Thanks for the info Christian!

Lets hope some "16GB VSL users" will come in here and share their knowledge.

Now, I have a *very* stupid question: do you need to put TWO processors on a server motherboard, or will it work with just one? Of course, there will be a performance loss, but a slave PC running VE without any effects would not have to be very hungry...?

hmmm ... be aware 4 GB DIMMs are very pricey, if actually available ... strange design with the *uneven* number of DIMM slots ... doesn't look fully paired ...

christian

Yeah, thanks for the heads up. The Asus DSBF-D has eight slots, so it should be ok for 2GB sitcks. I'm looking right now at different RAM sticks. This is much more of a headache than I thought... Oh my...

 The first post has been updated with components that *seem* to fit the bill...

Christian, you mentionned a 16GB system with two Xeon 5150. What MB/RAM did you use? Is the system stable? Can you load up to 15 GB?

I know, lots of questions... [:$] 

mon_art,

I've built two 8 gig XP64 slaves. Each has a Frontier Wavecenter PCI. It seems that the 64 bit drivers for the Wavecenter may not be totally there yet. I have some crashes due to these drivers and the VE interface. I've sent the data to Frontier Design but haven't heard back from them yet. Will try to contact them again after the Holidays.

The Wavecenters crash VE in two instances. One is when I try to open the 64 bit version of VE without first opening (and then closing) the 32 bit version. In other words, one must launch the 32 bit version of VE first, then open the 64 bit version. You can close the 32 bit version after it's been opened. This has no effect. The other instance where I get a VE crash is when I open more than one instance of VE. I will get BSOD if I try to open more than one. Other than that they work fine. As I say, I have Gigabyte boards.

Soundwise, well, they're ADAT. I get very good results from them.

Hope that helps.

Mahlon

mahlon, we don't have a wavecenter here and i never had one in my hands ... their website (resp. provided documents) didn't look too convincing to me ...

mon_art, the system as such is stable and can load way beyond 10 GB ( i didn't have more libraries available) and a real life test is in fact missing ....

my first investigations are more focused on harddisk configuration and drivers (i fear to run into a bottleneck here) because i can choose between RAID, non-RAID and AHCI (each needs different system setup) .. 2 x 150 GB raptor + 2 x 1 TB seagate is the first try.

FW-800 cards are a seperate story and PCIe vs. PCI  vs. FW soundcards, then we need to know compatibility of sequencers and other required audio applications on a 64bit sytem - otherwise i would need a dual boot system ...

after two absolutely unpleasant tries with VISTA (32 and 64) i concentrate on XP64, but each setup asks for a lot of updates and tweaking and i have to keep some space left for VISTA to play with it later (awaiting SP1) ... i'm already considering to build a slipstream CD to avoid the tiring update procedure

all in all very timeconsuming and though the days has 24 hours one can only sometimes add the night ...

christian

Man I am glad to see this thread! I have been thinking about the same thing,except I want to build a primary machine since I don't care about trying to network machines. Too much trouble and $$$ in my opinion. Anyhow,I have posted on other software sites,but have not had any hits,so seeing this thread makes me happy![:D]

This is what I am thinking/concerns: I want to build a machine using removable drives for the OS. One drive will have XP Pro x64 and one will have Vista 64. This way I think I can test drive Vista with any software-hardware revisions/updates untill I am satisfied that Vista 64 will be stable. In the interim, I am familiar with how XP Pro should function and I will probably use this as my main OS.

I am concerned with 1)heat issues(16 gig is a lot), 2)power supply issues and recommendations, 3)also am I going to have to use a server case or are there ANY mobos that are ATX size that will handle 16 gigs of ram, 4)if I use a mobo that accepts two processors and only use a single processor will I be able to access all 16 gigs if I am only using a single processor or do I NEED to use two( I have seen a lot of mobos that seem to have dimm slots next to a processor slot and I am not sure if those slots are only active if there is a processor in the slot ...make any sense?) These are the only concerns I can think of for now.

I don't really care about AMD or Intel.I have used both, and they both seem equal. Actually my AMD system(s) seem to be less "quirky", but it doesn't matter. I would like an ATX mobo(with 16 gig capability),b/c I can use my existing case,but whatever I gotta do....

Also,what about something like a Dell that is already built? I know that many people say that they give you just enough to get by,but do you think this is also true in their "business" division? I know that when you consider interest and finance, it might be cheaper and better "bang for the buck" if I build it myself, but pre built might be an option.

Like it has been mentioned, I don't want to turn this into a "tech" forum,but as cm mentioned, us "streaming samples" guys are kind of on our own with this technology stuff and I sure hope we can help each other out!!!

Thanks for taking the time to help. Sorry this is sooo long.

luces

luces, a good airflow in your enclosure is mandatory ... for some configurations the RAM sits close to the processors because the airflow goes from the front across the processors touching the RAM to the back of the system. most of those boards are ATX factor btw. but think twice about sufficient cooling when using an existing case ...

an issue for a power supply is mostly the processor (always count max not average power consunption), accessing RAM has nothing to do with the number of processors (chipset and OS only), you can leave one proc slot empty, but usually it has to be *terminated* by a dummy. just pay attention to model changes, because some processors are often unexpectedly unavailable within months if their production stops.

 i have a colleague who swears on dell and runs more than 100 machines reliably - what i don't like with dell is that they don't give you specs about the motherboard before you buy.

of course any third party product (which in the world of computing is in fact everything) can break ... displays, harddisks, PSU, actually the legendary *diamond-decorated* apple RAM ;-)

most important: make sure the RAM meets the specs for the board, watch carefully on single or double sided requirement, design, pairing and exact product number ... your system will thank it to you with stability ... do only experiment if you have money left to be wasted ...

christian

Nice to see more people interested in this topic. Thanks to all for your input, that's great!

@ Mahlon: I'll try with the RME ADAT card then, and see how that performs.
@cm: didn't realize all the setups that have to be tested when you're a developper! But why bother with Vista? It's cute, but XP64 is already stable.
@luces: the Asus board mentioned in the first post is a ATX size board with 8 slots.

VISTA is a nightmare regarding memory usage for the OS only and it does everything but compute - walk with the dog, making coffee, change baby's nappies, ... you know what i mean - the list of unwanted services for an audio workhorse is endless. the explorer has been made almost unusable (try to read longer filenames), you need a trillion clicks for everything to bypass the playmobil assistants ... this OS is a living incapacitation, driver support is poor, the whole thing is and feels sluggish ...

and because all is working so wondeful MS has founded a *pro audio working group* ... that should say everything ...

christian

mon_art...are yousure about the sizeof that board? Unless I am looking at variations of the model you mentioned, it seems that the board is sized for "SSI EEB" and not ATX or even ATX ex.

cm...so if power is primarily an issue for the cpu, is 400 watts enough in your opinion? I am trying to "recycle" as much stuff as I can from my existing setup and this is the size of my psu(Antec True Power). In theory I will be running:

1x cpu, (probably 2-3 ghz)

1x pci soundcard,

1 x PCIe 256 meg video card,

3 x 500 gig sata drives

1 x DVD-Dual layer DVD-RW

and hopefully 12-16 gigs of 800 mhz ram

Thanks again for ALLL of the help!!!!!![Y][:D]

antec true power ... good choice, some 500W brothers work fine here, very stable and silent ... i'd say give it a try though it appears to be close to the limit. just double check if the plug fits the requirement of the motherboard (often overlooked)

mon_art,

Yes, if I was building a new slave today, I would go with the RME, too. At the moment, I'm not having major problems with the Wavecenters, and they return reliable sound, but also, at the moment I would not recommend them because of the 64 bit drivers.

Hey guys, I hope you can help me! 

I'm a complete noob here with Vienna, I currently have East West Symphony orchestra and have been very disillusioned with it so am looking at a full Vienna replacement; running Vienna over 2-4 machines over the ethernet interface running Ensemble 3 hosting in Logic and Protools.

I want to build bespoke machines for the purpose..BUT

What exactly do I need?

I'm guessing at this...

Motherboard and power supply.

64bit compatible.

Do I go for Intel or AMD?

If I go for an onboard graphics card is it sufficient to run the VE3 graphics?

RAM

Ive heard about RSRAM - meant to be the fastest and works with a Pentium 4 procesor...

Is this right?

I've seen on this board that for a full orchestra you would need around 16gb - but what if I split the sections over 4 computers running sections? 

ETHERNET

Gigabit ethernet?

Also if the interface is running in Logic or Protools over the Ethernet cable is there therefore any need to install a soundcard to the PC? Does the sound not come back over the ethernet into the host program?

I have tried researching myself, but I dont really understand all the terminology behind the components and this has made it quite hard to understand what I need.

I would be glad of any help! If you can, please keep any Jargon either simple or explained for the simple of mind such as myslelf. :D

Trystan

I apologize if I give wrong or misleading information here but If you are building a slave machine for VE what can I ask please is the concern for a soundcard?  RME is also my favorite cards (I have Multiface 2's in my machines).   However, the requirement for VE3 is nothing more then a network cable.  I am running a complete orchestra on Windows XP pro SP2 with unbelievable low latency over my gigabit connection with zero problems.  I apologize if I missed something here or if there is some advantage I am unaware of by using a sound card in this equation.

I myself will be building a 64-bit XP machine most likely this weekend so I will post my results.  I have a Supermicro motherboard.  Here is a link to the motherboard.  I have dual processors on it already (it's currently in use running Windows XP 32-bit) but will get wiped for a complete new rebuild of XP 64-bit.

http://www.supermicro.com/Aplus/motherboard/Opteron/nForce/H8DCi.cfm

I only ram for Crucial.com as I never have any problems with them.  High end Corsair and OCZ server memory are the only other memory chips I would buy.  I currently only have 4GB of ram for this machine but more is on order from crucial.  Cheap memory will wreak havoc on your system.

I am running dual video cards (SLI mode).

I will post all my results for you once it is done.  As you look around on the sight you will find newer boards but I cannot attest to their reliability.  Mine has been without flaw for 1.5 years.  I think the only thing it doesn't have is SATA 2, I believe mines only SATA 1 but so far, it hasn't been an issue.

I hope I have helped some and hopefully Christian and Herb and them can chime in and tell me if I am mistaken about the sound card idea (before I take my RME out of the equation entirely as I planned this weekend).  I only have a Mac running Logic Studio and this one Slave Windows 64-bit machine will run all my samples.  I am hoping to keep it that simple.

Maestro2be