$1000 i7 920 build complete and successful. PICS inside.
 

My boys old ass P4 died last week so he asked me to help him find a new one. I did some research and found it would be cheaper to go custom built than pre-manufactured and he'd get more PC for his money. Plus, the machine would be guaranteed to be compatible with Pro Tools 8. So with the help of the you guys, I was able to successfully build my first PC. Special thanks to Keybeeetsss for letting me bug the hell out of him all last week. :D Also, thanks to AlexLakis, Tom, Albee, Mano, and Shane as well. You guys all helped a lot at understanding all this. So check it out. Pics are from start to finish. Gonna figure out this Dverb test now and report back!;)

Dverb results are in.
254 Dverbs with chorus on PT8
Mbox 2 Pro, 1024MB buffer, 90% CPU (maximum)

And again, here is the complete list of components totaling just over $1000 with tax and shipping:
Intel Core i7-920 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115202

Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136319

COOLER MASTER RC-690 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119137

COOLER MASTER Intel Core i7 compatible V8 RR-UV8-XBU1-GP 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835103055

CORSAIR DOMINATOR 3GB (3 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145225

BIOSTAR V8502GT26 GeForce 8500 GT - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-066-_-Product

LG Black 24X DVD+R - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827136177

GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128423

OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ600MXSP 600W - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817341017



*Also, for the techy guys that actually know what they are looking at, yes, I originally had the RAM chips installed in the wrong channels. But because I love to RTFM as I go along, I realized that before I finished. So you'll see in the later pics, the RAM is in the proper spots, according to the motherboard manual.

Now here is his original POS P4 that died. Pretty, right?! This was built by a person that builds PC's for a living. The front USB ports weren't even connected, but he did use a USB 2.0 expansion thingy that took up the USB jacks on the mobo. Would have rather gone with a USB 2.0 PCI card myself, being that there were 3 free PCI slots when the thing was built. The guy also installed two different RAM brands and speeds, which was causing all kinds of hell when I installed Pro Tools on this machine. Anyway...

(this is the link to all pics if you don't wanna click each one in the thread:http://s19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...%20PC%20Build/)

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...d/IMG_2721.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...d/IMG_2722.jpg


Now onto the goodies. Yes, the power cable for the CPU was a bit short. I guess the PSU was design to go above the mobo, not below???:
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...d/IMG_2702.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...d/IMG_2705.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...d/IMG_2706.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...d/IMG_2707.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...d/IMG_2709.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...d/IMG_2710.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...d/IMG_2711.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...d/IMG_2712.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...d/IMG_2713.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...d/IMG_2714.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...d/IMG_2728.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...d/IMG_2715.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...d/IMG_2717.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...d/IMG_2719.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...d/IMG_2720.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...d/IMG_2723.jpg

Re: $1000 i7 920 build complete and successful. PICS inside.
 

Dverb results are in.

254 Dverbs with chorus on PT8

Mbox 2 Pro, 1024MB buffer, 90% CPU (maximum)

Re: $1000 i7 920 build complete and successful. PICS inside.
 

A Lot of "PC" builders dont understand what it takes to build a solid DAW.

Memory is pretty critical along with HDD I/O. Balance performance is the name of the game. Theres more to building a PC than pushing pixels.

Your aware you can download the older Dverb with out chorus? It's listed as the 7.3 version. The 8.0 Dverb makes me seasick:D

Great Build!

Re: $1000 i7 920 build complete and successful. PICS inside.
 

Nice Job DJ! :cool:

Re: $1000 i7 920 build complete and successful. PICS inside.
 

Congrats, that's the way to do it.;):D

Re: $1000 i7 920 build complete and successful. PICS inside.
 

Both are kinda lame :eek: Sorry :D

Re: $1000 i7 920 build complete and successful. PICS inside.
 

Nice build BTW.

I would remove the side fan. Its only there to gather dust.

Re: $1000 i7 920 build complete and successful. PICS inside.
 

Yeah. We rearely use Dverb anyway though!:D

Thanks guys!

Re: $1000 i7 920 build complete and successful. PICS inside.
 

DJ,
I'm thinking of building the same exact machine!

My question is how loud/quiet is this build? I'm in the unfortunate situation of having to record audio in the same room as the computer and I'm looking to quiet it as much as possible. Would you say you could record acoustic guitar or piano with this computer running in the same room?

My other option is to use a quieter power supply, case or fans, but I like the V8 cooler.

Mark

Re: $1000 i7 920 build complete and successful. PICS inside.
 

Yo, for having 3 case fans plus the CPU fan and video card fan, this thing is SUPER quiet. I meant to mention that before. Man, my old ass Dell P4 with only 1 fan is WAY louder than this thing. You can barely hear it. We record the same way and trust me, with this you will not pick up any computer noise.