Best Core 2 Series Desktops-Results and Specs

[Jamtime]

I missed the cooler part, Sorry

Deleting posts....

It a interesting idea, I would like to keep this thread about hard numbers and working systems and their components. If we can keep this bumped as new systems come in and keep the general troubleshooting and discussion in the original Core 2 thread it would be great. If you want to stop back in a day or so and tidy up-more power to you. But please leave your systems specs posted. Other people may be interested in what you used. I will make it a point to keep the Dverb test results and document any new boards that come in. Genuis? No. Usefull? I hope so!

I really meant what I said, This is a very good idea (ok genius strong word but..). Yes my post with specifications stays but not the other chatting, was what i meant.

[SeanDerMan]

I just built a new system for the 003 Rack.
Core 2 Duo E6700,
Asus P5B Deluxe,
2 X 1GB Corsair,
160GB Seagate IDE system drive,
320GB Seagate SATA audio drive,
Asus 18X DVD-R with lightscribe IDE,
2 XFX GeForce 7300GT 256MB PCIex video cards(fanless),
Antec P180B case and Antec True Power 550watt PSU.
the system is running on Win XP Pro SP2.
DVerb test was 132 at 1024 and 24Bit 48KHz.
Initially had the Assertion error with the PT LE 7.3, but tht was gone after i updated to the latest 7.3.1
Tried hard to get a Zalman or Thermaltake cpu fan but in India couldn't source one out. I tried mailing them but no replies. :-(

Cheers!

[NickH]

NickH's Core 2 Quad

• Intel Quad Core Q6600 2.4GHz S775
• ASUS P5B Deluxe
• 7600 GS ASUS SILENT PC VIDEO
• 2GB Kingston HyperX PC2-8500
• Seagate 750 GB HD (SATA) (System)
• Seagate 200 GB HD (SATA) (Audio)
• Plextor PX-716A SATA DVDR
• Seasonic Power Supply (S12-430 ATX12V version 2.0 PSU active PFC silent 12cm fan)
• X-Case 4U Rack Server Case

Working very solid and stable with PTLE 7.3 CS3 on 002R

DVERB 259 - 24-48-1024 (CPU 90%) and recording on all audio tracks for 5 minutes.



N

[vocalvoodoo]

NickH's Core 2 Quad

• Intel Quad Core Q6600 2.4GHz S775
• ASUS P5B Deluxe
• 7600 GS ASUS SILENT PC VIDEO
• 2GB Kingston HyperX PC2-8500
• Seagate 750 GB HD (sata)
• Seagate 200 GB HD (sata)
• Seasonic Power Supply
• X-Case 4U Rack Server Case

Working very solid and stable with PTLE 7.3 CS3

DVERB 259 - 24-48-1024 (CPU 90%) and recording on all audio tracks for 1 minute.



N

Will it go for 5 minutes with the 259 DVERBS?

[NickH]

Will it go for 5 minutes with the 259 DVERBS?

Yup Just did over 6.30 before stopping it because I was bored..



N

[auxsend1]

Mbox 2 Pro, 7.3.1cs3, Win XP Pro SP2

7/18 newegg prices w/o shipping
-----------------------------------------------------------
Antec NSK6500 Case with 430w power supply
NSK6500 ($110)

Intel BOXDP35DPM LGA 775 P35 motherboard
BOXDP35DPM ($110)

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz CPU
BX80562Q6600 ($430) -- will drop to ~$275 after July 22

Kingston 2 x 1GB DDR2 667 RAM (2 GB total)
KVR667D2N5K2/2G ($90)

Asus GeForce 8600GT 256MB video card
EN8600GT SILENT/HTDP/256M ($143)

(2) Seagate Barracuda 320GB SATA hard drive
ST3320620AS ($160) -- for the pair

Samsung SATA DVD-RW
SH-S183L ($34)
-----------------------------------------------------------
newegg total w/o shipping: $1077
after 7/22: ~$922

XP Home OEM is $90
Vista Home Premium OEM is $112

Mbox 2 Pro on the onboard Firewire (TI chipset), my results are:
252 dverbs
with no red in the System Usage meter. 32 mono audio tracks, each w/ 5 mono dverbs, 18 aux tracks each with 5 mono dverbs. Then 2 more dverbs on aux track #19. Recorded on separate internal audio drive for 5+ min.

Some details about the build/install:
RAM is running at stock speed of 667
Clean install of Windows XP Pro SP2 only, plus Intel drivers, Pro Tools LE 7.3, 7.3.1cs3 update, iLok drivers, Quicktime. Nothing else loaded. Stock plugins untouched in their folder. On-board Sigmatel audio and on-board LAN left on. Windows XP appearance on standard look (not "classic"). Standard Windows tweaks from Getting Started Guide. Single LCD display at 1920x1200.

Any questions, just ask, and I'll try to answer them as well as update this post w/ more details.

Update: Mbox 1 results. A little disappointing actually. Mbox 1 plugged into front USB port (seemed to get a few more dverbs than rear ports) resulted in:
221 dverbs
32 mono audio tracks, each w/ 5 mono dverbs, 12 aux tracks each with 5 mono dverbs. Then 1 more dverb on aux track #13. Recorded on separate internal audio drive for 5+ min.

Still, a decent result. I don't have an Mbox2, but I'm guessing results would be similar.

[Noviisi]

Thanks! This is great information! You summarized everything I've been thinking lately.
Is Intel going to release new prosessors soon?
Should I consider buing P35 chipset? (asus?)

[powerjoe]

Guys,

Posting costs would be a great idea. This helps others understand your benchmarks from a fiscal perspective as well.


Cheers,

~ J

[sunburst79]

Thanks! This is great information! You summarized everything I've been thinking lately.
Is Intel going to release new prosessors soon?
Should I consider buing P35 chipset? (asus?)

Intel has stated they can ship the next chips (Penryn) at the launch of Phenom, I suspect they will wait to wait to see what AMD brings to the table. But yes there will be new chips in either Q4 or Q1 of 2008. Penryn is supposed to be 20-40% improvement over Conroe. Whether this will translate into 20-40 improvement for PT remains to be seen. The new core architecture (Nehalem) is due mid year and will require a new socket and mother board as Intel is finally going to ditch the frontside bus and go to a integrated memory controller.

Whether or not I would wait for Penryn would be determined by how bad I needed a new computer. The current crop of Conroe based processors is really getting the job done as it is.

I'm building a quad as some as the price drops. I think they will be very cost effective at that point.

ASUS vs Intel boards. The intel boards are VERY affordable, the ASUS boards will let you run the memory at 1066 vs 800 and this makes a tremendous difference in the Dverb count. (I will be building a ASUS)and with there not being much if any price difference in the price between 1066 and 800 it makes sense to run 1066. Also all of the boards in the list at the top of the post will run Penryn so they are safe bets.

P35 vs P965. Auxsends1 P35 results are very good, Doogz had it up and running on a P35 board with Integrated graphics which has traditionally been a big no no with Protools. I was planning on going P965 for compatibility sake but Auxsend1s results now have me leaning towards P35. I'm more worried about the Agere based firewire controller chip on the the board than the P35 chipset.

I would like to point out that Auxsends results were not as I know tested with a USB product only Firewire. however his results with P35 running with DDR2 667 are very close to the results to Jamtime running DDR2 @889 so it would appear that the is a definite performance increase from the newer chipset.

So far P35 looks very good but keep in mind it is new

I suspect Q6600+P35+1066 will possibly top 275 Dverbs. That is just a guess however.

[sunburst79]

Guys,

Posting costs would be a great idea. This helps others understand your benchmarks from a fiscal perspective as well.


Cheers,

~ J

I agree.

After the price drop 7-22 the system's will be pretty inexpensive.

There is definitely a place for these systems in between the "Best desktops under $xxx.xx (pick your price point)" and the bigger server based multi socket machines like the Quadzilla.

life is good