Build a dedicated Audio PC

[jkeny]

cpu is powered the same as always the 4pin plug.
its the flexibility in the bios that appeals

OK, I thought it wouldn't as it has all voltage regulators on the CPU die & therefore only need for one power supply into it. What are the 4 pins being used for in the Haswell build?

[nige2000]

cpu is powered the same as always the 4pin plug.
its the flexibility in the bios that appeals

OK, I thought it wouldn't as it has all voltage regulators on the CPU die & therefore only need for one power supply into it. What are the 4 pins being used for in the Haswell build?

same thing really 12 volts in and its regulated from there on
just dual +12 and dual ground

[jkeny]

Tony, there is one thing about an old battery that might work against SQ - it's internal impedance will probably be higher than when it was new. But here's a top tip - SLA batteries usually age due to a build up of sulphur on their plates & this is what reduces their impedance & current carrying capacity - now the tip - this sulfur can be knocked off the plates & returned back to the sulfuric acid solution by repeatedly electrically shocking the battery. There are DIY circuits to do this - takes a few weeks though so it's really for spare batteries (pick up two armfuls at your local recycling center :) You can buy desulfonators or DIY build them

[nige2000]

the smaller batteries (7ah) will have a smaller reservoir and less of a filtering effect
im just hoping that they sound as good

[nige2000]

ive been working on a haswell based build,
built on a msi z87i motherboard
housed in a streacom fc8
cpu was a i5 4670s



From the first time i played music from it i knew it had more potential than any of our builds, it was nearly as good with stock settings than ours optimised.
the bios was a wonderful place where the range of settings was vast, undervolting and underclocking of cpu and ram was very very successful
its like what id imagine introducing the fourth linear would do.

i preformed all the usual tests both battery and linear,
although battery is still not a fully practical solution yet, it really shone through on this build

with extra low bios settings 16 bit tracks were absolutely fantastic,
but unfortunately didnt have the capability to play 24 196 proficiently so it had to be readjusted upward to maintain stability and fluidity in playback

one of the best things about this build is the form factor. its about half the size of my streacom fc10

i was sorry to see it leave as i knew this level of sq could not be obtained from my asus z77 sandybridge build

unfortunately im unable to fight the urge to build one for myself
and ill be building something very similar very shortly
with my short arms and deep pockets of course

just on the ethernet cables i was horrified to note that a meicord cat7 absolutly trounced my (ebay 3 m listed by price ascending) ethernet cable
must be something to do with dropped data packets

5 meters of meicord costs about 100 euro del (grumble)

maybe we need a ethernet cable shootout

also tried the lifepo4 which are showing a worthwhile benefit over the anker pack,
its not huge but easily noticeable, enough so to warrant further investigation

[Ken Moreland]

Nige the Haswell looks like being a winner, I take it that it's not your own. When will you start going down that route. I got the Anker battery today and have it charging off the little 5V PS and the sound is improved ok, again improved top and bottom ends. Do you have a link for the LiFePO4 battery? I must take a look at that too. The Anker is a versatile little machine and won't be wasted.
KM

[nige2000]

yea there great,
no its not mine
im working on my shopping list and will be ordering over the weekend (trying not to impulse buy stuff)
the anker works good you can charge it via usb on your pc if you want to put the wall wart away
jkenny got me a couple of lifepo4s to play with, there on ebay too
but they wont play nice with the kingston usb3 for voltage reasons, sandisk is ok
theres still a charging issue to be worked out but im relatively confident ill get it working somehow

[tony]

Have you gone and got some of the meicord cable Nigel? Have left that for the moment.
Must check up to see if the current I7 can transfer across to a haswell board I reckon it can't which is a bit of a pity. Still waiting for my anker yoke being sent through parcelmotel and I forgot to top up the account so it is stuck in Antrim waiting for me to feed in some money.

[nige2000]

Ethernet cables not mine either
but I assume all cat 7 would be similar
as long as they have passed the relevant tests
the meicord is of good quality
id like to hear it vs some of the other cat7 thats about here
This is the plan
The haswell will be the new audio pc the asus will be control pc
all powered via separate batteries
I think this should be almost the best possible sq with what we know right now

[tony]

I have cat7 it was circa €7 for 5m all the way from hong kong or china. Meant to be double screened etc.