Best Systems and Components for Win HD/TDM

[Table Syrup Records]

All this talk about sizing issues and quiet enclosures, I gotta speak up.

I found a site that sells rackmount cases. Based out of China.
You can expect 5 Day delivery to the Mid-West, add a day to the east coat.

Expect to pay $45-$75 for a NICE case, and a flat rate of $35 shipping. NICE CASES!!!! READ ON!!!

THIS IS THE BEST DEAL I HAVE EVER SEEN ON QUALITY RACK CASES!!!!!!!

A freebie pass along to my DUC peoples.

http://store.chassisoutlet.com/

PLink.com, Rackbuy.com, Chassisoutlet.com

I WAS SOOOOOOO STOKED TO FIND THEM!!!!!

You'll notice that their cases are the same cases as Spectral, Creation Stations, etc...

I have never been happier with a case!!! SERIOUSLY!!!

And I've bought some expensive cases ($250 +)

They include fans, which aren't silent, but suprisingly quiet for stock.
My case is 24" deep and can accomodate the largest of motherboards,
and with my nearing move to an HD3, I will have NO ISSUES with clearance.
(I HAVE YET TO FIND A WHISPER BOX TO FIT IT!!!)

Great value!! The best I've found.

I've built a few systems as well, and always use these cases, I'll never buy from anywhere else!

They are super rugged. Don't Vibrate Noisily - Sometimes the CD Drive bays want to,
so make sure you use all 4 or 6 screws in the drives, and if need be, get some foam tape to help
dampen the framework that holds the drives to where it meets the chassis.
That is the only issue I've ever had, and the foam tape solved it no problem.
(Can buy it at Checker auto, Home Depot, Any hardware store, etc)


After having bought a few cases, I would suggest, by experience, to purchase the 2 door model,
(The same case that Creation Stations use). I LUV IT!!!!
I'd say buy the long one so you have all kinds of room!!!!!!!

There are 2 versions of this case (The 2 Door), 3 - 5.25" bays on the right and a large fan on the
left, in front of the hard drive mounts, and a 6 - 5.25" bay with 3 on each side. The next one I
buy will be the 6 bay, so I can mount a Hot Swap enclosure!!!!!!
THEY SELL THEM TOO, keep in mind, anything else you add to your order is free shipping!!!!!!

JUST MAKE SURE YOU GET THE LONG ONE!!!!!!!! 24" Deep case!!!! So you don't have "fit" issues.
(I'm thinking that a shorter case may cause issues with the back of HD cards being close to the HD or CD Bays?)

I haven't measured an HD card, but I imagine they're the same size as Mix cards?
If so, you'll have no issues with the 24" deep case, regardless of configuration.
I can fit something like 11 hard drives in mine if I wanted to! Imagine the heat!!!

Check them out if you're in the market. I swear by them!!!!!

They sell PS's, Rails for the cases so they'll slide out of the rack,
(Top of case removes, so I've been able to open her up and do stuff with it in the rack!!!)
Hot Swap enclosures, etc.....

THEY'VE GOT IT ALL, and got most of it cheap, but still quality.

Whew.... That was hard work.

[Bob Nagy]

Video card seems a bit overkill. PT doesn't need anything fancy for a video card. The one I bought works fine, and was about half the price of yours.

Check another posting I made with info about power supplies. You may want to check the amperage at 3 & 5 combined. All this is explained in my other post.

You might want to buy 1066 memory, as this is the CPU's speed. 800 works OK though.

The OEM CPU comes with no cooler. You'd need to buy one separately. I bought the Intel boxed one, complete with Intel cooler.

The later G0 stepping CPU is also worthwhile. Runs cooler.

The Asus MB comes with a load of SATA cables, likely don't need to buy any, unless you need spares, etc.

The Optiarc DVD I bought is not very good in mu opinion. Don't know about the Asus ones. I've had good luck with LG, and the Samsung drive is very popular.

The Q6600 is impossible to beat on price/performance. I cannot even fill ONE of it's 4 cores with RTAS PIs in my large sessions. Power to spare for a while.

[markus44uk]

I'm currently running the original Quadzilla system (Tyan Mobo with twin Opteron 270's) with An HD Core and two PCI Accel cards. The Tyan board has three consecutive PCI slots which housed my Core and two Accel cards.

Can you suggest the appropriate Mobo to move to the Q6600 processor that will also have three consecutive PCI slots?

Thanks

[NickH]

Can you suggest the appropriate Mobo to move to the Q6600 processor that will also have three consecutive PCI slots?

Thanks

The Asus P5WDG2 WS Professional is up and working with both my HD2 Accel Machine and the HD3 Accel in the main studio both with Intel Quad Q6600’s, both PCI machines... This is the same board that Bob is using also...

Cheers



N

[Paje]

Video card seems a bit overkill. PT doesn't need anything fancy for a video card. The one I bought works fine, and was about half the price of yours.

Check another posting I made with info about power supplies. You may want to check the amperage at 3 & 5 combined. All this is explained in my other post.

You might want to buy 1066 memory, as this is the CPU's speed. 800 works OK though.

The OEM CPU comes with no cooler. You'd need to buy one separately. I bought the Intel boxed one, complete with Intel cooler.

The later G0 stepping CPU is also worthwhile. Runs cooler.

The Asus MB comes with a load of SATA cables, likely don't need to buy any, unless you need spares, etc.

The Optiarc DVD I bought is not very good in mu opinion. Don't know about the Asus ones. I've had good luck with LG, and the Samsung drive is very popular.

The Q6600 is impossible to beat on price/performance. I cannot even fill ONE of it's 4 cores with RTAS PIs in my large sessions. Power to spare for a while.

Thanks for the reply Bob!

I am going to be doing some editing (via Avid Express Pro, possibly other software) - HD vids from my cam (Canon HV-20) on this system as well... So I wanted to have some extra video processing power. Couldn't hurt!

Aww, I already purchased and installed (tonight) the mem and CPU. I probably would have taken your suggestions had I been patient. We'll see how they go. I suppose I could do an exchange. I DO need still to get the CPU cooling unit (I had missed that one).

I decided to get the Antec P182 case. I wanted to bring this system up independently before breaking down my current rack-mount ProTools sys. Minimal downtime is the goal. + this case is nice! (definite noise & layout improvement, even if it will be on the other side of a wall, lol). There's two 120mm fans right near the CPU, one above and one behind and another in a lower section for the bottom drives and PS.

I did need just one extra SATA cable... I'm runing 6 500GB drives and the SATA DVD. 3 TB!

Looking forward to launching this one soon.

Cheers,
Paje

[markus44uk]

The Asus P5WDG2 WS Professional is up and working with both my HD2 Accel Machine and the HD3 Accel in the main studio both with Intel Quad Q6600’s, both PCI machines... This is the same board that Bob is using also...

Cheers



N

I don't get it. The board you mention only has two consecutive PCI slots. How do I mount a core card and two Accel cards adjacent to each other? Seems like all I could fit would be core + 1 Accel. Did I read correctly awhile back where you can put a PCI card in the larger slot next to the two PCI slots? No performance issues?

[NickH]

No it has 4...

2 x PCI-X
2 x PCI 2.2

Which is handy as the PCI HD cards are PCI-X (Although they are backwards compatible with the more usual looking PCI 2.2 slots)



N

[markus44uk]

Got it...thanks Nikki! All that stands in the way of this upgrade now is whether I want to wait for the new AMD Octo processor configuration. I can assure you that as soon as I complete my 6600 build, the new AMD Octo will be deployed!

[markus44uk]

Hi:

To save a little money...will the P5 Deluxe do the job? Or even the P5?

This is the one I'm talking about:
http://www.xpcgear.com/asusp5wdh.html

Also looking for the appropriate memory as I want 4 gigs

Thanks in advance

[sunburst79]

Hi:

To save a little money...will the P5 Deluxe do the job? Or even the P5?

This is the one I'm talking about:
http://www.xpcgear.com/asusp5wdh.html

Also looking for the appropriate memory as I want 4 gigs

Thanks in advance

Nope! You need the board that Nick and Bob are using... both boards you mention have PCIe (PCI Express) slots as opposed to PCI-X PCI eXtendend) they simply wont work.

As far as a I now the Asus workstation board is the Only Quadcore board that will support HD with the correct slot spacing.

Follow Bobs and Nicks advice