My new recording computer....

[stepXinXtheXmix]

Here it is...i'm like a new dad showing off his kid....

 

[Chili]

That CPU fan is frikkin massive!!!

 

[stepXinXtheXmix]

That CPU fan is frikkin massive!!!

lol i know....i pulled it out of the box and about poo'd myself....i didn't even know if it would fit in the case until I set the board

 

[buckkillr8]

very nice build. What's your break down of parts?

 

[stepXinXtheXmix]

very nice build. What's your break down of parts?

Mobo = Asus P6T Deluxe with Intel's X58 chipset and triple channel arch. and supports ATI and Crossfire

CPU = i7 920 2.67Ghz (quad core with hyper-threading, so it acts like an 8-core, still trying to understand that lol)

Heatsink = Cooler Master Vigor monstrosity of a heat sink

RAM = G Skill DDR3, 4G (Windows XP 32bit only recognizes about 3.5G, once Windows 7 arrives and Pro Tools approves it i'm switching to that. The board can support up to 24G of memory)

HDD = (2) Western Digital 500G 7200rpm, seperated as (1) System (1) Audio

Graphics Card = Sapphire HD 4850 with dual DVI outs

Monitors = Dell 20" flat panels

Disk Drive = CD/DVD r-rw with lightscribe....honestly can't remember the brand

Case = some off brand case from Geeks.com....but it monitors CPU, HDD and GPU temps, so thats pretty sweet. I'm thinking of getting a Cooler Master full tower for more room and sweeter look. But not necessary right now.

 

[Bristol Posse]

Just curious why you went with 4gb of RAM
3 GB makes more sense with triple Channel and is all that XP can see anyway (assuming you made the necessary boot ini and registry edits)

How do you like the ASUS board so far. I had some terrible experiences with ASUS on theier X48 and P5 series boards and am loving Gigabyte right now on the X58 i7 builds but if ASUS is coming back it would be nice to have more than one egg in the basket so to speak

good call n windows 7. I'm beta testing it right now and it's more XPish than windows vista, looks like it'll be a nice OS for 64 bit

Congrats on a nice build

 

[Waffleness]

I'm always worried that bolting that much weight in a heat sink and fan onto the motherboard would bend and distort it! Especially as the part of the board it is hanging off gets hottest.

 

[doulos24]

nice now tell me how it helps your studio sound I hope you have an iso box or plan on running it far away form any decent qality mics

 

[LemonTree]

I'm always worried that bolting that much weight in a heat sink and fan onto the motherboard would bend and distort it! Especially as the part of the board it is hanging off gets hottest.

That's why I've stuck with the same 19" rackmount Antec case for the last 6 years/ 3 comp builds.... it's sitting flat and supported around the cpu with mobo mounting screws. I've always worried about cooler weight in towers hanging in mid air like that.

 

[stepXinXtheXmix]

Just curious why you went with 4gb of RAM
3 GB makes more sense with triple Channel and is all that XP can see anyway (assuming you made the necessary boot ini and registry edits)

How do you like the ASUS board so far. I had some terrible experiences with ASUS on theier X48 and P5 series boards and am loving Gigabyte right now on the X58 i7 builds but if ASUS is coming back it would be nice to have more than one egg in the basket so to speak

good call n windows 7. I'm beta testing it right now and it's more XPish than windows vista, looks like it'll be a nice OS for 64 bit

Congrats on a nice build

I knew it wouldn't be long before I updated so I just went with the 2 sticks of 2g so all i'll have to do later is buy another 2g stick....it was a win win situation. XP only recognizes like 3.something

the asus is awesome....it has the look and appeal for a clear case as well as the engineering aspect that is far above par. the cooling system on the board is pretty sweet...with the copper piping and the black and silver fins direct air to your pci cards. It booted up no problem...and asus put this quick boot type feature with this board. So without having an OS installed you can go straight to the internet, using this quick start. The thing i like about this board was the outputs it provided, with the spdif, optical and surround ports.

the heat sink I bought came with a pretty bulky retention plate for mounting and spreading the weight around....We'll see how it holds up. I just got half of my studio equipment in today and i'm still waiting on the main peice, my Digi 003+ and Pro Tools 8. I can't wait to see what this thing is capable of.

 

[LemonTree]

Looks like a cracking upgrade all the same. I done mine last month but unlike you I run on technology more than a year old and usualy less that 1/3 of the price it was when new.

Intel q6600, Asus P5Q (which also has the 5 secong quick boot to internet feature) and 4GB OCZ Reaper @ 1066Mhz, GeForce 7300GT Dual head, dual 21" flatscreens, reused my trusty rackmount Antec case and 600W silent PSU and threw in a couple of WD caviar HD's...cost less than cubase 5 to build and with my UAD cards handling plugin duties I hardly see a dent on the CPU with the big projects.

Saying that, your system still looks sweet. I'd be very interested in your findings when you put it through the paces.

 

[Bristol Posse]

I knew it wouldn't be long before I updated so I just went with the 2 sticks of 2g so all i'll have to do later is buy another 2g stick....it was a win win situation. XP only recognizes like 3.something

the asus is awesome....it has the look and appeal for a clear case as well as the engineering aspect that is far above par. the cooling system on the board is pretty sweet...with the copper piping and the black and silver fins direct air to your pci cards. It booted up no problem...and asus put this quick boot type feature with this board. So without having an OS installed you can go straight to the internet, using this quick start. The thing i like about this board was the outputs it provided, with the spdif, optical and surround ports.

the heat sink I bought came with a pretty bulky retention plate for mounting and spreading the weight around....We'll see how it holds up. I just got half of my studio equipment in today and i'm still waiting on the main peice, my Digi 003+ and Pro Tools 8. I can't wait to see what this thing is capable of.

Just as a thought since i7 runns DDR3 in triple channel by only having two sticks you are not getting that 3 channel bandwidth and are paying for high bandwidth and immediately losing 33% of the speed by not taking advantage of the 3 tick RAM. You'll getter better RAM performance with 3 x 1GB in this setup you have

Thanks for the heads up n ASUS I'll have to them a try again on my next build

 

[Myriad_Rocker]

LemonTree, which Antec case do you have? I want a rackmount case but I'm afraid I'll get something that isn't suitable for recording.

 

[LemonTree]

LemonTree, which Antec case do you have? I want a rackmount case but I'm afraid I'll get something that isn't suitable for recording.

I'm not sure of the model number or name, I bought it 6 years ago from aria uk. There's a picture of it in my signature (actualy sitting on end before my racks wer built). It's like a TANK and is 24" deep which might be just too big for some racks, I have a wood support, 18" back in my rack to support it because I scrimped and saved on cheap rack rails that would probably buckle if it wasn't supported.

It has 2 bay boxes at the front that sit on rubber feet and are screwed in place with rubber washers for drives and DVD/CD ROMS. fold down door that's foamed on the inside 120mm intake fan in front of the left bay with my HD's in and spaces for 2 80mm exhaust fans on the back between the PSU and expansion slot spaces. It also came with a bridge bar for holding down long form factor expansion cards. I'm using Akasa intake and exhaust fans at 18Dba each. I bought an Akasa cpu cooler but haven't bothered fitting it as the stock fan the Q6600 came with combined with the amount of space inside the case to move air has my CPU reading 20 - 25 degrees C on big projects.

It's a case for life

 

[TragicTravisty]

so how much didi it run you (if you dont mind my asking)?

 

[CoolCat]

damn thats soime freakn cooling!?

serious cooling tower ...damn. never seen anything like that before.

what temp does it keep the cpu at anyway? whats the goal temp? or spec'd temp?

great pics, interesting post!