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Building a PC
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Sharp
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 2:00 pm    Post subject: Building a PC Reply with quote

Hi all.
I have to build a new PC suited for Virtual Reality and I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations on components.

For Virtual Reality, GPU must be a GTX970 but beyond that I can customise the system how I like. That being said, I like the idea of having something portable as I will have to bring the system to clients from time to time.

Known parts
GPU - GTX 970


The unknown parts.
Motherboard
SSD
RAM 32GB
CPU
CPU Cooler (Air or Liquid)
CASE
PSU 600W

What do you think of this case?
http://www.corsair.com/en/graphite-series-380t-portable-mini-itx-case

Regards
Sharp.
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SanderXpander
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 4:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey Sharp!

Not so many tips here but I'm interested to see how it pans out. I've been toying on and off with the idea of building something like this as a VST system. Especially now that Akai Advance and Komplete Kontrol are maturing.

I'm wondering if a Mini ITX form factor wouldn't limit your video card options too much. Thr GTX970 seems a beast but even so for heavy graphic work you may want to add a second one eventually. And by then the PSU may be too small?

Just musing here. I normally aim to buy a CPU right under the top of the line (which costs twice as much and doesn't gain much speed) and build stuff around that. I have good experience with Kingston RAM (above the "value" line) and always buy Intel CPUs for audio stuff. The Samson SSDs get pretty good reviews and the three I've used are good. But google is your friend I guess. If you're interested in running OSX on it at some point it might be worth checking out www.tonymacx86.com/building-customac-buyers-guide-october[url]-2015.html so you know for sure that what you use will be supported by OSX.

Anyway I'd appreciate if you update with what you end up using and how well it's working. [/url]
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Sharp
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 8:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks SanderXpander

For yourself were you thinking of something portable or more for the Studio? Needless to say I've been looking at a lot of cases lately. There's a lot of gorgeous cases to choose from.

On the GPU, funny enough I must force myself to stick to one card. The official specs for VR will likely only ever recommend 1 card, so you have to use that as a baseline to work from when optimising your VR Apps.

The case I was looking at also takes the GTX970 with room to spare, and a PSU that's up to 160mm long. Should be easy to find a 600Watt PSU that length.

All going well by the weekend I should have my list made. I'll start ordering parts early next week.

Thanks for your input. Much predicated.

Regards
Sharp.
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SanderXpander
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 10:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I was also looking for portable stuff. I have a capable studio pc so it would basically be a sound module to eventually replace my Kronos for live duties. I was looking at 19 inch cases actually. But they wouldn't fit large video cards obviously, nor would I need any for that purpose. I thought the case you looked at looks pretty nifty for the purpose.
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Thoraldus
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 11:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

James,

Here's some good reading on the subject.

I just built a Z97 motherboard based PC for a client. It's basically the US$1200 unit written up in the article linked above. The client loves it.

p.s. I'd recommend the Cooler Master HAF 922 case if you're thinking of water cooling
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Joe Gerardi
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 11, 2015 1:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've always been happy with Gigabyte and ASUS momboards. Can't tell you how many I've built- I do it for a side job - and I can't remember ever having one of those fail, and if you want speed and limit latency, I think I would go with the ASUS Z170- 6 USB 3.1 ports, (AND USB is only going to become more important to music over the years) 3 WiFi and 2 Gigabit ports, it seems to have everything. (Including the coolest heat sink ever on a PC! Very Happy)

Not really portable, but fast and stable. That's what I look for in a computer.


..Joe
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Sharp
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 11, 2015 3:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the recommendations guy. Trying to keep this portable will limit my choice of cooling. Can't go with a big liquid kit, but from what reading I've been doing, there's almost zero benefit in standard liquid cooling anyway. It seems much the same noise wise and performance wise. Unless your going full liquid custom with large water reservoirs. None of which I have the space for.

Here's my shopping list so far. I'd appreciate any input on this as it's been a long time since I built a PC.

*****************3rd Edit**************
Shopping List Compete, and all items ordered. Shocked

Total Cost of Build = €1537

€137 – Case - Crosair 380T Black *Order Placed
€374 – CPU - Intel Core i7-4790K 4.00GHz 8MB S1150 (Turbo Boost 4.4GHz) *Order Placed
€0.00 – CPU Cooling – Stock Fan shipped with CPU. *Order Placed
€92 – PSU – 750W *Order Placed
€393 – GPU - GTX970 *Order Placed
€178 – Motherboard - Gigabyte Z97N-GAMING-5 S1150 Intel Z97 *Order Placed
€85 – RAM- Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600MHz *Order Placed
€278 - SSD – Samsung 512GB 850 Pro (3D V-Nand) *Order Placed *Order Placed

Regards
Sharp
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SanderXpander
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 12, 2015 10:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Cool, I'll be interested to hear how your build pans out!
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Sharp
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 13, 2015 4:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sure, I'll take photo's or do a video or something as I go.
This time next week I should have received all the parts. There were delays with Amazon and Dabs, so instead of two deliveries, I now have 5 on the way at their cost. Oh well, at least everything I ordered is coming.

Can't wait to see the case.

Regards
Sharp.
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Pepperpotty
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 14, 2015 4:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You're going to have one beast of a machine there! I've built 3 pc's with Gigabyte mobos and they don't disappoint.

Good luck with it!!
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Timo
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 14, 2015 6:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Looks very good, Sharp.

Pulling the trigger on a new system for audio and media this next week too.

CPU - Intel i7-6700 3.4GHz (4GHz turbo) with BeQuiet Shadow Rock cooling
Mobo - Asus Z170-A
RAM - 16GB Corsair LPX 2400MHz DDR4
GPU - 4GB nVidia GTX 970
Drive - 256GB onboard Samsung SM951 M.2 NVMe drive
PCIe - Lycom firewire 800
PSU - 650W EVGA
OS - Win10 x64 pro

Will replace an old Core2 Q9450/GA-P5-DS4 based system built in 2008 that is now incompatible with Win8/10 for audio work.
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Thoraldus
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 14, 2015 9:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

James,

That will make a killer machine. Like your portable option with the case selection! Take lots of photos during the build!

cheers,
Rick
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Sharp
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 16, 2015 4:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Timo.
That's a great spec your going for. The CPU you selected is an expensive little fellow.

My GPU, CPU, PSU, RAM and SSD have just arrived today. Only waiting on the Case and Motherboard now.

Regards
James
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Timo
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 17, 2015 2:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sharp wrote:
The CPU you selected is an expensive little fellow.


Learned a few things about the i7-6700 chips, as there are a couple of them (I'm actually going for the less expensive version), so will share for anyone else considering Skylake...

There are two variants of the chip, the non-K (i7-6700) and the K (i7-6700K) version. The non-K is 3.4GHz (4GHz turbo) locked, and is currently £263 (inc. VAT), whereas the K is 4GHz (4.2GHz turbo), unlocked for overclocking but is £100 more expensive at £360.

However, while the i7-6700 is rated at 3.4GHz, it turbos all cores/threads in a staggered 4.0/3.9/3.8/3.7/3.6/3.5/3.4GHz formation when all are in use, effectively averaging 3.7GHz under full load.

The i7-6700K runs at 4GHz at stock but its cores/threads turbo to 4.2/4.0/4.0/4.0/4.0/4.0/4.0/4.0GHz when all are in use, so its turbo doesn't really punch above its stated speed (without being overclocked).

So the non-K is similar to the K in performance (at stock), but a lot less expensive and is rated to use less power/heat (65W vs. 91W TDP). It basically means if you do actually stump up the extra £100 to buy a K, you literally have to overclock it if you want to make any significant gain over the less expensive non-K. That said, the K can allegedly be overclocked to at least 4.5GHz easily enough, which is roughly a ~20% improvement over the non-K, but also requires more juice, produces more heat and has the aforementioned higher price tag.

I believe the Kabylake CPUs due to be released next year will drop into the Skylake's 1151 socket, which futureproofs it slightly. Whether it'll be worth it or not remains to be seen. CPU gains seem modest thesedays. Come on Intel, where's consumer oct-cores!

I think the i7-6700 and the i7-4790K have similar performance (at stock) and price, but the 4790K can of course be o/clocked further while still beating the i7-6700K on price.

Quote:
My GPU, CPU, PSU, RAM and SSD have just arrived today. Only waiting on the Case and Motherboard now.


Loved the look of your case, a proper little head turner. Looking forward to seeing pics of it all running! Smile

I'm going for an ultra boring Define R4 or R5 for low noise, as my current case sounds like a train. The Define is darn big, though, so may reconsider.
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Sharp
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 17, 2015 11:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Timo.

Quote:
Learned a few things about the i7-6700 chips


Indeed, makes perfect sense to me. It should offer killer performance. Your CPU will also be above spec for VR. When consumer headsets are released next year and you get tempted to buy one, you will have the perfect system Smile

Have you tried VR yet? For me it's been the single most impressive leap forward in technology that I've seen in my life. Nothing I've ever experienced has ever wowed me as much.

That case your looking at is beautiful. For a DAW, I wouldn't worry about the size at all. It looks perfect. I love the build quality and the finish. If I were not looking for a portable setup myself, that's a case I'd certainly like to own. Great choice.

Talking about cases, I've just received everything except my case now. Typical, of all the things to come last Smile

CPU


GPU


PSU


RAM


SSD


Motherboard


Overview


Regards
Sharp.
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