i7 Builds - Specs and Results

[guitardom]

Originally Posted by vin7

Thanks mate, it's a site here in ireland
http://www.custompc.ie/?gclid=CPWA9_...FQWL2wodzfQHDQ

I picked from Intel 17 buissness PC

maybe you could put together a more suited PC for me on the site

Robin ships to Ireland. The entire machine will obviously be geared toward Pro Tools and come with quite a few perks.
www.pro-tools-pc.com

[remiscs]

Hello,

If I may ask, what x99 motherboard has the highest compatibility for the accessories you guys use in here? I have a high level of hardware understanding except I am not a pro tools user, instead am building a DAW system for someone who pointed me to this thread.

We were planning on using the asus x99-a but the firewire pci-e support is an interesting concern...although it may not be an issue for the person I am building for as they did not mention firewire was needed.

Please advise as my original recommendation was an asus x99-e ws usb3.1 but was a bit out of budget and the matx version would have limited the ram a bit.

Thanks

[Voide]

New system finally here, installing Pro tools...
Thanks again for all your help/advice.

[thebandwood]

Ok I had to share to help other builders, I have learned so much trying to get a stable system that would not freeze, and I finally did it using a i7 5960x, 64 GB ram. Here is my Sandra Report in case anyone would like to know. I think a big part of it too was upgrading from Pro Tools 10 to Pro Tools 12 because of plug ins running at 64 bit. ( I am not a computer geek, but somewhat knowledgeable ) So far I can run multi plug ins like Waves Butch Vig Vocals, Guitar rig 5, Studio Drummer, EZDrummer, Kontakt 5, Komplete Kontrol and multiple reverbs, delays ect. and so far I have had not even a hic up, it has been as stable as a rock. Also Pro Tools 12 has the new commit feature which quickly bounces down all the plug ins on one track to a new track to free up resources, but I haven't even had to do that yet. Here is my Sandra Report,

SiSoftware Sandra

ID
Host Name : WOOD-PC
Workgroup : WORKGROUP

Computer
Model : MSI MS-7885
Serial Number : To be fille***********
Chassis : MSI Desktop
Mainboard : MSI X99A SLI PLUS(MS-7885)
Serial Number : To be fille***********
BIOS : AMI (OEM) 1.80 03/20/2015
Intel vPro : 9.01.25.1005
Total Memory : 63.9GB DIMM DDR3 DDR4

Processors
Processor : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-5960X CPU @ 3.00GHz (8C 16T 3GHz, 3GHz IMC, 8x 256kB L2, 20MB L3)
Socket/Slot : FC LGA2011

Chipset
Memory Controller : MSI Xeon (Haswell-E) DMI2 100MHz
Memory Controller : Intel Xeon (Haswell-E) Integrated Memory Controller 0 Target Address, Thermal & RAS Registers 100MHz, 4x 16GB DIMM DDR3 DDR4 2.13GHz 256-bit
Memory Controller : Intel Xeon (Haswell-E) Integrated Memory Controller 1 Target Address, Thermal & RAS Registers 100MHz

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : G.Skill F4-2133C15-8GRR 8GB DDR4 PC4-17100U DDR4-2132 (15-15-15-36 4-52-17-6)
Memory Module : G.Skill F4-2133C15-8GRR 8GB DDR4 PC4-17100U DDR4-2132 (15-15-15-36 4-52-17-6)
Memory Module : G.Skill F4-2133C15-8GRR 8GB DDR4 PC4-17100U DDR4-2132 (15-15-15-36 4-52-17-6)
Memory Module : G.Skill F4-2133C15-8GRR 8GB DDR4 PC4-17100U DDR4-2132 (15-15-15-36 4-52-17-6)
Memory Module : G.Skill F4-2133C15-8GRR 8GB DDR4 PC4-17100U DDR4-2132 (15-15-15-36 4-52-17-6)
Memory Module : G.Skill F4-2133C15-8GRR 8GB DDR4 PC4-17100U DDR4-2132 (15-15-15-36 4-52-17-6)
Memory Module : G.Skill F4-2133C15-8GRR 8GB DDR4 PC4-17100U DDR4-2132 (15-15-15-36 4-52-17-6)
Memory Module : G.Skill F4-2133C15-8GRR 8GB DDR4 PC4-17100U DDR4-2132 (15-15-15-36 4-52-17-6)

Video System
Monitor/Panel : AOC International 2770Vh1
(1920x1080, 27.0")
Video Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 (8CU 1024SP SM5.0 1.18GHz/1.44GHz, 1MB L2, 2GB 7GHz 128-bit, PCIe 3.00 x16)

Graphics Processor
CUDA GP Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 (1024SP 8C 1.18GHz/1.44GHz, 1MB L2, 2GB 6GHz/7GHz 128-bit)
OpenCL GP Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 (1024SP 8C 1.18GHz/1.44GHz, 128kB L2, 2GB 6GHz/7GHz 128-bit)
Compute Shader Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 (1024SP 8C 1.18GHz/1.44GHz, 1MB L2, 2GB 6GHz/7GHz 128-bit)
OpenGL Processor : GeForce GTX 960/PCIe/SSE2 (2GB)

Storage Devices
SSD2SC480G1CS1754D117-514 (480.1GB, SATA600, SSD) : 447GB (E:)
Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB (250GB, SATA600, SSD, SED) : 233GB (C:)
WDC WD10EZEX-00BN5A0 (1TB, SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm) : 932GB (F:)
Patriot Memory (4.1GB, USB2) : 4GB (G:)
ASUS DRW-24F1ST c (2.6GB, SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 512kB Cache) : 2GB (D:)

Logical Storage Devices
Pro Tools (E:) : 447GB (NTFS, 4kB) @ SSD2SC480G1CS1754D117-514 (480.1GB, SATA600, SSD)
System Reserved : 100MB (NTFS, 4kB) @ Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB (250GB, SATA600, SSD, SED)
LIBRARY (F:) : 932GB (NTFS, 4kB) @ WDC WD10EZEX-00BN5A0 (1TB, SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm)
PATRIOT (G:) : 4GB (FAT32, 4kB) @ Patriot Memory (4.1GB, USB2)
Hard Disk (C:) : 233GB (NTFS, 4kB) @ Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB (250GB, SATA600, SSD, SED)
G71-MID2046 (D:) : 2GB (CDFS, 2kB, Read-Only) @ ASUS DRW-24F1ST c (2.6GB, SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 512kB Cache)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : MSI Wellsburg LPC Controller
Audio Device : MSI Wellsburg HD Audio Controller
Audio Codec : Realtek Semi High Definition Audio
Audio Device : MSI High Definition Audio Controller
Audio Codec : nVidia 0072
Disk Controller : MSI Wellsburg sSATA Controller [AHCI mode]
Disk Controller : MSI Wellsburg 6-Port SATA Controller [AHCI mode]
USB Controller 1 : MSI Wellsburg USB xHCI Host Controller
USB Controller 2 : MSI Wellsburg USB Enhanced Host Controller #2
USB Controller 3 : MSI Wellsburg USB Enhanced Host Controller #1
USB Controller 4 : MSI VL805 USB 3.0 Host Controller
USB Controller 5 : MSI ASM1142 USB 3.1 Host Controller
SMBus/i2c Controller 1 : Intel ICH SMBus
SMBus/i2c Controller 2 : Intel SNB/IVB/HSW-E XMB Ch 0 SMBus
SMBus/i2c Controller 3 : Intel SNB/IVB/HSW-E XMB Ch 1 SMBus

Printers and Faxes
Printer : Microsoft XPS Document Writer (600x600, Colour)
Fax : Microsoft Shared Fax Driver (200x200)
Printer : Canon MG5400 series Printer (Colour)

Peripherals
Media Player : Patriot Memory (3.82GB)

Network Services
Network Adapter : Intel(R) Ethernet Connection (2) I218-V (Ethernet, 100Mbps)

Operating System
Windows System : Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Media Center 6.01.7601 Service Pack 1
Platform Compliance : x64

[mesaone]

Wow, GTX 960 seems like a whole lot of graphics horsepower just for Pro Tools. If you're using Adobe stuff (Media Converter, Premiere, After Effects) let me know how the GPU acceleration works for you.

[zedhed]

Anyone tried the new Samsung 950 Pro?

Looks like a beast, might have to try one out! Luckily my Mobo has M2 capability

http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/ssd-pro

I haven't looked back to see if discussion has already been had around this drive so apologies if it has.

[chrisdee]

Originally Posted by zedhed

Anyone tried the new Samsung 950 Pro?

Unfortunately not yet.
But I'm probably getting this disk along with a I7-5960X cpu for my new PT rig sometime next year.

Originally Posted by zedhed

Looks like a beast

It shure does. 2500 MB/s read and 1500 MB/s write is impressive. It wasn't that long ago a disk with half the specs was 4 times as expensive as this.

[guitardom]

Originally Posted by zedhed

Anyone tried the new Samsung 950 Pro?

Looks like a beast, might have to try one out! Luckily my Mobo has M2 capability

http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/ssd-pro

I haven't looked back to see if discussion has already been had around this drive so apologies if it has.

Have one on order for a customer. I really cant imagine it being as impressive as going from an HHD to an SSD, but it will be cool to check out.

[Wall2Wall]

Originally Posted by chrisdee

It shure does. 2500 MB/s read and 1500 MB/s write is impressive. It wasn't that long ago a disk with half the specs was 4 times as expensive as this.

Is there another bottleneck in the system that will stop these drives from reaching these read/write times?

[guitardom]

Originally Posted by Wall2Wall

Is there another bottleneck in the system that will stop these drives from reaching these read/write times?

M.2 does use PCIe bandwidth. On systems where A lot of PCIe devices are used, the M.2 could be a problem or throttled from say a 4x slot to a 2x speed. Some motherboards will disable a specific PCIe slot when the M.2 is used as well. There is a lot of variables depending on the motherboard.