My New PC System : Therapy is in session!!!

[DannyF]

Well, it's been a while since I checked out these forums. Last time was with a problem with the activation of the DAS plugins. I've had to create a new account due to forgetting the last one, lol. Anyway here is my story of the trouble I've had over the last few months with building a new PC.

It all started when I decided to buy a new PC to replace the old one. The old system was a Pentium 4 3.0ghz running Pulsar, Luna and Z-Link cards. It was running great, but I wanted more grunt in the CPU side. I was recording a couple of bands and Cubase would always peak due to the CPU resources being used . Everything become sluggish, mouse moves slow, clicking - no fault from Creamware, but running lots of plugins within Cubase over 24+ channels took it's toll. [on a side note - on the new Quad core system, the meter CPU peak bar was barely there, much more powerful. Rendering audio tracks went from 1 hour to 10 minutes.]

So due to the band that I'm in wanting to record an EP this year, I figured I'd buy a new system. Parts are cheap and I know how to build a system, so that's what I set out to do. Ok, now comes the horror. lol

Found a couple of great local sellers of PC gear, and seeing that this system would be built over a couple of months, I brought components over time. Each week i'd buy a new system part. I coudln't build the thing till I had everything, so I had to wait and this added to the excitiment of a new kick arse system. Here is what I brought.

CPU - Intel Quad Core Q6600 2.4 (It has the G0 stepping)

CPU Fan - Zalman CNPS9700 LED
it's great, so far my CPU is around 28 degrees C (82F). However it is huge and fitting into the case was hard. For the DFI it was next to impossible, for the ASUS it fitted fine.

RAM - Corsair DDRAM XMS2 CM2X 6400C4 1 gb sticks. Total of 2gb

Motherboard - DFI LanParty NF 680i LT. This board has 8 sata, Dual Lan, 3 PCI Express 16 (2@x16, 1@x8), 1 PCI Express x 4, and 3 PCI slots for CW cards.

PSU - Thermaltake Toughpower 750watt (i think or 600)

GPU - 6600GT and 8600GT [I have 4 LCD 19" monitors]

Case - Lian Li PC-A10 Aluminium Silver

Hard Drive - brought a couple more 500gb WD hard drives. Currently have 5 in system.

So I brought parts and once I had the last component, I started to build. I was pretty excited and installation went pretty straight forward.

So I booted up. Nothing. WTF. Wouldn't post. Pulled out one of the RAM sticks and she booted. Ok. So I installed XP. Went fine. Installed everything. It seemed nice and quick. Tried the other stick of RAM again and she wouldn't post. Tried different combos, 1 stick in, 2 in, other stick in, different slots. The end result was that the stick; which was Corsair and meant to be high standard was Fubar (yes I even tried voltage adjustments and still no work). So I had to send it back. But wait, I had to send both back as DDRAM2 is paired. No computer. So had to reuse old faithful Pentium 4. Rebuild that.

2 weeks I'm still waiting for a reply on the outcome of the RAM. Bugger this so I went and brought another pair. Yeah maybe I should have choosen a different brand but what happens if the first pair return. I could have 4 gb of RAM (yes I too know that XP doesn't detect 4 gb, but VIsta should be fine if I head that way). As I get back from the computer shop, I get an email that the first pair of RAM is being sent back and shoud arrive over the next couple of days. Fuck me!!!. LOL

Booted with the new 2 gb and she works fine. Soon I'll have 4 gb.

Anyway, RAM came back. Booted up no problems, 4 gb in slots running sweet. 3gb detected by XP. No problems. Now the DFI motherboard. Or maybe I should be saying mother'fucking'board.

So why did I choose a unknown motherboard brand. Well I was going to go for an ASUS board. I had checked these forums and did heaps of research. I had researched all of the components so this was no different. But at the 11th hour I discovered a board that made my heart stop. I have 3 Creamware cards (2 need PCI slots - Pulsar II w/ Classical 20 I/O, and the Luna II. The Z Link Plate doesn't need a PCI slot, but it needs a place to sit. All up this gives me 24 channels of audio in/out - I use Luna 2496 and A16 to achive this. So this board had slots that were perfect. With 2 Graphics cards which is SLI [even though I don't need/use this feature, I use 4 monitors (well 3 atm)] and 3 PCI for the creamware cards, basically I could have the 3 creamware cards together sitting pretty. It seemed nice and was expensive.

So everything was going great. The CW cards didn't share any IRQ [only 1 PCI slot shared IRQs with the GPU cards, but once I moved the Pulsar to another slot it was fine. No sharing and even more room for the cards than before.] Everything was going great, I continued with my projects and the difference in power was amazing. Cubase shows great improvement. I was able to record 24 channels in and have no hicups. Though it seemed that I could only get around 9 MV going, where as with old faithful, I'm sure I was hitting a lot more.

Well just before Christmas, the DFI board decided to throw an 88 [the board has a diagnostic LED that shows post error codes] which means RMA (Return To Manufacturer ). The board needed to be sent back to Taiwan and just before Christmas. So I send it and used old faithful (which was actually 2 PCs that I was using, that had to be rebuilt into 1 and using old versions of XP and VIsta) until January 2008. Board came back, rebuilt again. Everything sweet. Continued again until a week ago. DFI board decided to throw the 88 error again. So again more CMOS clears, RAM sticks out/in, cards out/in, magic fairy salt, voodoo later and still no work.

So now I have to send it back again, where they might (this time) repair it, They should be giving me a new board. I didn't want to wait for another 1 month so I went out and brought an ASUS P5K-E. Now I bet you're really shaking your head, as this board too doesn't seem to be much chop. All PCI slots share with either the GPU cards, Sata and/or USB. There is hardly any room for the cards, they almost touch due to the GPU being so large.

Still I tried a test run the other day, and it worked, but I feel that there may be problems down the line. I recorded a simple 14 tracks into Cubase (due to being in a band that rehearses at my house - it's a home studio - recording is easy and we record almost every practice), it records and plays back fine, but sometimes if a lot of post plugins are running and on screen (using the Graphics cards) I can hear slighty clicks. I don't know, but I'm now looking for another motherboard. I'll see how I go, but I have someone that could use this board, so I'd rather sell it to them and buy a new system that is better suited to me. The band that I'm in (Her Tortured Embrace - yeah that's a plug. We are a progressive metalcore band) is planning on recording an EP very soon, so I'd prefer everything to be awesome.

So research continues again and I tell ya, I hate research, there are so many boards out there. I'm reading up on the Chipsets, the location of the PCI Slots, and it seems that some good BIOS will allow you to set IRQ to the PCI slots, great. The BIOS for this ASUS board has bugger all in terms of changing settings. I'm stuck with GPU sharing the CW slots at the moment.

It seems Asus boards don't offer much with their BIOS, Gigabyte seems to be pretty good (able to change IRQ for PCI slots), Intel - not sure. I'd like to but most of their boards don't offer what I need. I know that I could get a Matrox 3 DVI card, but I've used Matrox before and I wasn't really happy with the results. In fact I had 2 in a system before. I've even downloaded manuals for boards to check the IRQ settings and their BIOS that they run to see if changing of IRQ is possible. Oh I'm tired of this crap. LOL

Even today, the system wouldn't boot. Working fine last night, now couldn't find OS, turned out -somehow- the Bios changed hard drive priority to another drive.

I'm hundled in a ball in the corner of the room, with the lights off, crying as I type this, lol.

Even as I typing this I fear that the power will cut off and I'll lose everything that I just typed [that's why I'm saving it all into a word document each paragraph]

Am I cursed? Am I having bad luck these last few months? Did I not reply to one of those chain emails - now cursing me to 7 years bad luck. If so why does the bad luck start now, and not a few years later. Heck, give me the 7 years of bad luck when I'm 70, after I've made millions of dollars and have groupies to pleasure me when I'm old. Why now and why when I'm trying to build a modest Creamware system. Sob all I wanna do is record with my Pulsar and enjoy life.

Thanks to all that have read this, it's been like therapy to me. Hope you find that kick arse system and make beautiful music together, lol. I hope I do!!!

[garyb]

[deadpan]computers make our lives easier.[/deadpan]

[next to nothing]

...and just to make your life even more miserable, your bands webpage need to have its myspace link fixed.

[DannyF]

Yeah the website one is an easy fix, I'm working on that now. Myspace is the way to go nowadays. Keeping a site running and maintaining it takes heaps of time. Time that I don't have much off. Thanks for the replies guys.

[hubird]

if I read the story above I can't find much fun in it ('I hate doing research'), and it even still doesn't work.
I don't get you guys...but everybody his own fun

[firubbi]

[quote="DannyF"]

Motherboard - DFI LanParty NF 680i LT. This board has 8 sata, Dual Lan, 3 PCI Express 16 (2@x16, 1@x8), 1 PCI Express x 4, and 3 PCI slots for CW cards.
PSU - Thermaltake Toughpower 750watt (i think or 600)
quote]

Does we need 3 pci slots
i found Thermaltake Toughpower 750watt too good

[DannyF]

3 PCI - well it was a bonus. I figured if I ever get a Scope system, then I would still have room.

Originally I had the 3 CW cards in the bottom PCI slots but the Pulsar shared with a couple of things. The 3rd card (Z-Link) doesn't need a slot so it was placed over the 3rd PCI Express slot (which was the last slot and godsend)

So in the end I moved the Pulsar up a slot (above the 6600GT), where it didn't share with anything. Gave it more room as well. It was just a great setup and I haven't been able to find anything close to it. It would be fine if the Luna and Z-Link cards weren't so tight together. Might look at a cable replacement for them, then the Z-link could be placed over a PCI Express X1.

And for the PSU, well the price between the one below it was begger all. For an extra $20 i'd rather go for the more expensive model (and with added cable management support). Same as the Dual core. The next model up (2.66) was almost double the price, so I didn't bother. I went for the butter zone and something that would last me a long time.