i7 Builds - Specs and Results

[Shan]

Originally Posted by Mark Madness

So yeah if anyone could give me any direction of what kind of specs I should aim for to have a powerful enough PC.

The first two posts of this thread have all the info.

Shane

[The Weed]

Or get in touch with guitardom for a custom build.

Cheers,

[WKG]

Anybody bothering to run the Dverb2 test anymore? Just curious if it's still a relevant benchmarking tool with PT11 etc.

[Shan]

Originally Posted by WKG

Anybody bothering to run the Dverb2 test anymore? Just curious if it's still a relevant benchmarking tool with PT11 etc.

It's more relevant than ever for finding issues. And the results with a bit of history. PT 11 needs to run the Dverb 3 test, which adds disabling Dynamic Plug-in Processing during the test...or maybe that should be called the Dverb 2.5 test.

Shane

[zedhed]

Originally Posted by tatothekid426

There are six SATA 6GB/s on the Asus Sabertooth X79 - two provided by the Intel X79 chipset and four by the Marvell 9128 SATA Controller. I just bought a Samsung 840 Pro 256 GB for OS, Pro Tools, etc but I’m not sure which of the ports above would be the best option for connecting it. Can someone point me to the right direction on this subject?

If haven't done so already, make sure you download and install the 'Samsung Magician' software to tune the SSD/OS to get best performance.

[spenner]

Hi everyone,

My i7-930 finally kicked the bucket after several years of great use. Here are the new build and Dverb test results:

i7-4790K LGA 1150 w/stock cooler, ASRock Z97 Extreme, 8 GB Corsair XMS 3 CMX6GX3M3C1600C7, onboard graphics via DVI, C: and Audio drives - WD RE4 WD5003ABYX 500GB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s, Cool Master HAF full tower - all case fans running (4 total), Win 7 64 bit SP1, Pro Tools 9.0, Dverb score - 24/48 session, playback engine 1024 buffer 8 processors, 83 tracks, 414 Dverbs.

Note: I performed the standard Avid optimizations and have not changed anything in the BIOS yet. The RAM is set to auto and running at 1333.

I am very please with how solid this setup is with PT, particularly using the onboard graphics. Not one glitch so far. The RAM and hard drives are old and from the previous build; will upgrade to SSD drives soon.

__________________________________________________ ________

Testing the new build with a mix done on the i7-930 - other than the new motherboard and processor, same components and Profire 2626 interface connected via a Texas Instruments Firewire PCIe card.

Just for the hek of it, on plugin inserts F-J, I added Waves SSL E Channel, Ozone 4 and Native Instrument's VC 2A on all audio tracks. Also, I placed 5 instantiations of both Guitar Rig 5 and Eleven LE on 5 inserts (and loaded random presets).

128 Buffer, 7 processors. Playback has been running for 20 minutes without a glitch. With session running, I have inserted plugins, tweaked parameters, etc. No glitches so far.

[Escape]

Spenner thank you so much for posting this.I will go the 1150 z97 route at the next 1-2 months.One question though can you tell me your cpu temps running the dverb test after 20 minutes,also did you max out the cpu when doing the test?Thank you

[spenner]

Originally Posted by Escape

Spenner thank you so much for posting this.I will go the 1150 z97 route at the next 1-2 months.

You're welcome. The combo is definitely working for me.

One question though can you tell me your cpu temps running the dverb test

1) The photo posted above (with a ton of plugins added to a normal session for testing purposes only), and 2) the Dverb score posted above... Core Temp gave max readings of 76°C and 84°C respectively. I absolutely do not run anything (real world) close to those sessions! Still, I will add a 3rd party cooler to keep temps as low as possible.

FWIW, my room temperature is 77°F. Today I mixed a 64 track session with automation and 50+ plugins - 128 buffer, 7 processors. Core Temp readings did not go over 55°C. Again, stock CPU cooler.

also did you max out the cpu when doing the test?

Playback, for the 5 minute Dverb 2.0 test, was interrupted for the first time after I reached 415 Dverbs; yes, CPU maxed out. Perhaps BIOS tweaks would have yielded a higher score. However, I wanted to test out of box with no BIOS tweaks to see how it would perform. I'm fine with 414 Dverbs!

The mix session (on the photo posted above) ran for 60 minutes non-stop on 128 buffer, 7 processors (I was only 20 minutes in when I posted yesterday). Several times in that time period, with session running, I removed and inserted plugins. Pro Tools 9.0 did not flinch.

Z97 mobo, no BIOS tweaks, onboard graphics, mixing on 128 buffer... I am waiting for PT to make a fuss, but it has not so far.

[Escape]

Thank you so much.I will add a noctua cooler probably.

[pianosound]

I've done something similar to spenner, check out my sig. I decided not to use the stock cooler, and chose the Enermax ETS-T40-TB CPU cooler, 35.00 at Newegg, (using a fanless GPU that runs 4 monitors, it really helps. Extremely quite and very cold! As for testing to this point, nothing huge but everything fast and responsive!! Love the new Haswell 4790K CPU (LGA 1150, 4.0). With the Samsung SSD its crazy fast!

Mike