked into sandra, where this came out....


Number of Enabled Devices : 3
Disk Controller
Model : Giga-Byte 4 port SATA IDE Controller
OEM Device Name : Intel 4 port SATA IDE Controller
Interface : SATA
Revision : A1
Maximum SATA Mode : G2 / SATA300
RAID Support : Yes
RAID Enabled : No
Channels : 4
In Use Channels : 3
Port : G1 / SATA150
Port : G1 / SATA150
Port : G1 / SATA150
Disk Controller
Model : Giga-Byte 2 port SATA IDE Controller
OEM Device Name : Intel 2 port SATA IDE Controller
Interface : SATA
Revision : A1
Maximum SATA Mode : G2 / SATA300
RAID Support : Yes
RAID Enabled : No
Channels : 2
In Use Channels : 1
Port : G1 / SATA150
Disk Controller
Model : Giga-Byte JMB36X PCIE-to-SATAII/IDE RAID Controller
OEM Device Name : Jmicron JMB36X PCIE-to-SATAII/IDE RAID Controller
Interface : ATA
Revision : A3
Channels : 4

Now, I'm not sure but should I read this as my disks are operating only on half the transfer rate they are able of ??
I never installed the SATA Raid drivers delivered with the board, should I ? and can I still ?
I didn't because all was working and I don't want Raid but now I'm starting to doubt.

mykhal c
12-31-2009, 01:20 AM
did you remove the jumpers from the SATA drives before installation? if not then that's probably your issue with thru-put.

Rocket Mandrake
12-31-2009, 01:23 AM
Hi there to all!!

Thanks to all your help, I have been working very smothly with Pro Tools LE 8.0.3 on my new i7 build in Windows 7 Ultimate x65 and Snow Leopard.
But now, I'm looking forward, to take it to the next level: Overclock the little beast I have!!!

I have read the info about it on the first post of this thread, and now, I'm kinda confused :P.
I would REALLY appreciate your help!!! I need you guideness to acomplish this titanic task :D

My specs:

- Mobo: Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5
- CPU: i7 920 @ 2.66 (No OC yet)
- RAM: 12 GB of RAM --> OCZ Platinum 6GB DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 -PC3 12800 Triple Channel Kit, Model OCZ3P1600LV6GK,
- Cas Latency: 7
- Timing: 7-7-7-24
--> Bios is showing 1066 without any Overclocking this timming: 7-7-7-16
- PSU: COOLER MASTER EXTREME 600w
- Video Card: GPU ATI Radeon™ HD 4550 512 MB DDR3 (gigabyte gv-r455d3 512I)
- Case: Cooler Master Centurion 534 +Plus
- DVD Drive: Pioneer DVR-116DBK 20x
- COOLER MASTER V8 RR-UV8-XBU1-GP 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler

Thanks in advance for your help and support ;)

Ludia
12-31-2009, 01:26 AM
did you remove the jumpers from the SATA drives before installation? if not then that's probably your issue with thru-put.

Hi mykhal,

Just found an article on that too. I'm going to check and report back.
Thx ;)

Ludia
12-31-2009, 02:00 AM
Well... it aint the jumpers, there are no jumpers set on the disks at all :(

Could it be that the cables don't support the SATAII ? but only STATAI ?

mykhal c
12-31-2009, 02:03 AM
Well... it aint the jumpers, there are no jumpers set on the disks at all :(

Could it be that the cables don't support the SATAII ? but only STATAI ?

that'd be next best and cheapest place to check;)

Ludia
12-31-2009, 02:16 AM
hmmm ok, I got these cables in there....
2725 E209329 AWM 80C 30V VW-1 Serial ATA 26n AWG LIAN FENG

They came with the UD5 board. Now I found somewhere a thread on some forum a guy using these cables was not even able to automaticly discover his drives in the bios while I can. I'm sure here are other UD5 people, are you using the cables that come within the package and do you have a data rate of 300 ?

mykhal c
12-31-2009, 02:33 AM
yeah my thru-put is SATAII and i bought separate SATA II cables when i built my rig.

Ludia
12-31-2009, 03:02 AM
yeah my thru-put is SATAII and i bought separate SATA II cables when i built my rig.

Thx for the advice Mykhal. Ordered some new cables in, will be here somewhere next week. Hopefully it fixes that issue. Off to some more research why my ram won't go up :rolleyes:

joereza
12-31-2009, 03:17 AM
Hey Guys,

I'm brand new around here, and I'll be quite honest and say I have little experience building computers, but from the wealth of knowledge that guitardom, kris75 and mykhal and shane have brought to the table I'm going to attempt a build. I could sure use help in matching my ram with my system since i know next to nothing about that, but first I'll start by seeing if you guys agree with my parts list as follows or see any potential problems before I order:

Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail

COOLER MASTER Intel Core i7 compatible Hyper N 520 RR-920-N520-GP 92mm Sleeve CPU Cooler - Retail

OCZ XMP Ready Series 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model OCZ3X1600LV6GK - Retail

CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX 620W ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Compatible ... - Retail

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive (x3)

HIS H465QS512P Radeon HD 4650 512MB 128-bit DDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - Retail

SAMSUNG Blu-ray Combo SATA Model SH-B083L/RSBP LightScribe Support - Retail

This is basically "THE BUILD" with only a few changes, but I just wanted to get some confirmation that this will work before going ahead with it....also I've noticed a whole ton of complaints on newegg about this motherboard? seems like its defective half the time...anyone had problems with it? From what I gather you take that risk with any motherboard though? sorry i'm such a noob, and sorry if you guys have already answered this question a hundred times. Thanks guys, a reply would be appreciated!

After reading most of this thread, reading your build, and seeing the approval it got by other users, it looks like I'll be basing my build off of yours. It will pretty much the same but no blue ray, haha. Also, I keep debating between UD3 and UD5 . . . . I'm leaning towards UD5 . . .

I feel my graphics card can be a lot better though. My question is will any graphics card be able to replace the one listed above and work with the rest of the build? If not, what specifics do I need to make sure I included in my graphics card purchase?

Also, this is my first post. Hello and thanks for everything guys!

I have the 003 rack, PT 7.3 (Upgrading to 8.0 when computer is finished).

mykhal c
12-31-2009, 03:26 AM
Hi there to all!!

Thanks to all your help, I have been working very smothly with Pro Tools LE 8.0.3 on my new i7 build in Windows 7 Ultimate x65 and Snow Leopard.
But now, I'm looking forward, to take it to the next level: Overclock the little beast I have!!!

I have read the info about it on the first post of this thread, and now, I'm kinda confused :P.
I would REALLY appreciate your help!!! I need you guideness to acomplish this titanic task :D

My specs:

- Mobo: Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5
- CPU: i7 920 @ 2.66 (No OC yet)
- RAM: 12 GB of RAM --> OCZ Platinum 6GB DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 -PC3 12800 Triple Channel Kit, Model OCZ3P1600LV6GK,
- Cas Latency: 7
- Timing: 7-7-7-24
--> Bios is showing 1066 without any Overclocking this timming: 7-7-7-16
- PSU: COOLER MASTER EXTREME 600w
- Video Card: GPU ATI Radeon™ HD 4550 512 MB DDR3 (gigabyte gv-r455d3 512I)
- Case: Cooler Master Centurion 534 +Plus
- DVD Drive: Pioneer DVR-116DBK 20x
- COOLER MASTER V8 RR-UV8-XBU1-GP 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler

Thanks in advance for your help and support ;)

IMPORTANT NOTE!!!!!!

i7 and ram freq/settings/timings...


'AUTO' settings with ram will 'almost always' cause issues...9xxx errors to be specific!!! you should 'always' set your ram to its' correct settings...OC or not. right now if you are runnin' your ram timings outta sync with the ram freq you will probably encounter the 9xxx errors. make sure your ram dimms are in the same colored slots (triple channel mode). read up on how to set your ram freq and timings when usin' triple channel mode. use either the 'MANUAL' or 'PROFILE' settings to select the proper frequency and timings for your installed ram.;)

Keybeeetsss
12-31-2009, 06:19 AM
:eek: MC is it fair 2say I know why u were up so latez??? :eek:

Rocket Mandrake
12-31-2009, 06:48 AM
IMPORTANT NOTE!!!!!!

i7 and ram freq/settings/timings...


'AUTO' settings with ram will 'almost always' cause issues...9xxx errors to be specific!!! you should 'always' set your ram to its' correct settings...OC or not. right now if you are runnin' your ram timings outta sync with the ram freq you will probably encounter the 9xxx errors. make sure your ram dimms are in the same colored slots (triple channel mode). read up on how to set your ram freq and timings when usin' triple channel mode. use either the 'MANUAL' or 'PROFILE' settings to select the proper frequency and timings for your installed ram.;)

Thanks mykhal c!!
I found the way to set the freq. to 1600 Mhz :D

Now, what would be the recommendations to OC in a "healthy way" my computer?

I found this guide, but it does not worked for me (at least, not a 4Ghz :P)
http://lakesidepc.com/Core.i7.920.oc.4G.2008.12.12_ENG.pdf

What do yo think?

guitardom
12-31-2009, 07:53 AM
Thanks mykhal c!!
I found the way to set the freq. to 1600 Mhz :D

Now, what would be the recommendations to OC in a "healthy way" my computer?

I found this guide, but it does not worked for me (at least, not a 4Ghz :P)
http://lakesidepc.com/Core.i7.920.oc.4G.2008.12.12_ENG.pdf

What do yo think?

the oc is based off of your base clock. ramp it up to say 3.0, drop your ram mulitplier to closest match your ram specs!! also, getting to 4.0 is only possible on a D0 stepping cpu. if you do not have one i would not recomend going past 3.6 very safely. 3.4 seems to work beautiful though. sometimes you have to ramp up your voltages a bit to your cpu and such though DO NOT PASS 1.65 on ram voltages. i probably should not be giving out this info on the duc. if you fry something, you are on your own. this can be dangerous and shorten life of components as well, so tread lightly and read ALL the info you can first and only move in small steps till you get more comfortable doing this.

guitardom
12-31-2009, 08:07 AM
Hi all,

While I'm not having issues with my build really because things run like a charm, I'm still frustrated I can't get my RAM running at 1866Mhz on a 9-9-9-24 base, what they should be able to. I can't get it higher then 1333Mhz without the system booting 3 times and faling back to 1066.


I was searching and searching for answers(nothing found yet though:() and then I was looking at the Windows performance index and got even more confused there. The scores I have are ...

Processor : 7.5
Memory : 7.7
Graphics : 7.4
HDD : only 5.9
I was a bit stunded by the disk index and looked into sandra, where this came out....


Number of Enabled Devices : 3
Disk Controller
Model : Giga-Byte 4 port SATA IDE Controller
OEM Device Name : Intel 4 port SATA IDE Controller
Interface : SATA
Revision : A1
Maximum SATA Mode : G2 / SATA300
RAID Support : Yes
RAID Enabled : No
Channels : 4
In Use Channels : 3
Port : G1 / SATA150
Port : G1 / SATA150
Port : G1 / SATA150
Disk Controller
Model : Giga-Byte 2 port SATA IDE Controller
OEM Device Name : Intel 2 port SATA IDE Controller
Interface : SATA
Revision : A1
Maximum SATA Mode : G2 / SATA300
RAID Support : Yes
RAID Enabled : No
Channels : 2
In Use Channels : 1
Port : G1 / SATA150
Disk Controller
Model : Giga-Byte JMB36X PCIE-to-SATAII/IDE RAID Controller
OEM Device Name : Jmicron JMB36X PCIE-to-SATAII/IDE RAID Controller
Interface : ATA
Revision : A3
Channels : 4

Now, I'm not sure but should I read this as my disks are operating only on half the transfer rate they are able of ??
I never installed the SATA Raid drivers delivered with the board, should I ? and can I still ?
I didn't because all was working and I don't want Raid but now I'm starting to doubt.

the only time i have had the system do this is when oc settings are wrong and typically my ram voltages are to low, but you are not oc'ing. i would download and run memtest on each stick of your ram one at a time and see if something is wrong. you ram votage should be set at 1.6-1.65 MAX.

also if you have not yet, post your hard drive specs. make, model, size, and cache.

joelfarr
12-31-2009, 08:39 AM
Guess you gotta build 2 I7 s then !!

But yes the ram issue is null unless your in a 64 bit system and then the results are dependant if your software is 64 or 32 bit. 4gb per app cap if 32bit which pt will be. But anything running rewire beside or rewiring into pt will recieve it's own ram allocation!

Oh man the investing just never ends!! :-) One day I hope to have enough clients to pay for all this!:D

Just checked out the VEP video demo and I must say it looks AMAZING! I think I'll just have to save up again and do another build for a Slave Machine!:-) by then maybe Digi will have their act together!

Keybeeetsss
12-31-2009, 08:41 AM
Oh man the investing just never ends!! :-) One day I hope to have enough clients to pay for all this!:D

Just checked out the VEP video demo and I must say it looks AMAZING! I think I'll just have to save up again and do another build for a Slave Machine!:-) by then maybe Digi will have their act together!
I'm Not sure why u feel u need a slave comp; unless ur doing 100-200 midi tracks then there isn't a need...

Ludia
12-31-2009, 08:59 AM
the only time i have had the system do this is when oc settings are wrong and typically my ram voltages are to low, but you are not oc'ing. i would download and run memtest on each stick of your ram one at a time and see if something is wrong. you ram votage should be set at 1.6-1.65 MAX.

also if you have not yet, post your hard drive specs. make, model, size, and cache.

Ok, a little more info if that helps....

So, I got 6x 2GB sticks (bought per matching triple set) of Kingston Hyper-X 1866Mhz CL9, 9-9-9-27 1.65v. according the xmp read-out of CPU-Z this is correct. The read-out also tells me for 1333Mhz it should be 9-9-9-24 1.5v to which this is set currently in the Bios. This all runs perfectly fine. When I change the multiplier to go to 1600 the computer still boots nicely but then Windows is telling me only 4Gb of the 12GB is available :eek:. (Windows 7 Ultimate 64)
If I select the xmp profile 1 the pc boots three times to default back to 1066.

In regards to the disks, I got...
1x Samsung Spinpoint F1 1TB, 32Mb, 7200 rpm, HD103UJ
2x Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB, 32Mb, 7200 rpm, HD103SJ

joelfarr
12-31-2009, 09:17 AM
I'm Not sure why u feel u need a slave comp; unless ur doing 100-200 midi tracks then there isn't a need...

The only reason is that I love the spectrasonics stuff, which are incredible ram hogs...I'm still waiting for my i7 parts, but I'm assuming that XP's ability to only see 3 gb of ram isn't going to be be enough for my love of the spectrasonics stuff and other VI's like BFD and EW and Reason... I also like the idea of having a comp totally dedicated to all my VI stuff... In all reality though, you're probably right in assuming that I wont need one, it was just a fun idea.

Keybeeetsss
12-31-2009, 09:22 AM
The only reason is that I love the spectrasonics stuff, which are incredible ram hogs...I'm still waiting for my i7 parts, but I'm assuming that XP's ability to only see 3 gb of ram isn't going to be be enough for my love of the spectrasonics stuff and other VI's like BFD and EW and Reason...
Hence the reasoning of having VEPro; trust me, there are some but I don't think there are many here that run VI's as I do; running all Spectrasonics stuff plus many many others along with many many plugs in sessions that have 60+ AUDIO tracks is my norm... No probs @ all & I close to NEVER print my VI's to audio...jus sayin;)

joelfarr
12-31-2009, 09:54 AM
Hence the reasoning of having VEPro; trust me, there are some but I don't think there are many here that run VI's as I do; running all Spectrasonics stuff plus many many others along with many many plugs in sessions that have 60+ AUDIO tracks is my norm... No probs @ all & I close to NEVER print my VI's to audio...jus sayin;)

DUDE! That's AMAZING! :eek: You're on a 32-bit system right? I'm now more excited than ever for my build! :-)

Thanks for the feedback, I'm a really heavy VI user as well and haven't really got the impression that anybody else was one on here as well! Good to know.. are you running VEP successfully with your build?

Keybeeetsss
12-31-2009, 09:56 AM
DUDE! That's AMAZING! :eek: You're on a 32-bit system right? I'm now more excited than ever for my build! :-)

Thanks for the feedback, I'm a really heavy VI user as well and haven't really got the impression that anybody else was one on here as well! Good to know.. are you running VEP successfully with your build?
Yeah to all ur questions :-)

joelfarr
12-31-2009, 10:00 AM
Yeah to all ur questions :-)

sorry, one more...are you OC'd and if so what to?

Keybeeetsss
12-31-2009, 10:04 AM
sorry, one more...are you OC'd and if so what to?
3.4 & ram @ 1700; I was gonna answer earlier but Guitardom got to ya... thatz what we tend to call the Snack Spot:D a.k.a Sweet Spot;)

mykhal c
12-31-2009, 11:45 AM
:eek: MC is it fair 2say I know why u were up so latez??? :eek:

coffee!!!! where's my coffee???!!!!:eek::eek::D:D call you in a few;) all's good and it wasn't too bad...just perplexin';)

nikki-k
12-31-2009, 12:21 PM
I just checked newegg and it is 120 dollar difference between the ud3 and ud5 and now they have a ud7 out for some more cash, so still quite a difference if you don't need it
Wow... Newegg had the UD5 priced wrong for a few days then... it was @ $209 last i checked.

nikki-k
12-31-2009, 12:34 PM
As for VE Pro... how is anyone getting more than 3.xG of RAM to use with a 32-bit Windows OS???

Run W7x64. With PT, your choices are a little slimmer, and VE Pro will likely be the best solution to utilize more than 4G for VI's, as well as use 64-bit plugins (such as, say, Kontakt 4... not to mention getting around RTAS inefficiency and other things). Most other DAWquencers already have some sort of Bit Bridge, or are able to use jBridge (brilliant little ~$20 utility.. I think Sonar has it built-in even). Like i said long ago... been using most of my 12G ram by incorporating jBridge, and also using 64-bit plugs in 32-bit DAWquencers (why 32-bit DAWquencer over 64-bit ver? Currently, I only have about 5-6 regularly used 64-bit VI's, and dozens of 32-bit plugins; easier to "tame" those 5-6... currently. Couple more months, will likely be the other way around. And I already wish i could afford 24G ram.. or more)

Keybeeetsss
12-31-2009, 12:38 PM
As for VE Pro... how is anyone getting more than 3.xG of RAM to use with a 32-bit Windows OS???

I don't think anyone said they are... It of course still takes the strain of PT beit 32 or 64bit...

nikki-k
12-31-2009, 12:57 PM
I don't think anyone said they are... It of course still takes the strain of PT beit 32 or 64bit...
Ahhh.. sorry, my bad!
Joelfarr in post 2457 said,
"DUDE! That's AMAZING! :eek: You're on a 32-bit system right? I'm now more excited than ever for my build! :-)"

And your answer of,
Yeah to all ur questions :-)
in post 2458 had me scratching my head..lol. I took 32-bit system to mean 32-bit OS, since (could have sworn) you are running a 64-bit (capable) system (hardware).

HDK_Ent
12-31-2009, 02:59 PM
well i think, from what i understand, that the other ram acts as a backup? you use lets say 1 gb of ram running windows, thats 1/3 being used, but instead of u dropping down to 2gb avail, you stay at 3? idk how that works, just my wild strung out guess...


i need sleep, rabbits dont let you sleep during the daytime though. and im scared the squirrels will get me at night.

Benoni
12-31-2009, 08:40 PM
well i think, from what i understand, that the other ram acts as a backup? you use lets say 1 gb of ram running windows, thats 1/3 being used, but instead of u dropping down to 2gb avail, you stay at 3? idk how that works, just my wild strung out guess...


i need sleep, rabbits dont let you sleep during the daytime though. and im scared the squirrels will get me at night.

You are right the woodland critter are out to get you

Fear the Critters!! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVBRZA6_F9g&feature=related)

Ludia
01-01-2010, 02:02 AM
Happy new year all :D

Wel, I did found something interesting regarding my RAM issue on the Gigabyte forums. (googling around for weeks already:().
So heres the story....

I've got 6x 2Gb 1866Mhz Ram and can't get it higher then 1333Mhz to operate fully. If I go to 1600 Windows says only 4Gb is availabe of the 12Gb (sometimes strangely enough 10Gb). Anyway, according what i've read on that forum this is normal with an i7 processor. As soon you go to 12Gb or more the max Mhz you can get is going to be 1333Mhz.
So I guess I did a stupid buy there. I rather would have bought me lower freq Ram but then also lower CLS.

I don't know if anyone can confirm the story on the Gigabyte forum, but what they say there is exactly what happens on my end. So, if true...be warned and check it out before getting new RAM exceeding the 6Gb.:o

nikki-k
01-01-2010, 10:51 AM
I have 12G (6x2G) of OCZ Plat 1600 and an i7 920 on a Giagbyte UD5; timings, speed, etc all chugging along at proper numbers via "auto" on my board. Maybe I am lucky? (verified in W7x64 with CPUz and other utilities, not simply going by BIOS or Win reports). I bought that RAM for the great timing numbers, user reports, and went 1600 since music DAW builders I trust stated that 1600 RAM was THE choice for an audio DAW; no higher, no lower. Since it ran properly via Auto setting(s), I *assumed* I chose well/properly.

Cannot speak for any other RAM or board choices...

mykhal c
01-01-2010, 11:18 AM
Happy new year all :D

Wel, I did found something interesting regarding my RAM issue on the Gigabyte forums. (googling around for weeks already:().
So heres the story....

I've got 6x 2Gb 1866Mhz Ram and can't get it higher then 1333Mhz to operate fully. If I go to 1600 Windows says only 4Gb is availabe of the 12Gb (sometimes strangely enough 10Gb). Anyway, according what i've read on that forum this is normal with an i7 processor. As soon you go to 12Gb or more the max Mhz you can get is going to be 1333Mhz.
So I guess I did a stupid buy there. I rather would have bought me lower freq Ram but then also lower CLS.

I don't know if anyone can confirm the story on the Gigabyte forum, but what they say there is exactly what happens on my end. So, if true...be warned and check it out before getting new RAM exceeding the 6Gb.:o

chances are your timings are too tight when you move to the higher ram freq. loosen your timings when you move up.

I have 12G (6x2G) of OCZ Plat 1600 and an i7 920 on a Giagbyte UD5; timings, speed, etc all chugging along at proper numbers via "auto" on my board. Maybe I am lucky? (verified in W7x64 with CPUz and other utilities, not simply going by BIOS or Win reports). I bought that RAM for the great timing numbers, user reports, and went 1600 since music DAW builders I trust stated that 1600 RAM was THE choice for an audio DAW; no higher, no lower. Since it ran properly via Auto setting(s), I *assumed* I chose well/properly.

Cannot speak for any other RAM or board choices...

you are not lucky. you just are not runnin' PTLE. those 'AUTO' settings would bring only a lotta swearin' from you if you cranked up PTLE again. be thankful you are on C5:eek::D

nikki-k
01-01-2010, 12:07 PM
you are not lucky. you just are not runnin' PTLE. those 'AUTO' settings would bring only a lotta swearin' from you if you cranked up PTLE again. be thankful you are on C5:eek::D
Seriously??? lol!!! THAT is seriously retarded. Is it PT not liking that "Auto" setting in the BIOS? I did not think an app had BIOS level access, just the OS.

mykhal c
01-01-2010, 12:34 PM
Seriously??? lol!!! THAT is seriously retarded. Is it PT not liking that "Auto" setting in the BIOS? I did not think an app had BIOS level access, just the OS.

it's the price of 'real-time' sample processin'!!! other DAWs just don't do it...as i know you know. ;) the cpu loads are just soooooooo different between PT and every other DAW. once that load shows itself ALL things have to be in sync for PTLE to run properly. and incorrect (or AUTO) ram freq and timings seem to cause many and most of the headaches with the i7 builds. chances are if you are runnin' at AUTO settings you are not runnin' at your ram specs. but defaultin' to specs that ensure a successful boot. all the while C5 could care less;)

nikki-k
01-01-2010, 05:43 PM
it's the price of 'real-time' sample processin'!!! other DAWs just don't do it...as i know you know. ;) the cpu loads are just soooooooo different between PT and every other DAW. once that load shows itself ALL things have to be in sync for PTLE to run properly. and incorrect (or AUTO) ram freq and timings seem to cause many and most of the headaches with the i7 builds. chances are if you are runnin' at AUTO settings you are not runnin' at your ram specs. but defaultin' to specs that ensure a successful boot. all the while C5 could care less;)
Ahhh! See, this is where I got confused. When I spec'd out my build, I was really careful, and selected pieces known to work together. The UD5 and OCZ Plat 1600 "get along." So, when set manually or set to "Auto" in the BIOS, same numbers. IOW- for some reason, that board "sees" that specific RAM correctly. I will usually manually assign stuff so as to avoid variables, especially ones that will alter during use (such as the evil EIST, C1 Halt, etc). "Turbo" mode(s) = no go for me as well, as I do NOT want things to change; I never changed the Auto setting for my RAM as it assigned properly, which I verified with CPUz and two other utilities. Since the RAM set properly, I saw no reason to hit the BIOS and manually assign things. Lazy me, I guess I could... just to be 101% sure ;)

What is interesting is checking the CPU; seen A LOT of folks who left it to chance and used turbo and other things. A simple run of CPUz or other quality utilities will show the CPU throttling back BELOW spec, usually as an "energy saving" feature. No can do- audio apps HAVE to have a solid foundation. And leaving the RAM at Auto for me seems contradictory to that, but as I said- so far, every check has it golden. Part of me is waiting for that magic day when it fails to set properly I guess- lol!

Draulym
01-02-2010, 12:38 PM
Anybody got a recommendation for a video card (2 screen would be good)??? Cheers!

mykhal c
01-02-2010, 12:54 PM
Ahhh! See, this is where I got confused. When I spec'd out my build, I was really careful, and selected pieces known to work together. The UD5 and OCZ Plat 1600 "get along." So, when set manually or set to "Auto" in the BIOS, same numbers. IOW- for some reason, that board "sees" that specific RAM correctly. I will usually manually assign stuff so as to avoid variables, especially ones that will alter during use (such as the evil EIST, C1 Halt, etc). "Turbo" mode(s) = no go for me as well, as I do NOT want things to change; I never changed the Auto setting for my RAM as it assigned properly, which I verified with CPUz and two other utilities. Since the RAM set properly, I saw no reason to hit the BIOS and manually assign things. Lazy me, I guess I could... just to be 101% sure ;)

What is interesting is checking the CPU; seen A LOT of folks who left it to chance and used turbo and other things. A simple run of CPUz or other quality utilities will show the CPU throttling back BELOW spec, usually as an "energy saving" feature. No can do- audio apps HAVE to have a solid foundation. And leaving the RAM at Auto for me seems contradictory to that, but as I said- so far, every check has it golden. Part of me is waiting for that magic day when it fails to set properly I guess- lol!

i haven't looked at the OCZ Platinum ram specs but 'maybe' one of the reasons your AUTO settings default to its' actual specs is 'maybe' your ram does not actually OC to get to the 1600 freq and timings. a lot of the dimms these days seem to have base settings that are actually lower that its' suggested specs. so one has to really OC them to set the specs...tho they don't call it OC'g. if your XMP #1 profile is the 1600 settings then 'to me' that kinda supports my theory. if not then...:confused::o:D

nikki-k
01-02-2010, 12:59 PM
ahhh again.. yeah, actual, not OC. Was careful ;)

Draulym
01-05-2010, 03:42 PM
Anybody got a recommendation for a video card (2 screen would be good)??? Cheers!

Anyone???

Keybeeetsss
01-05-2010, 03:58 PM
Anyone???
Don't take this sourly but we've spoken about vid cards so much around here that that may be the reason ur post went unanswered; we all mostly have our builds in cluding vid cards on the 1st page; the cheaper less memory ones are just as good especially for runnin PT...

Draulym
01-05-2010, 04:10 PM
Don't take this sourly but we've spoken about vid cards so much around here that that may be the reason ur post went unanswered; we all mostly have our builds in cluding vid cards on the 1st page; the cheaper less memory ones are just as good especially for runnin PT...

Just call me Mr Lemon :eek: - checked the 1st page again & saw the video cards in the various specs... shoulda looked closer the 1st time :( .... cheers Keys

Keybeeetsss
01-05-2010, 04:14 PM
Just call me Mr Lemon :eek: - checked the 1st page again & saw the video cards in the various specs... shoulda looked closer the 1st time :( .... cheers Keys
;) No prob Mr. Lemon ;)


(now u know I will forever call u that now:eek:)
:D

Draulym
01-05-2010, 04:28 PM
;) No prob Mr. Lemon ;)


(now u know I will forever call u that now:eek:)
:D


:p:D

joelfarr
01-06-2010, 10:09 AM
Ok Mykhal c, guitardom, philp888, keybeeetsss, spkguitar and anyone else whose done a build. I am in desperate need of your help.

I just put together my first build. My specs are almost identical to guitardoms, the only differences are the ram is ocz xmp (6GB) 1600 8-8-8-8-24, my psu is a corsair 620w (i7 compatible), my video card is a HIS 4650 HD 512 mb ddr2, and i have a samsung blu-ray/dvd drive. I also have 3 HDD all WD black, 7200 and 32 mb cache. 1 for the OS, 1 for tracking, 1 for VI samples.

I have read through this thread like six times reviewing all the information for optimal performance, and have followed directions to a T... (updating to correct bios etc.) especially from the first page. I have run the dverb test using the new dverb and can get roughly 250 dverbs at 1024 with all stock settings except for the ram is in Profile 1 to bump it up to 1600, and i have disabled the necessary parameters (i.e. c1/c3/c6, Eist, etc.)

I am now getting the -9128 error as well as the -9094 error during playback of an older session, that should be totally fine. It's only about ten tracks with very little plug-ins on them. My CPU usage is only around 20-23%. The funny thing is, i will get the error in only one spot of the song, and it's the EXACT SAME SPOT every time! It's right at a spot where a couple tracks drop out, with a couple quick fades on them. THIS SHOULD NOT BE CAUSING A PROBLEM! please help me figure this out! The other thing I should mention is it was stopping and giving me the same error in the same spot even when I was playing it back on my macbook. The session is at 88.2 and 24bit and it does not matter what buffer settings I choose, it will give me the error in the same spot every time. The odd thing, however, is when i import the session into a 24 bit 44.1 session it will play through fine at 1024. could 88.2 24 bit sessions be the problem? even then however, it should still be just fine with just 10 audio tracks on an i7. Like i said my cpu usage is only around 23%. The fact that it will do this on both my macbook core 2 duo and my i7 troubles me....there has got to be a common denominator?

I have run the latency checker to see if anything is spiking and nothing is. The system is running really stable as far as load times and other performance.

Could it be that my sata drives are set to IDE in the bios and not AHCI? I read somewhere in this forum that u should use IDE, therefore I did, but I'm starting to question things like that. I have tried running the session from an array of different drives (all 7200 and 32mb cache) still the same error in the same place. I just find it really weird that no matter what computer, drive, etc I get the same error in the same part of the song. I am so frustrated, i bought this system to get rid of these stupid buffer errors! Please help guys, I would really appreciate it. I know you guys have been helping people left and right (enough for a full time job) but I promise to help others and lighten the load if you can help me.

p.s. I am using pro tools 8.0.3, on a fresh install of xp pro sp3. Also using a 002R Thank you guys in advance!

Third Eye Studios
01-06-2010, 10:24 AM
am now getting the -9128 error as well as the -9094 error during playback of an older session, that should be totally fine. It's only about ten tracks with very little plug-ins on them. My CPU usage is only around 20-23%. The funny thing is, i will get the error in only one spot of the song, and it's the EXACT SAME SPOT every time! It's right at a spot where a couple tracks drop out, with a couple quick fades on them. THIS SHOULD NOT BE CAUSING A PROBLEM! please help me figure this out! The other thing I should mention is it was stopping and giving me the same error in the same spot even when I was playing it back on my macbook. The session is at 88.2 and 24bit and it does not matter what buffer settings I choose, it will give me the error in the same spot every time. The odd thing, however, is when i import the session into a 24 bit 44.1 session it will play through fine at 1024. could 88.2 24 bit sessions be the problem? even then however, it should still be just fine with just 10 audio tracks on an i7. Like i said my cpu usage is only around 23%. The fact that it will do this on both my macbook core 2 duo and my i7 troubles me....there has got to be a common denominator?
Can you consolidate the tracks to see if it will playback? I've had this same thing happen to me on an older syatem and consolidating the tracks helped.

joelfarr
01-06-2010, 10:29 AM
Can you consolidate the tracks to see if it will playback? I've had this same thing happen to me on an older syatem and consolidating the tracks helped.

I did that, and it will now playback at 1024, however with only 10 audio tracks and minimal plug-ins, shouldn't this be playing back without a glitch at 128? any why in the world did a simple consolidation make that big of a difference?

mykhal c
01-06-2010, 10:34 AM
Ok Mykhal c, guitardom, philp888, keybeeetsss, spkguitar and anyone else whose done a build. I am in desperate need of your help.

I just put together my first build. My specs are almost identical to guitardoms, the only differences are the ram is ocz xmp (6GB) 1600 8-8-8-8-24, my psu is a corsair 620w (i7 compatible), my video card is a HIS 4650 HD 512 mb ddr2, and i have a samsung blu-ray/dvd drive. I also have 3 HDD all WD black, 7200 and 32 mb cache. 1 for the OS, 1 for tracking, 1 for VI samples.

I have read through this thread like six times reviewing all the information for optimal performance, and have followed directions to a T... (updating to correct bios etc.) especially from the first page. I have run the dverb test using the new dverb and can get roughly 250 dverbs at 1024 with all stock settings except for the ram is in Profile 1 to bump it up to 1600, and i have disabled the necessary parameters (i.e. c1/c3/c6, Eist, etc.)

I am now getting the -9128 error as well as the -9094 error during playback of an older session, that should be totally fine. It's only about ten tracks with very little plug-ins on them. My CPU usage is only around 20-23%. The funny thing is, i will get the error in only one spot of the song, and it's the EXACT SAME SPOT every time! It's right at a spot where a couple tracks drop out, with a couple quick fades on them. THIS SHOULD NOT BE CAUSING A PROBLEM! please help me figure this out! The other thing I should mention is it was stopping and giving me the same error in the same spot even when I was playing it back on my macbook. The session is at 88.2 and 24bit and it does not matter what buffer settings I choose, it will give me the error in the same spot every time. The odd thing, however, is when i import the session into a 24 bit 44.1 session it will play through fine at 1024. could 88.2 24 bit sessions be the problem? even then however, it should still be just fine with just 10 audio tracks on an i7. Like i said my cpu usage is only around 23%. The fact that it will do this on both my macbook core 2 duo and my i7 troubles me....there has got to be a common denominator?

I have run the latency checker to see if anything is spiking and nothing is. The system is running really stable as far as load times and other performance.

Could it be that my sata drives are set to IDE in the bios and not AHCI? I read somewhere in this forum that u should use IDE, therefore I did, but I'm starting to question things like that. I have tried running the session from an array of different drives (all 7200 and 32mb cache) still the same error in the same place. I just find it really weird that no matter what computer, drive, etc I get the same error in the same part of the song. I am so frustrated, i bought this system to get rid of these stupid buffer errors! Please help guys, I would really appreciate it. I know you guys have been helping people left and right (enough for a full time job) but I promise to help others and lighten the load if you can help me.

p.s. I am using pro tools 8.0.3, on a fresh install of xp pro sp3. Also using a 002R Thank you guys in advance!

to me this says your session 'might' be too fragmented. that's what i'd look at. seems like you done everythin' that should ensure a smooth runnin' system tho. fragmentation along with the fact that your session is at 24/88 might be producin' the unwanted errors. as i'm sure you know runnin' at 88.2 does put a lot more work on your hdds. and IDE vs AHCI should not make a difference...yet. also make sure you did not leave any jumpers on your hdds from your build.

joelfarr
01-06-2010, 10:51 AM
to me this says your session 'might' be too fragmented. that's what i'd look at. seems like you done everythin' that should ensure a smooth runnin' system tho. fragmentation along with the fact that your session is at 24/88 might be producin' the unwanted errors. as i'm sure you know runnin' at 88.2 does put a lot more work on your hdds. and IDE vs AHCI should not make a difference...yet. also make sure you did not leave any jumpers on your hdds from your build.

Fragmentation as in the tracks are too fragmented? The consolidation worked for a little while, but now i'm back with the 9128 error. :(

Does running at 88.2 really put that much more on them though? enough to bog down an i7 with only ten tracks of audio?

also, could it be my waves plug-ins doin this? I mostly use the ssl 4000 collection.

I looked at the hard drives....cant see any jumpers anywhere, would they be at the back by the sata ports?

also, (sorry got one more for ya :) ) isn't it true that it's better to record at 44.1 and 24 bit as opposed to 48/24 when your final medium is at 44.1?

mykhal c
01-06-2010, 11:01 AM
Fragmentation as in the tracks are too fragmented?

yes

Does running at 88.2 really put that much more on them though?

absolutely puts more I/O on the hdds

enough to bog down an i7 with only ten tracks of audio?

yes. if there is a lot of fragmentation


also, could it be my waves plug-ins doin this? I most use the ssl 4000 collection.

should NOT be the cause

I looked at the hard drives....can see any jumpers anywhere, would they be at the back by the sata ports?

jumpers would be on the back. if jumpers are there it means hdds are runnin' at SATA I and not SATA II speed...half the maximum thru-put.

also, (sorry got one more for ya :) ) isn't it true that it's better to record at 44.1 and 24 bit as opposed to 48/24 when your final medium is at 44.1?

some say it makes the dithering process more accurate. personally i record at 24/48 all the time.

joelfarr
01-06-2010, 11:09 AM
Thanks for the info... I can't see any jumpers on the back so I think I'm good there...is there a way to tell in windows if you're running sata II?

If it's NOT my plug-ins then why does taking them off solve the problem?

I guess it is just the fact that I'm running 88/24.... disappointing though...i'd expect the i7 to pull through on this one, but it makes sense that it's really not the i7 it's my HDD's not bein able to keep up eh?

Thanks for all your help man, it's much appreciated!

mykhal c
01-06-2010, 11:19 AM
Thanks for the info... I can't see any jumpers on the back so I think I'm good there...is there a way to tell in windows if you're running sata II?

SANDRA

I guess it is just the fact that I'm running 88/24.... disappointing though...i'd expect the i7 to pull through on this one, but it makes sense that it's really not the i7 it's my HDD's not bein able to keep up eh?



check this program out... Defraggler (http://www.piriform.com/defraggler) it allows you to defrag at the file level, if you choose. i know DIGI does not recommend defragging utilities...but if nothin' else you can view your fragmentation and decide which is the best way for you to handle it.

joelfarr
01-06-2010, 11:36 AM
Update;

I recently started a new session running at 48/24.... I imported all the session data from the session giving me problems at 88/24. ITS DOING THE EXACT SAME THING! buffer errors in the exact same part of the song..... ARGG! so frustrating....any other ideas people??

mykhal c
01-06-2010, 11:43 AM
Update;

I recently started a new session running at 48/24.... I imported all the session data from the session giving me problems at 88/24. ITS DOING THE EXACT SAME THING! buffer errors in the exact same part of the song..... ARGG! so frustrating....any other ideas people??

do you have 'copy on import' enabled?? if not then you are usin' the same audio files.

Third Eye Studios
01-06-2010, 11:45 AM
Corrupt fade? Is the error happening with the regions consolidated also?

joelfarr
01-06-2010, 11:59 AM
Corrupt fade? Is the error happening with the regions consolidated also?

yes the error is happening with the regions consolidated.... and yes my copy on import is enabled....

Keybeeetsss
01-06-2010, 12:10 PM
yes the error is happening with the regions consolidated.... and yes my copy on import is enabled....
Is it just happenin on this 1 session? if so then the session is the prob & it won't be much a fix other than tryin to open a backup maybe & seeing what u get from that...

Gordabega
01-06-2010, 12:55 PM
Hey everyone. Sorry joel for hijacking, just wanted to say hi. i have tossed around many different ideas over the past year or so regarding my need for a new computer. I thought of a mac, i thought of buying a new PC, and finally pujlled the trigger and bought a case for a new computer, meaning i'll have to build it. crap or get off the toilet, as momma used to say.

i am loving everything i have read thus far, and will definitely be taking suggestions from page 1 of this thread. my question is this: currently, i am running XP home SP 3 on my Gateway 5028+ (i ditched XP MCE that came with the computer). should i stick with XP home, or should i pick up a new OS for the new build?

i have been waiting to hear is windows 7 is supported by digi, but i haven't heard a confirmation yet. i will not go to vista, since 7 is out, so i'll either stick with XP or switch to 7. but then, if i stay with XP that i'm proficient at, do i make the move to XP Pro?

sorry if this is a bad place for this, i apologize. thanks for any help, and thanks for this thread! since i am one of the nation's unemployed, it's going to be a while before i get this monster built. this thread is getting bookmarked! (it should, i spent all day reading it!)

guitardom
01-06-2010, 03:13 PM
yes the error is happening with the regions consolidated.... and yes my copy on import is enabled....

i have had luck deleting all the databases, prefs, app data, rename the session file and restart the machine. will not work all the time but has saved me before. also as soon as the session is fired up i would be making ALL the plugins inactive.

but the fragmentation issue is quite important and should also have about 15-20% of your hard drive free at all times.

to defrag, copy all your data off your recording drive to another hard drive, then do a quick format on the drive, then copy all your data back to it. not a defrag really but the only safe way to do it. DO NOT RUN A DEFRAG UTILITY ON YOUR AUDIO DRIVE.

guitardom
01-06-2010, 03:16 PM
Update;

I recently started a new session running at 48/24.... I imported all the session data from the session giving me problems at 88/24. ITS DOING THE EXACT SAME THING! buffer errors in the exact same part of the song..... ARGG! so frustrating....any other ideas people??

i would also try::

start w a save session as.

then start deleting the audio about 10-15 sec before and after the problem spot 1 track at a time, playing back and trying it again. see if you can narrow it down. if you can revert back to your old session and try to resolve the issue there.

Ludia
01-07-2010, 02:53 AM
Hi all,

I figured out (finally :o) why I couldn't get my ram running higher then 1333Mhz. It was due to the uncore multiplier in the BIOS. The value for this setting needs to be at least twice the value of the RAM multiplier.

So what I done next was setting the uncore multiplier to 24 and the RAM multiplier to 12. The RAM voltage to 1.64 and I got 1600 with full mem usage in Windows (previously it told me only 10 of the 12 GB was available).

Then I got a little ambixous (this is probably mis-spelled :p). I changed my bClk to 144 and the core multiplier to 24. The vCore voltage is set to 1.248. I got my system running now with cpu at 3456 Mhz and the RAM at 1728Mhz. Idle it gets as low as 35C and at full stress 68C with ambient temp of 22C on aircooling.

Not that I wanted it to become a OC post, but I'm just so happy now that I didn't buy my 12GB of 1866Mhz mem sticks for nothing.

Now I still have a little question though because I was also struggling with my HDD SATA II drives. Mykhal was giving me some suggestions previously on this and I decided to get me some new SATA cables. I can see a little improvement there but I'm still in doubt if this is correct. I did a test with a large (18GB) mkv file to copy from one physical drive to the other and it gave a tranfer rate of 118 Mbyte/Sec. Is this reasonable, average or below average??:confused: Thing is that sandra confuses me quite a bit here. When looking in Mainboard overview it says this ....

Disk Controller
Model : Giga-Byte 4 port SATA IDE Controller
OEM Device Name : Intel 4 port SATA IDE Controller
Interface : SATA
Revision : A1
Maximum SATA Mode : G2 / SATA300
RAID Support : Yes
RAID Enabled : No
Channels : 4
In Use Channels : 3
Port : G1 / SATA150
Port : G1 / SATA150
Port : G1 / SATA150

And when looking in Physical disk overview, it says this....

Transfer Modes Support
I/O Queue Depth : 32
Block Size : 16
Maximum SATA Mode : G2 / SATA300
Transfer Modes Active
Current Block Transfer : 16
Current SATA Mode : G2 / SATA300


The two above readings are confusing me quite a bit here.
As talked about with Mykhal before, there are no jumpers set on the disk forcing it to run at SATA I.

PS: Another dverb test will follow soon.;)

YAAYYY... got 325 dverbs now

mykhal c
01-07-2010, 12:36 PM
sometimes these tools or the versions of the tools 'might' not be up-to-date on the systems bein' used on. that could be the reason for different readings for the same component. all that to say check out this... LAVALYS (http://www.lavalys.com/products.php?ps=UE&lang=en&page=1) it's what i used to test my quad build when i was settin' it up for an OC. worth a look;) glad you got your ram dialed in. surprised you had to do all that to get all of your ram recognized tho.:confused:

joelfarr
01-08-2010, 09:06 AM
I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for their suggestions! Did most of them and haven't really solved my issue but magically the session will now play at a buffer setting of 1024. Do you guys do all your mixing at 1024 or are you all still fine mixing at a buffer of 64? If you all are still fine at 64 then I still have an issue for sure....

Keybeeetsss
01-08-2010, 09:16 AM
64 for me always; if its toooo intense I bump to 128 when mixing...

mykhal c
01-08-2010, 09:38 AM
I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for their suggestions! Did most of them and haven't really solved my issue but magically the session will now play at a buffer setting of 1024. Do you guys do all your mixing at 1024 or are you all still fine mixing at a buffer of 64? If you all are still fine at 64 then I still have an issue for sure....

everytime i've seen this kinda issue with the i7's is when ram freq and timings are not set correctly.:confused:

Keybeeetsss
01-08-2010, 09:46 AM
Hey MC I know u rarely check the other sections but can u check the general discussion section for ur guy;)

mykhal c
01-08-2010, 10:01 AM
Hey MC I know u rarely check the other sections but can u check the general discussion section for ur guy;)

i left the 'hood only 'cause you were in the other section!!!:D CONGRATS brah!!! is that pic from your studio??

Keybeeetsss
01-08-2010, 10:51 AM
i left the 'hood only 'cause you were in the other section!!!:D CONGRATS brah!!! is that pic from your studio??
Yeahppp; portion of it I guess;)

Ludia
01-08-2010, 10:20 PM
I want say thanks to all, and specially Mykhal, for giving me tips and pointing into the right directions to get my issues solved. This is highly appreciated guys :-). I got my ram steady as it goes. Turned out my disks are even performing better then advertised (took me a little time to find out if they were running indeed sata300, the tip to check everest was great).

Everything in the system runs smoothly and blazing fast. PT 8.0.3 is absolutely greatly running. (small excitment here on what digi has to show at NAMM though:p)

I'm as happy as a kid in a chocolate factory.

Thanks again for all the effort and the patience. Kudoooosssss

mykhal c
01-08-2010, 10:38 PM
excellent!!:D:cool:

joelfarr
01-10-2010, 10:50 AM
So Ram timings are my potential problem then?

I'm sorry guys, I'm really a noob at all this, and I know nothing about ram timings....that is the whole reason I bought the XMP memory, so I could just set it to the profile setting and not worry about it....could this profile setting be my issue? Do I have to go in and manually do it still? If so, I need some help to do this... It would be incredibly helpful! Thank you again, everyone!