PlanetZ forums - scopeusers.com

Ola guys,
my pc is finaly dead.
(my mac is ok tho)

i need to get a new mobo, memory, cpu, and psu.
it needs to house 1 scope card
and is going to be used for scope, synthmaker, flexor development (yes its going alog great!), and web.
no daw or anything.

i was thinking of this mobo:
http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=jR7eO7eY08cBntsR
as it has the cool multi monitor facilities.
and power saving options.

i'm also asking myself if i should go for the quad core or dual core. is there a big change in performance?

would love your suggestions.

C'mon garyb, time to flex that experience

ReD_MuZe,

Regarding the processor, I normally would recommend a Duo, with the idea of upgrading in a couple of years. At this time there really isnt a compelling performance difference for most applications. If you will be using this for 3-4 years or until it dies, go for the Quad. In that time-frame you should see software catch up with the number of cores and more effectively use all of that processing power. Look for the highest frequency at 1333MHz FSB that you can stand to pay for. That should last quite a while without getting out-paced by software improvements.

That board looks very interesting!

Cheers,
Cory

+1 for the Quad & 1,333Mhtz FSB

i think the duo is still the bang for the buck winner. i'd probably agree with the current consensus on the quad, though.

if you have plenty of money, then there are some pretty impressive choices out there. i haven't been playing around with the x5- chipsets yet. i'm sure that quality motherboards with those chipsets will work just fine with one card.

Red, I said some of this in IM yesterday but will repeat here for the sake of sharing:

I think the motherboard is fine, barring the location of the bottom 2 SATA ports (when you get around to connecting them use better quality cables, make the bend and don't flex that bend ever again) and heat sink clearance (something you'll only worry about with Quads.)

For CPU here's my thinking: Core2Duo is enough for now, but that socket/cpu is end of life in terms of manufacturing soon with the debut of the i5. So you'll need to not wait TOO long before going Core2Quad or you'll find it lacking in availability (2 years from now.) The upshot is that prices on Core2 cpu's will drop soon as volume to i5/Lynnfield ramps up, but you're building soon. If think you will want the machine to last several years without replacing it, I agree with the sentiments expressed inthis thread that you probably want the Core2Quad. If you don't intend to mess with swapping cpu & adding an aftermarket cooler in the next 6 months (again necessary for the Quads imo) then I would just get it now and consider the machine to be set cpu-wise for the foreseeable future. The amount you'll save on Core2Duo vs. Quad won't be offset anytime soon (it's less than $100 difference if you choose well.)

You certainly want a cpu with 1333mhz fsb and pair that up with 4GB ddr2-667 (pc5300). With Core2 the L2 cache is shared per 2 cores, so you'll want either the Core2Duo with 6Mb cache, or the Core2Quads with 6MB or 12MB--the 12MB is more equivalent to being double the 6MB Core2Duo cache but you'll also get a speed bump down or two to keep the thermals acceptable. There was an earlier Yorkfield run that had half as much L2 cache (known as "Yorkfield 6M") which are older Wolfdale Core2Duos packaged together, skip them.

So targeting 1333mhz fsb means you choose from the following:
Core2Duo E8400 Wolfdale @ 3Ghz (1333 fsb) 6Mb L2 cache, 65W thermal envelope - ~$170
Core2Quad Q9550 Yorkfield @ 2.83GHz (1333 fsb) 12Mb L2 Cache, 95W thermal envelope - ~$220
Core2Quad Q9505 Yorkfield @ 2.83Ghz (1333 fsb) 6Mb L2 Cache, 65W thermal envelope - ~$260
Core2Quad Q9400S Yorkfield @ 2.66GHz (133 fsb) 6MB L2 Cache, 65W thermal envelope - ~$260

Prices are local to US (newegg) and so may not 100% translate to .il, but you can see here that the Q9550 isn't THAT much more expensive than the E8400, and the only place where it loses to the other Quads is in the thermal envelope. Check your motherboard's clearances to make sure your chosen heatsink fits and I think the Q9550 is the best bet now (it won't hit those thermals under moderate load anyway).

A heatsink like the ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro (I've installed quite a few of these) with 4-pin connector for PWM support will give very quiet operation & automated speed control via the BIOS. The important thing here is to use a heatsink that's a known-good performer and insure that it will fit your board before purchasing.

4GB ram in ddr2 that expensive either about $70. Make SURE you get 1.8V parts and not some of the 'overclocker' crap that are overvolted stock. I prefer Kingston's KVR667D2K2/4GR - $71.00 (lower density sticks than the KVR667D2N5K2/4G kit)

(edit, added note about insuring the heatsink fits to the AC Freezer7 Pro recommendation)

For what is is worth...I agree with valis. If you are like me (in keeping a machine for a longer period of time) the advice is rock solid. The Quads will serve you just fine, for a longer period of time, before the next cycle of upgrading/replacing the machine. Not to mention the developers, (from strictly an audio standpoint) will be developing apps for the next few years to maximize the benefits of the quad cores...

I'll go for the Q5500 as well.

Q6600 was a good deal when it went out but now seeing how few programs use all 4 cores, I still doubt it was useful to buy it 2 years ago.
When you think that it's been only a few months that some IDE tools for parallelism went out (for visual studio and C++ only at least), we might have some more time before programs are really "well made" for more than 2 core CPUs.

Edit: There is also the Q6500. Same characteristics than Q5500 but at 3GHz frequency (you can easily hit this freq. oc'ing a Q5500).

thanks for the advice guys, i grabbed an ASUS P5N7A-VM
http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=8YiUFvK51IergAqY

i think the features on it are sweet!
first of all, its got 3 video outputs, so ill be able to hook it up to two screens and my TV,
second, it has a multichannel SPDIF out which i can hook to pulsar or my RME if i need decent WDM action.
and third, it has lots of green propaganda bullshit printed in its manual and that makes me feel better (no hazardous materials, power saving, semi recyclable, and so on.)

and not to forget the small size mobo with a PCI slot for scope. maybe ill get adventurous one day and make a small portable case for it.
im thinking of looking for one of these angle adapeters ( http://www.nextwarehouse.com/item/?202454_g10e ) to make scope sit horizontally. this way i can make a rather thin case with external sata drives ehehe! yummy!

anyhow ill probably get it tomorrow. and will report if scope is all good with this board...

Use a riser card with a ribbon. Then you can attach it to the rear of the case w/o having to have the motherboard and case made to work together.
I used a 5 volt 32bit one and it works great.

Congrats......BTW I am feverish.

the board is running great, and this computer is surprisingly fast.
and now for the masterverb test:
i got 8 masterverbs running on my scope , on the 9th it weaped that the card doesnt have enough dsp memory, so i guess thats the maximum for scope anyhow.
no pci overflows.
logic(5.5.1) runs really fast

gfx are realy nice and now flash blown sites dont hog my pc too much.

Is that the old PC version of Logic..?
I got a bro' using Platinum still.

thanks,
the pc has been feeling very steady even tho i didnt freshly install XP (my last install was trying to save the pc two weeks before it dies so its rather clean. instead i just installed the new drivers and voila everything was running in no time.

so for now i recommend this board. the 2d gfx engine is pretty powerful on this onboard card, and i have never seen scopes gui react as fast.

this computer is not for music making but more for deving.
i do my music on the mac, i find it less detractive than a pc.