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I am building a system for MIR SE, planning on these components and wonder if they are good choices. I am trying to keep costs down as far as possible but still have it powerful enough to be practical and have found a comparatively cheap source for these components...
Intel Core i7 920 Quad Core 2.66GHz (or 930)
24 gb Crucial ram unbuffered non-ECC 1333 DIMMS
Antec 750w power suppy
Windows 7 pro
Echo Layla audio Interface
any suggestions or changes greatly appreciated!
Thanks Dietz, I already started maniacally obtaining components and wasn't sure if this thread was of interest but would definitely like to hear those recommendations of CM or anyone else. I am hoping that the 1333 RAM is O.K. as the faster rated ones are incredibly expensiive - more than the blasted computer! I am operating on the principle that it is more the AMOUNT of RAM rather than the SPEED that makes the most difference and hope that is not wrong! thanks again!
i understand that cutting down costs is desirable, but we shouldn't leave aside the result.
much memory is required for comfortable arrangements and the impulses will need already 4 GB, so 24 GB is a good idea.
usually 24 GB is 6 x 4 GB modules which require 6 memory slots (2 modules per memory channel)
-> remember 2 modules per channel make the memory bus run at 1066 anyway, so you _can_ use DDR3 1333, but you don't need to
the X58 motherboard from INTEL has 4 slots only, but there are X58 (intel chipset) boards with 6 slots (eg. asus or gigabyte s-1366 series)
convolution is a strong job for the CPU, so you may want to consider the 950 (IMO best buy) or 960 (fastest 1066 processor)
-> for the 920 there have been 2 types and i'd recommend the newer model only ... i thought the 920 isn't even longer on the shelves ...
windows 7: professional is a must since the home version has a 16 GB memory limit.
the echo layla (3G?) ... that's a matter of taste IMO assuming the 64bit drivers from echo are ok.
hth, christian
@cm said:
-> remember 2 modules per channel make the memory bus run at 1066 anyway, so you _can_ use DDR3 1333, but you don't need to
Is this true for the Xeons as well?
this ist true for all current processors (XEON 56xx, i7 9xx) which are using triple channel memory bus
ps: i just noticed a typo in my post above and have corrected 3 modules per channel to 2 modules per channel
i.e. 3 memory modules with an i7 is 1 module per channel, 6 memory modules with an i7 is 2 modules per channel, 6 memory modules with a dual XEON is 1 module per channel, 6 memory modules with a single XEON is 2 modules per channel, 12 memory modules with a dual XEON is 2 modules per channel
Well I suppose I would mention that system I was originally talking about is assembled and working really well. It is probably representative of a lower cost system, around $1,500 to $2,000. It was based on a "barebones" kit. However, I had to make some changes. The ECS motherboard they supplied turned out to SUCK BIGTIME with bad capacitors! And so I replaced it with a Gigabyte USB3. Also, I got a bigger cpu cooler by "Coolermaster" and an Antec case with fans all over the place. I tried to find the cheapest reliable RAM which I decided (maybe) was Crucial RAM which cost $700 for 24 gb. It runs Vienna Ensemble like crazy! And with MIR SE it can load a very large scale orchestration, all instruments simultaneously with RAM left over. It is pretty amazing to hear everything playing at once on a huge symphonic poem when I am used to freezing audio and dividing things up into little submixes.
BTW that brings up a question I had - is a USB3 external hard drive potentially better than an internal SATA?
@William said:
is a USB3 external hard drive potentially better than an internal SATA?
generally no USB device is better (not even potentially) than a device directly connected to the respective controller ... the USB protocol has the biggest overhead of all.
additionally only few mainbords currently have the internal bandwidth to make use of the theoretical data throughput of USB3
