I currently have the DP35 which is an awesome chipset, but the new P45 coming out is what I really am excited about.
I have found that quad core's aren't really necessary for me as I can load just about everything I need w/ an E series CPU / P35 combo.
It is rather the memory that has been the bottleneck in my case.
The most exciting news is that 8GB's of DDR2 can be accessed, which will load and play all of the VSTi's and VST FX I need, and all inside of Gigastudio 4's VST hosting abilities.
It's nice to know my future upgrade will be a simple Motherboard / P45 chipset, that will allow me to take all of my RAM, and CPU with me.
If it isn't enough power, DFI is the best Overclocking solution out there, and I can jump up if necessary, but it is doubtful I will need that.
I believe that XITE-1 will give me all of the effects I need, with the exception of softubes feedback VST effect that I blend with lead guitar samples, and effects that Scope doesn't have.
But these DFI P45 choices are so SonicCore ready IMHO.
I just love the fact that mATX has finally arrived, and those 90 degree SATA connectors are just so considerate.
All of the capacitors are top shelf parts, nothing but classy, quality components.
Intel's P45 w/ 8GB DDR2 800 & 64bit
I am very interested in the mATX and a 2U Rackmounted ATX.
The low power of the 45nm Wolfdale CPU's, and the new die shrink of the P45 all contribute to that.
Plus the fact that the P45 uses DDR2 800 as well as DDR3 RAM insures a long life cycle, as I will use the DDR2 until DDR3 shows higher benefits, and lower prices.
X48's and X38's are basically the same chipsets, similar to the 875 / 865 series. The higher number was due to bin picking on the wafers.
P35's and P45's are really just better results due to better quality manufacturing. The P35's are still tough to beat.
If I was really interested in a high performance chipset the nForce 780i would be my choice from NVidia. But stability and low power have proven to be my friends for live performance where long hours of stability are concerned.
Even now many tweakers have the LanParty P35 instead of the X48 LanParty. Even though the performance of the X48 and DDR3 is better @ stock settings, the P35 using DDR2 w/ the Wolfdale CPU's is a cheap and very fast solution.
I am sure that tier #1 manufacturers will come out w/ fast ass X48's no doubt, but I have long ago given up the idea of having the fastest and am more interested in fast, but low power / low cost solutions.
I can make a better decision on my DAW case and parts once I see the size of XITE-1's PCI-e card. Hopefully it will be a low profile. PCI-e 1X cards use much smaller connectors.
The WD VelociRaptors are all 2.5" HDD's. I really want 3 more of those, but w/o the 3.5" IcyDock case, and a RAID cage that would hold 4 of those in a 2U design. That will probably be the last mechanical shrink before SSD's become mainstream.
But You Are Correct In Your Wait And See Approach.
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3309
The low power of the 45nm Wolfdale CPU's, and the new die shrink of the P45 all contribute to that.
Plus the fact that the P45 uses DDR2 800 as well as DDR3 RAM insures a long life cycle, as I will use the DDR2 until DDR3 shows higher benefits, and lower prices.
X48's and X38's are basically the same chipsets, similar to the 875 / 865 series. The higher number was due to bin picking on the wafers.
P35's and P45's are really just better results due to better quality manufacturing. The P35's are still tough to beat.
If I was really interested in a high performance chipset the nForce 780i would be my choice from NVidia. But stability and low power have proven to be my friends for live performance where long hours of stability are concerned.
Even now many tweakers have the LanParty P35 instead of the X48 LanParty. Even though the performance of the X48 and DDR3 is better @ stock settings, the P35 using DDR2 w/ the Wolfdale CPU's is a cheap and very fast solution.
I am sure that tier #1 manufacturers will come out w/ fast ass X48's no doubt, but I have long ago given up the idea of having the fastest and am more interested in fast, but low power / low cost solutions.
I can make a better decision on my DAW case and parts once I see the size of XITE-1's PCI-e card. Hopefully it will be a low profile. PCI-e 1X cards use much smaller connectors.
The WD VelociRaptors are all 2.5" HDD's. I really want 3 more of those, but w/o the 3.5" IcyDock case, and a RAID cage that would hold 4 of those in a 2U design. That will probably be the last mechanical shrink before SSD's become mainstream.
But You Are Correct In Your Wait And See Approach.
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3309
My goal here is to have a 4U ShockRack w/ a 2U DAW, XITE-1, and a 1U Bricasti Model 7.
_____________________________________________________________
EIA RS-310C 19" Rackmount Standard
Accepts Micro ATX/ATX Motherboards
Four removable hot plug SCA or cold plug IDE HDD trays, notebook CD Rom behind fan swing door. Standard 3.5" floppy
Front louvered snap-on door covers entire front panel
Slide-n-lock top cover for easy access with three screw design
DIMENSIONS 3.50" (H) x 19.00" (W) x 20.00" (D)
WEIGHT 35Lbs
CHASSIS 16Ga. Cold Rolled, ASTM A336 Steel
Finish: Gold Zinc Plated
COVER 18Ga. ASTM A366 Cold Rolled Steel
Finish: Gold Zinc Plated
ACCESSIBILITY Front hinged door, covers drives, two serviceable fans & dust filter.
FRONT PANEL CONTROLS Master Power On & Master Reset
SYSTEM INDICATORS Green LED 5VDC Good, Yellow LED Disk Activity
POWER 280W ATX or -48DC power supply
COOLING Two intake fans (35CFM)
One exhaust fan (35CFM)
http://www.siliconrax.com/images/produc ... 6_4sca.pdf
http://www.siliconrax.com/
I have an appointment to view the manufacturing facility here in Nevada in July.
_____________________________________________________________
EIA RS-310C 19" Rackmount Standard
Accepts Micro ATX/ATX Motherboards
Four removable hot plug SCA or cold plug IDE HDD trays, notebook CD Rom behind fan swing door. Standard 3.5" floppy
Front louvered snap-on door covers entire front panel
Slide-n-lock top cover for easy access with three screw design
DIMENSIONS 3.50" (H) x 19.00" (W) x 20.00" (D)
WEIGHT 35Lbs
CHASSIS 16Ga. Cold Rolled, ASTM A336 Steel
Finish: Gold Zinc Plated
COVER 18Ga. ASTM A366 Cold Rolled Steel
Finish: Gold Zinc Plated
ACCESSIBILITY Front hinged door, covers drives, two serviceable fans & dust filter.
FRONT PANEL CONTROLS Master Power On & Master Reset
SYSTEM INDICATORS Green LED 5VDC Good, Yellow LED Disk Activity
POWER 280W ATX or -48DC power supply
COOLING Two intake fans (35CFM)
One exhaust fan (35CFM)
http://www.siliconrax.com/images/produc ... 6_4sca.pdf
http://www.siliconrax.com/
I have an appointment to view the manufacturing facility here in Nevada in July.
DFI has been releasing their products later than normal for that reason in the last year.
I will definately wait for version 2.0's on any of their products.
But I rather doubt Intel will release an mATX that runs on DDR2.
This scenario won't take place until later this year anyway, but it's a nice upgrade to look forward to.
I plan on having the E8500 for a long time as the expected life cycle of that CPU under constant use is about 6 years, an achievement for sure.
It seems as though I finally have seen the CPU requirements that are necessary for my rig, and now know that the memory is the only remaining issue.
With Gigastudio 4 Tascam did a really good job of allocating the CPU resources by keeping the app on one core to retain the kernel level MIDI timings tight, and letting the other core, or cores divvy up the VST chores.
Scope and Gigastudio originally interested me years ago as Giga was pretty much a memory sub system streaming app, and Scope was DSP based for power. A tiny little 1GHz Coppermine PII use to run the 2 simulataneously very well. Only recent upgrades using GigaPulse and VST FX has caused the CPU to be a factor.
I use the convolution reverb on the Pedal Down instances of pianos mostly, as I prefer hardware reverbs still.
I used only the Gigapulse for FX last night and was really dissapointed in it's results. Hardware effects are just so much more editiable and better sounding inside of Scope.
How's the PCM81 working for you?
I will definately wait for version 2.0's on any of their products.
But I rather doubt Intel will release an mATX that runs on DDR2.
This scenario won't take place until later this year anyway, but it's a nice upgrade to look forward to.
I plan on having the E8500 for a long time as the expected life cycle of that CPU under constant use is about 6 years, an achievement for sure.
It seems as though I finally have seen the CPU requirements that are necessary for my rig, and now know that the memory is the only remaining issue.
With Gigastudio 4 Tascam did a really good job of allocating the CPU resources by keeping the app on one core to retain the kernel level MIDI timings tight, and letting the other core, or cores divvy up the VST chores.
Scope and Gigastudio originally interested me years ago as Giga was pretty much a memory sub system streaming app, and Scope was DSP based for power. A tiny little 1GHz Coppermine PII use to run the 2 simulataneously very well. Only recent upgrades using GigaPulse and VST FX has caused the CPU to be a factor.
I use the convolution reverb on the Pedal Down instances of pianos mostly, as I prefer hardware reverbs still.
I used only the Gigapulse for FX last night and was really dissapointed in it's results. Hardware effects are just so much more editiable and better sounding inside of Scope.
How's the PCM81 working for you?
I spend so much time experimenting and working on scope devices and my guitar hex-sustainer that i dont even use it (except to turn it on and see how nice it sounded). maybe if one day i actually do a real tune i might 
it will be one of the firts things on the block if i decide to get XCITE anyways.
it will be one of the firts things on the block if i decide to get XCITE anyways.
I upgraded to a DFI MB in order to accommodate a 3rd Scope card. I got the UT version because I use WC and it hangs the chip cooler radiator outside the computer in front of the MB fan. Works great, everything stays cool. Great OC ability. My first DFI but it's made me a believer.
I got the DDR2 module because I didn't want to upgrade memory too, but there is also a DDR3 version.
Her's the Egg link:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813136049
...I got the higher end board hoping I could upgrade CPU and Memory later without having to put in a new MB. Maybe, maybe not. But I thought it would be worth trying. Generally speaking I think any of the DFI boards from P35 to X48 will work just fine.
One word of warning, if you need IEEE 1394, you have to get the green models; the orange ones don't have it.
I got the DDR2 module because I didn't want to upgrade memory too, but there is also a DDR3 version.
Her's the Egg link:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813136049
...I got the higher end board hoping I could upgrade CPU and Memory later without having to put in a new MB. Maybe, maybe not. But I thought it would be worth trying. Generally speaking I think any of the DFI boards from P35 to X48 will work just fine.
One word of warning, if you need IEEE 1394, you have to get the green models; the orange ones don't have it.
They make such beautiful boards.
The 90 degree angle of the SATA ports are just downright Scope friendly and so classy.
My buddy had the 855GME board w/ a PCI-X Netcell RAID Card, LUNA, and 15 DSP Booster card, and a Matrox G450.
He overclocked his DAW which was a audio/ video DAW w/ Scope, and Gigastudio. It was the ultimate music DAW in it's day ( 4 years ago ).
It used the Pentium M780, and had a 6 x HDD RAID 3 array for audio / video chores. I was amazed as it smoked the doors off of our P4 Northwood DAW, and all others until the E series CPU's arrived.
The 90 degree angle of the SATA ports are just downright Scope friendly and so classy.
My buddy had the 855GME board w/ a PCI-X Netcell RAID Card, LUNA, and 15 DSP Booster card, and a Matrox G450.
He overclocked his DAW which was a audio/ video DAW w/ Scope, and Gigastudio. It was the ultimate music DAW in it's day ( 4 years ago ).
It used the Pentium M780, and had a 6 x HDD RAID 3 array for audio / video chores. I was amazed as it smoked the doors off of our P4 Northwood DAW, and all others until the E series CPU's arrived.
I disagree. Given a few assumptions, this looks like a very good DAW platform.stardust wrote:These tests usually tell nothing about real performance and stability in DAWs.
This is an OC and gear freak type of test.
altius citius fortius
The assumptions are:
1. Prime95 can run overnight without errors and without increasing the core temps much from what they are.
2. The core temps are accurate, and do not need the +15 bump some testers require. 70C is excellent at that speed and voltage, 85C would be prohibitive.
3. The cooling is not making too much racket. DAWs should be pretty quiet, duh.
Given the above, I'd say congratulations are in order for putting together a first rate DAW platform. You might even say a swifter, higher, stronger platform.
As for OC, the QX processors are meant to be overclocked; not to do so is throwing money away. As for gear freak, aren't we all? have you noticed what forum this is? Actually the Prime95 is one of the best and certainly the most used platform for stability testing - it is, after all, derived from a real world use program.