Spec of new i7 based PC - comments please

[Ben Walker]

Dear all,
sorry for yet another 'what about this spec' mail, but I really value the knowledge on this site.

I'm putting together a new PC.
Basic requirement is for an i7 based system which will house 2 S|C cards (a Pulsar 1 and a Pulsar 2). If it is XITE-1 ready that's a bonus, but not essential (I may never be able to afford one!)

Here's what I've come up with so far:

• Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R
• Processor: Intel Core i7 2.66Ghz (Nehalem)
• Case: Antec Sonata III Piano Black Quiet Case (EarthWatts 500W PSU)
• RAM: Patriot Viper 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600MHz)
• CPU Cooler: Akasa AK-967 Nero Direct Contact Heatpipe CPU Cooler
• Graphics Card: Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4670 Ultimate "Passive" 512MB
• HD: 2 * Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB SATA-II 64MB Cache

I'm pretty set on Mobo and processor. The rest is questionable.

I really don't know how you choose RAM or a Graphics Card, or a CPU cooler, so if anyone has suggestions on those, let me know.
The graphics card is a no-fan one, which seemed sensible, but let me know what you think. I'm not big on games or anything, so GFX not too important, as long as quiet.

The CPU cooler seemed quiet and cheap and not too big.

Any thoughts on RAM? So many options to chose from.

Have I forgotten anything (DVD drive, obviously).

Thanks for help people,
Ben

[koalaboy]

I run a Gigabyte-EX58-UD5 with 12GB of Patriot Viper (@1066 as it's only specced to 1600 for 6GB) with a core i7, and it's a beast.

For a cooler, I use the Noctua NH-U12P SE2, which is very quiet, and seems to keep everything cool. GPU wise I went for a Radeon 4850 passive. All audio through a Line6 UX8 at the moment.

Currently running windows 7 x64 with no problems, and most hosts (haven't tried Cubase yet) and a UAD-2 quad. I installed a Scope pro last night (in a temporary 32bit windows install) which seems to work fine, but I received my activation code today, so I'll give it a proper run through tonight hopefully.

The only hesitation I'd have is with the WD 'green' drives. I have a couple which I use in a NAS, but they don't seem as good as the Samsung F1s (1st edition) I use in my DAW - I'd look for something a bit less 'eco' if you want performance.

HTH.

(and hello everyone )

[Neutron]

Ill second the WD green reservations, the black is quiet already and much much faster. greens are good for external backup drives and so on.

please consider an SSD as well, especially with windows 7 it makes a huge difference,

[Ben Walker]

I run a Gigabyte-EX58-UD5 with 12GB of Patriot Viper (@1066 as it's only specced to 1600 for 6GB) with a core i7, and it's a beast.

...

HTH.

(and hello everyone )

Great first post! Thanks for your advice and welcome to the Z.
Ben

[valis]

Get the WD "Caviar Black" drives imo or one of the RE4 models (the enterprise version of caviar black). Aside from the lesser performance of the Green drives the heads also park at some rediculous rate (every 8 seconds for some models.) More info here, here and here; and here is a thread that has the utility in the first post can be found. And I believe this was also covered by anandtech and ars as well as many others as a blog/news post. You *can* disable the HD parking with info avail in my links though, so it's still an option (hdparm seems the most 'reliable' method for windows users.) Also there seem to be a few iterations so not all drives have the same firmware/settings/behaviour.

Samsung is good but has a slightly higher rate of failure across the F1's, especially depending on who you order from (seems sensitive to improper packaging.) I think that the latest F1's are safe and they have the F2's now, the only real issue here is that they can't match WD's RE4/Caviar Black performance numbers.

Am currently not recommending Seagate still, I haven't been as big a fan of them since they absorbed Maxtor, as it seems to me Maxtor's issues had to do with trying to cut cost and Seagate moved their products over to those production lines as well. I did get 3 ES.2's 2 years ago and they've performed flawlessly, but the consumer drives have had a lot of issues (I posted info in this forum at the time) and while I think they've resolved the firmware issues WD just seems to be in the lead right now.

Whatever you do, don't get a drive with 5 platters (1.5 & 2TB drives showed up with 5 platters initially, as did the 'early' 1TB models) as it's just asking for trouble (in my post I'm also speaking in general to Pz members sharing my anecdotes as I realized you spec'd a 1TB drive in the first post.)

[Ben Walker]

Components all arrived on Weds and I did the physical build last night. All went fine, 2 * S|C PCI cards fit fine (phew) and the machine boots up fine and is whisper quiet! Very happy so far.

One question before I do the Windows XP install (I've searched the forum for an answer to this but couldn't find anything definitive).

Do I still need to do the XP (service pack 3) install in ACPI mode? (If so, can someone remind me how to do it?)

Thanks,
Ben

[valis]

I don't imagine you should need to use anything but ACPI mode.