That does help a lot thanks, One thing I am wondering is if I do get one of the newer gigabyte boards “Z68” and add a pci or pcie card to it with ti firewire will it have it’s own bus? Does it really need it’s own bus? If getting a TI pci card will do the trick, or the via works okay then I actually would put that board on the top of my list as well.
I’d love to here about anyones fireiwre experience with these new via chipsets gigabyte is using.
If I remember correctly, PCI bus on these newer boards are bridged to work via PCIe controller. I don’t know if that’d affect your UAD setup, but my RME card is working fine so far. I don’t know if FW PCIe card would end up sharing the bus with UAD cards, and if that would be problem or not. They all should be pretty low bandwidth stuff, but you probably want to make sure they work together.
Z68 UD5 and UD7 boards still use TI chipset for FW, by the way, but they are around 300 bucks, I think. VIA is used on UD3P and UD4.
I just remembered a post over at KVR where a guy commented on using a Fireface 400 with Z68x-UD3P with VIA FW. He says he gets about 200 micro seconds for DPC latency, but everything works. Scroll to the bottom.
again above tells me all i need to know. only a noob would install the junk software included
with a motherboard. its rather common knowledge (at least those with a clue) that that crap software can cause DPC issues, i bet you used the drivers disk as well to install your drivers…
I will have to inform Intel that you have single-handedly identified their software as ‘crap’.
Nevertheless - I proved my point. That the new “K” series processors do in fact have a BUTTON to push in order to easily overclock them.
umm the crap software is by the motherboard manufacturers (a few) not by Intel
Intel does not have a button to push nor do they include that crap software with their boards. pretty sure its just Asus an GB.
Intel does not need a “i am too stupid to overclock so here is some crap software button”
they auto overclock all by themselves call turbo mode…
so even if you dont want to OC you are going to anyway. unless you turn off the turbo mode…
Maybe it just required having more 1st hand experience with the technology being discussed
lol you are a funny guy… 1000+ systems a yr enough 1st hand for ya, with more than 1/2 OCed. (that over 500 so you dont have to take your shoes off…)
and whats with the “pics” are you not able to express yourself in words without them?
like i said are you15?
shlomee,
the Via is ok with many interfaces, TI is better. adding a PCI/PCIe might be required.
they are cheap enough.
No reason to attack Scott, he’s a long time member who has freely shared his knowledge with anyone who’s asked. 
A streetwalker with 10000 customers served is not by default a relationship expert.
My communication to you is over - a man who builds himself up with short jabs at other posters looking down his nose in so many posts for so many years in so many different forums. I read quite a few of your posts from the past few years, days ago - on various forums. It is more than obvious that you feel so much more wise than the rest of the world.
You are a class act guy. With a following or not - your people skills could use a bit of auto tuning.
I admire your great mega-mind. Much bigger than that of this post-grad MBA who is also a Microsoft Certified Trainer (been officially certified as such since the 1990’s). I have created computer engineers in my profession for well over a decade and I am a published author. (ps. I have multiple editors when publishing for work - so forgive the typos you may run across from me) 
Anyhow - I am here to improve my Cubase abilities. This software has so much to offer! It is also my natural instinct as a career lecturer to want to offer information when asked.
First and foremost is this new Sandy Bridge technology. How about we just admit our differences and just stick to the facts.
There IS a button to overclock your 2nd generation Intel machines as seen in my pic in this thread… 
I admit - the auto overclocking software may not be for everyone, but can we say a little positive about it and at least recognize its mere existence 
and whats with the “pics” are you not able to express yourself in words without them?
like i said are you15?
The word for it is ‘creativity’. Something that is usually found in a music studio
Sometimes there is more than one correct answer to a question.
Q: How can I get this 4 measure harmony extended an additional 4 measures?
A1: If you are a good musician you can simply play the same 4 measures again and record the whole 8 in one go!
A2: You can copy and paste
A3: marker thingies, regions etc, yadda yadda yadda…
No one answer is superior to the other. A1 may get a bit more ‘humanization’ while A2 may be a bit easier - it can sometimes boil down to personal preferences.
Scott,
So your saying I should be okay with the z68 UD-4 as long as I add a TI firewire card (I’m using a motu 8pre)? I may just bite the bullet for the 300.00 board instead if it could be a problem.
I have 2 UAD-1 cards for regular PCI slots and then I would add 1 PCIe firewire card with ti chipset using the ud 4 z68 board, what’s your take on that?
thanks for taking the time to help out
Also the UD 5 z68 board only allows for 2 internal 6gb/sec sata’s you seem to have to use esata if you want to add any more 6gb/sec hard drives. The UD7 does have the ability to add 4 6gb/sec drives. I would agree that the UD 4 B3 Z68 is a very good choice for audio. nothing else seems to share a bus besides the video cards on the UD 4 B3 which should make it a good candidate for adding a pci ti firewire card without hassle. here it is about the bus issue with the z68 UD4 B3
1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16)
As far as this info is concerned the only bus sharing is between the 2 pci 16 slot’s, correct me if I’m wrong. If I am right this looks like the board I will go with and just add a PCIe firewrie card with the ti chipset and I should be good to go.
Also is e-sata just as good as an actual internal drive, because the P67 UD5 B3 board offers ti firewrie yet only 2 internal 6gb/sec drives yet also offers 2 esata 6gb/sec. I could then go with 2 internal and 1 external esata to get my 3 6gb/sec drives going, and one esata back-up drive. Is this okay to o for DAW use?
Thanks sorry for the multi questions at once I am nearly decided on a board but would rather just have onboard ti for my interface and then work out the hard drive issue with 1 esata drive.
let me know thanks all…
HI,
the motu should be ok with the onboard Via. i would try it before buying a TI card.
dont worry about PCI/PCIe sharing.
we have had a P67/Z68 will all slots full (4 UADs/2 x RME cards)
for video we had a high end graphic card along with a 8x raid card (technically reducing the video card to 8x)
and a decklink capture card.
using software thats Cuda enabled (adobe production premium) and it did fine as well
definately do not worry about Sata 600 vs Sata 300 there is absolutely NO performance gains.
but yes eSata is dead on or very close to internal. its more about what ext drive enclosure you use.
we recommend Icy Dock. others can be far worse in performance and do not buy a name brand HDD/enclosure all in 1… IE Seagate/WD. but an icy dock and your HDD of choice.
Scott,
Pretty cool of you to help me out. Nice to have an opinion from someone of your experience level. Here is the board I decided on Z68 UD5 B3 by gigabyte, and here is why. It has the onboard TI chipset and I figure why take the risk even though via may work, when a company (motu) specifically tells me to use TI, I find it easier just to do my best and comply = hopefully less headache. It also keeps me from having to install a seperate pci card and leaves me those slots for other things like my 2 UAD cards etc.
I’ll go with the SATA 3 WD drives as Scott mentioned those should be perfectly capable of doing the job well, no solid state drives for me yet.
So now that I know what board I am going with…
onto the memory and the cooling system.
I like noctua for cooling any recommendations?
RAM= what are the rules here?, what companies should I look at?
Almost Ready to order once I get some advice from you guys on the fans and memory I’ll post the full pre-order set-up
Thanks Guys/and gals if any
Just got off the phone with my tech friend.
1)Is it better to have onboard TI or a dedicated TI PCI card for firewire interfaces, or does it not matter either is fine?
2)How many fans should I have? I am thinking a case fan and a heatsink fan? will that be enough to keep things cool?
What size fans should I look at etc.? I want things to be pretty quite so any advice will be greatly appreciated. I heard larger fans at lower RPM’s are the way to go to keep things cool and quiet is that true?
3)What speed of Ram is acceptable?
Thanks this is turning into a good thread I think let’s keep it going.
Great information here. Way to go everyone !
I’m running onboard TI Firewire on my Gigabyte board (see sig.) with no problems.
Depends on the case. Noctua fans are smooth and quiet. I have an NF-U12P SE2 CPU cooler with dual 120mm fans and 5 more NF-P12-1300 fans in my Silverstone Temjin TJ10S. It sounds like overkill (and probably is) but with my Zalman fan controller I can reduce the noise to an acceptable level. One thing you want to be careful about, though, is clearance for RAM when running a big ol’ honkin’ cooler. I have G.Skill Ripjaws with pretty big heatsinks and could barely fit the first one into the second slot. Thankfully, I went with a 3x4 set so I didn’t need the first slot. Definately wouldn’t have been usable. Also, this case is huge and I could barely slide the removable motherboard tray in with the cooler installed. However, things sure stay nice and cool.
Not an expert here but I would say the faster the better. Just make sure the voltage matches your motherboard specs.
A gaming / DAW machine ? OK. I’m not a gamer but I installed an NVIDIA GTX 460 just so I had something cool to look at through my clear side panel (and I might want to get into some CAD/CAM work before too long). No issues so far. Think about what you might want to use adjacent PCIe slots for, though, if you go for a big graphics card. Also, don’t be stingy on your power supply. I have a Corsair AX850 that seems to be working just fine. Modular and comes with most cables you should need.
Just thought I’d join in the fun. I know I spent countless hours researching before taking the plunge and ordering parts for my build. Thankfully everything turned out great. I was really close to ordering from ADK and knowing I was getting something that would work right out of the box, but I’m always up for an adventure.
One more thing - Gigabyte’s BIOS is pretty involved (in a good way) so if you don’t have much experience in that area you might need some assistance for initial setup.
OK, I’m done already. 
There’s an article on performance RAM @ Tom’s hardware :
Intel suggested spec is 1.5v, but I’m using Crucial Ballistix with heat sink fins at 1.6v, 1600MHz, 9-9-9-24.
Re: Noctua - you may want to make sure whatever you are choosing would actually fit. I am dimensionally challenged, and was shocked to see how big the C-14 was. If I want to expand to 16GB RAM, I would have to take off one fan unless I go with fin-less RAM. C-14 heatpipes might touch the heatsink between CPU and PCIe slots on UD7 and UD5.
If you are looking to go for gaming graphics card, you may like to check the size, power consumption, and how well the heat is managed - and how those things would relate to your choice of PSU and case. HD5450 I have is supposed to consume 20w at highest load, so that was my choice since I don’t play games.
I’ve just uninstalled the rest of Gigabyte utilities, and I might be hallucinating, but my system feels snappier after Smart6 is gone. I’ve never actually used any of those, as I could do everything in the BIOS. Scott @ ADK is right - don’t bother installing any of that stuff.
You should check out the Silent PC Review site, just to see what’s involved in cooling and quieting a system. I’ve learned a lot from that site, being a beginner at this.
Ram: i prefer either Mushkin or Super Talent. lately we have switched back to super talent as they use samsung chips which has far greater compatiblity that other chips used.
nothing past 1600 is needed and is what i recommend
9-9-9-24 is fine, 8-8-8-24 is good as well.
both manufacturers have correctly spec’ed and tatoo’ed eeproms for XMP profiles without having to fool with manual settings.
other have very odd specs and eeproms and no need for crazy ram like 2133 or cl #s like 6-7-6-18 as you will be setting all the timings and sub times manually and you had really better know what you are doing for that.
cooling is Noctua all the way both CPU and case fans
games is ok the 560/570 is fairly quiet and quieter than the 400 series.
i like Zotac as they have a life time warranty (have to register) and some EVGA do as well
How many fans do I really need?
I wont be overclocking at first at all.
I’m leaning towards 3. 2 case fans and a heatsink fan.
using a
giagbyte z68 UD5 B3
i72600
1600 speed RAM
A graphics card that is capable of gaming ( I may pass on this at first and add it later but I would rather have cooling set up for it if needed)
So the question is will 2 case fans and 1 heat-sink fan be okay? I’m pretty sure once I get some good advice on the number of fans I should be good to go. I don’t want to go crazy here no overclocking just keep things at a safe temp without sounding like a blender : ) Also ad in a good wattage for my power supply to get the job done well.
Happy fathers day everyone!!!
Thanks again.
Yes happy fathers day to all !
PS - dont accidentally bash overclockers ya know
That will be a nice little system you got there ! Mighty inspiring indeed !
ps2: my overclocked ‘gaming’ machine sounds more like a fishtank due to the internal water pump… nice conversation piece too I might add.
Hey Scott, thanks for all the good info in this thread. Been taking notes. 
to reply to the overcklocker bashing, what I meant was I do not have the technical prowess to do anything like that and I would probably mess it up. Actually I bow down to you guys who have nice well running overclocked systems 
I think it’s amazing and am looking into it as my skills improve (this is my 1st build).
To continue with the build…
I think I’m at the point of ordering. at the coffee shop avoiding my mother in law : ) then heading to a fathers day bbq, my goal is to order all parts by tomm or tuesday.
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z68 UD5 B3
CPU: i72600
RAM: 1600 speed 1.5V 8GB to start
Cooling: Noctua: 2 case fans one heat sink fan
Graphics: undecided, something that will play the occasional game = stress relief or induction depending on the game.
Power Supply: Modular don’t know the wattage yet somewhere in the middle I think 700+watts I think will do right?
Tweaks: Bios, Win 7, DPC Latency Checker, Something to test the temp under high loads to make sure cooling is on point (most efficient) = I think I will start a 2nd thread for this part once it’s put together and somehow try to link these 2 threads.
Thoughts: I decided to spend a little extra on the board to insure that it has the TI firewire chipset for my motu 8pre, by the time I ordered a card I would only be 20 dollars cheaper on another board anyways.
Will be Using Cubase 6, and lot’s of plug ins, couple UAD cards, Muse receptor and a finally treated studio room. Goal is to upgrade to an RME or Lynx system in the next year or two. Ultimate Goal is to have fun making music with the least technical hassles possible and then share it all on sound cloud.
I’ll post my exact order once I place it, I’m going with new egg because I trust them. I do have the help of a tech so I can avoid some rookie mistakes, although it adds a couple hundred to the build It’s worth it to me to avoid any set-backs.
Thanks for all the help any other advice you have please post it anything that has made your music creation experience better with your particular DAW, in terms of RAM used Power Supply Used Graphics Card etc…
Thanks again
