About to build a music production PC... comments?

[caktusaurus]

Ok, here it goes - my first PC build ever. It is meant to be used as a portable music production PC (DAW) with rackmounting support (primary) and as a HTPC (secondary). As a DAW, it will be going back and forth between my home studio and gigs/rehearsals in a rack bag. Ideally I'd like to permanently mount it in a rack hardcase, provided I find one with sufficient breathing space for the PC.

I've spent a fair amount of time trying to learn what makes a good computer and this is what I've come up with. Any comments and/or suggestions is more than welcome! Also, I have a few questions that I will post at the end.

The goals:

• High-end performance and rock-solid stability
• Portability, without sacrificing performance as a laptop would. This is the reason why I went with the LC17 over a bulky P180B.
• Rack-mountable (for mounting it in a rack case). The LC17 also provides this with the RA01 handles.
• As quiet as possible, but not neccesarily dead silent. since I won't be doing much acoustic recordings at the moment.

The system

Case:
Silverstone LC17 + RA01 rackmount handles

Power Supply:
Corsair CMPSU-520HXEU 520W

Motherboard:
Intel BadAxe2 (D975XBX2KR)

CPU:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4GHz

Heatsink:
Thermalright XP-120

Fan:
Noctua NF-S12-1200 (1200RPM) / Noctua NF-S12-800 (800RPM)
or
Scythe S-Flex SFF21E (1200 RPM) / Scythe S-Flex SFF21D (800 RPM)

Memory:
4GB DDR2 (2x Corsair TWIN2X 6400C4 DDR2, 2048MB CL4, Kit w/two 1GB
Dimm's, E.P.P Technology)

Harddrives
2 or 3 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA2 16MB 7200RPM

Video Card:
Asus GeForce Extreme N7300GT Silent/HTD 256MB or an equivalent ATI card (suggestions?)

DVD-RW:
NEC ND-3520A

TV card
Hauppauge WinTV PVR-150 MCE

The questions

1. Which of the above fans should I get? The S-Flex 1200 is the most tempting, but the Noctuas came out on top here on SCPR...
2. Would I be able to run the heatsink without attaching a fan, since the LC17 has case fans "in the path" of the heatsink?
3. Would a passive powersupply be better?
4. Anyone using this particular motherboard? Any comments?

Hope to hear from you all!

//M

[GamingGod]

what sound card are you using

[MikeC]

1. Which of the above fans should I get? The S-Flex 1200 is the most tempting, but the Noctuas came out on top here on SCPR...
2. Would I be able to run the heatsink without attaching a fan, since the LC17 has case fans "in the path" of the heatsink?
3. Would a passive powersupply be better?
4. Anyone using this particular motherboard? Any comments?

1. S-flex. In actual use, the practical difference is nil. S-flex is cheaper & easier to find.
2. Maybe -- you'd have to try it. But the benefit may not be worth the insurance of a fan directly on the HS. A bit of redundancy is often a good thing, especially when the noise price is probably not more than a dB or two.
3. No.

Also, you'll have to consider whether the stock fans supplied with the Silverstone case are quiet enough for you. You will probably want to try slowing them down first.

[bonestonne]

aim for ATi when it comes to a graphics card, that board works best with crossfire, so using nvidia may surface some unwanted issues.

[ronrem]

Since this isn't a gamer rig,Crossfire isn't much of a factor. Scythe has an 800 rpm model,That could work well as both Heatsink and Exhaust fan.

That case is pretty compact and I doubt you could go passive with a 6600,perhaps a 4300,which actually ought to have all the power you need.

The Samsung T series is a bit quieter than the Seagate-though the Seagate has 2 more yrs on the warranty.

My M-Audio Revolution 5.1 has been a great home soundcard. Their Delta cards are well proven and there's multi-channel models.

[ronrem]

will your OS support 4 gb Ram?

[caktusaurus]

Thanks for all the input so far!

what sound card are you using

The sound card I'll be using is a Yamaha mLAN16E expansion for the Motif ES synthesizer. I'll be expanding with an 01x mixer/control surface as a "next step".

aim for ATi when it comes to a graphics card

Crossfire isn't much of a factor

This is what I've been wanting to do. Not so much because of the Crossfire thingy, which is of no interest to me, but the fact that Nvidia charges extra for the software enabling the HD-video functionality of their cards, while ATI doesn't. And furthermore, it feels like a motherboard using ATI technology would be less likely to pick a fight with an ATI graphics card. Thats too bad, because Nvidia cards have prettier boxes

The Samsung T series is a bit quieter than the Seagate

Thanks! I'll look into this. But I got the impression that the Seagates had better performance than the Samsungs? Time to go review digging again!

will your OS support 4 gb Ram?

I'll be using Windows XP x64, which has support for some terabytes of RAM (can't remember the exact figure). And I think I've got the rest of the software part figured out:

• Yamaha provides 64-bit drivers for the sound card
• I'll be using Cubase 3.1.1 (eventually moving up to version 4) which is supposed to support these amounts of memory
• However, the VSTs (that is, virtual instruments/effects, for the less musically inclined) I'll be working with is 32-bit. But although a single instance of a VST can't make use of 4GB of memory, operating under a 64-bit capable host will allow multiple instances use different parts of the memory (for example 2 VSTs using 2GB each). Or at least this is what I've read. And I believe 64-bit VSTs are being launched as we speak.

More questions...

1. So, will the 800 RPM version of the S-Flex do? I was thinking the better option would be to get the 1200RPM one and maybe undervolting it?
2. Any recommendations for a ATI graphics card that is silent, cool and great for playing back video? (i.e. an HTPC recommended card)

Cheers!

// M

[mr. poopyhead]

if you're going to be doing a lot of CD/DVD burning, especially with dual layer DVDs, spend a little extra money and get yourself a better drive.

i used to have a NEC 3520A, it was decent enough for burning CDs and DVDs but abysmal when it came to dual layer disks. not the quietest drive either. can be slowed with nero drivespeed... but at max speed it's not a nice sound.

i got myself a plextor PX-755SA a few weeks ago. very satisfied with it...

[caktusaurus]

if you're going to be doing a lot of CD/DVD burning, especially with dual layer DVDs, spend a little extra money and get yourself a better drive.

i used to have a NEC 3520A, it was decent enough for burning CDs and DVDs but abysmal when it came to dual layer disks. not the quietest drive either. can be slowed with nero drivespeed... but at max speed it's not a nice sound.

Thanks! Yeah, it probably is a bit loud, but it's only while burning discs. And it's not like I'm going to record any audio while burning discs at the same time. I probably won't even be in the same room. And now when I think about it, I won't be doing a lot of burning either...

The reason why it's there is:

1) It's the drive of my current computer, which I will be moving to the new system. Thought I might save some money on that.

2) Have used it for about 3 years and it hasn't failed me once. Plus it is region free now

The only downside to it, aside being not so quite at times, is that it's an old IDE drive.

But I'll look into a new (SATA) drive anyway and see what I'll find. Plextors seem to be favoured by musicians, but they're a tad expensive.

Oh and what I meant to ask above was also:
Does anyone here have the XP-120 mounted on the Intel Board I mentioned above? Will it fit?

// M

[sjoukew]

ASUS ATI , this one looks nice.
EAX1650 SILENT Series
http://asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=2&l2= ... odelmenu=1

ASUS ATI not silent, but quiet and HDCP complaint. **
EAX1950PRO/HTDP/256M
http://asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=2&l2= ... odelmenu=1

and maybe you can look at the hauppauge pvr-500 cards. That are basically 2 pvr 150's put on 1 board, so you can watch 1 channel and record another one, or record 2 channels at once
They have 64 bit drivers and vista 64 bit drivers available i believe.

**HDCP Compliant:
Allow playback of HD DVD, Blu-Ray Disc and other protected content at full HD resolutions

[~El~Jefe~]

i have a 760a (also comes sata 760sa which probably works great in a 2007 sort of mobo like you are getting).

Plextor ='s rox the other brands. It is very precise, very consistent, very little needed to think about in not burning coasters. The 760a is there newest although the 755 does just about the same thing. I believe they made some longevity improvement attempts on it but that might not be the case.

[autoboy]

This is what I've been wanting to do. Not so much because of the Crossfire thingy, which is of no interest to me, but the fact that Nvidia charges extra for the software enabling the HD-video functionality of their cards, while ATI doesn't. And furthermore, it feels like a motherboard using ATI technology would be less likely to pick a fight with an ATI graphics card. Thats too bad, because Nvidia cards have prettier boxes

Nvidia cards now support purevideo with any codec that supports DxVA since the 9X.XX drivers. This is the same as the ati cards. Nvidia cards usually use less power.

[~El~Jefe~]

I agree that often nvidia uses less power, but not always is this a noticable amount.

an x1900 xt vs my allinwonder x1900. The xt gets about 10% better frames on average, sometimes more. The power usage is about 30% more or higher at times and the heat waste is an even worse situation. a x1900 256mb model is the non AIW version of my card. It pummels games at standard gaming/lcd resolutions with all settings cranked. So, what I am saying is that if you get the slightly underclocked yet same features and bus speeds (no hacked up memory buses or less pipeplines, etc), ATI really is heat efficient. It is that extra 10% in frames or worse in an xtx, that makes the cards not compare with nvidia for frames:heat ratio.

I personally would NEVER put a nvidia card on an ati chipset board. It just wouldnt be the same. They are meant to be seemless in compatibility, as well as get more frames for the money. THat is just me though. Pricewise, a 7600 GT would suffice most users of vista and gaming with low wattage requirements, but for style points I would pair ati with ati. Vista is terrible as it is with installation issues as it stands. It would only be smarter to take out a variable which often is the multimedia center aspect being disparate, namely, a vid card used for hd and dvd content.

As for me, yes, I stick by ati even if nvidia has a better selection for the power usage. Not because of loyalty, but because they do multimedia without a flaw or hiccup upon first install every time since my friend and I loaded the pci version of the AIW card. Gone through that, the 8500DV aiw (awesome card still to this day), the 9800pro aiw, and now the x1900 aiw. The dvd clarity is sick and been stable for many years.

I wonder how the aegia card works or doesnt work on vista.

[caktusaurus]

maybe you can look at the hauppauge pvr-500 cards. That are basically 2 pvr 150's put on 1 board, so you can watch 1 channel and record another one, or record 2 channels at once

Thanks. Looked up the pvr-500 model, but unfortunately the price was almost double that of the pvr-150. Figures though, since you said that it was like two pvr-150s But too pricey for me... I'm already up over $2000 with this system...

HDCP Compliant

Thanks, but a passive and cool card that is able to take some load of the CPU when playing video is what I'm wishing for. I'm planning to play back Cubase projects with audio and video together with playing VSTs realtime, guessing this will put serious pressure on the machine. HD content is of no interest at the moment, since I won't be looking at neither HD DVDs or Blu-Rays... Furthermore, passive + HDCP-compliant = expensive, apparently...

I personally would NEVER put a nvidia card on an ati chipset board. It just wouldnt be the same.

for style points I would pair ati with ati

Could you elaborate on this please?

Nvidia cards usually use less power

Is there a drastic difference?

As for this NVIDIA/ATI issue I'm mainly looking at two (almost) equivalent cards:

Asus GeForce Extreme N7300GT Silent/HTD 256MB
Asus Radeon Extreme AX1650 Silent/HTD 256MB

One manufacturer that keeps popping up when I'm searching is Club3D. They have passively cooled X1300 and X1550 cards with Dual DVI, which the two Asus cards lack. I'm told that the only thing that separates different manufacturers is (besides the price) basically the cooling. So does anyone with experience of Club3D cards?

[ronrem]

Currently-Gigabyte's passive 7600 GT is a pretty good and well tested vid card that has dual DVI. Soon,the AMD/ATI RA-610 "Antelope" cards should become available...passive...DX10...assorted new tech goodies. I'd tend to get the other stuff first and see if those become available by the time you are ready to boot up.