i7 Builds - Specs and Results

[Mr. Kelly]

Originally Posted by dreamslide720

Ok so i have been looking around for a new pro tools rig cause currently my 2 computers are AMD's and i want to journey into the world of intel. I know a good bit about computers but i don't want to try to build it myself, i rather pick out the components avalible and have a company do it (i.e cyberpower pc)

ok so, sweetwater guarentees pro tools on one of their computers, in my budget that would be the tower running an i5. they want $1499.

on cyberpowerpc i can make a pretty similar computer for about $980(running 32bit W7) or i can go up to a i7 kinda spec'd out for around $1600. however if i go cyberpower pc it isn't totally certified to work with pro tools i can only go off of their list of components. i really want an out of the box experience where i dont have to do much tweaking, but i dont want to pay crazy extra just cause i'm lazy. now like i said i'm no guru, so what should i do?

How come you don't want to build it yourself? You'd probably save some serious $$$!! Have you built computers before?? It's not that hard. Picking out the best components for PT is almost the entire battle.

[Hotcrazyfruit]

i have had my rig up to 4.6 GHz stable. i only brought it back down due to heat issues.

[dreamslide720]

ok so i think im gonna go through cyberpowerpc. i think they are the cheapest even if you can't dive in to all the components you want.

i'll post the specs in a later post

i dont want to build it myself b/c i dont have the patience to screw in the motherboard and connect all the lil parts. plus my hands are kinda big and i dont see that working for me lol.

[danmanaust]

Hi,
Im planning an x.58 Win 7 build using the Asus P6T m'board... 6 Gb ram Two graphics cards including the Gigabyte NVIDIA GTX470 and something fanless like ATI4650... both are PCI-e x16. I also need to fit a UAD2 Solo PCI x1 card..... There are more than enough PCI interfaces on the m'board to handle this.

Is there any risk that there will not be enough physical space between the PCI interfaces on the motherboard to allow these three cards ? What if I later switch the cheap graphics card and install a second GTX470 ? (when 64bit Pro Tools is available). Or want to add a Pro Tools HD card?

I read a review that warned about space issues hence my concern - though it may prove entirely baseless (?).

Also, recommendations re. a 600/650 or a 700/750 power supply ? The CPU will be Intel i7 930 2.8 Ghz. There is a chance I could get a different cheap video card and run it in SLI mode with the GTX470 (but may not be worth benefits anyway?), otherwise its one card for Pro Tools and one for games.
The cost diff between these PSUs isnt great so its more a question of whats best.

Any other comments ? (Using a Antec P183 case). All appreciated.

Any help for a imac user returning to the PC fold would be GREATLY appreciated.

THANKS !!!

[ricren]

I suggest that you do NOT mix video card brands in the same computer.

And about choosing brands, I had best results with ATI. In our HD systems the Nvidia drivers exibit IRQ conflicts with Digi cards. Switching to ATI was the solution.

Right now, all out systems have 2 video cards of the same brand, (this is not Digi supported but works just fine) and some have different models for example: 4670+4550, GTS250+9500. No problems.

R.

[danmanaust]

Thanks for your comments Ricren - good suggestions I shall follow.

[dreamslide720]

ok so after reading some more of the thread, and also doing someone online research, you guys are right building my own doesn't look all that difficult. ok so my questions are Rack case or standard pro and cons, aside from noise and heat. haha maybe those are the real cons of a rack. i'd love to mount my comptuer, i seen the rack case guitardom was using, is there any other highly recommended rack cases? As far as standard, i wouldn't mind if a rack option wasnt avalible, i know i'd get carried away with stupid mod's like lights and other dumb waste of money tempting guy stuff. does anyone have a rack with a working asus board in it?

[mykhal c]

Originally Posted by dreamslide720

ok so after reading some more of the thread, and also doing someone online research, you guys are right building my own doesn't look all that difficult. ok so my questions are Rack case or standard pro and cons, aside from noise and heat. haha maybe those are the real cons of a rack. i'd love to mount my comptuer, i seen the rack case guitardom was using, is there any other highly recommended rack cases? As far as standard, i wouldn't mind if a rack option wasnt avalible, i know i'd get carried away with stupid mod's like lights and other dumb waste of money tempting guy stuff. does anyone have a rack with a working asus board in it?

non-rack but these are 2 of my favs...got 'em in my wishlist... Cooler Master Cosmos 1000 and LanCool (Lian Li) PC-K62 .

[philip888]

Originally Posted by mykhal c

non-rack but these are 2 of my favs...got 'em in my wishlist... Cooler Master Cosmos 1000 and LanCool (Lian Li) PC-K62 .

I have the Cool Master and can confirm it is case to end all cases.

[guitardom]

Originally Posted by dreamslide720

ok so after reading some more of the thread, and also doing someone online research, you guys are right building my own doesn't look all that difficult. ok so my questions are Rack case or standard pro and cons, aside from noise and heat. haha maybe those are the real cons of a rack. i'd love to mount my comptuer, i seen the rack case guitardom was using, is there any other highly recommended rack cases? As far as standard, i wouldn't mind if a rack option wasnt avalible, i know i'd get carried away with stupid mod's like lights and other dumb waste of money tempting guy stuff. does anyone have a rack with a working asus board in it?

my rack is lined w dynamat to keep the noise down. actually it is harder to mod a rack w lights and the fancy stuff because of space constraints. towers are much easier to mod. cooling is not an issue in mine either. i have a front 120mm scythe fan, 2-80mm fans inside the case, one behind the cpu and one behind the vid card. then another 80mm mounted on the back of the case in front of the cpu.

rack size is easier to work with and many options for mounting it and where to put it. this is the problem as well. i would like a 3bay removable drive system in mine, but it will not fit, so i could only put a single removable drive in it. mine fits 4 hard drives and 3-5.25 bays in it. have to take this in consideration if it will work for you. but a standard atxnsize mb which the gigabyte and asus both are fit fine.