My Solo DAW

Rucker · Post by **Rucker** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 8:16 am

I originally posted the specs in the System forum, but here they are:

Antec Solo case
Nexus Value 430 PSU
Nexus 92mm fans x 2 with silicone softmounts
Scythe Slipstream 1200 RPM 120mm fans (one on HS, one for exhaust, soft silicone mounts for exhaust)
Asus M4N72-E Motherboard
OCZ Gold DDR2 2 x 2GB RAM 800MHz
AMD Phenom II x3 720
Scythe Mugen 2 Heatsink
HP 20x Super Multi DVD writer
OS: Win 7 64 Ultimate (technet)
Scythe Master Ace fan controller
M-Audio Delta 1010LT
WD 500GB Scorpio Blue HDD x2
WD 500GB Caviar Blue HDD
Sparkle 8400 GS GPU

I had orignally purchased an Asus EAH4350 GPU but was totally unable to get it to work with the rest of the system. The Win 7 drivers failed to show anything but a black screen and the ATI drivers wouldn't load. So one trip to MicroCenter later I'm up and running. I built it up with an extra Nvidia 7600GT I had laying around.

Based on input here, I opened up the airflow front and rear:

I wasn't that impressed with the soundproofing panels in the Solo, so I lined the doors and the top and bottom of the case with limp mass vinyl. Limp mass vinyl is used between layers of sheetrock to soundproof rooms and the scraps I had available weigh one pound per square foot. It added to the weight of the case considerably, but it has helped damp case vibrations and block sound.

I also custom fit pieces to the front panel and case front.

The Silo has pretty nice cable management behind the HDD cages that I took full advantage of:

It was a pretty clean build, but I'm still not happy with cable management with the SATA and power cables.

I think I'm going to yank out the 3.5" drive for another project and rearrange cables for a cleaner build, although it doesn't appear that airflow is adversely affect. Running just the exhaust fan at 700rpm at idle shows CPU temps below 20C, and with a 10% OC under prime95 with all fans at 100% core temps didn't get over 28C according to HWMonitor.

Now I have the massive job of rearranging my workstation cabling to hold this PC, my gaming PC and all the recording gear. That's going to take much longer than the PC build did.

audiojar · Post by **audiojar** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 1:48 pm

Looks good. But I don't think the two intake fans are needed, and not using them could probably help with noise a fair bit.

Personally, I would have gone with a MB with integrated graphics for a DAW. Modern MBs can handle anything you'd do on a DAW, graphics cards are really just needed for gaming. Just preference though, it's not like a graphics card can hurt (besides noise if you don't get a passive one).

Rucker · Post by **Rucker** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 2:09 pm

audiojar wrote:Looks good. But I don't think the two intake fans are needed, and not using them could probably help with noise a fair bit.

Personally, I would have gone with a MB with integrated graphics for a DAW. Modern MBs can handle anything you'd do on a DAW, graphics cards are really just needed for gaming. Just preference though, it's not like a graphics card can hurt (besides noise if you don't get a passive one).

I agree with your comment on the front fans, and I'd only use them if the level of mixing with tracks/add-ons required that more cooling. With the fan controller I can just turn them off, and the CPU fan, too, for quiet while tracking.

There was a good bit of discussion here and on DAW forums about the need for a separate GPU vs on-board video. Since I already had the mobo/CPU, a passive GPU was a much smaller investment than a new mobo.