Best Core 2 Series Desktops-Results and Specs

[unclemonkey]

what version of protools? bios settings?

[sunburst79]

what version of protools? bios settings?

My board is BIOS version 404.

I pretty much install the OS at the BIOS factory defaults and tweak it later.

About the only thing you need to worry about is setting up your boot order. E.G. CD/DVD Drive and then your first boot HD drive.

Install Windows, Install all of your motherboard and video card drivers. Update Windows. Then If your smart you will use something like Nero Back it up or Acronis True Image and save a image of your entire partion will all of the Windows updates and Drivers. This will save you many headaches down the road.

[unclemonkey]

My board is BIOS version 404.

I pretty much install the OS at the BIOS factory defaults and tweak it later.

About the only thing you need to worry about is setting up your boot order. E.G. CD/DVD Drive and then your first boot HD drive.

Install Windows, Install all of your motherboard and video card drivers. Update Windows. Then If your smart you will use something like Nero Back it up or Acronis True Image and save a image of your entire partion will all of the Windows updates and Drivers. This will save you many headaches down the road.

I just did a Acronis True Image back up of xp activated only no drivers.

[TCM]

32*5 + 12*5 = 220 not 270. Right?

Well, I guess your math is right. I am not sure if I made a typo 12 instead of 22, or indeed there were only 12 auxes. My notes are a little messy, but I found one entry saying 235 Dverbs at 86% CPU load. Unfortunately I don't have the session anymore, as I gave the Computer back (was quite p$%!§" off) because:
- Ram was not running at 1066
- they put in the wrong system drive(only 8MB Cache instead of 16MB) which was not running on SATA
- the whole system not working well altogether

I hope the errors will be rectified by the end of this week, then I will run the tests again and hopefully be able to confirm 270 DVerbs.

I hope I don't have to install all my programs and plugins again. If not, will my rerunning the Dverb test be clouded because there are more than just the stock plugs in?

Thanks folks
Thomas

[sunburst79]

Well, I guess your math is right. I am not sure if I made a typo 12 instead of 22, or indeed there were only 12 auxes. My notes are a little messy, but I found one entry saying 235 Dverbs at 86% CPU load. Unfortunately I don't have the session anymore, as I gave the Computer back (was quite p$%!§" off) because:
- Ram was not running at 1066
- they put in the wrong system drive(only 8MB Cache instead of 16MB) which was not running on SATA
- the whole system not working well altogether

I hope the errors will be rectified by the end of this week, then I will run the tests again and hopefully be able to confirm 270 DVerbs.

I hope I don't have to install all my programs and plugins again. If not, will my rerunning the Dverb test be clouded because there are more than just the stock plugs in?

Thanks folks
Thomas

Its best to do it with just the Digirack plugs but I had loaded some third party plugs and don't think it changed anything. Sorry to hear that your system was not quite what it was supposed to be. Hopefully the computer shop will make it right for you.

[sunburst79]

Well, I guess your math is right. I am not sure if I made a typo 12 instead of 22, or indeed there were only 12 auxes. My notes are a little messy, but I found one entry saying 235 Dverbs at 86% CPU load. Unfortunately I don't have the session anymore, as I gave the Computer back (was quite p$%!§" off) because:
- Ram was not running at 1066
- they put in the wrong system drive(only 8MB Cache instead of 16MB) which was not running on SATA
- the whole system not working well altogether

I hope the errors will be rectified by the end of this week, then I will run the tests again and hopefully be able to confirm 270 DVerbs.

I hope I don't have to install all my programs and plugins again. If not, will my rerunning the Dverb test be clouded because there are more than just the stock plugs in?

Thanks folks
Thomas

Its best to do it with just the Digirack plugs but I had loaded some third party plugs and dont think it changed anything. Sorry to here that your system was not quite what it was suppoesed to be. Hopefully the computer shop will make it right for you.

[obzcura]

Asus P5B Deluxe motherboard. (I tried a 680i mainboard, but it was junk for Protools)

Could you please tell me why the Nforce 680i isin't good for pro tools? I have pro tools LE btw and im building a computer w/ the nforce 680i. What kind of problems were you having?

[sunburst79]

Could you please tell me why the Nforce 680i isin't good for pro tools? I have pro tools LE btw and im building a computer w/ the nforce 680i. What kind of problems were you having?

I'm not sure what the issue is with the 680i. There have been a couple of post with people having problems with the 680i over the past 6 months or so. We never heard back from them as far as what the problem was. Very early on the guy (Dougz)that started the "Core2 Duo-Anyone got one working yet?" thread build a Core 2 Duo on a 680i for some some one else. He only had about half a day to test it and while he didn't report any problems he only had a hour or or to to try PTLE on it before he had to give to the owner. His results as I recall were not quite as good as the P965 at the time. While I can't find the posts (you might by searching for 680i) there were at least 2 posts by people having "issues" with thier 680i builds and only one person who didn't (Dougz) and he had VERY little time to test it. So the jury is very much out there.

Is there a genuine issue with the 680i? I can't answer that. I do know that the ASUS P35 and P965 stuff is working extremely well and I can pretty much guarentee if you stick to the specs you will have a working system that will benchmark in the 285-300 DVERB range.

The 680i is all about PCIe bandwith and highspeed communication with the video cards and the north bridge, PT uses none of this. What the 680i excels at is going to be of little use in PT. With PT its all about CPU power and memory access. As far as I know the 680 offers no real advantage over the Intel chipsets in this respect.

Would I like to find out conclusively if the is a actual issue with the 680i? Yes Nvidea chipsets have previously alway been very good performers with PT. If your dead set on building a 680i board I would make sure that you can A) return the board if it turns out not to work or B) can afford build a whole new machine for PT and use the 680i rig for gaming.

The whole 26+ PCIe lane/SLI/Dual Video cards with mega amounts memory doesn't have any impact on PTLE other than possibly reducing the amount of memory over 3GB thata available to the system.

If it seems like I'm down on the 680i I'm not, I just don't see it offering any real advantage over the P965/P35 chipsets for PTLE but brings a fair amount of potential risk.

I'd like to see some one build a working 680i system, most of us can't afford to build something that "might" work.

The other advantage to using the ASUS boards is that neither the Quad or P35 is officially qualified by Digi so having several machines that are very close in specs is really important for troubleshooting things.

If your going to build a machine strictly for PT I would say go with the ASUS P5 series, If you want to march to the beat of different drummer thats fine but no one knows where that path really goes.

[obzcura]

Well i already have the motherboard so im just going to commit to it and build it. Ill post my trials and tribulations later.

[sunburst79]

Well i already have the motherboard so im just going to commit to it and build it. Ill post my trials and tribulations later.

Well have at it then! When you get a chance post you component list.

I WOULD like to see one built and running or at least try to pin down what the issue is (if there even is one)

Post your progress, let us know how it runs.

The "Core 2 Duo thread is where we try to do the troubleshooting.