Build a dedicated Audio PC

[Sligolad]

Hi Nige,
Bought the msi b85m g43 board and awaiting more information on your easy DC to Dc converter bypass, hope your discoveries still hold up!!
In the meantime I have a 3.3v Linear on the way from Teddy Pardo so I can finally take away the last link from the Dc to Dc convertor on my Zuma, not sure whether I will add a relay on this line or not, maybe just go direct as there should not be too much power wasted leaving it powered on all the time.

Will let you know how I get on as soon as I get the 3.3v supply.

Cheers, Pearse.

[nige2000]

Picture is as good as a thousand words

well this turned out to be fairly simple, its amazing because i found many many wrong ways
(one of those moments where you look at it and wonder why you didn't try this first)
operation is as usual turn
power supplies on and hit the go button

think the cpu is putting noise back into the 12v rail, best keep mobo 12v and cpu 12v separate
might be worth getting a couple of these 12v leadacid batteries to play with
http://ie.farnell.com/jsp/search/produc ... KU=2083825
mobos are noisy gits, what a stupid thing to try and get audio out of, its amazing it sounds this good

the cpu can have a direct connection to the battery all the time as it doesnt draw current while off,(the 24pin does draw current while off so will drain batteries on a battery system so will require a switch)

the msi z87i works on this system and im fairly sure the h87i will work too as they are mostly identical

the b85 was bought mostly because of haswell, price and a internal usb3 header and was purchased while the smoke was still leaving my asus p8z77

[Aleg]

Nice piece of work Nigel.

What did you use for the incoming leads and how did you spread them out into 5/6 outgoing wires?
You seem to have kept the junctions nice and compact.

Cheers

Aleg

[nige2000]

Nice piece of work Nigel.

What did you use for the incoming leads and how did you spread them out into 5/6 outgoing wires?
You seem to have kept the junctions nice and compact.

Cheers

Aleg

used some of that silver plated wire that pang uses, not sure if it adds anything to SQ, it aint cheap either but can be got on ebay
probably just looks the part, but i intend to use it from at least the batteries to the mobo

i just soldered the junctions together and then spread out the silver wire over the junction and soldered again
i got parts to make a loom from scratch here(silver wire direct into the pins) but im doubting it will make any difference(hardly a reason not to experiment though)

separating out power supplies seems to be a key, i think one component on the mobo sends noise to another with the same supply i think we get a sort of a snowball effect,
so important that the snowballs are as small as possible going in(clean power)
then keep the power separated as much as possible, to help stop the noise of the components bouncing off each other

[Fran]

Great work Nigel,


Fair play to you - this is really good work. I know you've put quite a bit of work in that we all will benefit from.


Fran

[nige2000]

unfortunately the works only starting
im going to turf out the b85 mobo and throw in the h87i that has just returned from the longest RMA ever to give me a bit of room for all the batteries.
ill be putting my linear supplies in a separate case and feed out a 6 core cable into the pc case to batteries

ive some of that rfi paper on route too for "just in case it makes a difference" reasons
though it would be cheaper to line it with €5 notes

close up this build and leave it out of my experiments,
ill have enough bits left over to open up a shop never mind continuing the madness,

[Sligolad]

Nice work alright Nige, I expect when I get the 3.3v supply I will be in a similar mode with all the wires in to the 24 pin atx connector from clean power.....but nowhere near as neat as yours!
Guess the next meet will be much tidier affair than some of the previous get togethers.....probably be me with the wires and boxes hanging out of the PC and you with the nice all in one solution.
Might be time to start planning the store front :-)
Cheers, Pearse.

[jesuscheung]

----TWEAK 19----
ntfs only

1. right click d, e, f drives of yours.
2. "Edit.." -> select "authenticated user" -> "Remove" -> "Apply"
SQ should increase because "authenticated user" is useless for music listening. (maybe needed for jplay two PC setup. not sure)

now this is crazy
3. "Edit.." -> select "Users" -> "Remove" -> "Apply"
4. "Edit.. -> "Add..." -> type "users" -> "Check Names" -> "OK" -> "Apply"

i thought SQ would increase with i remove "Users" because i am the only user. but SQ decreases. so i added "Users" back in. somehow SQ increases. maybe i am crazy. if you need a reasoning, i guess this is because it forces the rebuilt of NTFS index/permission table or something. so it becomes more efficient? same effect as disk defrag? who cares. try it.

don't remove "CREATOR OWNER", SQ may decrease.

have not tried to remove "SYSTEM". probably shouldn't.

[wushuliu]

----TWEAK 19----
ntfs only

1. right click d, e, f drives of yours.
2. "Edit.." -> select "authenticated user" -> "Remove" -> "Apply"
SQ should increase because "authenticated user" is useless for music listening. (maybe needed for jplay two PC setup. not sure)

now this is crazy
3. "Edit.." -> select "Users" -> "Remove" -> "Apply"
4. "Edit.. -> "Add..." -> type "users" -> "Check Names" -> "OK" -> "Apply"

i thought SQ would increase with i remove "Users" because i am the only user. but SQ decreases. so i added "Users" back in. somehow SQ increases. maybe i am crazy. if you need a reasoning, i guess this is because it forces the rebuilt of NTFS index/permission table or something. so it becomes more efficient? same effect as disk defrag? who cares. try it.

don't remove "CREATOR OWNER", SQ may decrease.

have not tried to remove "SYSTEM". probably shouldn't.

You should really give more detailed instructions before posting these tweaks. I stupidly gave this one a go and all hell just broke loose.

[jesuscheung]

sorry. posted at wrong thread lol.
wonder why it didn't show up.