i7 Builds - Specs and Results

[Boneraw]

Originally Posted by mano111

The X-fanless ones are great but they are somewhat of a specialty item. I'd go with the X-560.
Quadro FX is a good card no doubt. I still think somthing in the range of GT210 or GT430 would be plenty for just PT9. ATI works. I don't know why Avid says Nv (maybe a secret deal?)

Sandy Bridge platform and 1155 motherboards is still up in the air. There are not enough builds to make a recommendation. I'm using an Intel motherboard. Asus P67 Pro and above boards look great but who knows?. I had a Giga at first and didn't like it, but a friend just did a build with it and he loves it. At this stage its all rumors.

Don't build using P67 if your not willing to test it out and see for yourself. X58 is still a great & well tested platform.

Then there is the SATA bug thing so my advice is - if you do want to go P67+i7 2600K, wait at least a few weeks until the B3 stepping motherboards become available (with the fixed chipsets). Current B2 offerings are supposed to be flaued.

OKey, I just bought an Nvidia Fx 580 for under 100 bucks, got a good deal. (theyr usually around 180 bucks here in Norway) So ill hope that will work well! (You never know, -secret deals are everywhere nowadays...)

This motherboard is actually the Rev 3.0 and it has an estimated delivery date here in Norway the 8 of march. I think i'm willing to try out this build with the new 1155 socket and I'm really excited to get started with music production again. Havent really done that for a year!
Thank you for great answers!

EDIT: One thing... and one more... haha
The SSD, an Intel X25 120. Do you guys got any others to recommend? i.e the Corsair F120 or some Crucial C300?

What about ram, do I need 16gb or is it enough with 8GB? I think im going for the CORSAIR 8GB DDR3 XMS3 VENGEANCE PC3-12800 1600MHZ CL8 (2X4GB) instead...

[zedhed]

Originally Posted by mano111

It depends on your motherboard. It either uses ECC or non ECC. What Motherboard do you have? I know standard non ECC DDR3 1600 is dirt cheap these days anyway.

I've got the choice of either MoBo, ECC or Non ECC at a great price. If there are no issues with ECC (are there any?) I'll probably go down that road. Thanks for your input Mano.

[donrey]

One more update

So I overclocked my system and was able to stabilize it. Currently I'm running 4.2ghz @ 1.375 (core voltage). I ran OCCT for 24 hours and 8 tests of memtest86 to verify stability. No issues at all. Core temp during the 24 hour test @ 100% load reached 76 degrees Celsius.

I conducted the Dverb test (PT 8.0.4 cs2). My results (XP Pro 32 and Win7 Pro 64 results were almost identical):
315 dverbs (maxxed out) @ 64 samples: system load at 78 - 82%
315 dverbs (maxxed out) @ 64 samples: system load ~ 71%

Highest temp during the 5 minute play back was 62 degrees Celsius. I'm posting all my info in hopes that it may help other builders as this thread helped me.

Cinebench Results: Open GL - 11.55; CPU - 7.24 (not bad at all)

My build (as stated a few days ago in the previous thread):

1) Asus P6X58D Premium
2) I7 950 @ 4.2
3) Noctua NH-D14
4) Kingston Hyper X 6GB @ 1600
5) PNY Quadro FX580
6) Lite On iHAS524
7) All HD's are SeaGate Barracudas @ 7200
8) Silverstone FT02 Case
9) ADS Pyro PCI 64R2 firewire card (digi approved, I returned the Lacie card)
10) Mbox 2 Pro
11) Windows 7 64 Pro and Windows XP 32 Pro

My 4.2, stable overclock settings:
CPU Ratio Setting: [21.0]
BCLK Frequency: [200]
PCIE Frequency: [100]
DRam Frequency: [DDR3-1603MHz]
UCLK Frequency: [3208MHz]

DRAM Timing: 9-9-9-27

CPU Voltage: [1.37500]
QPI/DRAM Core Voltage: [1.2065]
IOH Voltage: [1.10]

DRAM Bus Voltage: [1.65] **make sure you don't go over this according to intel i7 specs.

CPU Spread Spectrum: [Disabled]
PCIE Spread Spectrum: [Disabled]

HyperThreading is on

Everything else is set to the default

[mykhal c]

Originally Posted by donrey

One more update

So I overclocked my system and was able to stabilize it. Currently I'm running 4.2ghz @ 1.375 (core voltage). I ran OCCT for 24 hours and 8 tests of memtest86 to verify stability. No issues at all. Core temp during the 24 hour test @ 100% load reached 76 degrees Celsius.

I conducted the Dverb test (PT 8.0.4 cs2). My results (XP Pro 32 and Win7 Pro 64 results were almost identical):
315 dverbs (maxxed out) @ 64 samples: system load at 78 - 82%
315 dverbs (maxxed out) @ 64 samples: system load ~ 71%

Highest temp during the 5 minute play back was 62 degrees Celsius. I'm posting all my info in hopes that it may help other builders as this thread helped me.

My build (as stated a few days ago in the previous thread):

1) Asus P6X58D Premium
2) I7 950 @ 4.2
3) Noctua NH-D14
4) Kingston Hyper X 6GB @ 1600
5) PNY Quadro FX580
6) Lite On iHAS524
7) All HD's are SeaGate Barracudas @ 7200
8) Silverstone FT02 Case
9) ADS Pyro PCI 64R2 firewire card (digi approved, I returned the Lacie card)
10) Mbox 2 Pro
11) Windows 7 64 Pro and Windows XP 32 Pro

My 4.2, stable overclock settings:
CPU Ratio Setting: [21.0]
BCLK Frequency: [200]
PCIE Frequency: [100]
DRam Frequency: [DDR3-1603MHz]
UCLK Frequency: [3208MHz]

DRAM Timing: 9-9-9-27

CPU Voltage: [1.37500]
QPI/DRAM Core Voltage: [1.2065]
IOH Voltage: [1.10]

DRAM Bus Voltage: [1.65] **make sure you don't go over this according to intel i7 specs.

CPU Spread Spectrum: [Disabled]
PCIE Spread Spectrum: [Disabled]

Everything else is set to the default

thanks for postin' your results!!! do you have HT on or off? thanks

[donrey]

Originally Posted by mykhal c

thanks for postin' your results!!! do you have HT on or off? thanks

HT on.

[tuvanH]

Thanks Donrey for posting your results. I am waiting to oc my 950 also. I had ordered the Noctua but it didn't fit in my Gigabyte X58A-UD3R with the Kingston hyper X with its huge heatsinks. Bought the Corsair H50, haven't put it in yet. With the stock cooler I can't even go up to 3.6 b/c my temps reach 90+ using prime95 within the first 5 min. I like the 315 @ 64. I wanna get close to that number.
Mano I'm still tinkering with the system. I've been following the suggestions on the clunk.org's oc thread so far for the ram settings etc..

[donrey]

Originally Posted by tuvanH

Thanks Donrey for posting your results. I am waiting to oc my 950 also. I had ordered the Noctua but it didn't fit in my Gigabyte X58A-UD3R with the Kingston hyper X with its huge heatsinks. Bought the Corsair H50, haven't put it in yet. With the stock cooler I can't even go up to 3.6 b/c my temps reach 90+ using prime95 within the first 5 min. I like the 315 @ 64. I wanna get close to that number.
Mano I'm still tinkering with the system. I've been following the suggestions on the clunk.org's oc thread so far for the ram settings etc..

FYI. I used this method to get to my component's threshold: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wWC7XA8Mtk

It's pretty straight forward. Initially I used the Auto setting for the Core Voltage values and my temps were ~80 degrees celsius @ 1.4 v (that's what cpu-z read in windows 7 when auto was specified). Playing around with the core voltage I reached the current numbers which lowered the temps significantly. As stated now at 100% load for hours I only reach mid 70's.

I also, I ended up purchasing the HyperX without the big heatsinks for that same reason. I have seen some videos where people mount the noctua vertically and use the big sinks.

Good luck!

[jauk]

Hello- I have been reading this forum for awhile now. I am on the threshold of building a new machine. The last one I built from specs outlined here and it was rock solid.

So I am looking at this to build:

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R (rev.1 or 2) ($189 after rebate)

Processor: Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz ($200)

RAM: CORSAIR XMS 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 ($129)/ Corsair CMD12GX3M6A1600C8 12GB/
6GB Patriot DDR3

Power Supply: CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-650TX 650W

i7 heatsink: COOLER MASTER Hyper N 520 or
Noctua NH-D14 CPU cooler

Western Digital Sata drives 32mb cache

I would like to go Windows 7 but is it best to go 32 bit or 64 bit?

I will be using the 002 interface which connects via firewire.

Any thoughts, questions, concerns?

Thanks so much-

[remis]

Originally Posted by jauk

Hello- I have been reading this forum for awhile now. I am on the threshold of building a new machine. The last one I built from specs outlined here and it was rock solid.

So I am looking at this to build:

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R (rev.1 or 2) ($189 after rebate)

Processor: Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz ($200)

RAM: CORSAIR XMS 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 ($129)/ Corsair CMD12GX3M6A1600C8 12GB/
6GB Patriot DDR3

Power Supply: CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-650TX 650W

i7 heatsink: COOLER MASTER Hyper N 520 or
Noctua NH-D14 CPU cooler

Western Digital Sata drives 32mb cache

I would like to go Windows 7 but is it best to go 32 bit or 64 bit?

I will be using the 002 interface which connects via firewire.

Any thoughts, questions, concerns?

Thanks so much-

Looks like a solid build. Personally, I'd go with the Noctua NH-D14 CPU cooler (and as you can see from my sig, I DID go with it). Nothing but great performance over here. Got my i7 950 OC'd at 3.8GHz with 12GB of C8 1600MHz RAM and at 100% load during stress test core temps don't reach past low 70's, which I'm pretty darn happy with for an air cooler

I'd also say to go with 64-bit W7, as you're more future proof that way. PT will eventually jump on the 64-bit bandwagon, so best to be prepared eh? Plus then you can dump a bucket load of RAM in that bad boy

[jauk]

Thanks so much, remis, for the reply. I appreciate the tips as well. I will seek out the Noctua NH-D14 CPU cooler. Sounds like a good one.

So as far as 64 bit W7 there is no issue with the connection of the 002 being firewire? That would be great!

Are you using any special OC settings?

Also, is there a B I G performance difference with OC'ing?

Thanks again for your time and all the help.