My new quiet i7 860 DAW

outbackyak · Post by **outbackyak** » Sat Mar 27, 2010 10:02 am

Well, I finally got around to building my new DAW! Many, many thanks to everybody here on the forum for all their helpful advice, and especially to Mike Chin and the SPCR team - I couldn't have done it without you all.

The final specs are:

Case: Antec Solo; Case fans: Nexus D12SL-12 (rear @ 390RPM); Noctua NF-B9 92mm (front @ 540RPM); Fan Controller: Scythe Kaze Master 3.5"; PSU: Seasonic X-650 (the fan never comes on in normal use); Motherboard: Gigabyte P55A-UD4P; CPU: Intel i7 860 (stock clocked); CPU Heatsink: Prolimatech Megahalems Rev. B; CPU fan:: Scythe Kama DFS122512L-PWM (idles around 550RPM, and doesn't ramp up under normal load); RAM: 4GB Corsair TW3X4G1333C9A (1333; 9-9-9-24); Graphics card: Gigabyte 9800GT Silent Cell (I do a little gaming as well, so that's why I've got this card); System drive: Intel X-25M G2 80GB SSD; Storage drive: Samsung F3 1TB HD103SJ 7200RPM; DVD drive: Liteon iHAS-324-32Y (a mistake - see below); Monitors: 2 X LG Flatron W2442PA; OS: Windows7 64 bit Professional; Music software: Propellerhead Reason and Record, rewired to Mutools Mulab.

Because I've never built a computer before my brother Peter very kindly offered to do the actual build, and it went pretty smoothly, with one or two mild exceptions. Thanks, Pete!

First up - mod the case by cutting out the fans grills:

A little rough, but it does the job - gotta love Dremels!

Next: install fans and the PSU. Easy. Hard drive and SSD. Easy. Fan controller. First problem - it doesn't fit properly in the 3.5" bay. If it's all the way forward you can't open the case door. We compromised by moving it back so the door would open, but this meant that we couldn't fit the drive bay bezel, or you can't get to the controller knobs easily. So it looks like this:

A little unsightly, but it works

Then DVD drive: bugger! How did I not notice that the drive I bought was an IDE, not an eSATA!? Fortunately Peter had a spare streamlined IDE conector, so at least it hasn't compromised the airflow too much.

Then: install CPU, RAM and heatsink on the motherboard: not quite so easy! Had a few problems getting the heatsink mounted solidly to the motherboard, but after a bit of trial and error it was all good.

Then fit the assembled motherboard and the graphics card and wire it all up:

It's not as pretty a wiring job as some of the beautiful systems on SPCR, but it actually is pretty much unobstructed airflow in front of the drive bay and front fan - I've tidied up a little since this photo was taken. Note that the SSD was only mounted like that with Gaffer tape temporarily - it's now mounted with double-sided sticky tape.

The cable management system behind the drive bays works really well, and the modular cabling of the PSU helps cut down on clutter, but even so there's a lot of cables to route.

Cable hell!

The hard drive is suspended:

Rear of the completed build:

Installation of the OS and software was painless, and here's a picture of my workstation showing Propellerhead Record/Reason running seamlessly as one app.

Note the ghetto speaker isolation mounts - the Besser blocks rest on neoprene strips and the speakers are on soft rubber feet, so even at high volumes the speakers are well isolated from the desk top.

Ideally it would be nice to have three monitors so I could have the a screen for each of the 3 components (Rack, Mixer, and Sequencer), but I can live with having the sequencer and mixer on the main monitor, and having the rack on the secondary portrait monitor.

So - how did it come out? Answer: really well.

The thing is blazingly fast, and while not absolutely silent is very, very quiet. At the fan speeds I'm using (see above in specs), I can only just hear it, yet it's less than a metre from me, under my desk. If I turn the front fan off completely I can't hear the computer at all over ambient noise (I do this for recording, and then turn the fan back on when I'm editing).

Temperatures are fine. I did my testing on a hot day, when ambient temperature in my studio was 29C. The CPU idled at 35-37C, and never goes above 45C in normal use. Using OCCT to stress test the CPU, with the large data set and high priority the temps peaked at 68C.

The graphics card idles at 50C and peaks at 66C playing Borderlands. Using the OCCT graphics test it hit 84C. While these temps are fairly high I think they are acceptable. If I wind the case fans up to full speed it drops the high temperatures by about 3-5C. If I was really worried I could always add a slow fan to the card, but I don't think there's any need.

Having seen how Peter built the computer I've now got over my phobia about building my own computer - it's actually a fairly straightforward process, and I wouldn't have any hesitation about building one on my own.

So that's about it. Any comments or suggestions for improvements?

Now I've got no excuses if my music is rubbish - I certainly can't blame the computer

.

Cheers!

bozar · Post by **bozar** » Sat Mar 27, 2010 12:46 pm

Cable management is a little sloppy but it's really nice to se that Solo is still in use in new systems.

Looks nice and somewhat roomy.

Bummer with the optical drive, I did the same mistake when I ordered my P182 based rig. IDE-calbes are a real pain.

sub · Post by **sub** » Sun Mar 28, 2010 6:58 am

Nice setup outbackyak, look's like my wish list for my next computer

In Idlle your seasonic fan is always off you say, it's not cool I'm thinking to buy it now. . .

outbackyak · Post by **outbackyak** » Sun Mar 28, 2010 9:40 pm

bozar wrote:Cable management is a little sloppy but it's really nice to se that Solo is still in use in new systems.

Yes, it is a little sloppy, though I've tidied it up somewhat since the photo was taken, but it still isn't great. I'm in awe of how beautiful the cable management is on some of the rigs I see here.

I found that the Seasonic's cables were much longer than I needed for the case (presumably because they've got to be long enough for use in a full tower), and they are quite stiff, so the only thing I could work out to do with them was to stuff the extra cable into the vacant 5 1/4" bays. There was no way I could get them into the cable management bay behind the drive bays, and there isn't the room behind the motherboard tray that you have in (say) the P183. It will have to do.

sub wrote:Nice setup outbackyak, look's like my wish list for my next computer

In Idlle your seasonic fan is always off you say, it's not cool I'm thinking to buy it now. . .

Yes, the Seasonic fan only comes on if the PSU temperature goes up due to moderate/high load (or presumably if the air temperature in the case is very high at low load). It didn't ramp up even when I was doing the OCCT torture tests, so it is effectively completely silent in my system.

I'm very happy with it, as I was worried about the possible ramping up, since it is supposed to ramp up a little quicker than some other PSUs. I would definitely recommend the Seasonic X-650 - yes it's expensive, but it really is quiet and the modular cabling is great - I've got 7 left over cables that came with it, and I've no idea how I could have got those out of the way if they were permanently attached. In a higher current draw system than mine, where the fan does ramp up it might not be quite so desirable, but the SPCR review says that even under full load it is still relatively quiet. It's just that at 400W it's considerably louder than some other PSUs (check the comparison table in the review to see what I mean)

I guess the only other downside of the Seasonic is that normally a PSU acts as an extra exhaust fan for in-case heat, so conceivably the other case fans might have to run at higher than usual speeds to maintain cooling. This certainly doesn't seem to be the case in my rig, though, as temperatures are fine even with the rear Nexus spinning at 390RPM.

I do have to be a little careful, though as neither the Nexus nor the Noctua will start at the speeds I've got them set at, so I have to remember to start them up manually, then bring them back down to operating speeds. It's not a problem, since even with both fans off both the CPU and the graphics card temperatures are quite acceptable at light loads (browsing the net with a few other programs running: 45C and 56C respectively).

I haven't tried running the OCCT tests with both fans off - it would be interesting to see how the CPU and graphics cards would manage. Not well, I expect

.

Cheers!

jtcb · Post by **jtcb** » Mon Mar 29, 2010 3:26 pm

Hey outbackyak,

I have the same PSU, motherboard and SSD. I notice some of the cables attached to the PSU are yellow. I don't have any yellow cables on mine. What sata port do you connect the SSD to on the motherboard? What about your secondary HD? I haven't fire up my new build yet, but I connect the SSD to SATA0 and secondary HD to SATA1. Do you think it is appropiate? Two optical drives are connected to SATA3 and SATA4 at the moment.

outbackyak · Post by **outbackyak** » Tue Mar 30, 2010 4:27 am

Hi jtcb - all the cables attached to the PSU are the ones that came with it. I'm not sure why yours would be a different colour. Unless you mean the yellow cables that are visible in the photo of the cable management system (the photo that's labelled "cable hell"). They are the SATA cables to the SSD and HD.

I'm not sure exactly which SATA 2 connectors I've got the SSD and HD connected to - we just plugged them in to whichever of the 6 was handiest. I don't think it matters which you use (though I could be wrong - can anybody throw any light on this?). Since I'm a first time builder I'm not the best person to ask on technical build stuff. Whatever, though - the build fired up first time, so we can't have done too much wrong

.

Cheers!

jtcb · Post by **jtcb** » Tue Mar 30, 2010 7:13 am

Hi outbackyak,

yes I am talking about the module that is attached on the PSU on the 5th pic. I see mine have yellow cables too. Maybe I have only able to see the yellow cable sides so I thought it looks different.

I read somewhere that SSD has to be plugged into the lowest sata port. In this motherboard it is sata0. I also read that the cpu fan has to be connected to the cpu fan header on the board for it to fire up. Is it the case on yours?

Rucker · Post by **Rucker** » Tue Mar 30, 2010 2:28 pm

Very similar to my i860 DAW, including the cut-outs on the Solo, except I'm running the Nexus Value PSU. Like you, I don't run the fans unless I need the CPU power, but unlike you, my room ambients vary between 14C and 18C all year round.

.

outbackyak · Post by **outbackyak** » Wed Mar 31, 2010 7:16 am

Hi jtcb - I'm not sure about whether the SSD needs to be in the lowest SATA port.

The CPU fan needs to be connected to the CPU fan header if you want the motherboard to control the speed of the CPU fan by PWM; for this to work the fan must be a PWM fan, not an ordinary voltage-controlled fan (though some motherboards can control normal fans as well as PWM fans) .

A PWM fan will automatically increase in speed when the CPU is under load (and producing more heat). I prefer this because I don't have to think about it - if the CPU gets hot the fan speeds up. However that means that the noise from the CPU fan changes with fan speed, and some people don't like it, as the change can be easily perceived.

Lots of people prefer to have a non-PWM fan (not connected to the CPU fan header), either running at a fixed low speed or manually controlled with a fan controller. That way they know that the fan noise is going to remain constant, but it does mean that you have to be more vigilant about monitoring CPU temperature.

Also, PWM fans tend to be slightly noisier than non-PWM fans, but it depends on the fan - a good PWM fan will be quieter than a bad non-PWM fan. For set-and-forget convenience, use PWM; for ultimate quietness and constant noise level a non-PWM fan may be better - it's up to you.

Hope this helps.

Rucker - I'm looking forward to our winter, when my room ambient will be back down into a more reasonable range, though probably not much below 20C. Average maximum temperature in July (the coldest month in Perth) is 18.2C, while the average minimum is 8.3C, and with the occasional bit of heating on cold nights my place stays very comfortable.

Cheers!

sub · Post by **sub** » Sun Apr 04, 2010 3:15 am

Another question outbackyak,

Your system is very quiet so your Samsung F3 1TB is not too loud when you use it ?

Cheers!

outbackyak · Post by **outbackyak** » Sun Apr 04, 2010 9:58 pm

The F3 is surprisingly quiet for a 7,200 rpm drive. It's suspended, and that certainly helps, as does the fact that it's not my system drive, so it's normally only being accessed if I am streaming samples off the drive. If I listen closely I can hear a very soft "whooshing" sound, but that's about it. No clicks or vibrations.

Cheers!

Markw82 · Post by **Markw82** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 5:48 pm

cool system!

fnukyguy · Post by **fnukyguy** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 6:47 pm

pretty nice setup there..
but doesnt your samsung f3 produce a high pitch whining noise?

I have two of these drives and the high pitch whine drives me nuts..
its not that noticable immediately after the disc is turned on, but the whining seems to appear once the disc gets warmer.

i have ordered two scytche quiet drives, that should take care of the high pitch noise.

outbackyak · Post by **outbackyak** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 11:42 pm

I don't hear any whining from the F3, but it doesn't get a huge amount of use anyway, since if I'm working on a project I copy it from storage to the SSD to take advantage of the faster disc speeds. Occasionally I stream large sample files from the F3, but I haven't noticed any whine when doing so (I'm not really worried about wearing out the SSD, as I figure by the time that happens I'll be getting a new, faster and vastly bigger one for less than this one cost me).

Maybe I've just been lucky and got a quiet F3 (or you've been unlucky and got noisy ones) - I'm sure there's variance between components.

Cheers!

jtcb · Post by **jtcb** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 6:07 am

The new PC has been built for a few weeks now and is running fine. I notice a "problem" though. At the beginning, the fan on the X-650 stop spinning while the system is in low load. Now I notice the fan is constantly spinning and I can hear the noise. Any idea why?

ces · Post by **ces** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 6:13 am

jtcb wrote:The new PC has been built for a few weeks now and is running fine. I notice a "problem" though. At the beginning, the fan on the X-650 stop spinning while the system is in low load. Now I notice the fan is constantly spinning and I can hear the noise. Any idea why?

Either you are using more juice, or the ambient temps are higher, or something is wrong in the PSU's sensor circuit - it is sensing higher ambient temperature than it should be.

jtcb · Post by **jtcb** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 7:11 am

ces wrote:
jtcb wrote:The new PC has been built for a few weeks now and is running fine. I notice a "problem" though. At the beginning, the fan on the X-650 stop spinning while the system is in low load. Now I notice the fan is constantly spinning and I can hear the noise. Any idea why?
Either you are using more juice, or the ambient temps are higher, or something is wrong in the PSU's sensor circuit - it is sensing higher ambient temperature than it should be.

Is there any way to check if the PSU is running in good order? I am sure that I am using more juice than at the beginning of the completion of the build. I do notice that every time before the pc is shut down right before the windows is shutting down screen, there is a screen with an icon on the center of the screen with a message. I have no way to see what it is about. Do you have the message has something to do with it? Is there any way I can pause that screen to see what it is? I tried the pause buttom on the keyboard but that doesn't work. I haven't change the power plan.

jtcb · Post by **jtcb** » Sat Apr 24, 2010 11:08 am

I just check and can confirm that the PSU fan is not spinning at all most of the time. I mistakenly think it is the PSU fan that is making the noise. The noise is coming from either the stock 120mm fan on the top of the Silverstone Fortness FT2 or the NH14 or the three 140mm fans on the bottom of the case. It is most likely the top fan and the NH14.

Herbaltylenol · Post by **Herbaltylenol** » Mon Apr 26, 2010 10:27 pm

Yeah nice work...total price?