Mystery solved: NEW PC CONFIGURATION!

arela · Post by **arela** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 9:27 am

Congrats!
good luck with further testing, while i keep up with the old config

....witch i start loving again, becauseit can run it for days again, like before.
I found Cubase 4 (pre 4.02) and myself, was the reason for the system instabillity - of course Cubase got all the blame, while i was whistling like only an innocent can do.

kaju · Post by **kaju** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 12:26 pm

Hi Nestor, congrats!

And thanks in advance. I'll keep your offer in my mind.
(I just got an e-mail telling the parts for my new pc have arrived to my retail shop

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 7:11 pm

I would be glad to please you about a test,

but you have to tell me how to do it, because I don’t know. What do you want to find out exactly of specifically? Do you have a suggestion about it? Perhaps using a test program sort of Sandra or something? Tell me please

AndreD · Post by **AndreD** » Fri Sep 07, 2007 1:15 am

My MV-Performance with a Pulsar 1 only is very bad.
(Just up tp 2 or 3 MV Pro)

If threre is another new scope-card added, the PCI-Perfomance is much better.
(seems like the Pulsar 1 PCI-Layout doas not like latest pci-express setups)

So a test with a single pulsar 1 woud´nt show the real pci-performance...

alfonso · Post by **alfonso** » Fri Sep 07, 2007 5:47 am

stardust wrote:Nestor, do you do a MV test ? please

A single small card setup is not what you can do a MV test on...it will run out of dsp much faster than the PCI capacity has been reached, apart of the poorer first generation cards pci performance.

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Fri Sep 07, 2007 5:40 pm

I guess that being a Pulsar I, my report is not relevant at all... so I'm going to post it only here, and not there in the dedicated thread.

I don't own the Master Verb Pro, I only have the "Master Verb" and the "Master Verb" classic.

Master Verb test:

4 is the maximum I could load

Master Verb Classic Test:

the same, 4 is the maximum I could load

Note:
In both tests I reached PCI overblow when the third was loaded, reloading the dsps would give me one more, till reaching 4 Master Verbs.

I hope it is usuful for you

Post by **garyb** » Fri Sep 07, 2007 5:55 pm

about right for a P1...

alfonso · Post by **alfonso** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 12:19 am

stardust wrote:Nestor its a test where you try to load as much as possible of the masterverb pro into your scope.

Not the "Pro", but the normal ones, being a little smaller they offer a better analysis resolution.

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 6:29 am

So... what's up now?

Did I win something or what? Hey, what a small test, it was too fast to do, so no complications for me...

I'm desapointed... he he...

I spected some crazy complicated analisis of the board that would give us some information about how it performs in terms of bandwide.

alfonso · Post by **alfonso** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 6:54 am

Nestor wrote:I guess that being a Pulsar I, my report is not relevant at all... so I'm going to post it only here, and not there in the dedicated thread.

I don't own the Master Verb Pro, I only have the "Master Verb" and the "Master Verb" classic.

Master Verb test:

4 is the maximum I could load

Master Verb Classic Test:

the same, 4 is the maximum I could load

Note:
In both tests I reached PCI overblow when the third was loaded, reloading the dsps would give me one more, till reaching 4 Master Verbs.

I hope it is usuful for you

PCI overflow or DSP overload?

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 7:35 am

further above Nestor wrote overflow occured at the 3rd Masterverb, re-initialising made a 4th instance possible.

On Intel 815 (on my system) it's 5 active instances and the error trying to load #6 will not recover.

So this is in accordance with Andre's finding that the PCI performance for generation one cards (as master) is not particulary great on newer mobos.
Probably only Nestor and myself run such an oldie as master ...

your results are much appreciated Nestor, as it will make me keep my setup on the Pentium 3 at least until I'll get a 2nd generation board.
I'm planning to get a SuperMicro (not available yet) and the passive 8600.

cheers, Tom

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 1:25 pm

Alfonso, about your question it was the CPI overflow, yes.
Astro, my Pulsar 1 is not only the master card, it is also the “only” one!

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Sun Sep 09, 2007 11:25 pm

Thank you for all your help!

http://www.planetz.com/phpBB2/viewtopic ... 558#187558

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 8:54 am

SECOND REPORT ABOUT THE SYSTEM

Well, it is powerful… I would have liked to have a faster HDD for my “C” drive, it is SATA as you know, but it is a first generation SATA I drive. When I can, I would go with a SATA II for even better loadings. Why do I say that? Because I have not gone double boot anymore, I decided to install everything in a single place, because working with multimedia I would need to be changing partition constantly, and this is not fun. You lose some power there, it’s true, but common, it doesn’t worth the trouble. Said that, you will understand that loading a BIG partition with all the extras and samples that come with multimedia programs, the loading is a bit slow, but… convenient anyway. A faster drive would help much here. That will come one day.

For audio, the system is just TOO BIG, I mean, you don’t need as much power as that… I have loaded a ridiculous amount of heavy VST plugins just to try, and it was crazy. I loaded 54 of them…

Crazy! I have loaded my old songs and they all play using about 5% of what used to be 85 to 95% of the total power of the PC.

For video, I would still like for it to be even more powerful…, but hey, it is amazing compared to what it used to be.

Coming back to the music studio side of things, I have now ANY polyphony I may need… I’m not used to that… I can reach the freedom of playing a heavy load VST electric piano with 200 notes if I want… that’s mad for me… I’m not used to that.

I have to say that I am using a beta BIOS right now, but it seems to work correctly so far… I hope they will come up with some new BIOS soon, as the idea of something “beta” at the bottom of your PC, does not make me laugh, don’t like the word “beta” for such an important thing as the BIOS!

Well… fair enough, it is a good PC for a long, long time, I HOPE SO. When I build my before system, I said I would concentrate in composing and using the PC, and I did it to my best. I say exactly the same today. I will use this one to the maximum I can.

The ENERMAX FMA II 535 watts is superb, really, really good… It is difficult to test a PSU because it does nothing but nurturing your computer with electricity, that’s it… you cannot “see” any performance or load it with Mater Verbs … but there are ways you can try it if you are a careful observer. One of the ways is to see what happens when electricity flicker monuments comes up, going up and down for a storm, or a loose cable in the street, etc., that kind of problems. It did happened yesterday that the electricity supply failed a few times, my wife’s computer would immediately reboot, but my was stable as a rock. Of course, before that I had the same problem and the computer would restart too, immediately. This shows me clearly, that the this Enermax in particular has a VERY stable electricity voltage at all times, and some “working” prevention to under voltages, not just the name, but the fact! Then, again, it is inaudible for my ears.

I will perhaps bring some more tests in the future… don’t know, I don’t have much time right now, but here you have for your enjoyment and thought, this latest review for you, technological animals like me!

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 10:47 am

When I say “Video”, I’m taking about full length captures. Then FX building, processing, compositing with multiple layers of footage with heavy colour correction plugins and audio FX, and outputting the whole thing in high resolution to later build high quality DVD masters. So, we’re talking about serious video editing.

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 8:22 pm

I have not overcooked anything yet… I don’t need to so far. The system is definitely VERY stable and I can now say, after a few weeks of intensely using it, that it is worth the effort. Working with audio is now like working with a word processor, you don’t even realize you’re doing heavy tasks.

Not having to wait for anything to happen, except the rendering works, it is great for the creative process, as this does not cut onto your inspiration, I mean, you can concentrate in your momentum 100%.

I didn’t realized before today, that the new Silent Will from Thermaltake attached to the side of the box, has also dropped down the temperature of the graphic card, not only the CPU and north bridge. The EVGA 8600GTS used to run at about 37 Cª when working hard, now it oscillates from 28 to 33.

I recommend to everybody the same this RAM, this CPU and even the MOBO.

Done, that’s it; this state of affairs is happily closed!

Dewi · Post by **Dewi** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 6:34 am

Hey Nestor, just want to thank you for making an account of your experiences here - it's been a tremendous help in my case. I've had a Pulsar 2 card and A16Ultra in storage for a couple of years while I was away overseas. I recently returned home with an urge to get back into recording but sure enough, all the technology has changed since I last built a DAW.

After reading about your hardware selection I decided to bite the bullet and try a similar configuration to yours: Gigabyte P35C motherboard, E6750 CPU, 2Gb Kingston 800 RAM, Gigabyte 8400GS video card. It works beautifully! The system handles anything I throw at it in terms of plugins and audio tracks, and I've never seen my Pulsar's projects load so damn fast.

I was worried that my Creamware gear might be obsolete but now it's working better than ever. And just for the record, after many years of using Cubase I've switched to Ableton Live - what a breath of fresh air.

Thanks again Nestor.

valis · Post by **valis** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 2:46 am

Any part that dies in the first 30-60 days is generally a manufacturing flaw. QA catches most but not all of these, hence the emergence of warranties.

This is why anytime I press a new HD into service I will make sure that I mirror any data on it on other HD's for the first 2-3 weeks minimum. Either that or burn some dvd's to make sure I have a fallback.

At least with a fan they can easily ship you a unit without extensive RMA b.s. that HD's and such come with. If I had a stock fan fail I'd probably look at better options (Pabst, Vantec, Sunon etc) with equal airflow and lower sound levels. I usually order these anyway to replace stock fans, and use the stock fans only until they arrive.

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 10:01 am

Hey Dewi, I’m glad my own trial has been a good source of information for you. Right now I’m changing department that is why I didn’t answer this one. Cheers

Valis, that’s a valuable tip. I didn’t do it, but making a backup for the first month when using a new HD is simple, but very smart. Cheers. I will take it into account for the next time.

Dewi · Post by **Dewi** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 3:12 am

Cheers Nestor - you might even qualify for the IT department after this exercise

Valis - thanks for the advice. I'm really lazy with backups, probably because in all the years I've been using computers I've never lost any data. There's always a first time though so I appreciate the wakeup call!