Build Log: Photomonster. Now with build pics and description

[GilesGuthrie]

First things first, my

Current computer:
- AMD Athlon X2 4800+ (2.4GHz Dual Core)
- ABIT AV8 Socket 939 Motherboard. 2x SATA, 2x PATA, DDR2, GbE, Realtek Audio, 10 USB, 2 Firewire
- 3GB RAM (2x 512MB, 2x 1GB)
- 2x Western Digital Caviar 250GB SATA in RAID 0
- PNY GEForce Graphics
- 1x Western Digital 2TB MyBook Premium 2
- Windows Vista X64 Ultimate
- Dell 2407 24" LCD monitor
- Sony 19" LCD monitor
- Other bits (!!)

I built it myself in around 2005, with a single-core Athlon that had overheating problems. The dual-core Athlon upgrade was good, but the switch required a BIOS update which nearly lunched the whole thing. It's also on its third power supply.

The Requirement
- Stability! The current rig blue-screens A LOT, with a suspected hardware issue. But after three power supplies and the RAM replaced, I'm not minded to change any bits in it. It's new-box time.
- Storage. I'm currently running some 800GB data on this box across the drives, including the OS, apps, 22,000 photographs and 10,000 music tracks.
- Zero Lag. I don't like waiting for stuff, what can I say.
- 2 monitors, one DVI, one VGA, with at least the DVI one calibrated.
- High Quality Audio output. This computer is connected to a Quad/B&W amp/speaker package, so it needs to be a proper-hifi-grade source.
- Run at least 2 Virtual Machines for much of the time
- I have no requirement to play games. Seriously, that's what the PS3 is for.
- I manage and edit a significant collection of photos
- I listen to music, and want great sound quality. All my MP3 tracks are 320Kb or better

So, I'm looking at a Core i7-based system, as close to 3GHz as I can afford. I want a great board with good vendor support and expandability. 6GB RAM should suffice, even though I run VMs, so need 3GB for them. I would go to 12GB if affordable.

Because I want everything to be very fast, I plan to use a solid-state disk for my OS, apps, pagefile, Photoshop scratch disk, Lightroom Database and the "temp" storage for photos (as that's where they're worked on most). I like the look of the Intel Mainstream X25-M 80GB disk. For the principal storage, a Western Digital drive, as I believe them to be the best makers at the minute. The 2TB "green" drive appeals. I'm undecided over whether to get a pair and RAID0 them for the performance.

Power needs to be serious as I've had it with blowing PSUs. I think I'll buy a UPS as well in case it's voltage spikes, but the lights in the house are pretty steady.

I need help with cooling the thing. I think that the case has fans in it, does anyone have experience of supplied fans? Are they as rubbish as supplied PSUs? Does i7 generate as much heat? Should I worry about the fact that I can't hold my hand on a hard drive because it's too hot?

I'm thinking about not buying a dedicated sound card, but instead using a Musical Fidelity offboad DAC. It has a USB input to install itself as a "mixer" that can be output to. Vista support is unknown at this time, and I could feed it a proper optical connection.

Current kit list
Much of this is up for discussion. I'm looking for help on the graphics card, motherboard and cooling. Any sound card suggestions are welcome too.

Motherboard: Asus P6T Intel X58
Processor: Intel Core i7 940 2.93GHz
Case: Antec 900-2
Fast Disk: Intel X25-M 80GB (Solid State)
Big Disk: WD Caviar 2TB Green SATA-2
RAM: OCZ 3x 2GB DDR3
PSU: Corsair HX1000W
DVD: Samsung SH-S223F 22x
CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS9700, Zalman ZMCS4A Mount

Suggestions and comments welcome. Budget is around £2,200, build date is not yet set, so we've got time to cogitate and salivate. I'll update this thread as things progress.

Final Kit List
To be updated as the kit is bought

1x Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail + Far Cry 2 Game
1x Noctua NH-U12P SE1366 CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366)
1x ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 iX58 Socket 1366 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard
1x Corsair 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz XMS3 Dominator Memory CL8(8-8-8--24) for i7 Motherboards
1x OCZ Vertex Series 120GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive
4x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000528AS)
1x Sapphire VAPOR-X HD4850 512MB GDDR3 HDMI DVI VGA PCI-E Graphics Card
1x Cambridge Audio Azur DACmagic
1x Corsair 1000W HX PSU - 6x PCI-E, 10x SATA - Modular Design with 5 Year Warranty
1x Antec 1200 Twelve Hundred Full Tower Case - No PSU
1x Extra Value 12" Blue Dual Cold Cathode Kit
1x Razer Lycosa UK Gaming Keyboard - USB
1x OcUK Value 2.5" to 3.5" Hard Drive Adapter
1x Akasa 20/24-Pin 30cm PSU Extension Cable

 

[Syntax error]

Giles, what monitor are you planning on using? Also have you looked at colour management hardware as well? These are probably your two main focus points for a photography based system.

I’m probably not too much help on the hardware front as I’m a little lazy there and I just bought an Asus laptop (duelcore2 2.8 GHz, 3 gig Ram and 250gig hard drive together with a 1 TB western Digital HD). Anyway it is powerful enough for batch processing 500 images through light room at a time (probably more if I tried, but I try not to push my luck) and still run PS cs2 and surf the net at once.

But I found that I needed a good monitor to use instead of just the little laptop one. I’m currently using a 21’ and I’m looking at moving up to a 24’ monitor… I wouldn’t suggest anything smaller than a 21’. Also good colour management hardware is essential if you are going to be serious about your work. I’m presently using a Datacolor Spyder 2 express which I find more than adequate for calibration although there are a few other alternatives on the market.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Yeah, sorry, I didn't mention that the 19" Sony and 24" Dell monitors are being kept. I'm using a Spyder2 of some sort or other for calibration. I've also got a Wacom tablet which I'll be keeping. And I want to connect the 2TB MyBook to a Linksys NAS engine (I'll find the specs later) to make a local server for backups/music serving. Main backup is done offsite to Mozy. Hence me not worrying about potentially ending up with 4TB data.

 

[ceiling_fan]

As someone mentioned in my PC build thread (Casio I think) said, you might as well go overkill on the PSU, since a high end one today will still be enough (unlike, say, the processor.)

Good call on the SSD for the common stuff, definitely good move.

Video cards... you said no PC gaming, so you might want to look into cards dedicated to digital art and 3D etc. I'm really not knowledgable about those types of cards though, also most people on GTP have gaming-oriented graphics cards.

Sound card... would the motherboard's be sufficient?

Either way this looks like it'll be a great setup, I'm especially liking the SSD primary disk 👍

I’m currently using a 21’ and I’m looking at moving up to a 24’ monitor… I wouldn’t suggest anything smaller than a 21’.

That's a huge screen!

 

[opendriver]

Ive heard that Nvidia Quadro's are great for workstations, but they cost an arm and leg, and if you want top of the line; your first born.

The GTX200 series comes very close to them though, for a considerable amount less. Depending on what programs you will be using, Id either go for a GTX260 or GTX 285.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Thanks for that opendriver. The 260 is at the top-end of what I was looking to pay. There seem to be a number of different vendors, running chips at different speeds, and all at different prices. Is there likely to be a performance benefit from taking the more expensive cards?

Has anyone got experience of the Antec cases?

 

[opendriver]

Which Antec cases were you looking at?

There are quite a few that offer a range of different options in cooling, size, looks, and a combination of all of the above. Here are some of the cases that you should look at

Have you considered other manufactures when it comes to cases? There are a lot of other high quality manufactures like LIAN LI, Coolermaster, Thermaltake; maybe some others that im not listing. Those are just a few to look at.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

On Cases...
I've had a look at others, but I keep coming back to the Antec 900-2 and 1200. I like that they have the fans built in, and have the fan controls on the outside. The larger cases give me the confidence that there is enough room to get the air moving across components inside.

I liked the look of the case in Solid Lifter's build thread too. It's nice to have some options that can be turned into cost modifiers if need be.


On "Quick Disks"...

My original spec for the Photomonster included a 64GB solid state disk (SSD) to use for the OS, plus swap space, frequently used databases etc. I'd selected the Intel X-25M, which gets very good reviews. It's £356.49.

Upon further investigation, it seems that the Intel drive is very much a tale of two halves. While read performance remains blistering (200MB/s sustained, <0.1ms seek), write performance can vary wildly, with a 70MB/s optimum. (Figures from Tom's Hardware)

So. Back to Western Digital, my magnetic drive provider of choice. Their 10,000rpm VelociRaptor series (£231.14 for the 3.5" 300GB version). Tom's Hardware shows the VR running at a sustained 100MB/s read and write performance, with a 7ms seek time.

Tom's Hardware goes further, with its "Windows XP Startup" benchmark. Here the X-25M destroys the VelociRaptor, with 103.6MB/s against 11.7MB/s for the WD unit. This is probably down to the seek time advantage enjoyed by the SSD.

It's worth noting at this point that HD Tune 2.55 has just benchmarked my current 2x WD 250GB SATA RAID 0 array at 74.4MB/s with seek at 14ms...

Extremeoverclockers has charts of this stuff, including a 4-Velociraptor array doing more than 400MB/s reading!

So, while I'm still researching, it's looking increasingly likely that the SSD might become a pair of 10k magnetics...

 

[Pako]

The Antec 1200 is a great, solid, case. Individual fan controls built in, plenty of room, solid case with good wire management to promote good air flow.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

My current kit list:

Motherboard: 1x Asus P6T Intel X58 Deluxe £232.19
Processor: 1x Intel Core i7 940 2.93GHz £459.99
Case: 1x Antec 1200 £129.07
Fast Disk: 2x Seagate Cheetah 15K.6 146GB SAS RAID 0 £404.78 (for the pair)
Big Disk: 1x WD Caviar 2TB Green £209.99
RAM: 1x Crucial 3x 2GB 1600MHz Tracer 8-8-8-24 £292.09
Power Supply: 1x Zalman ZM1000-HP Heatpipe Cooled 1000W £175.94
Graphics Card: 1x Sapphire/ATI Radeon HD 4870 Toxic Heatpipe Edition £178.24
Optical Drive: 1x Samsung SH-S223F DVD+R Dual-Layer 22x £16.09
DAC: 1x Cambridge Audio DACMagic £229.95
Cooling: 1x Zalman CNPS9700 120mm CPU cooler £45.99

£2,380.06

Thoughts? Am I missing anything?

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

Thoughts? Am I missing anything?

I'm guessing you have the mouse and keyboard covered. I was about to ask if those drives would work, but I see that the motherboard should have an SAS controller.

 

[hamstrings]

If you want to save some money, try a smaller power supply. A 500 W unit will be very adequate. A Core i7 965 system with a GTX280 consumes 280 W at full load.

Effective memory speed on the i7 940 is DDR3-1066, so you can get by with non-enthusiast memory. It's a better route if you're aiming for rock solid stability too since you will be running with voltage to spec. You could take the difference in price and get unbuffered ECC RAM too.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

OK, well, we're about six weeks down the line from the previous post. Without going into too much detail as to why, the budget becomes available on 20th May, so I've been re-running the figures. Here's where I am at the minute:

Motherboard: Biostar T-Power X58
Processor: Intel Core i7 920 D0, vendor overclocked to 3.6GHz
RAM: 3x 2GB OCZ Reaper
(those three items are bought as a pre-built kit for around £670, cheap compared to £800 for a 3.2GHz Core i7 965)
Cooling: Coolit Systems Domino ALC £74.98
Power Supply: Zalman ZM1000-HP 1000W £169.99
Case: Antec 1200 £139.98
Fast Disk: OCZ Vertex 120GB SSD £300.55
Big Disk: 3x Seagate 7200.11 1.5TB SATA-II £109.99ea
Graphics Card: Sapphire/ATi 4870 Vapor-X £188.64
Optical Drive: LG 22x DVD Rewriter £16.99

Screen, keyboard & mouse are going to be carried over. I'm pretty sure that the graphics card is overkill, but I like its cooling methodology. I'm also sure that the PSU is overkill, but I want stability, it's running an overclocked CPU and four disks and a big graphics card, so that's that.

I'm hearing really good things about the Domino waterblock kit, and would welcome any GTP experience sharing on that.

Thoughts?

 

[Omnis]

Why a 1000 watts processor? And why the uber-expensive ram? You can get good ram for $70 bucks now.

 

[Flerbizky]

Asus MBs > Biostar MBs unless there's three Wednesdays in a month...

 

[Vasco]

Yeah 1000w power supply is overkill, go for an Antec signature series 850w (that would still be massive overkill but hopefully cheaper), some Kingston 6gb DDR3 ram (will be cheap as chips and good quality) and the Asus P6T motherboard.

I haven't heard anything about the Domino kit, I'm not too interest in water cooling so I never have really looked into it.

 

[Sharky.]

Optical Drive: LG 22x DVD Rewriter £16.99

Is that a typo, or are optical drives just stupidly cheap in the UK?

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

Is that a typo, or are optical drives just stupidly cheap in the UK?

DVD writers have been cheap for quite some time. There's this thing called Blu-Ray now.

 

[opendriver]

MOBO: id stay away from Bio-star, go with Asus or Evga. Both of the X58 board will do

CPU:You said you are getting this as a bundle, but there is a considerable price difference for 270Mhz

RAM: Those tracer's have a bunch of flashing LED's on them, the speed seem fin though. Didn't know if you wanted to opt for something of more go less show.

CPU COOLER: This is kind of a touch subject. Id consult Pako if you want to go full-on water cooling. That is a sealed unit that performs as good as, and slightly better than high end air cooling.Extreme overclockers has a good review of it.

PSU: 1Kw does seem a bit overkill. A modular Corsair should be just fine.

CASE: Your choice, mid or full tower.

FAST DISC: If it were my build, id do 2 150GB raptors in RAID 0 if I were on a budget. If money wasnt so much of an issue, 2 X-25M's in RAID 0 would be optimal.

BIG DISC:You know, they make 2TB drive now. I dont know if you remember, but when those 1.5TB's came out they had an extremely high fail rate. I think they've redone the firmware on them and fixed the issue, but just be careful though.

GPU: Your not doing any gaming, this isn't really an issue

OPTICAL DRIVE: Since there dirt cheap, why not get 2?

 

[Solid Lifters]

DVD writers have been cheap for quite some time. There's this thing called Blu-Ray now.

Which are also coming cheaper by the month. The one I'm looking at is $300. Media is still expensive as hell, but what can you do but wait for prices to fall?

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Why a 1000 watts processor? And why the uber-expensive ram? You can get good ram for $70 bucks now.

My current computer is on its third power supply. I want to over-engineer this component.

The RAM is part of the kit, so was specified by the vendor, but I want quality RAM because of the work that the system will be doing. Because I'm not a gamer, most of the workload is between the CPU and the RAM.

Asus MBs > Biostar MBs unless there's three Wednesdays in a month...

MOBO: id stay away from Bio-star, go with Asus or Evga. Both of the X58 board will do

CPU:You said you are getting this as a bundle, but there is a considerable price difference for 270Mhz

RAM: Those tracer's have a bunch of flashing LED's on them, the speed seem fin though. Didn't know if you wanted to opt for something of more go less show.

CPU COOLER: This is kind of a touch subject. Id consult Pako if you want to go full-on water cooling. That is a sealed unit that performs as good as, and slightly better than high end air cooling.Extreme overclockers has a good review of it.

PSU: 1Kw does seem a bit overkill. A modular Corsair should be just fine.

CASE: Your choice, mid or full tower.

FAST DISC: If it were my build, id do 2 150GB raptors in RAID 0 if I were on a budget. If money wasnt so much of an issue, 2 X-25M's in RAID 0 would be optimal.

BIG DISC:You know, they make 2TB drive now. I dont know if you remember, but when those 1.5TB's came out they had an extremely high fail rate. I think they've redone the firmware on them and fixed the issue, but just be careful though.

GPU: Your not doing any gaming, this isn't really an issue

OPTICAL DRIVE: Since there dirt cheap, why not get 2?

The £670 kit includes the motherboard, the i7 920, the RAM and the overclock configuration including the documentation. I'll give them a call and see if I can swap in an Asus board on a custom basis, see what the cost difference is. Aside from an apparent 5% performance loss against the top-end Asus boards, I have not been able to find a downside for the Biostar kit. Given the apparent strength of feeling here, I'd be interested to know of GTP's experiences.

The 120GB Reaper will only be used for the system, with all the data on the array of larger disks. I've been looking at Velociraptors, and a pair of these in a RAID0 array will be slightly more expensive, but significantly slower, especially in terms of servicing the operating system. The Vertex finally marries a great controller with excellent quality flash, where there are still some observed performance issues with the Intel drives.

Thanks for the concern on the Seagates, I can probably swap in a pair of WD 2TB Caviar Greens for not much difference in cash.

I have two optical drives on my current computer, and can count on the fingers of one hand the times I've needed both. In fact, I may just poach the DVD writer out of my current box. [thinking continues after the next quote]

DVD writers have been cheap for quite some time. There's this thing called Blu-Ray now.

I now have a hi-def infrastructure in the house, including on a camcorder, and could therefore benefit from being able to write blu-rays. But I'm not yet convinced by the offerings and costs to jump in. I jumped to dual-layer DVD writers early, and did not get value for money. This time I'll be more circumspect, and perhaps look to buy a drive sometime after Christmas.

Is that a typo, or are optical drives just stupidly cheap in the UK?

DVD writers = stupidly cheap.

Yeah 1000w power supply is overkill, go for an Antec signature series 850w (that would still be massive overkill but hopefully cheaper), some Kingston 6gb DDR3 ram (will be cheap as chips and good quality) and the Asus P6T motherboard.

I haven't heard anything about the Domino kit, I'm not too interest in water cooling so I never have really looked into it.

The reason I'm looking at the Domino is that air-coolers dump the CPU's heat into the case, whereas the Domino takes it and fires it straight out of the back. So the Domino kit will significantly help with in-case temperature. It's also the reason for the Vapor-X graphics card, which vents to the outside, not within the case. If I can keep case temperature below 30-deg, it'll improve stability and reliability. My current rig gets worryingly hot, especially around the hard drives.

Thanks for your thoughts guys.

 

[Omnis]

The reason I'm looking at the Domino is that air-coolers dump the CPU's heat into the case, whereas the Domino takes it and fires it straight out of the back. So the Domino kit will significantly help with in-case temperature. It's also the reason for the Vapor-X graphics card, which vents to the outside, not within the case. If I can keep case temperature below 30-deg, it'll improve stability and reliability. My current rig gets worryingly hot, especially around the hard drives.

Thanks for your thoughts guys.

Air coolers only dump heat into the case if your case is awful and designed like crap. I would get a big air heatsink if I were you. It's a lot easier to replace a 3 dollar fan than to have to throw your ALC out when the pump fails.

PSUs should be judged by build quality, not wattage output. You can't go wrong with a Corsair product, though. I'd just suggest lower wattage. You'll only want 1000 watts if you're running 3 graphics cards or 2 power-hungry graphics cards.

Also, ditch those ram modules. They're just expensive because they have stupid blinky LEDs on them. I really don't understand the fascination with LEDs and UV lights and all this other flash crap that people put in their computer cases. You can get OCZ Reaper modules for cheaper that also have better timings. 7-7-7-24 @ 1600

And if the applications you use support CUDA (look it up) then get an nVidia GPU.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Purchasing has started! I'm ordering most of the stuff on 21st May, but I'm keeping an eye out for special offers. Accordingly, the following are on order:

1x Intel Core i7 920 stepping D0: £241.98
1X Noctua NH-U12P SE1366 CPU Cooler: £57.99
4x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA-II 7200rpm 32MB: £76.99ea

4x 1TB drives (these are the Seagate 7200.12s that don't have the firmware "difficulties") is much cheaper and much faster than 2x WD Green 2TB drives.

 

[Pako]

Looks good Giles! If you haven't purchased the PSU yet, might I suggest at PC Power and Cooling 1200w PSU? I mean, if you want over the top, IMO this is it.

Looks great though and can't wait to see this beast come together.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

£356!!! ****ing h!

I'm looking at the Corsair HX1000

 

[Pako]

I know, it's out of control.....but the best is the best after all. It should be the last PSU you will ever need to buy. Supports up to 100A draw, 115A peak, and it weighs a ton.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

More stuff showed up today:

1 x ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 iX58 Socket 1366 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard
1 x Antec 1200 Twelve Hundred Full Tower Case - No PSU
1 x Corsair 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz XMS3 Dominator Memory CL8(8-8-8--24) for i7 Motherboards
1 x Corsair 1000W HX PSU - 6x PCI-E, 10x SATA - Modular Design with 5 Year Warranty
1 x Razer Lycosa UK Gaming Keyboard - USB
1 x Extra Value 12" Blue Dual Cold Cathode Kit

The rest is on order. I've decided not to buy an optical drive, even though they're only £17. I'm just going to take the DVD writer out of my current rig and use that until Blu-Ray writers become sensibly priced.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Last week the graphics card showed up. I went for a Sapphire Vapor-X 4850. Also, because I'm only playing music through it, I don't need some hot sound card. I'm taking the co-ax digital output off the motherboard and feeding it into a hi-fi DAC. For that I selected the Cambridge Audio Azur DACmagic, which I picked up last weekend.

The SSD and its mounting bracket, plus a 20/24-pin PSU extension cable are due to arrive tomorrow, and I'm picking up the 8-pin PSU extender today. The perils of a big case!

And finally, a bit of light porn for you all...

4TB of internal SATA

Noctua processor cooler. Has 120mm fans to mount front & rear

Comparison of the stock Intel cooler (left) and the Noctua (right) with the fans mounted

And the thing that needs cooling...

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

That's a gigantic cooler. How's the weight compared to the stock one?

I read an interesting comment on some site that said they should make "horizontal cases" for regular computers. It might be a good idea with these massive heatsinks they have today.

 

[nick09]

I read an interesting comment on some site that said they should make "horizontal cases" for regular computers. It might be a good idea with these massive heatsinks they have today.

They do, just flip yours on it's right side. Your everyday optical drive is designed to hold the disc even if you insert the disc while the computer is on it's side.