High-End personal Workstation Guidance

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Already downloaded the motherboard manual, going to continue reading it tomorrow. Also had the build guide bookmarked from last week. But the first link is new to me.

Thanks
 


TOO SMALL! Don't get the 64 - if he gets the 64 he'll be sorry! Alvin, you're not following your own advice. Get the 90GB.

On the system we built, after I had installed Windows 7 and all of the other stuff I needed for testing, benchmarks, etc. I had used up 60GB. This was before aps.

OP, if you read this, can't you put the SSD on a credit card, or something? It really does make a huge difference. It is more than worth doing.
 
I am STRETCHING my own advice ... 90GB *is* recommended ...

He would have to check his free-space, every week, and not allow more than 80% full..

... His system, browser, utils could all fit ... he can't use the "my photos", "my music" folders, on the system drive ... just not room for media.

... Better a 64GB than "NO SSD" ... there are people doing it on 40GB, but *I* sure would not want to !!!

... This guy has a tight budget ... really tight ... I can't fault him (much) for stretching for the X58 ...

... I ended up with an 890/UD3/Propus platform, with 8GB RAM ... BUT ... I decided to limp on VEGAS/&Pro, rather than CS5 or Avid ... I am saving THOUSANDS ... and I have TWO 90GB SSDs, One 128GB SSD, ... Three F3x1TBs ... Card-Reader ... TWO GT240s in a rack-mount case, with silent cooling ...

... THAT is how important I think fast storage is !


AND ... I am typing on an $80kb ... using a $60 mouse ... viewing this on a 52" 120Hz LCD ...
... I have a couple of 22" 1080Px120Hz LCD HDTVs, side-by-side, below the 52" LG Display.

... I have two custom ergo task chairs totalling over $1,200 ... And I am running an Pentium4 and an Athlon-II

... What does that tell you about my opinions on cost/productivity/utility ??

... Oh, yeah ... I'm chaining two 12x channel Mackie mixers into a KRK RP8 2.2 system, with dual woofers.

... I have several host and client sets of studio production cans, including two pair of SONY MDR-7506 and a pair of full-isolation field monitors and a few pairs of AT studio cans, that run about $80 each.

... I am mostly concerned with the system card-bus, ports and storage, as well as fast cores and lots of ram.

... I spent as much as his X58 costs ... but got better balance and WAY better HUMAN INTERFACE.

.
 
Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC064MAG-1G1 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
5/5(147 reviews) $125
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148357

OKGEAR 18" SATA 6 Gbps Cable, Right Angle to Right Angle W/ Metal Latch, UV Blue, Backward Compatible 3 Gbps and 1.5 Gbps
... $5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812123112&cm_re=sata_18%22-_-12-123-112-_-Product

A 2.5"<>3.5" cage adapter is advisable .. BUT ... I just use two (very) short pieces of pressure tape (leaves an air-gap) ... or ... poster-putty, etc. ... I have even left them dangling (not recommending).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96dWOEa4Djs
 


Whoa! Why right angle to right angle? That would NOT work with our last build. Only right angle to straight fit the MB
 
My new computer is up and running AGAIN. Got the replacement mobo after the first blew a transistor in the first 8 hrs of use. Its working fantastic so far. I noticed that the transistor that blew last time was touching the mosfet cooling pipe. This time it is not.

I have to say that push pull on the hyper 212 + does almost nothing. I just hooked it up and I'm not seeing any difference in temp. Perhaps a degree or 2. It seems to make zero difference in idle temp but it could be shaving off a degree or 2 at the top end. Its impossible for me to say for sure though because i had to re-seat the CPU cooler on my new board so thermal paste application could be making a difference too. maybe in a week or so (once the AS5 starts to cure) ill do an experiment and unhook the pull fan to see if there is any difference at all.

I want to give this board a quick plug...
It runs the i7 950 STOCK at 3.2ghz. NO TWEAKING AT ALL. in fact i cant even figure out how to make it only go 3.06ghz. Even at xmp and auto settings it goes 3.2.
The bios has an auto setting built in 3.33 (i7 975 i think) and then whats called "Crazy I7" which clocks it up to 3.7. Im running the 3.7 and i shaved the cpu voltage back to 1.23v and the thing is rock solid. Temps max out at 80 in a room around 23c. This board gets you more for you money at STOCK settings! When overclocked hold on to your pants.
I dont know if the sabertooth does this but this board has officially made me an ASUS fanboy. I think that says a lot too for someone coming from DFI (may the RIP).

If you got a little extra cash go with Muskkin 998805 (buy fromhttp://www.tierratek.net) I got 12gb for 205 with shipping and trax. This stuff rocks. It better then both of the ones your looking at in my opinion but a little more money. It was $98 for 6gb.
 
Glad to hear you have your system up again. It's been 7 years since i last built one and when i saw the Hyper 212+ today i was like holy cow! and then the power supply was MASSIVE compared to what i used to work with.

And never even tried OC, so this will be a learning experience to say the least.
 
If your board has overclock presets I highly recommend loading them and seeing what settings change. Its a great way to get an idea of what settings need to be changed. If Your board has a built in tweeker like the Asus AI suite i recommend looking at what the settings become when using auto in bios (mainly voltage).
I recommend READING AND THEN RE-READING also take a look at youtube overclock tutorials.
DONT EVER GO EXTREME on speeds or voltage UNLESS YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOUR DOING. its really easy to push these processors very far but its very hard to get them prime stable with acceptable temps. If your hitting over 81C in a 23C room your going to far. I don't feel comfortable going over 1.3v i prefer to stay under 1.25v on the cpu for daily use but some say you can safely go over 1.4.

You will find weak equipment very quickly when overclocking though. I suggest doing it around 3 or 4 days after building the machine so you are still under warranty in the eyes of the store :) but if your equipment does fail due to defect you can get it replaced easy. if your out of warranty don't do it unless your ready to replace broken parts.

Anyway lets not turn thin to an overclocking thread since there are plenty of those out there.
 

I recommend the samsung spinpoint HD103SJ over the WD. Its faster in all benchmarks and its 1tb but almost the same price. I got mine for 60 but now its 64 on amazon.
I recommend purchasing from amazon to avoid shipping and tax. Its actually a significant savings. their return policy is great!!!! I used it and had the new mobo in 3 days! That includes the weekend!
I would also suggest getting ram on the supported vendor list for your mobo or at least verifying that someone is using it at rated speed on your mobo without an issue. X58 can be pretty finicky about ram.
ORRRRR are we done suggesting?
 



Right ! ... Good catch ! ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VSCVl2MJlc

Thank you, Illy, for being in just the right place, at just the right time !


OKGEAR 18" SATA 6 Gbps Cable, Straight to Right Angle W/Metal Latch, Silver, Backward Compatible with 3 Gbps and 1.5 Gbps - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812123132&cm_re=okgear_sata_18%22_right-_-12-123-132-_-Product

 
@Nox,

Yeah ... As those cooler fins collect dust, the extra fan will make more of s diff ..
... Also ... If one fails ... The other can stand in ...
... Finally ... BOTH fans will last longer ... Niether must work, as hard.

It *might* also be the case that you can run at lower fan RPM, while maintaining the same temps.

... GTK, tho.


 
I'll keep you informed 'noextreme' , and yeah i already purchased all the equipment. Ill be sure to find all the threads about OC and we will see what happens with the ram. Its a pain in the ass i hear
 
I may pickup a spinpoint soon for a second drive. I lean towards WD because I have never had a problem with them...also 6gb/s
 
I'm going to study in Entertainment Design, a lot of HighRez Photoshop and Painter and some gaming too. I was planning on a Sandy Build, but I just love the idea of a X58 while waiting for Ivy (1-2 years). Great thread guys. Here's my build :

ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM
Item #: N82E16827135204
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
$20.99

Corsair Graphite Series 600T Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Item #: N82E16811139003
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
$10.00 USD Mail-in Rebate
$159.99

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Item #: N82E16822152185
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
$74.99

CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-750HX 750W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Active ...
Item #: N82E16817139010
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
-$20.00 Instant
$15.00 USD Mail-in Rebate
$179.99
$159.99

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler Compatible Intel ...
Item #: N82E16835103065
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
$29.99

EVGA 01G-P3-1561-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti FPB (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support FPB Video ...
Item #: N82E16814130604
Return Policy: VGA Standard Return Policy
$249.99

Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 12GB (3 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model 998770
Item #: N82E16820226096
Return Policy: Memory Standard Return Policy
-$10.00 Instant
$149.99
$139.99

Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC128MAG-1G1 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Item #: N82E16820148348
Return Policy: Limited Replacement Only Return Policy
-$25.00 Instant
$289.99
$264.99

Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor BX80601950
Item #: N82E16819115211
Return Policy: CPU Replacement Only Return Policy

ASUS Sabertooth X58 LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813131665
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

So ....?

Also, I heard it's better to use a 3x4 memory config than a 6x2....is it true ? Why ?
 
Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC064MAG-1G1 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
5/5(147 reviews) $125
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148357

... or ... this ... for $165

OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTX80G 2.5" 80GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227685&cm_re=vertex2-_-20-227-685-_-Product

OKGEAR 18" SATA 6 Gbps Cable, Straight to Right Angle W/Metal Latch, Silver, Backward Compatible with 3 Gbps and 1.5 Gbps - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812123132&cm_re=okgear_sata_18%22_right-_-12-123-132-_-Product


I will help with computers that do not include a system SSD, but I will NOT certify them.




 


It's better because LGA 1366 can only pick up triple channel memory which means it only read three channels of memory together at one time making sure the timing is functioning together almost as if they are one piece. When you go with 3x4 you get 12gb working as one. when you go 6x2 you get 6gb working as one and another 6gb working as one. I think! :)
 


So basically, a 80 GB would be enough ? I was wondering if any application would benefit from being installed on the SSD...

Oh and Alvin, you suggested some headphones earlier...are they great for music, games, movies ? I really don't know which to buy :/
 


I did the exact same thing for the exact same reason till i saw the benchmarks for both. They dont lie and the samsung seems to be the fastest mechanical drive out there even beating some SSD's!




There will be no difference in speed at all with 3 vs 6 dimms. The reason people say 3 is better then 6 is that there is more likely to be compatibility issues with 6 dimms. 6 dims of ram may be more likely to run below rated speed or sometimes not show up.
HERE IS HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR RAM
1. get the ram compatibility chart from the mobo manufacturers website.
2. Find the ram on that chart with the lowest CAS from a good manufacturer. The mhz is not all that important as long as its 1600mhz or more but buying 2000+ is kind of a waste since cas and price is generally higher (the lower the cas number the faster)
3. look how many dims of that ram is supported (on the chart).
4. Call the mobo manufacturer and ask if they have tested the board with X# of dimms of XXXXXX ram and does it run at rated speed. The ram i got said it was supported 3 and 4 dimm configuration (i know, weird) so i called asus and said WTF is the deal with 4 dimm and were they sure it would not work in 6 dimm. They said that it should indeed work in a 6 dimm configuration but i may have to drop the timing slightly if i had to do anything at all. If i got 4 dims it would work as 1tripple channel (weird again)... Well 6 dimms works fine like they say no tweaking at all necessary. If your still worried call the ram manufacturer and ask them. The mushkin guys are great. He transferred me over to a dude using my mobo with 6 dimms of the memory i was getting so i was confident then.
5. Once you have decided on the ram shop around a lot! i got my ram for $98 per 6gb (3X 2gb) which is close to half what amazon was selling it for. Sure i had to buy it from a co i didnt know and trust but again i talked to the guy on the phone and he seemed honest and cool + they just drop shipped the stuff straight from mushkin so i had no worries and saved over $100.


In my opinion the only reason to consider ram with higher MHZ is because it gives you more flexabiltiy to overclock since the BCL it tied to the ram speed. so it becomes a balancing act between base clock, ram speed, performance, and voltage.

Another reason you may considder 3 dimms rather then 6 is because if you want more later you still got room. Computer are progressing so damn fast though i feel its pretty unlikely you will ever buy those last three sticks of ram before they become obsolete.

One last reason is that if you are buying a HUGE cooler like the NOCTURA D14 you may not be able to fit 6 sticks of your desired ram under that mammoth! This is a reason to STAY AWAY from ram with tall heat spreaders. the redline has a very low heat spreader. This does not apply when using the 212 + though because you can side the fans up higher on the cooler.

p.s. i love being a nerd!
 
Thanks for both of you guys ! All the memory stuff helped me a lot.
Wait...no 4GB dimms is listed as compatible in the SABERTOOTH list....???
 


probably is way overkill for most but this is what I use for audio.

http://www.kraftmusic.com/catalog/audio/monitorspeakers/index.asp?product=5323

I run it through an MBOX 2. I DO NOT RECOMMEND ANY DIGIDESIGN AUDIO EQUIPMENT UNLESS YOU ONLY WANT TO USE PRO TOOLS. THEIR DRIVERS ARE CRAP!!!!!! I will be buying a high end sound card to run these bad boys as soon as I get another audio production project to do. My MBOX2 just stopped working on my last PC due to a driver malfunction (right ion the middle of my work) and after 8 hrs of trying to fix it i said screw it and switched over to logic on my mac. I was never able to get it to work on that computer again. Im sure if i reinstalled windows it would work but i have WAY WAY WAY to many os customization and programs on that computer to just start over to get some crappy audio interface to work. DIGI support is useless as well. They just ignore 90% or problems (even known ones posted all over the internet). So yeh no digidesign hardware unless your only going to use your system for pro tools only

I have made music and audio tracks for films and such as a paid hobby. This is more of a recording studio set up then a gaming set up. But i guess thats what were all talking about is workstations..... Funny no one has brought up professional audio yet. Maybe they have their own forum.
This sytem sounds AMAZING. Clarity, range, and fullness are OUTSTANDING. the speakers are self powered so i could plug them straight into any sound outlet with the correct adapter. They are portable (kinda heavy though). HIGHLY RECOMMEND FOR PROFESSIONAL RECORDING AND SOUND PRODUCTION APPLICATION. you could get 3 more of the mid/high (called monitors which could bring a whole new level of confusion to this forum) if you wanted to use them for surround sound and have the most bad ass audio set up ever 😉 but that would be dumb unless you were producing suround sound audio tracks for films or something.

If you got the deepest pockets here go ahead and get these bad boys for the fun of it and you wont be disappointed but if you produce audio these are a MUST HAVE in my opinion.
 


same with the rampage III formula hence my decision to go 6 dimm. You could call them and ask. Also check the ram manufacturers website for compatibility..... or call
 



Keep in mind the higher the capacity ssd the faster they are. Bigger is better in more way then one with ssd's and mechanical hd's. My suggestion would be wait till you can afford a 128gb at least. Prices arefinally starting to become reasonable on SSD's and i believe they are going to continue dropping this year for 3 reasons.

1. sata 3 ssd's are just hitting the market which will drive down sata 2 ssd's (I think)
2. we are just starting to see high capacity ssd's which will drive price per gig down
3. production facilities are just finally getting paid off so they may pass some of their savings on (that's a big maybe)
 
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