Going for a new computer - please, some help will be cool

[garyb]

usb is bad.
most other system devices will not make any problems.

Pulsar1s do not handle PCI traffic nearly as well as the later cards(the masterverb test proves this).

[Nestor]

thank you tlaskows for sharing your system info and thank you gary for the answer.

Well, I don't know if I can separate the USB Host Controller from IRQ 16 and leave the second Pulsar card alone, but I can try, that should be done through the BIOS, it is the only chance I guess. This board, nevertheless, has many USB ports, I don't mind to disable a few of them if possible.

Now, I understand that "using" these particular shared USB ports could cause the IRQ problems, but, the big question is: will these shared USB ports cause problems if it is only "active" but you don't have any USB device pluged into them? Because if the problem is caused because of "data transfers", this should not be a problem, I can handle it using the USB 2 ports instate, but if the problem is caused because these ports are just "active", then there is only one option: to set them inactive, or just go on with the system as is.

I am using only one PCI-E, the PCI-E16 with the video card, the other 4 PCI-E slots are free - two big ones and two smaller ones.

[tlaskows]

I am using all of my USB ports. But I guess mine are not shared with Scope. I have no idea.

I hope you can work it out somehow. In these day, you need at least 2 USB ports.

-Tom

[braincell]

It should not be a problem at all in a modern computer. This is bad engineering.

thank you tlaskows for sharing your system info and thank you gary for the answer.

Well, I don't know if I can separate the USB Host Controller from IRQ 16 and leave the second Pulsar card alone, but I can try, that should be done through the BIOS, it is the only chance I guess. This board, nevertheless, has many USB ports, I don't mind to disable a few of them if possible.

Now, I understand that "using" these particular shared USB ports could cause the IRQ problems, but, the big question is: will these shared USB ports cause problems if it is only "active" but you don't have any USB device pluged into them? Because if the problem is caused because of "data transfers", this should not be a problem, I can handle it using the USB 2 ports instate, but if the problem is caused because these ports are just "active", then there is only one option: to set them inactive, or just go on with the system as is.

I am using only one PCI-E, the PCI-E16 with the video card, the other 4 PCI-E slots are free - two big ones and two smaller ones.

[ehasting]

MSI Z97 GAMING 3, Socket-1150
Corsair DDR3 16GB 1600MHz Low Profile
Intel Core i7-4790K

--- 3 PCI slots
having 2x Pulsar2 + SCOPE 2nd gen.

- 9 masterVerb's

Needed to disable some stuff in bios to avoid random reboots, they where all power control related.

[garyb]

nestor, the only way to get rid of devices that are sharing irqs is to disable them in the device manager. there's no need to do this if you're click-free. i suspect you may be stuck with the PCI overflow messages on changing projects with the pulsar1s. they are VERY old and things in computers have changed quite a bit since they were made. when you get a chance, you may want to get a pulsar2 and sell the p1s.

[Nestor]

You are right Gary, and the prove is that the PCI overflow message is totally random, today I have done many tests, so I can tell. I could not reproduce a logical behavior based on any logical procedure or repetition, which shows clearly that the cards are at fault, so to speak, and not the system (definitely, they are very old compared with the system). Well, this is what I have and I have to keep going for the moment, with this system, no problem for me, it’s fine, I’m quite happy with it.

It seems so far everything works pretty well in general, for audio and video. I will try it out with large projects in the future, and we will see how stable all this is under pressure.

Something that has curiously helped was to release the “K” factor of the CPU, I would not have expected for it to help in anyway but this is all so complex, I mean, the way a PC works, that for some reason (I did not discovered yet why), I get less than half of the PCI overflow thanks to this silly tweak, which was very simple to do, I allowed the K-OC in the BIOS, and added 300 mhz more to the main 4.0, I am now at 4.3 with very low heat and power consumption. Even at 4.3 the system is so stable that you don’t even think it is an OC move you’ve done, it is running at if its was its native speed.

I have to say this MOBO is amazing, there is a few mistakes in the BIO, because it’s still too new, but they are minor quirks in the software. But it shows to be very solid and reliable. My only recommendation for someone interested in this particular model, would be for him to get the best ram he can afford, because the board is so capable that you will really take advantage of it, contrary to what happens with so many MOBOs that advertise been great with high end RAM, but they are not, the increase in speed is negligible. Well, this MOBO it really does take advantage of high end RAM, so it is worth the extra effort if you can pay for it.

I think I’m done now…, the rest it is, as always, fine tune the system as little problems present themselves while you work. I am satisfied and I can work. Of course I would like to get a last generation board with 15DSP or something like that, but this will have to wait for a while. I didn’t even bought a new sequencer yet… so.

Thank you for all your support and help, I truly appreciated your ideas, indications, apps for testing, etc., guys, cheers!

[Nestor]

I have a lean mean super powerful DAW machine!



THANK YOU!!!

[tlaskows]

That doesn't make much sense to me.

Did you check the RAM timings/speed? That causes a lot of issues. This new atomagic RAM detection didn't work so well on my motherboard, so I set it to lower speed.

-Tom

[Nestor]

Yes, we came to the same concussion. I have set my ram from 1886 to 1600 and the system works very stable so far. I don’t see any difference in performance in either RAM speeds.

The only way for it to work with the XMP automatically so it sets itself to 1886, is setting the CPU to 4.5 (a 60% push in the BIOS), which is way too much, because heat goes up as soon as you stress the system with heavy work. Anyway, why having it so stressed if you are not even using the power you already have in the first place? I prefer my system to be cool, quiet and efficient, so this is just fine.

Less PCI overflow messages because I have set it to faster speeds, well… it is a mystery to me too, but as I said, the sum of the parts related work in such a complex way, that there is somewhere a better flow of information for the loading of the devices in the cards, perhaps a better understanding with each other, something like that, I don’t know.

I have made several stress tests to the CPU, made all sort of tests to the RAM with test memory apps, tested video performance, ASIO performance, etc., and it all works really flawlessly, it is a strong, capable and stable system.

“Don’t try to fix it if it is not broken”, is my philosophy in many cases.

[tlaskows]

Good good,

I don't consider any of my computers stable until it passes OCCT linkpack 64 bit test for at least 2 days without any problems. I.E. It keeps running...

-Tom

[Nestor]

This is a bit extreme I think... do you need such an stress to your system? While you sleep, the temperature could go too high and bang... you wake up without an expensive CPU. These kind of tests, I would not do without supervision, don't know, a bit paranoid but I preffer to see now and then what is going on in a new setup.

[Nestor]

Anyway, is there different ways that this app applies over the CPU? Because if it does all the time the same thing, I think that with a couple of hours it should be enough for you to check its stability. Am I wrong?

[tlaskows]

It has built in limits for when it stop after it hits a certain temp. So you can pick what you feel is safe then it will stop with an error.

I've had this app crash my computer after about a day once. That's why I say 2 days at least.

Mine is overclocked by 31%, temp never hit above 83 degrees in over 2 days of testing. It's always on, has not crashed once since I tweaked it to max performance.

It also has a graphics card stress test that will make your whole room hot lol.

Anyways, your chip at stock speed will be faster in floating point calculations than mine running in OC. At least according to Sisoft Sandra

-Tom

[Nestor]

Ok, that's cool, literaly

In one of my tests, my CPU got up to 100 ºC, I stoped it inmediately. Of course, here it is very hot at the moment, it is a matter of ambient too.

[tlaskows]

oh no no,

it should barely hit 85 at max at full load after 20 minutes or so

At 100 it will start to throttle to cool down (downclocks).

Don't overclock at all if it's running that hot. Trust me, OCCT 64 bit linkpack will overheat your CPU right away if whatever stress tests you were doing hot it that hot. If you just do a regular stress test, the CPU will hit 20 degrees lower at max.

Cheers,

-Tom

[Nestor]

Well, I did it at 4.5, that's why..., otherwise it will reach about 70 at max and stay there with a 20% OCC, which is 4.3. Right now, while I am writing to you, it is at 40 ºC idle.

[Nestor]

Guys, I introduce you to F.lux, called “Flux”, a very super tiny program that will protect your eyes with a very simple and intelligent function that attenuates your screen or several if you have so, in color and brightness so you can go on the whole day without harming your eyes. I am using it, it is so small that it uses barely any resources and you can disable it with a click and get back in the same way, it really works. It is free of use.

If you, like me, work too many hours in front of several screens, this is going to help you A LOT. Highly recomended:

https://justgetflux.com/

[tlaskows]

Hmm,

I always turn automatic brightness off if I can. MacBooks had this feature for a long time, the display brightness changes depending on the ambient light. New Windows laptops have it too, but it just doesn't work properly. I do spend the whole day in front of a screen(s) and my eyes are never sore, but I understand that this is different for some people.

-Tom

[Nestor]

It all depends on what you are working. If you mannage smal text the whole day, this is bad, if you work with graphics, you cannot help, but work with a "natural" light balanced monitor. I work with audio all the time, most of all, and about 25 to 30 % with text. When working with audio files, it is very relaxing to use flux.