Build a dedicated Audio PC

[Claus]

I think I might pull the trigger on the BLACKPETE-NUC BAREBONE (WITH INTEL D33217GKE, CORE I3-3217U CPU) from Minipc.de. When it comes to RAM and SSD drive I was looking at the minipc.de website to maybe get the whole lot from them. But they don't say what brand of RAM they sell. Is this important or will the cheapest option do? As for SSD will anything do or should it be Intel mSATA? I assume Windows 8 will have to be bought and installed from a USB stick?

I was only going to run it wired so a wireless card is not needed...

[nige2000]

My picopsu arrived today but I won't be able to try it out as the audiopc (compaq) has a 6 pin supplementary plug but the pico has a 4 pin one.

Ah well, would have been good to compare,....

Fran

6 pin never seen that before unless its for a graphics card
on the picu you have the 20pin+4 motherboard plug and a four pin cpu plug

on some motherboards there can be a 8 pin cpu socket (this was to divide the current for less heat and it was really pretty pointless)
to use the four pin on a 8 pin socket you just put in one side, it will only go in one side and you cant put it in wrong

see photo:
https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1P30 ... sp=sharing

[Fran]

Yeah, I know the 6 pin one is odd - although it is listed as a variant on wikipedia!! Even they say it was rare and its simply an extra set of 12V supply for the CPU.

Anyway, I'm happy just to listen tonight... and mess with the jplay settings a bit....

[nige2000]

I think I might pull the trigger on the BLACKPETE-NUC BAREBONE (WITH INTEL D33217GKE, CORE I3-3217U CPU) from Minipc.de. When it comes to RAM and SSD drive I was looking at the minipc.de website to maybe get the whole lot from them. But they don't say what brand of RAM they sell. Is this important or will the cheapest option do? As for SSD will anything do or should it be Intel mSATA? I assume Windows 8 will have to be bought and installed from a USB stick?

I was only going to run it wired so a wireless card is not needed...

they seem pricey for the no name ram and intel ssd, rest looks good
ive got a few dud sticks of ram over the years, id stick to the main brands and local so that if you have to send them back it wont cost so much. dont know about the msata i never bought one and i dont see the point if there's room for an ssd,
try komplett, dabs, elara

youll need a windows pc to make a usb installer once you have that done its simple

[Fran]

Claus,


have a look at the specs to make sure you are buying the right type of ram, plus the max speed the motherboard can take (eg the intel one from the zuma is 1600mhz) and buy as close to that speed as you can in a reasonable size taking money into account.

I actually got a pretty good price on an SSD in PCworld of all places - their prices have actually got better. Check out the read/write speeds (about 500 is the best you'll get) and also check out the power usage needed to run them. Overclockers often have good deals too. Unless you are thinking of using the NUC for other work, 64gb is more than ample. There's an online shop in Celbridge I've used before, memoryC is the lads name on Adverts I think. Worth looking at least. The only thing that appeals to me about mSATA is that they often clip right into the motherboard so you don't need a sata cable.

BUT, I think you should wait just a little bit longer and see how John gets on with the NUC. This thing is moving so fast that holding off a few days can make a difference!!


Fran

[Fran]

Hows the NUCie John :)?

[Claus]

I think I might pull the trigger on the BLACKPETE-NUC BAREBONE (WITH INTEL D33217GKE, CORE I3-3217U CPU) from Minipc.de. When it comes to RAM and SSD drive I was looking at the minipc.de website to maybe get the whole lot from them. But they don't say what brand of RAM they sell. Is this important or will the cheapest option do? As for SSD will anything do or should it be Intel mSATA? I assume Windows 8 will have to be bought and installed from a USB stick?

I was only going to run it wired so a wireless card is not needed...

they seem pricey for the no name ram and intel ssd, rest looks good
ive got a few dud sticks of ram over the years, id stick to the main brands and local so that if you have to send them back it wont cost so much. dont know about the msata i never bought one and i dont see the point if there's room for an ssd,
try komplett, dabs, elara

youll need a windows pc to make a usb installer once you have that done its simple

It seems mSATA is required. I will check elara as well... Thanks Nige!

[nige2000]

Claus,

BUT, I think you should wait just a little bit longer and see how John gets on with the NUC. This thing is moving so fast that holding off a few days can make a difference!!

Fran

agree with this
i intend to use my s/h parts in the case im getting (sometime soon hopefully) so i already have them to try.

it would be very unlikely but to buy parts to then find that we need a particular intel board and chip to do the business, that would be almost tragic

post any parts you are considering getting and we will double check them (the ram is so-dimm ddr3 204pin)

but if i were u id hold of till were 110% sure

[nige2000]

It seems mSATA is required. I will check elara as well... Thanks Nige!

that makes sense its very small

[jkeny]

I transferred my 8GB Ram from my netbook into the NUC & it works fine but I'll checl out the make, speed, spec later. I think it's GSkill memory that I got from MemoryC & one bank didn't work properly when I received them so I returned it & they replaced, no problem.

NUC is going well but working on trying to get Ultrasize down below 200 - I suspect my netbook ControlPC (now with only 2GB memory) is the problem.

About to deal with the various PS options:
- Battery shunt for main supply (I believe this can be run at 12V rather than the 19V of the supplied brick)
- 5V supply for WTG stick
- variable supply for fan

Claus, yes it only takes mSata disk

I have had issues in the past when using my netbook & Jplay ultrastream in single PC mode - it would play most of the song & usually cut-off 3/4 way through. I could see a spike in CPU usage at this point. BTW, it appears to me that if CPU usage goes over about 50% Ultrastream stops. (If you look at CPU usage, it spikes when US is started - if this spike > 50% then US doesn't start). Anyway, I tracked down the problem to the system dimming & then turning off the screen after 5mins on battery. I reset all my settings for maximum performance, no balanced power options or disabling. Seems to have done the trick.