Intel board with i7 support and 3 pci slots looks good

[garyb]

yep, if the pc is really that noisy, get it out of the room...

[dante]

err yeah forgot about the PSU fan.

[Immanuel]

Silent PC review often have some useful reviews of sound emitting PC components.

www.silentpcreview.com

[w_ellis]

I've been very happy with Antec cases for quiet PCs (I use a P180 for my music PC). They tend to have built-in fan controllers and I've been able to run them at minimum fan rotation with passive CPU heatsinks.

This article compares the current models that I would suggest looking at: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cases/ ... cases.html

You might find that's all you need to have a quiet PC (assuming you have a good PSU already).

[dante]

In my case the case is a done deal, I am cycling between 2 rack mount cases every 5 years or so. This time its the short one so wont be sticking out the back of the rack. yay.

[garyb]

the power supply on many full sized mixing consoles is noisier than the current pcs.

[dante]

The i7 4790 came in and it was a bit cheaper than the 4770. A bit cheaper and a bit faster.

Heres the inventory so far (minus the rack casing) - next month, the build !

inventory

inventory.jpg (147.84 KiB) Viewed 2161 times

[Immanuel]

Which rack case have you planned to buy? I have a 4U case and a 3U case. The 3U case does not have room for STDM cables on cards with more that 3 DSPs. The Luna cards are less tall, so these are the only cards you can link. My 4U case works just fine. Also, if you plan to use a big quiet CPU cooler, you have more choices with a 4U case.

[dante]

I already have the rack case, well 2 in fact, both 4U. I started out with a short one, then kept it and bought a longer one five years ago.

Now I'm dismounting the long one and having the new parts assembled in the short rack.

Can't remember the brands. But it will be good having the shorter one back coz there's not much room round the back of the rack rig.

It will be the fourth home for the 3 x PCI cards.

[irrelevance]

The i7 4790 came in and it was a bit cheaper than the 4770. A bit cheaper and a bit faster.

Heres the inventory so far (minus the rack casing) - next month, the build !

inventory.jpg

Dude you hijacked my thread!

Only joking good to see you got all your parts Dante. What was the final cost on that if you don't mind me asking and did you have to ship in to AU? I'm looking at parts from the US to Melbourne at the moment. Most suppliers I've used in the past were Euro and may or may not ship out to AU although I did use quiet pc.com recently for a cpu fan (would definitely recommend them for low profile/quiet solutions) but would you recommend a good supplier in VIC?

Thank you all for the rest of the input. Coming round to the upgrade cycle again and realising now I know even less than I did last time I did this! Damn I need to stay current

[dante]

Didn't add up the final cost, between 1 and 1.5 large. They did stuff up with the video card, fan obscuring one of the PCI slots. and the thing wouldn't boot without an F1 prompt. I took it back and they fixed it. Then I had an extra USB card slotted in and ended up disabling it ... Too many IRQ hassles.

I ripped out the MIDEX 8 as well to eliminate an USB usage, and use Scope card MIDI IO instead.

Nothing shipped in specially, just dealer stock at Airport West http://www.cnettech.com.au

They don't know much about DAWS much less DSP.

I will say one thing though, this beast is much quieter than the last one. Don't know if that's due to the SSD but my noise floor on Mic recordings is much improved. Whatever, that's good coz there's no chance of me getting the PC out of the room or isolated.

[irrelevance]

Well I'll be building myself so noboby else to blame but me but Cool That's a pretty decent website I'll be having a look here too thanks. I seem to remember there was an issue at one time with ASUS board chipsets and that intel chipsets played nicer with the pci cards. Is this now a non issue?

[garyb]

Dante, use a hub if you want more usb devices.

[irrelevance]

I decided to buy local rather than ship stuff in and found the asus board you're using Dante at centre com online so I've snapped it up with a new i7 processor, ram psu heatsink and fan to fit into my existing 4u rackmount case. I don't want to change my install so I'm keeping my HD's. I'm sure there will be some software that might need re-registering but as long as I have the same cards installed will scope run without reinstall?

[dante]

Dante, use a hub if you want more usb devices.

I know - I saw you tell that to someone else recently Waiting till I can see a good USB3 hub in shop.

I decided to buy local rather than ship stuff in and found the asus board you're using Dante at centre com online so I've snapped it up with a new i7 processor, ram psu heatsink and fan to fit into my existing 4u rackmount case. I don't want to change my install so I'm keeping my HD's. I'm sure there will be some software that might need re-registering but as long as I have the same cards installed will scope run without reinstall?

I keep an image of both my SCOPE XITE and SCOPE PCI folders, with allkeys, devices, files etc as installed.

Then on new PC I run the Scope installers (one for XITE and one for PCI) and after the drivers etc are proven to work, I overwrite the folder the installer made with the relevant image copy.

Works so far.

In your case keeping your HDD's and Windows you might not need to re-install, but if you do, backup your existing Scope install folder first.

Ive never run a system on a new MB without fresh installs of everything, so unknown territory to me.

BTW - the cheapest parts suppliers here in Melbourne are MSY - but they dont do builds : http://www.msy.com.au/home.php

[garyb]

a hub is no big deal and you don't need usb3 for kb/mouse and dongles....

[dante]

I was thinking maybe a drive bay fitting like this...

http://www.auspcmarket.com.au/productim ... t_id=48891

Dya reckon this would work like a hub eg only 1 IRQ ?

Ultimately I'd like a 1U rack mount hub but they seem expensive

[garyb]

no, i don't think it will just take up 1 irq like a hub.

a regular hub for about $20 or $30 is all that's needed for 90% of your usb needs. why use a nuclear bomb when a tack hammer will do?

[dante]

Convenience. a rack or bay at front avoids cramped trips to back of rig - narrow passage and stepping on cables and better than something loose or dangling around. My previous rack case had USB at front - this one doesn't.

Same reason I got the midex 8 - because prefer rack mount gear.

In fact I might end up selling M8 to buy a USB rack...if I can find one that works like a hub. Re the bay, I think I saw one that connects to MB via a single FireWire.

Sometimes people have preferences that go a bit further than bare necessity. It's good to also have cool stuff.

[garyb]

usb through firewire?

that sounds like a bad idea. a normal hub will work better. for kb/mouse and dongles, you don't need a connector up front. there's also no reason that a hub can't sit in the front of your rack. i'm not trying to interfere with your happiness in any way, though.