Intel Builds for Pro Tools HD Native

[filosofem]

New build added to first page plus Nvida Graphic Card notes from zion here.

[filosofem]

GA-X58A-UD3R Rev.2 BIOS FF now available. BIOS Fg1 beta released.

[mlange]

filosofem - perhaps a stupid question.....

can you use PCI Express cards in the PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots on your GA-X58A-UD3R?

Thanks,

Mark

[filosofem]

Hi Mark

You are referring to the PCIe Native card, yes you can. I have mine seated in the second PCIe x16 slot. First PCIe x16 slot hosts the graphics card. The Native card is PCIe x4.

[Sugarnutz]

Here's a rig I spec'd for some of the guys over at Gearslutz and one I plan on building for myself at some point:

Gearslutz DAW

Cheap at around $1100. I'm torn between a HD Native/HD16-16 analog/Omni setup or a SSL MX4/Alphalink/PT9 rig. It should work well with either.

[filosofem]

Intel H67 over P67 Chipset?

[Sugarnutz]

Originally Posted by filosofem

Intel H67 over P67 Chipset?

The last thing I want to do to a DAW is try and overclock which is the advantage to going P67. The H67 has a graphics capability (built in to the cpu already and receiving good reviews against all but the higher end video cards) which looks suitable enough for DAW work, even having a display port with 2560x1600 resolution for those pesky 30" monitors. With 16 gig of RAM I don't mind sharing 512 meg with on-board graphics. Stability is what I'm looking for at a fair price point, these new Sandy Bridge rigs deliver that. The particular motherboard I listed also has 3 PCI slots for HD cards or UAD1 cards if needed which is a plus over other solutions.

[filosofem]

GA-X58A-UD3R Rev.2 BIOS FG 2011.05.02 released.

[filosofem]

Originally Posted by Sugarnutz

The H67 has a graphics capability (built in to the cpu already and receiving good reviews against all but the higher end video cards) which looks suitable enough for DAW work

Pro Tools does not support integrated graphics chipsets.

[Sugarnutz]

Originally Posted by filosofem

Pro Tools does not support integrated graphics chipsets.

Why? There's lot of things that PT has not officially supported over the years like AMD processors as an example, didn't stop people from using them and with great success. There's no switch in PT to automatically disable itself when an on-board video card is present. Another thing is that there is a big, fat 16x PCIe slot on the motherboard I mentioned which you can stick a $40 video card in if needed.

The big pluses of the motherboard I mentioned is the support of a reasonably priced 3.4 Ghz i7 CPU, 16x PCIe slot, 4x PCIe slot (required for a HD Native card), two 1x PCIe slots for UAD 2 cards or RME/Lynx/SSL interface cards and 3 PCI slots you could possibly use for HD Core/Accel cards if you wish.

The main argument I had for the H67 chipset was not needing to overclock the CPU. I have tried many times over the years to run an overclocked system for DAW use going back to that infamous ABIT dual Celeron board with the proper unlocked Celerons intended for it. Too many possible errors with ram and IDE controllers back then. Just decided overclocking was not worth the effort when you can get a solid, stable system without it.

Sometimes it's just better to keep things as simple as you can. The system I listed achieves that.