New DAW Configuration for about 800 EURO (Juli 2008)

[Rinse]

For me it's time to get myself a new DAW. I did a lot of research and came up with the following system for about € 800.
I believe this is the best configuration for me at the best price at this moment. I did not place the order yet, so i'm open for any sugestions


Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 - € 239,-
The Core 2 Quad Q9450 has 4 Cores at 2,66GHz, a 1333MHz fsb and 12MB L2-cachememory. The Q9550 is only 166MHz faster but also twice as expensive so I chose for the first.


Motherboard: Asus P5Q Deluxe - € 144,50
Instead of the Asus P5K, based on the P35-chipset, the Asus P5Q Deluxe is based on the P45-chipset. Not real spectacular advantages but it is more prepared for the future. The reason I chose the Deluxe version is because of the extra PCI-Express slot (you trade in, one normal PCI compared with the P5Q) and the possibillity for 16 phase procossor power which claimes to give better performance (?)

since I not intend to use SLI or Crossfire, there's no need for a X48 motherboard.

If I look at the configuration of the mainboard (P5Q), I doubt that both my SCOPE (6 DSP) cards will fit.
can anyoneconfirm this?


Memory: Corsair TWIN2X4096-8500C5DF,4096MB, 1066MHz - € 106,87
Never use the “auto” setting in the BIOS always set them manual according to the manual of the memory modules.
Put them on CAS 5-5-5-12 2t 2,1 volt at 1066 mhz.
With slightly overgeclocked Q9450

or
OCZ DDR2 PC2-8500 Reaper HPC Edition (2x 2GB)


Video: Asus Radeon HD 3650 - € 49,90
For music production, no heavy video card is needed. I chose for the ASUS Radeon HD3650. The card is passively cooled so no fans which can produce any noise. It's capable of rendering a few 3d objects and the user Aero interface of Vista is also no problem. This card has 2 DVI connectors for a dual screen setup.

Harddisc: 2 x Samsung Spinpoint F1 640GB - € 60,95 (2x)
Instead of the Samsung Spinpoint F1 750GB-i chose for two 640GB-models. The reason is these use only two platters with a higher density. This means better performance and and lower noiseproduction. 2 Harddiscs in raid 0 (mirror) will reduce the loadingtimes and give better safety since data is written to 2 discs simultaneously. So, in case one disc crashes you still have the data on the other

Don't use the orange connections on the mainboard, just use port 1 and 2 of the ICH10R controller and put the discs in RAID 0


Cpu-cooler: OCZ Vendetta 2 CPU Cooler | OCZTVEND2 - € 35,- -
According to the most tests a very compact, low noise and good cooler.

Dvd-burner: Lite-On LH-20A1S (20x) - € 17,50
According the most test results I found, the GH20NS10 is the best. Also, my overall experience with Lite-On is good. It is a SATA Model and writes at 20x speed.


Behuizing: Antec 3U25ATX450XR-2 – EC 19” 3U - € 94,10
This 19” case has only takes only 3 units and still can house the PCI cards. It has a 450W ATX12V v2.0 power supply, and there will fit 4 3,5” discdrives in. My experience with antec is pretty good.

http://www.antec.com/ec/productDetails.php?ProdID=03207

[luigicampala]

when choosing a mobo, make sure that there will be no irq sharing, the current asus boards are likely to have an shared irq with some other device (hd, lan, usb or so) as they don´t pay too much attention on pci-cards.

[dawman]

Good Advice,

But those can all be disabled in the Device Manager if you have the patience. Intel boards are usually hassle free if you get the stock models. The P35 chipset gave me a major VSTi boost in XP SP2, and also allowed more instances of DSP based time effects.

I think you will be fine, just get rid of the excess crap that raised the price of the board.

Your video card choice from what I've read is a sound decision. Gigabyte and Asus using their own choice of video cards seems to work well as they probably tweaked the FSB and cards to be a little hotter than stock boards.

Happy Hunting.

[Rinse]

OK, in case of the IRQ sharing it could be a better choise to take the "plain" P5Q (not the
Deluxe) since this one has 3 PCI slots. and less addons. this gives me better chance the SCOPE boards will physically fit and the IRQ conflicts. And it's 50 EURO cheaper

nobody is using the P5Q here?

[thomson]

I´m using the P5Q with E8200 and 4 GB G.Skill Ram. Very fast and stable system. No problems so far

IRQ P5Q3.jpg (116.4 KiB) Viewed 2394 times

Scope3.jpg (205.12 KiB) Viewed 2391 times

[dawman]

Nice helpful pic Brotha' Man Thomson.

I use the GSkill 4GB DDRII 800. They are of high quality and reasonably priced. BTW, those Asus boards overclock really well if you feel the need for more speed.

Or upgrade next spring when the E8600's are cheap. The 1333MHz @ 3.3GHz is a perfect match stock combo. It's my next move before Christmas.

More important note, get Scope running as soon as possible.

[Rinse]

I´m using the P5Q with E8200 and 4 GB G.Skill Ram. Very fast and stable system. No problems so far

wow, thanks a lot thomson, this makes me feel i'm on the right track.

the only reason I would choose for for the Deluxe is that that one has that new 16 Phase power. that could be some marketing hype but it is designed for these processors.

if I look at the configuration of the Deluxe I believe i cannot put 2 SCOPE 6 dsp boards in that one since the second PCI is very close to the first PCIe (used for the videocard) and I think that the memory banks are to close for the scope to fit in.

The Deluxe Version



The original P5Q

[garyb]

thomson, you may see real problems in the future depending on how you use your system.

the pci-e root controllers sharing irqs with Scope cards are troublesome, but the usb controller that is sharing should really be turned off!

[rhythmaster]

Harddisc: 2 x Samsung Spinpoint F1 640GB - € 60,95 (2x)
Instead of the Samsung Spinpoint F1 750GB-i chose for two 640GB-models. The reason is these use only two platters with a higher density. This means better performance and and lower noiseproduction. 2 Harddiscs in raid 0 (mirror) will reduce the loadingtimes and give better safety since data is written to 2 discs simultaneously. So, in case one disc crashes you still have the data on the other

Don't use the orange connections on the mainboard, just use port 1 and 2 of the ICH10R controller and put the discs in RAID 0

I think you mean RAID 1. RAID 1 is mirroring

BTW, thanks for your posting. I bought almost the same parts as you did. Up to now it's running good. I'll post my first experience...

Harry